"He knows that's not the case. There is no way in the world he could think I'd withdraw as much money as I did from the bank for a kidnapper. I'd rather take the bullet." She looked offended that Lucca would even suggest something like that but at least it took the wistful, homesick expression off her face.
Why her she-power ‘I will fuck something up' facial expression made Aidan proud, he couldn't say, but listening to his woman talking like a bad ass was quite a turn on. His woman? What the hell was wrong with him today? He couldn't keep her; of that he had no question. It wasn't that he didn't want her, it was quite the opposite, but Lucca's words just now hit him so hard because in the back of his mind that is exactly what he'd been thinking. He couldn't give this woman the life that she deserved and had grown accustomed to. How long would it take before she regretted her decision to be with him? If she would even make that decision at all. This little getaway was funded by her, and he was sure she knew that he didn't have this kind of money. Most kings didn't have the money to live the way she'd purchased for them to live this past week. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy it, but he'd rather just have her.
"I'm sure he just wants some verification from you." He attempted to settle her down from the perceived insult it sounded like she thought she received.
"I'd love to talk to him, but I'd really like to know what plans you have to get us out of this. I'm having a great time, but I know my mother and brothers are worried about me, and that makes me feel rotten. It's not that I don't have the greatest faith that you'll get us out of this, but my mother has anxiety, and if her children are involved it's doubled." That she cared about her family and wanted them not to be concerned for her was very touching to Aidan who didn't know exactly how family dynamics worked. He just stayed beside her while she worked out what was going on in her mind.
"Thanks for having such confidence in my ability to get us out of this, but after talking to Lucca and now you, maybe it would be best if you went home to your family." Those words felt like broken glass as they traveled up his throat and out his mouth. He didn't want to look at her too closely while he said them because he knew she'd see that he didn't mean it. Not one word of it. He didn't want her to leave him, he didn't, but he knew that it might be better for her and much safer. She put her hand on his cheek gently turning him to face her, and he wanted to kiss her for all that she was and all that she did.
"You realize that I chose you over my family. I was told that they were going to kill you, and I escaped my home after knocking over my father and made sure you didn't die. There will be hell to pay when I return … if I return, and that is going to happen whether we working things out with Lucca or not." She looked away, and it was then that Aidan knew that there was more to this than he planned on. He was so busy trying to please Lorna and not have Lucca be killed, he'd forgotten what she'd done in this mess.
"Things are not the best right now, for either of us, but they can get better. You know your family loves you so you can't be worried that you're in grave danger," he tried to gauge her response, but she looked so worried he wondered how it was in her family. "Do you think your father would kill you for saving me?"
She looked over the balcony like she could find the answer to the question in the beautiful sunset in the horizon. "I've never done any of the things I did before I left. I was always the one who did what I was told, and I did it without fuss. My family knows that I don't like violence, so the outburst when I physically came at him, I'm sure, was shocking. Not only did I save a man who was going to kill my cousin, but I also knocked my father down because I thought he was going to hit me. The thing I didn't tell you is when my father got up off the floor, there were at least 5 men with guns pointed at me. Lucca saved me that night so I could come and save you."
"Things happen when tensions rise in a situation, and I'm sure that your father just wants to know that you haven't been abducted and are alive and well." He pulled her hand into his and was shocked at how cold it was. Maybe her body was reacting to the story she was telling and the fear was causing physical changes, but he wasn't going to let her deal with this herself. He made her stand up so he could sit back on the chair and then wrap her up in his embrace.
The deep sigh was the only thing that let him know she appreciated what he'd done because she continued to look out into the distance. "I'd just like to make sure my cousin is not going to die because of any mark on his head and make sure you're safe as well."
"Thanks for thinking of my well-being but I think you are the one I want to make sure is alright. Do you think your father would hurt you? I asked that before, but you didn't give me a straight answer. If I need to make additional plans to get you away from here, I can do that too." He turned her to face him so he could judge the truth in her answer. "Let me be clear. Your answer to that question is going to change the way this all plays out."
"I don't think he would, but the last time I saw him, he didn't look or act like the same man who used to bounce me on his knee and claim I was the most precious girl in the world. He looked at me like I was a class A bitch that needed taken down a peg or two." She sounded so small, and he knew how it felt to have those that you thought should love and care for you do something so out of character it made you question every moment that had come before that. He didn't like to see her so disillusioned.
"Were you afraid of him?" He hoped that if she talked it out it would be a bit better for her, and she could make more sense of it in her head.
"Not really. I just have never seen that look directed at me. He is good at letting you know if he's happy, sad, proud or mad with just a look, and I know what most of his expressions mean. I've even seen the one he directed at me cover his face before, but when it's aimed at you, it's totally different. I was just freaked for a minute, but I don't know how his reaction will be when we see each other again because this situation is new to me."
He was just going to have to understand that she didn't have an answer to the question, but that put a new spin on this whole thing. Aidan didn't want to let Lorna be hurt over trying to save him but he didn't know how to stop it. He had very little pull when it came to his own organization, but with the mob, he was lower than a nobody. Lucca had better be working his magic on her behalf.
"Why don't you go in and figure out what we're going to eat tonight?" He didn't think the way the conversation was going was helping him or her so maybe they should just move on. He had to place a call to one of his boys with the Devil's Stepbrothers and find out what was happening over there.
"That was a smooth way to change the subject," she laughed as she lifted off of his lap. At least she looked like she was in better spirits and she'd grown warmer in his embrace, so he wasn't worried she was going into shock or anything.
"You know me … I'm as smooth as they come." He loved watching her walk away from him; he could stare at her ass for hours. Well maybe he could do it if he could stop staring for a while and fuck her. The last time they'd had sex, it was a totally different experience for some reason. He didn't know what it was, but it seemed like each and every time they came together for sex, it was more than just two bodies trying to feel good. That was the only way he knew to explain it because he was so out of his realm when it came to being with a woman more than a few times. He enjoyed her bouncing tits almost as much as he loved listening to her giggle, and when he slid into her soft, warm pussy it felt almost as good as the deep conversations she liked to start when they lay quiet in the dark. Nothing about this thing he had going on with her made any sense to him, but that didn't make him want to stop. If anything, he wanted to get more into it to find out how deep the rabbit hole went and how he could keep it alive as long as possible.
When she was gone and the door was closed, he took his phone out and called his friend The Pacemaker to see what was going on in that neck of the woods. He called the number and it picked up but there was no voice on the other end of the line. He was used to that, because that was how they all answered the phone.
"Hey. Is this Aidan's Pizzeria? I'll have 2 large pies." This was the way they all replied when they were the one calling another. It may sound stupid, but that was how they knew who they were talking to. If the person on the other line said that this was the wrong number, they either couldn't talk to you right then and they'd call you back or you really had the wrong number and you didn't have to worry that you'd been made.