Page 9 of Blood Money

How embarrassing.

“Thanks,” I muttered as I reached for the outstretched device. My fingers touched his as I took it, and it was like being hit by lightning. My breath caught, and I gasped. I had to drop my gaze because looking at him was like staring at the sun. He was brilliant and blindingly beautiful.

Then I looked down and saw my phone screen was cracked.

“Oh shit,” I whispered. I’d gotten the phone from my mom. As her hand-me-down, it wasn’t new, but it was new to me. My parents had never let me have my own, but for my sixteenth birthday, they had surprised me with my own number and my mom’s old phone—not that I cared. I loved that thing, and I knew I had to make it last.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his concern evident in his tone.

“My phone broke. My mom’s gonna kill me.” I was trying to do the math to find out how many hours I’d need to work for Nonna to pay to have the screen repaired before I went home. I was trying to save for a down payment for a car, but this would put a dent in that.

“Don’t you have insurance?” he asked with a frown.

My shoulders fell. “No.”

“Let me see how bad it is. I might know someone who can fix it,” he explained as he held his hand out.

Lordy, even his hand was attractive. Tanned, with long fingers and blunted tips. There was a slender white scar on his index finger that certainly didn’t distract from them in the least. I had a sudden vision of them cradling my cheeks as he leaned in to kiss me.

I shook myself out of it. And if I thought my cheeks were hot before, my entire face flamed at the way my thoughts had strayed and caused a zillion butterflies to rip through my belly. The way I tingled between my legs shocked me. Sure, I’d had crushes on guys before. I’d even gone to the movies with Drew Felder—though my parents didn’t know because I wasn’t actually allowed to date. My friends had talked about their sexual experiences enough, but that was the first time my body had responded to someone like that.

“Can I get your number? You know, in case the guy I know can fix it. He’s pretty much a wiz with electronics,” he explained. He still held my phone as he waited expectantly for my reply.

“Um, I, uh,” I stammered as my heart raced so fast I thought it would surely burst. I didn’t know this boy, nor did I know his friend. “I don’t know if I can afford it.”

“I’ll tell you what. How about I put my number in your phone? Then you can reach me if you decide you want to get it fixed. I don’t think he’d charge much. And since it was partly my fault that you dropped it, I’ll split the cost,” he offered. I’d referred to him as a boy, but that slight stubble on his firm jaw, paired with his build and the way his muscles flexed as he moved, told a different story. He was a man. Young, maybe, but a man just the same.

Shaking off my wayward thoughts, I pulled my lips between my teeth and shrugged. Then I whispered, “Okay.”

As he rapidly tapped his thumbs over my screen, he bit his bottom lip. It brought those two little freckles up next to his white teeth, and I sighed. He lifted his gray-blue eyes briefly, then dropped them again before he handed my phone back to me.

“There you go. That’s me,” he said as he pointed at the cracked screen.

Vittorio.

Dang, even his name was drool-worthy. It made me wish I was a little older, or at least had the experience my friends did with flirting.

“Thanks,” I murmured. “I’ll think about it.”

An awkward silence ensued until someone approached to enter the store and we had to move out of the way.

“Well, I better be going.” I practically tripped over my words as they blurted from my mouth. I couldn’t have sounded more like a kid. Inwardly, I groaned.

“Sure.”

I gave him a small smile and stepped around him. As I passed into the store, he called out, “Hey.”

“Yeah?” I tilted my head.

“I didn’t catch your name.”

My lips pulled to the side as I tried not to smile. “Maybe because I didn’t give it to you.”

“Okay, Mystery Girl. If you, uh, want to use that number just to talk, I wouldn’t mind,” he offered with a crooked grin as he hooked his thumbs casually in the worn pockets of his jeans.

My mouth fell open, and my brows twitched. “Um, okay.”

He gave me one of those guy chin lifts and walked away.