Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,13

taking me somewhere on a trip now.” She sat down on the couch carefully, afraid that any wrong move would, she wasn’t sure, break the spell? Maybe it might make him laugh loudly and call her stupid like the bullies used to do when she was in school and they’d pretend to be her friend long enough to pull some practical joke on her.

Her heart would shrivel up into a dried-out walnut if he did that to her. It had been hard enough to put up with his guard-enforced imprisonment, but to think that now when she’d learned to trust him, to love him, he’d make her the butt of his joke?

She didn’t think that was possible. She thought he loved her, but this was a really terrible joke. She looked away from him, out of the glass wall to the light-blue sky that made her feel calm. She took a deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly. “This isn’t funny, Matteo, and I really don’t appreciate it.”

“What?” He stood over her, his hand in his hair before he bent down to kneel in front of her. “Baby, I’m going to take you away from here for a little while. I don’t know how long, but you might even be able to take walks there. Get some fresh air. Anton’s getting everything sorted and if he can manage it, we’re catching a flight today. So, please, go pack some clothes.”

He chuckled quietly before he leaned in to kiss her. “I wouldn’t be that cruel to you, Marie, never, not in a million years. You mean too much to me.”

“Do I?” She felt her heart thud back to life as blood surged through it like a startled bunny rabbit, and tried to catch her breath when he nodded. “You’re really taking me out of here?”

That wasn’t what she wanted to ask though. She wanted to ask him more about what she really meant to him, wanted to ask him if he cared about her, but knew that it wasn’t the time for that. She was almost free of this place.

“Yes, Marie. Now come on, let’s get packed. I don’t know how much time we have before Anton will be here. He’s going with us.” That last part was called out over his shoulder as he walked back to their bedroom.

“I don’t care if you bring along the entire New York Jets football team, Matteo, we’re leaving here.” She stood up after him and raced past him to the bedroom. She almost knocked him over she was in such a rush. “Let’s get packing.”

She had three bags when she got finished, which was far more clothes than she’d had a year ago at the same time. She also had shoes, cosmetics, toiletries, jewelry, and other things that she didn’t have before. Matteo had given her all of that, but he’d given her far more, which was why she hadn’t called the police and demanded her freedom.

He’d given her love, a reason to live, even if they were both too broken to talk it out, to say it out loud. She’d had enough sessions with her counselor to know that she had trust issues and that she needed more counseling. But she’d also had enough of Matteo’s affection, the care he showed to her, to know that even keeping her locked away was a sign of how much he cared about her.

He hadn’t said much about his aunt, but Trina had explained quite a lot about the woman that had raised Matteo. She could imagine the life he’d lived. It wasn’t any easier for him to show love than it was for her.

“You ready?” he called out as he came out of the shower, a towel knotted low on his hips.

“I am. But, um, that’s pretty tempting.” She waved at the towel knotted loosely around his hips. “Are you sure we don’t have time?”

“I don’t know, I told Anton not to contact me on any devices. We might.” He backed her up against the bed until she couldn’t back up anymore and went down.

Matteo moved in between her knees as she wrapped her arms around his waist and stuck her finger into the edge of the towel to pull it apart. The soft black cloth fell to the floor with a quiet sound, but she didn’t hear it. She was too busy pressing soft kisses to his lower abdomen and inhaling his scent.

Unfortunately, that was the moment the guard knocked at