Page 45 of Blood Money

“She loves me,” he whispered in my ear. As he spoke, his lips had brushed along the shell of my ear, and goose bumps broke out on my shoulders and down my arms.

“It seemed like it,” I replied.

We continued on our way to my nonna’s. Our pace was leisurely, and I enjoyed breathing in the scent of his cologne as the sun dropped lower in the sky and lights started to come on around us.

We reached the bakery and turned down the alley to take the stairs up to the apartment. At the landing, I put my key in the lock.

“Cute,” he said as he flicked the little cupcake on my keychain when I turned the key. The movement put his chest to my shoulder, and I drew in a stuttered breath.

“Nonna got it for me,” I explained as I opened the door.

“I’m not surprised. Well, happy birthday,” he told me as he held out the bouquet and the bag.

I took the flowers and clutched them to my chest. Drawing all my courage together, I blurted, “Do you wanna come in while I open it?”

For a second, he looked surprised. Then he glanced into the apartment.

“Nonna isn’t here. She had her ladies’ night. She’ll be back around eleven.”

Several unspoken questions seemed to float between us, and he wet his lower lip before dragging it through his teeth. “Are you sure she won’t beat my ass?” he teased.

I snorted and went inside, turning on the kitchen light. “You coming?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he whispered, “Yeah, sure.”

Once he stepped inside, I closed and locked the door, then carried my flowers to the counter. I laid the bag next to them and pulled the massive amounts of tissue paper out. “I think you killed a tree with that.”

He shrugged with his hands shoved in his pockets, and the corner of his mouth kicked up.

My breath caught at how cute he was.

Finally, all the tissue was out of the way. I gasped when I looked in the bag. “Vittorio!”

Reverently, I pulled out the plastic-wrapped bundle. It was a complete hardcover set of the Harry Potter collection. I hugged them as if they were a living, breathing thing.

He laughed. “So I did good?”

“Oh my God! Yes! I love them, but how did you know?”

He snickered. “Are you kidding me? I saw your phone case that first day. Then when we went shopping at the pier, everything you went crazy over had something to do with Harry Potter.”

I set them to the side and threw my arms around him, and he reached out to catch hold of my sides. “Thank you so much!” Not just for the gift but for being so observant.” He was the best boyfriend ever.

That seemed so weird, yet so amazing. He was my first real boyfriend.

Lifting to my toes, I kissed him. His hands tightened at my sides, and when I teased the seam of his lips with my tongue, he groaned softly. As he swept his tongue through my mouth, his thumbs moved slowly over my abdomen. Molten heat raced through my veins as I pressed into his hard body and tangled my fingers in his hair.

When we broke apart, panting and fighting to gain control of our breathing, he rested his forehead on mine. “Fuck, Kendall.”

I pulled away to meet his crystal-blue gaze. It was so heated, his eyes resembled the hot blue center of a flame.

“Vittorio?”

“Yeah?” he breathlessly replied.

“I want one more thing from you for my birthday,” I whispered.

“What’s that?” he asked in an equally soft tone.

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