Page 31 of Liberated By Sin
She focused on the path ahead, but I noted her brief side-eye.
“Why don’t you ask what you really want to know?”
The way this woman made me smile more than I ever had in anyone’s company besides Silas’s was uncanny. “And according to you, what do I wish to know?”
Everythingwas the correct answer. But I’d take the scraps of whatever she was willing to give, pathetic as it was.
“It was only coffee. Cambri set us up—something about not getting out often enough.” Again, her gaze slid toward me, accompanied by a cunning little grin. “Or getting laid.”
Fire. My blood blazed at the thought of another man touching her. My only consolation was that, somehow, I knew she was fucking with me.
“It’s a good thing he canceled then.”
Amara’s grin stretched. “Is it?”
“Yeah, very much.”
Her eyebrow arched, and the edges of her white teeth caught her bottom lip. She said nothing more about the subject and kept walking until we reached a small cafe with outdoor seating just off the beach. Iled her to a corner table with a view of the ocean. Despite the darkness, the streetlights and those from the various vendors lining the strip were enough to illuminate the shore, where soft waves crashed against white sand.
I’d never visited this cafe, but I prayed they had mango smoothies, as it was the first thing that had come to mind in my desperate attempt to remain in her company.
“Looks like we have to order at the desk after hours. Mango?”
“Surprise me.”
I placed our order with the cashier, a smoothie for her and a water for me, turning around in time to catch a man approaching Amara at the table. I wondered briefly if he’d been her date, who’d decided to show, after all. But her indifference told me otherwise. She shook her head and folded her arms, resting against the back of her chair. But instead of moving along, the asshole leaned a hand on the table and into her personal space. I was at her side before my next breath, close enough to the foolish stranger that his face nearly brushed me as he straightened.
“Are you lost?”
“No, I was just—”
“Leaving,” I gritted out, stepping closer.
The man’s eyes flitted to Amara for a millisecond, and I almost thought he wanted to get brave. But it turned out he rather enjoyed his life and kept quiet as he retreated.
“He didn’t disrespect you, did he?”
“No, but if he had, what makes you think I’d let it slide?”
I took a seat. “That’s not the point. I’d have handled him whether or not you sent him to hell.”
“Is that what you do, Mr. Leone?”
Her question was vague, but I knew exactly what she was asking. My family was well-known in the area when Uncle Lorenzo established his connections and business dealings years ago before expanding with the construction of Illusion. It was an unspoken truth among the patrons and employees. But our reputation preceded us. The opinions orassumptions of the masses had never interested me before now.
What would Amara think of me as a man in the business of murder for hire? And why did that suddenly matter?
“Defend women against disrespectful assholes?”
“Sure,” she said with a sarcastic tone.
“No. Again, only you.”
“Well, at least you’re consistent.”
She had to feel how the air between us ignited with every word and every time I lost myself in her eyes.
The cashier announced our order number, interrupting the moment. My moment.