Page 101 of Capo
Thirty-One
Chloe
Luciano showers for a long time. The bathroom is too tiny, or I’d have joined him whether he wanted me to or not, because I’m sweaty and icky with a capital I. I’m also shamefully aroused thinking about his strong, naked body, water splashing over it.
‘I wish you’d stay.’
Here? In Bietini? With him?
The clatter of the water stops, and he appears in the doorway, a towel around his waist. I swallow a groan. How the fuck can this man be so beautiful?
He cocks his head. “Go shower. I’ll find us some breakfast.”
I jump up. “There’s—”
“I know my way around this house.”
At my, no doubt, surprised look, he laughs. “It’s my house, Chloe. I’m letting Alessandra live here when I’m not in town, or she’d still be living with her mom.”
“Oh… okay. I’ll… shower then.” I flee into the bathroom, rattled by the realization that I’ve still been under his roof all this time. While the water soaks me, warm and purifying, I don’t know why it even matters anymore.
I feel like a new woman when I make my way down the stairs, even though every muscle protests. Luciano stands with his back to me by the kitchen counter. He has new clothes on, dark blue jeans and a white T-shirt. The muscles on his arms ripple. I stop and cock my head, taking in the sight. In this small cottage, this tall, dark man is such an unreal vision, and I realize there are sides to him I have yet to discover. I’ve seen him cruel. I’ve seen him tender. I’ve seen him working himself to exhaustion in the gym, as if he too has a devil that haunts him. I’ve seen him loving and vulnerable with his son, and now I’ve seen him making us breakfast.
“See something you like?”
I twitch and meet his gaze. While I got lost in thought, he has turned, a plate with cut tomatoes, cucumber, and a pile of rucola in his hands. The smell of coffee is mouthwatering and my stomach rumbles.
I raise my eyebrows. “I like vegetables.”
He laughs his rich laugh that I have yet to get used to. He’s so different here. Relaxed. A part of me wishes I could stay. That we could stay. It makes me pause and take in what I just thought. I need to process that. I miss my brothers. I’ve missed my friends. They were hard to come by for someone like me, I have a hard time trusting that people really want to be with me, that they want to stay, but these girls found me and didn’t let go. Especially Kerry. She adopted me from the moment we met. Sweet, bubbly Kerry. A sting of pain stabs my chest. This man is responsible for her downfall, for her disappearance. I have to remember that. I have to fight my traitorous heart because right now it wants me to step into his arms and just stay this close, because it feels good. No one has taken care of me since I was a child. It was always me looking out for everyone else. Since I got to Bietini, the sun, the heat, the slow life, Alessandra and the other people here have softened my core.
And now this man, this monster, on top of that shows that he’s more than that. He’s human.
I have to remember who he is. I can’t lose myself.
“Sit with me for a while. I have to get going soon.”
He rouses me from my musings and I jerk to action, sitting down at the table, letting him pour me coffee. “Thanks. Where are you going?”
He pours coffee for himself as well and starts to pile salami and vegetables on a thick slice of white bread. “Home. My business doesn’t run itself, and I have a funeral to arrange.”
My heart sinks at the expression on his face. “Your friend?”
He makes a face. “Yeah.”
“You were close?”
“I don’t know anymore. I thought so. Now I just don’t know.”
I don’t know what to answer and we eat in silence after that. I keep stealing glances at him, utterly confused by this other side of his persona.
“Is… is the war over?”
“That’s what I thought after we slaughtered every last man. Until I learned of the attack on you.”
“Wasn’t just me. It was on the whole village. Everyone here was in danger. They wouldn’t have stopped with me.”
His face turns grim. “I’ll make sure it never happens again.”