Salvatore: a Dark Mafia Romance(12)

Apart from the bathroom, there stood another door Rainey hadn’t pointed out. I walked over to it, but when I tried to open it, I found it was locked. I’d ask about it tomorrow.

I went into the bathroom and saw the separate shower as well as a bathtub set in the middle of the large space. It was old-fashioned, one with copper feet and fixtures. All surfaces were sparkling clean, and on one of the shelves stood several of my favorite brands of shampoos and body washes. Even bubble bath. I hadn’t had a bubble bath in years. I decided I’d have one instead of a shower.

I turned the taps on in the bath, checked the temperature, and poured in the soap, watching as champagne-pink bubbles began to appear almost instantly. I found a hairclip in one of the sink drawers and piled my hair up on top of my head. The deep auburn mass would fall to the middle of my back when I let it down. As I undressed, I checked out the rest of the space. Everything was high-end, from the gold-veined marble on the floor and countertops to the copper fixtures on the taps. A stack of towels stood on a shelf. I touched them. Soft and luxurious. Brand-new.

The bath filled. I turned the water off and dipped a toe inside. I caught my reflection in one of the two mirrors. I’d lost a few pounds in the last two weeks. I ran almost daily, and at 5 feet five and 120 pounds, I was healthy with long, lean muscle, small but pert breasts, and a bubble butt. That was the yoga. The sisters at the college actually allowed a woman to teach classes three evenings a week, and I never missed a single one. It was that and the running that kept me sane, that kept me from tearing my hair out in frustration at how life had turned out for me.

I sank slowly into the bath. Steam rose off it, but the warmth felt good compared to the relative coolness inside the house. They must have had the air conditioner cranking, since it was July and the heat outside was stifling, with the evenings offering only the slightest relief. I wadded up a small towel and lay my head back against it, closing my eyes. Between the heat and my exhaustion, I must have dozed off, because the sound of someone clearing his throat startled me awake.

My eyelids flew open, and I caught my breath when I saw Salvatore standing just inside the bathroom, watching me.

“Jesus!” I sat up, instinctively covering myself, although it wasn’t necessary. The bubbles created a barrier between us. “You scared the crap out of me!”

“I knocked, but there was no answer.”

He wore dress slacks and a button-down shirt he’d undone to where I could see the gold chain circling his neck. A small cross hung from it. It took me back five years, seeing that. I remembered noticing it, concentrating on it when I couldn’t bear to look him in the eye.

I flushed and glanced away.

“I fell asleep, I guess.”

“It’s dangerous to do in the bathtub.”

“Yeah.” I pulled my knees up, making sure the bubbles still hid me. When Rainey had told me this was my room, I’d assumed we weren’t sharing it. I’d assumed the double doors had led to the master. Had I misunderstood? “What do you want?” I tried to keep my voice friendly. Salvatore seemed to process the question slowly. He looked like he had a thousand things on his mind. Was it the meeting he’d been called to?

He opened his mouth to speak, but instead shook his head and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. It made me think of his brother, of how different they looked, and thinking about his brother made the water suddenly feel cold.

“I wanted to check on you, see if you needed anything,” Salvatore finally answered.

“I’m fine.” I wanted to ask if we were sharing the bedroom, if it was his, but couldn’t bring myself to just yet. “Where were you? Marco said you had a meeting.”

“I did.”

A wealth of information.

“How close are you to your cousins, Lucia?” he asked, coming a little farther inside the bathroom and leaning back against the counter, ignoring my question entirely.

“Odd question. Why?”

“I’m curious.”

“I don’t know. Not particularly, at least not in the last five years.” I wasn’t going to tell him that Luke had been keeping me in the loop with the goings-on of my family while I was at school. Besides, it wasn’t like he told me anything Salvatore would be interested in.

“So you didn’t talk to Luke once a month over the last five years?”

“Am I being interrogated?”

He folded his arms across his chest and studied me closely. “Do you need to be?”

“What are you talking about? Luke is my cousin, we talked, so what?”

“You didn’t talk to any other member of your family, not even your sister.”