Page 127 of Coerced Kiss
I get out. “There’s no risk of crashing into anything here. You don’t have to be scared. I won’t let anything happen to you or the baby.”
“But—”
“Come on.” I close the door and lean down to wink at her through the window. “If you get it right, I’ll reward you when we get home.”
I go around to her side, taking in the surroundings as I do. The guard who gets out of his car nods, indicating the coast is clear. No one tailed us.
Anya shoots me a questioning look when I open her door and help her out.
“Get into the driver’s seat,” I say even as I stand in her way, trapping her body against the car, because at the same time that I give the order, I’m reluctant to let her go.
She tilts her head up and frowns at me. “Why are you doing this?”
Goddamn. She looks so beautiful standing there. So vulnerable.
I cup her face between my palms, my gaze drilling into hers. “Listen to me. If anything happens to me, you take this car and you just drive.” I shake her gently. “Do you hear me? You drive until you’re as far away from here as you can get.” She opens her mouth to say something, but I don’t give her the chance. “There’s a spare key in the safe behind my suits in the dressing room. The code is eighteen, zero, four. Your birthday. It’s easy for you to remember. There’s a bag with money. Don’t pack. Don’t think. Take the money and don’t look back. Got it?”
“Sav,” she whispers. “You’re scaring me. Why are you saying this?”
“You know what kind of man I am. You know the life I lead.”
“What’s going on?”
“Just promise me you’ll do that.”
She utters an uncertain, “Okay.”
“Good girl.” I kiss her lips. “Now get behind the wheel. Let’s have some fun.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
Anya
I’m shaky when we get home. I try not to show it as Saverio helps me from the car and walks me inside the house.
The reason for my turmoil isn’t the driving lesson. Saverio was nothing but patient. He’s a great teacher. What’s eating at me is the strange key in my handbag. It’s what he said about the money and the car key in the safe. He’s worried that something may happen to him.
The notion of Saverio’s heart no longer beating with a strong and steady rhythm in his chest makes me shudder. I can’t imagine his virile body cold and lifeless and the intense light in his blue eyes gone. That in itself should shock me. Isn’t that what I should want? To be free from the hold he has on my life? Instead, the implied meaning of his words shook me to my core, not only because, as he declared himself, if he’s no longer here, there will be no one to protect me, but also because the idea of anyone killing him threatens to bring me to my knees.
“Hungry?” Saverio asks, hanging his jacket in the entrance closet.
My smile is tremulous. “Yes.”
I don’t have an appetite. It’s just an excuse to send him to the kitchen so that I can get away.
He studies me. “Tomato soup? I had some delivered from the deli.”
Fiddling with the strap of my bag where it hangs over my shoulder, I say, “That sounds good.”
He homes in on my fidgeting. When he reaches for my bag, it takes every ounce of my self-control not to cling to it. My heart slams between my ribs as I let the strap drop down my arm. I stop breathing when he takes the bag.
Does he suspect something?
I blink rapidly, trying to disguise my anxiety.
Please don’t open it.