Riding Dirty: Luciotti Crime Family (A Bad Boy Mafia Romance) - Kara Hart Page 0,24
man’s voice, echoed above me. I looked up, choking on my own oxygen, and saw him. I didn't have time to protest. Within seconds, he jumped out of his car to prop me up underneath him. He pulled me back against his chest and wrapped his arms around me. In one hand was an inhaler. The other hand kept me sitting up so that my air passage was open.
“Breath in. Nice and slow.” He shook the inhaler and I took a deep breath. Slowly but surely, my throat opened. “There you go. One more time. You’re lucky I suffer from infrequent attacks. I always keep one of these guys with me.” I took another breath from the inhaler and felt the oxygen flow back into me.
“You alive?” he asked while rubbing my back. His warm touch sent shivers through my body.
“I'm fine,” I said, quickly pushing out of his grasp. “Just had a moment.” God, why did he have to be here? I was so embarrassed.
“Looks like it,” he said. “But you're okay? You need a ride?”
“No, we’re fine. What is it with you? Are you following me or something?”
He laughed. “Just got back from Detroit. I was about to go home and pass out, but then I saw your lifeless body on the side of the road and thought I might help you live. Forgive me for coming to your rescue.”
Jen grew impatient with me. “Mom, why did you tell him we don't need a ride to school? I'm late for my test!” She pouted, stomping her feet. Fuck, I didn't expect him to see that I had a kid.
He smiled to himself and crossed his arms, looking smug. “A daughter? You didn't tell me you had a daughter!” He bent down toward her and said “What’s your name, kid?”
“Don't talk to strange men, sweetie-pie,” I said, shielding her from him.
She, of course, was just itching to disobey me today. She grabbed her school bags and squealed “My name’s Jen. What's your name?”
“Honey, remember when you learned about stranger danger?” I warned. He gave me a look that basically said ‘Oh, come the fuck on.’
Jen was already running into his backseat, the defiant little devil. “Come on, Mom! Last one in is a rotten egg!” She called out, giggling to herself. I took a deep breath and stood face to face with the giant, and tried to conceal my fire-red face.
“Yeah. Last one in is a rotten egg, Mom.” The way he said that word made me cringe. It was as if he had just discovered gold and wanted to brag about it. Then he said “Hop in. I don't bite.”
“You better not,” I said.
He sped to her elementary school. First grade was beginning to be a true test for me as a parent. When we got to the school, we were five minutes late. At least Jen sort of had an excuse for her teacher.
“Okay, you have everything? You have your lunchbox, your backpack, and all of your books?” I asked her. She nodded and fumbled at the locks and jumped out of the car.
“Mom, I have to go! Bye!” She ran up the steps of the school without looking back. My angel, the one good thing I've done for the world. She was already such an adult.
“I can walk to from here, thanks,” I mumbled, though I didn't leave the car.
“No need when you have your own personal driver. Plus, I'm in the mood for another one of those omelettes.” I didn't make any attempt to cover up my loud groan. “Come on, you know you've missed me.” He had a smug look on his face as he peeled out of the school parking lot.
“Can we turn something on?” I asked him, ignoring his whole ‘you’ve missed me’ comment. I didn't miss him, not one bit. I didn't miss his strong biceps, his stupid soothing voice, and his incredible smell of oak and aftershave. Why would I miss that? There were plenty of better things in Monroe.
“Of course. I've got just the thing,” he said, clicking through the stations. It wasn't very long before he found what he was looking for.
I fell back against the rental car’s leather seats as I was suddenly blasted with the sound of heavy bass. The kick drum of a Top 40 club track played loudly. “What the hell is this?” I shouted.
“Hope Lawrence!” He yelled over the rambunctious beat. Ugh. He had this dumb look painted on his face and he