Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
A buzzing phone drew my attention.
“Mi scusi.” Gio answered it and disappeared from the room, leaving me alone with Nathan and the bartender who polished glasses in the corner.
“I’ll tell him you’re sick when he gets back.”
I groaned. “I can’t just avoid him the whole trip. There are only five of us at this damn resort. Seriously, I’ve got this.”
Nathan’s intense expression was like hitting an air pocket. “He expects you to sleep with him.” He gently set his calloused hand on my arm, which lingered on the edge of the bar.
“He’s going to be disappointed. I already told you,” my breathing went uneven, “he’s not the one I’m interested in.”
His hand remained, tingling on my skin as I fought back the urge to latch onto it.
“The other night . . .” he started.
No. I didn’t want to hear the “what a mistake” speech now, the one he’d been gearing up for me since the fuel truck yesterday. “Shit, don’t—”
“I wish things were different.”
His gaze swung away, a frown on his face, but I could tell his displeasure was self-directed. Information he didn’t want to reveal. It made me want to pull him into a kiss full of longing and desire, one that would have had us hurrying together to my cabin, or perhaps his, since it was closer. But he retreated when footsteps approached.
“Vodka,” Gio announced to the bartender. Then he said something to Nathan that sounded like a dismissal.
The tall American nodded, and as he passed by, he whispered it under his breath. “Bathroom.”
“Vodka?” I repeated, heavy with disapproval.
I wasn’t about to get drunk with the guy who wanted to seduce me, and certainly not my boss. Plus, what if he abruptly decided he wanted to leave like Vitale often did? I was always on standby with the Abramo family.
“Si, bella.” Gio snatched the shot glass up when the bartender finished pouring it, waiting impatiently for me to do the same, so he could clink the glass with mine. “Salute.”
Fuck.
It burned all the way down and lingered in the back of my throat. I hadn’t even set the glass on the table before he motioned for a refill. “No, grazie. Uno.” I glanced around. “Bagno?”
He waved a hand toward the door.
Nathan’s large form leaned against the wall, and he straightened when he spotted me. His emotionless mask was nowhere to be found. Instead, his face was streaked with concern. “Several women have gone missing after spending the night with him.”
My heart lurched and thudded faster. “You’re worried he’s going to kill me?”
“Yes. Take this. Put it in your pocket.”
There was no time to refuse. Something plastic and bottle-shaped was pressed into my hand, like a squeeze bottle of eyedrops. My fingers curled around it, and I followed his order, jamming it into a pocket.
“He can’t kill me,” I said. “I’m his goddamn pilot.”
Nathan’s gaze was sharp. “He’s impulsive. Not much of a thinker, and it only takes one pilot to fly that plane.” Again, he set his hand on my arm, and his touch sent a pleasurable shiver up my spine. “When you go back, I’ll interrupt. Put four drops in his glass.” His voice fell to a hush. “It’ll take twenty minutes for the drug to knock him out.”
“Knock him out?”
“For the night.”
Icy realization crept down along my body.
He wanted me to drug Gio. My head was a jumbled mess of thoughts. What if this drug didn’t do what he said it would? He admitted he was used to working for criminals. The Abramos were powerful, and if something happened to one of them, God help the person responsible.
What if this was Nathan’s plan? For me to kill the man waiting for me back at the bar?
“Are you insane?” I asked.
“Jesus, Olivia, just think about it. Gio bought out the entire lodge. You’ve already seen him shoot a man, and the owner didn’t even bat an eyelash. Why do you think that was?”
My mouth fell open.
Oh, shit. He was right. Phillip hadn’t been all that concerned with the shooting. Like he’d been prepared.
Nathan’s grip tightened on me, his expression grim. “No one here cares if you disappear. No one . . . except for me.”
Those words did something to me. They made my breath catch in my throat. I had to force air out and remind myself who I was. I’d survived that night on the mountain, and Gio? He was nothing compared to that. “I meant it when I said I’ve handled worse than him.”
“He’ll kill you.”
I shook my head. “He might try.” It was surprisingly difficult to extract myself from his grasp. “I’ve got to get back before he comes looking for me.”
“Be careful.”
Gio was halfway out the door when I emerged from the hallway, and he used the sudden proximity as an excuse to touch me. He held the bottle of vodka he must have demanded from the bartender, and he grabbed my hip with his other hand, leading me toward the main door of the lodge.