Page 33 of Unbound

“No. I could kick your ass anytime.”

He laughs. This is something we’ve both wondered about. Could I? I’m not sure, but I also trust his control in a way I don’t trust mine.

“It’s not just that,” I tell him. “Not just the incredible blazing woman routine. I’m sick of constantly being in the dark about so many things that affect us. Your memories coming back. My amulet going haywire. The runaway spell. There are so many questions around us and so many moving parts. I know this feels like a bad time for me to leave, but, well, there’s never a right time, is there? And the less we know, the weaker we are. Knowledge, power, blah blah blah. Besides, I remember Bruno Lombardi from when I was a little kid. He was all serious and deep voiced and super clever. Even back then I could tell he was the kind of guy who knew everything in the whole world. Maybe if I go to his island, he can at least help me learn how to control these exciting new powers. I don’t know. Train me somehow?”

He nods. “Like Yoda teaching Luke how to use the force on Dagobah?”

I sit up, stare at him in amazement. He never ceases to surprise me.

“What? You think I’ve got to my age and never seen Star Wars?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “How many times?”

He shrugs, looks a little sheepish. It makes him appear much younger, and it’s adorable. “I don’t know precisely. More than ten, less than a thousand?”

“You’re a sci-fi nerd. I didn’t see that coming. I like it. Maybe we can play Han and Leia sometime …”

His eyes meet mine, and he gives me a stern stare. “Be careful what you wish for, cara mia. I’ll have you in those plaits and that slave-girl costume before you can say Death Star.”

I laugh out loud and fall back down into his arms. I’m physically sore. Battered from the fight with the Laughing Hyenas and even more so by the spectacular full-service sex. But emotionally, I’m on a strange high. For just a second, it feels like no matter how fucked up things are, in the end, it’s all going to be all right.

Luca yawns, and I realize it’s been a long time since he slept.

“Close your eyes, baby,” I tell him. “I know you’re busy; I know you’ve got things to do, but you’ll do them better if you give yourself the hour you need.”

He holds my chin in his palm, turns my face up to his. “You promise you won’t sneak away while I’m asleep?”

“I promise,” I tell him. And I don’t. I give myself that hour as well—to stare at him as he sleeps and memorize every beautiful inch of his face. Who knows when I’ll share a moment like this with him again?

Chapter 16

Luca

She’s dressed when I wake up, which is never a state I like to see her in. I eat her up, running my gaze over her curves, her thick, dark hair in its neat ponytail. Those amazing eyes.

“Like what you see, bello?” she says, parodying me from a few hours ago.

“I do. What do you expect when you dress so provocatively?”

She glances down at her perfectly boring, perfectly ordinary black jeans and white turtleneck sweater, her feet in sneakers. “Yeah. You’re right,” she replies. “Dressed to kill.”

“Hopefully not, eh? At least for a few days. You’re all ready?”

I keep my tone as even as I can, but I don’t fool her for a second. She knows exactly what I’m feeling, this bewildering blend of fear and sadness. The knowledge I need to let her go and the protective urge to never let her out of my sight.

“Yeah. Minnie’s swinging by soon and we’re heading to the airport. Freya’s staying here while we’re gone. At least if she’s here, she can’t tell anybody else where it is. You going back to court?”

I nod. I have a lot of shit to deal with, and maybe it will be good for me. Maybe it will distract me. Maybe it will help me forget about her. She bends down to pick up her bag from the floor, and my cock springs to life as I stare at her ass. Yeah. Forgetting about her doesn’t seem likely.

She’s keeping her distance, because we both know how this will go if she doesn’t. There will be a significant delay, possibly torn clothing, the need for another shower. In terms of sex, we have said our perfect goodbyes. We are about much more than sex, though, this woman and me.

I clamber out of bed, and she grins when she sees the state of me. “Wow. These sneakers really do it for you, don’t they?”

“No. You do it for me, Rosa. And you always will.”

“What about when I’m an old lady?”

“You’re already well over a hundred.”