Twisted Hearts (The Camorra Chronicles #5)(56)

“Your dad and brother need to stop being so stubborn and accept the money my brothers and I offered to lend them.”

“To just interest rates?”

Savio turned and in our narrow corridor that brought us closer than I’d intended. His eyes slid over me. “No interest, Gem. We want to help our men. And we’ll soon be family. We wouldn’t even want it back, but your dad refuses to accept money.”

I nodded. That sounded like Dad and Diego. They both wanted to take care of us without help.

It was strange being alone with Savio, and suddenly I wasn’t sure how to act around him. Before seeing him, I’d been furious at him, but now I felt mostly confused.

“You look gorgeous. Eighteen suits you,” Savio said and set the boxing gloves down on the sideboard.

“Thanks,” I said, then quickly walked past him and into the living room to bring more space between us. Savio followed. He looked relaxed and self-assured as he took me in. He shrugged out of his leather jacket and the tight shirt beneath did nothing to hide his muscles.

I stopped in the middle of the room. Suddenly completely at a loss what to do. I’d never been on a date, of course. I hadn’t even spent time with Savio alone except for the few times he’d trained with me when I was younger. This was new to me.

Savio didn’t share my hesitation. Of course, he didn’t. He came closer and stopped in front of me. “Did you miss me?”

“You distracted yourself pretty good from what I hear, so you probably didn’t waste a single thought on me,” I bit out.

Savio took another step closer. I tilted my head back to keep an eye on his face, wary of his motives, and worse, my traitorous body. “Did Diego badmouth me again?”

“Is it a lie then?”

“Is what a lie?” he asked in a low voice. His head was closer than before and his gaze slid over my body once more. The possessive glint in his eyes sent a shiver down my back.

I stood my ground, however. I wouldn’t let him distract or sweettalk me. Diego’s warning and Toni’s words about Dakota rang in my head. “That you were with Dakota yesterday and God only knows how many more girls in Reno.”

Savio grinned, but there was something dark about it. “It’s true.” At least he didn’t lie, but my stomach turned, all the same, hearing the words. “But it’s also true that I thought about you every fucking day. I couldn’t get that last image of you in that dress out of my head. You were always in the back of my mind when I was with other girls.”

Did he expect a thank you? Anger surged up in me, and I turned around. My skin throbbed and I wanted to scream. “I’m glad to hear that you honor our engagement this much.”

Savio appeared in front of me again. “I do honor our engagement. I promised to marry you and I will. I enjoy seeing my initials on you.” He motioned to my ring and I lost it.

“How dare you? You can’t just reserve me like a table in a restaurant and go on living your man-whore life while I sit back and wait for you to make up your mind about our wedding.”

“I’m a Falcone. I can do whatever the fuck I want, Gemma. And I want you, so no one else is going to get you.” He leaned closer. “Nobody will as much as look at you, or I’m going to rip the fucker to shreds, got it?”

I swung my arm back and punched him. Despite his quick reflexes, my knuckles grazed his chin. For once, I’d taken him by surprise. If I hadn’t been this enraged, I would have celebrated my success. I turned on my heel, burning over with rage. An arm wrapped around me and before I could aim a backward kick at Savio, he lifted me off the ground and lowered me to the sofa. I lay flat on my back while he knelt over me and held me down with his bigger body. He didn’t look pissed. The bastard was actually amused by my outburst. “I can’t wait to find out how much of a wildcat you’ll be in bed.”

I couldn’t believe his audacity. “If you think I’ll sleep with you anytime soon, Savio, you’re insane. I’d rather eat one of Diego’s dirty socks than have your hands on me. So if you’re here because of that, you wasted your time.”

Savio leaned down as if he was going to kiss me. I snapped my teeth at him, trying to bite his lip. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to kiss him. I’d spent countless minutes imagining how it would be to kiss Savio, to feel him close, but not like this, not when he kept kissing other girls. “Don’t you dare.”

Savio chuckled then kissed the tip of my nose. “Don’t worry, Gem. I won’t touch you until you’re officially mine. I can wait.” His smile widened. “Especially since no one else will touch you either.”

“You’re not always around, and Diego is neither. There are enough guys who’d love to be with me, Savio.”

It was true and yet an absolutely ridiculous thing to say.

His eyes darkened and my belly did a little flip. “Everyone in this city knows you’re mine, and just remember Gemma, if a guy touches you, Remo, Nino and I are going to dismember him slowly. You know the rumors about how we deal with traitors.” As quickly as it had come, the darkness disappeared from his eyes and was replaced by the usual arrogance. “And we both know it’s me you want, not some loser. You said it yourself, you believe in waiting until marriage, so as your future husband, all your firsts are mine.”