Page 99 of Chasing Caine
He reached for it, but I pulled it back to me.
I clenched my jaw. “Two hang-ups.”
His mouth opened and closed like a damn fish.
“Who is calling you on a burner phone?” I stepped closer, the temperature dropping in the room. It was so cold. I was so naked.
One hand drove through his hair. That was his tell. Something was going on. But the man with all the words was silent in response.
I slammed the phone into his chest as I passed him to grab my clothes. “Nothing changed at the nightclub, did it? Except you realized you could get away with your bullshit if you used your pretty little words and fucked me senseless! You goddamn Italian men! You’re all the same!”
“Allora, bella. It’s…” He huffed and ground out, “Family business.”
“Family business? Even better!” I found the discarded underwear I tried putting on before I’d given up on Eva and the gallery. “Like when your father told you to lie about the Chagall and you just went along with it? What are you hiding from me this time? Covering for another family member I might think was involved in something? Ooh, maybe stealing the fresco? Is that who you were sneaking a call to last night at the restaurant?”
“Stop that.” His gaze flew around the room, touching every surface we’d been on. Then the ceiling. Then finally me. “Someone threatened you last night.”
I hauled on the foolish sundress I’d worn into town yesterday.
“When you stepped away from the table last night.”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes, waving one strappy little sandal in the air. “Some random person shows up in an exclusive restaurant with a warning and a phone. You should sell that to Hollywood.”
“I’m serious. You can’t go. It’s dangerous.”
I stood, snatching my clutch from the bedside table. Black with crystals to match the dress from the night before. “This is the lamest cover I’ve ever heard.”
“Cover?” He shook his head. “You still distrust me so much?”
“I don’t know, Antonio. You disappear all morning yesterday for—” I made air quotes. “—workthat I couldn’t be there for. Then you show up with those stupid flowers.”
“I wanted to surprise you because I missed you.”
“Men send flowers when they’re trying to hide the truth.” How many bouquets did I get from Vin when I got back to Michigan the first time? I kicked at a pillow on the floor as I stomped toward the door. “It’s all distractions.”
He gripped my upper arm, not letting it slip when I tried to pull free. “I’m serious. Someone told me you’re not to see Eva again.”
“If that was true…” I closed the distance between us, focused on patience over showing him how easily I could break his grip. Twist his arm. Shatter his nose. Knee his groin. “You would have remembered what I said about honesty and trust. And you would have told me.”
“Trust?” His lip curled. “Like the way your first instinct is to accuse me? Say I’m just like all Italian men, whatever that means?”
“Honesty’s expected, Antonio.” I swallowed hard against the acid bubbling in my throat. “Trust is earned.”
“Marone! I am in love with you, woman.” He leaned closer to me, his robe brushing my dress, the scent of lavender strong on him. We should have been in that tub together. “I have been trying to rebuild your trust in me since you got here. What else do I have to do?”
I grabbed his free hand at the wrist, lifting it to remind him of the phone he was carrying. “Not sneak around.”
“Come get in the tub with me.” He inclined his head toward the bathroom, thinking that Ferraro charm was all he needed. “Let’s go back to where we were fifteen minutes ago. Another reset. I can explain.”
We both turned at the sound of water on tile. An overflowing tub was my out.
“You better go turn that off before it leaks through the floor.”
He took a half-step, but hesitated, eyes locked on mine, grip just as tight on my arm.
“Too much water leads to mold and you really don’t want to pay for a hotel like this one to rip out more than one floor to remediate.”
Antonio squeezed his eyes shut and whispered, “Don’t leave.”