Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“These will work, I think,” I said, opening the kit. “This might not feel great,” I warned, placing the first closure and pulling the skin closed around it.
I worked my way down the whole cut before wrapping it all in some fresh gauze.
“There we go. I think that will be better. Don’t try to pull those off,” I warned, reading the instructions. “And don’t get them wet, if possible.”
Something had Domenico’s attention. Following it, I saw Dante making his way into the kitchen from the backyard.
He paused, taking in the scene, his face unreadable.
“I was just fixing Ant’s hand. It was bleeding,” I said, cleaning up the kit. “You were right,” I added, standing and picking up the kit.
“About what?”
“My first aid kit is pathetic. Everyone should have one like this. I’ll just get out of your hair while you guys talk,” I offered.
Dante snagged me around the waist. “We’re done talking. I’m about to make breakfast sandwiches for everyone.”
“Can I do it?” I offered.
“No egg whites and spinach.”
I made a choking sound that had Dante smiling.
“I think I can hold myself back from incorporating that.”
“Do you want any help?” he asked, taking the kit from me.
“No. I want to cook.”
I wanted to cook so much that I not only prepared the eggs, cheese, and bacon sandwiches, but a side of breakfast potatoes and a towering stack of golden pancakes.
Ant ate like a starving man. True, he might not have had a chance to eat since before work last night. I had no idea what kind of questioning the Family had to put them through. I suspected, though, that the hunger was more about the comfort of a home-cooked meal.
Eventually, Domenico and Ant cleared out.
“Thanks for fixing my hand,” Ant said with a wave.
“Thanks for saving my life.”
Dante loaded the dishwasher while I grabbed another cup of coffee.
I’d just had my first sip when he came up behind me, his arms wrapping around my center, and his head resting on my shoulder.
“I haven’t had a woman cook for me before,” he admitted.
“Now I know that’s a lie.”
“Outside of my family,” he clarified. “I liked it.”
“I had to eat the one funky first pancake so you didn’t see it,” I admitted.
His chuckle moved through me too. “We all make a funky first pancake. They all taste the same. How are you feeling?”
“You mean from the baby pinprick in my neck?” I asked. When it came to injuries, my bruised shoulders from the last attack hurt more than that.
“I meant from everything. Now that you’ve had a chance to wrap your head around it all.”
“Can I tell you something without you thinking I’m crazy?”
“Sure.”
“When I came back into the haunted house and Ant was there… and the body was there…”
“Yeah?” he prompted when I fell silent.
“I felt like I belonged.”
“Belonged?”
“Like I was part of your world. Like there was no reason you could tell me I couldn’t understand or wouldn’t be comfortable with it. I was there and I understood it and I felt like it was right.”
Dante spun me, his eyes deep.
“It was never that you didn’t belong, Hazel. I just didn’t want to ask you to be willing to be a part of a life of possible violence and uncertainty. Though, to be fair, most of the women never see a dead body.”
“I guess I’m screwing up that average, seeing two of them.”
“You don’t have to make light of it.”
“I’m not. I mean, I guess I am. But I’m strangely okay with it. I mean, it wasn’t like someone got killed for no reason. He had a knife to my throat. And if he’d succeeded in kidnapping me or getting the account number out of me, there was no way he was going to let me go. I knew who he was.”
“That’s true. I still wish I could have protected you from that.”
“I know you do. But I’m okay. Really.”
“I see that. And as much as I didn’t like seeing you in my world—because it’s not something you should have to see—I have to admit that I liked knowing that you could handle the worst of the worst.”
“I know this is all new and—”
“I’m gonna stop you right there,” he cut me off. “It might be new, but I’ve had a feeling there was something here almost from the jump. And every time we’ve been together since has only reinforced that.”
“I feel the same way.”
“I may or may not have had the car parked at Famiglia because I didn’t want you to leave,” he admitted.
“I was glad it was missing because I didn’t want to have to offer to go.”
“Well, you don’t want to go. I don’t want you to go. So, you’re staying.”
“I might need some more clothes. And to check on my shrimp.”
“Shrimp, huh? Interesting first pet.”
“I mean, they don’t actually need any care. I got them so I didn’t feel so alone.”