Kane's Ransom: A BWWM Mafia Romance Novel (16 page)

It was probably a good thing that Jiggs hadn't given Killian a gun, or the surgeon might have shot the Mobster right there.

Instead, however, he just ground his teeth together and then, not trusting himself to speak, gave a single swift nod before walking stiffly out of the bar.

He could feel Jigg's eyes on his back until the door closed behind him.

Chapter eighteen

Alicia sat upright with a start as she heard the click of the key card in the door. Hopping up off the couch, she fumbled with the remote, but gave up as it slipped out of her hands and tumbled underneath the couch. She ran around the piece of furniture to stand in front of the door as Killian opened it and stepped inside.

"You're okay," she exclaimed, running her eyes over the man's body. Before she had thought about her actions, she'd darted forward, throwing her hands around him and squeezing him tightly in a hug.

For a second, Killian stiffened at her touch, but then he softened again, putting his arm around her as well and squeezing her back. "Yes, I'm fine. How are you?"

He had to be able to smell the damp scent of conditioner still clinging to her skin, and the ends of her wavy, slightly frizzy black hair were still damp from where they'd brushed the surface of the water in the bathtub. "I'm good, actually," she said honestly. "I took a bath, relaxed a bit, watched some television." She glanced over at where a couple plates were stacked on a cart. "And ordered some room service - I hope that's okay."

Killian grinned down at her, showing off his white teeth against those broad lips of his. "Oh, that's totally all right," he replied, smiling. "I'm glad to see that you're relaxing."

For a moment, Alicia remembered how she'd kissed Killian goodbye on the cheek before he left - and then, the memories cascading in a rush, she remembered next how she'd pictured him taking her as she got off in the tub, how she'd imagined his hands wrapping around her slim body and guiding her back against his own hardness, bending her forward as he took her from behind, filling her up...

Quickly, before he could see her blush, she turned away. She breathed a silent prayer of thanks for her darker skin, helping to hide the rush of blood to her cheeks. "How was your meeting?" she asked, as she stepped back so he could finish entering the apartment.

Stepping inside and heading over to flop down on the couch, Killian spread his hands out in a so-so gesture. "Good, but not great," he admitted. "I have a name, but all the information suggests that these guys are a vicious bunch, and we're going to have more trouble with them."

At the sound of this pronouncement, Alicia felt her stomach twist itself into a knot of renewed tension. She tried to ignore it. "What's the name? Who are these guys?"

"Ever heard of the Curanos?"

She shook her head, her lips mouthing the word to herself. They sounded vaguely Italian, or maybe from somewhere in the Caribbean.

"Well, apparently they're a new gang around here, pushing into territory previously held by the Zerellis. Because the Zerellis have a good network established here, the Curanos instead are relying more on violence and intimidation - and that includes leaning on their targets in order to get what they want, and viciously disposing of them if they don't get it." Killian didn't add any more details, but Alicia's mind could fill in the details.

"So what do we do next?" she asked, her heart back up in her throat. Damn it! In just a few words, all of her previous relaxation had vanished, and she felt just as stressed as she had before Killian left the hotel room to go to his meeting.

When she met his eyes next, she realized that he could see her stress level climbing. "Next, we find a way to distract ourselves and pass the time while we wait," he said after a minute, forcing himself to smile at her. "We just have to wait for the time of the exchange to get closer before we call, and we should do our best to keep our minds off of the event until then."

"We're going to call?" Alicia asked. She could tell that the man was forcing himself to remain calmer and more relaxed, but she still appreciated his smile, fake or not.

"Yes."

"What about the money? I don't have it-"

"Don't worry about the money," Killian insisted. "The important thing is that we call when the time is right - but until then, we need to keep ourselves from panicking or getting too stressed out about it, and should instead focus on trying to relax."

For a moment, Alicia almost thought that maybe he knew how she'd been 'relaxing' before he came back, and that blood threatened to come rushing back into her cheeks! "Maybe we could just talk," she suggested, hoping to deter her rising flush.

After a second, Killian nodded. "Talking sounds good. What do you want to talk about?

Anything but how I imagined you claiming my body and making me yours! Alicia hurriedly cast her mind about for any topic that wouldn't reveal her secret imagined acts of sexual pleasure between the two of them. "Goals!" she exclaimed as the word popped into her head.

"Goals?" Killian tilted his head slightly at her, almost like a confused dog.

Alicia couldn't keep from letting out a peal of laughter at his expression. "Yes! For the future!"

He still looked confused, and she leaned back a little on her side of the couch, propping her feet up on the sofa and pointing them towards him, as she explained. "When I was a little girl, I used to always lay awake at night, listening to all the noise of the ghetto around us," she explained, looking up at the ceiling briefly as she thought back and remembered. "There was always a lot of noise - the walls were paper thin, so we could hear just about everything happening around us. In order to distract myself, I'd try and think of all the goals for my life, everything that I wanted to see, or do, or create, or accomplish in some way."

After a moment, Killian nodded. "Ah, I see. I used to do the same thing whenever I needed a break from studying in medical school. I'd just close my books for a moment and let my eyes tune out of focus, trying to think of what I wanted out of life."

"So what were some of your goals?" Alicia watched as the man's eyes shifted back and forth, not quite focused on the room around them, as he thought back.

"Independence," Killian finally remarked, after several seconds of silence.

"Independence? What do you mean?"

He shrugged, and then gestured around at the hotel room with one hand. "When I worked hard, I could afford more vacation time and more freedom. I always thought that there had to be some upper limit, though - if I worked my hardest, could I really afford all the freedom and luxury that I wanted? I didn't think so. So even back in medical school, when I was flat broke and working all the time, I still dreamed a bit about trying to just live simply, to not spend much money, but instead live off of savings for a long time - years, maybe forever. I thought about having such a simple life that I'd never need to work again to keep it funded and keep on relaxing, to have all my time as my own."

As he spoke, Alicia nodded along, the idea taking shape inside her mind. "See, that's grander than anything I dreamt about," she replied, leaning her head back against the cushions of the couch. "I just thought about having money, enough money to pay my bills." She snorted for a moment. "Still working on that goal."

"But you must have had others, too, didn't you?" Killian chimed in. "Places you wanted to go, things that you wanted to see?"

As he asked these questions, his hand slid out and wrapped around her bare foot, bumping up against his hip. He lifted her foot up a couple inches so that it rested on his thigh, and his big fingers wrapped around the sole of her foot and gently squeezed, flexing her toes back and forth. Alicia started for a moment at the unexpected sensation, but she felt herself relax almost immediately as he gently but deeply massaged her foot.

"Ooh, that feels really nice. Yeah, I guess I did sometimes dream of getting away from it all. In the heart of Texas, there aren't many places that you see, but I always thought of someday visiting Egypt, getting to see the great pyramids. I'd see pictures of them in my textbooks, and always wanted to know how big they truly were in person."

"The pyramids," Killian repeated back, as his fingers gently but firmly pushed against her feet, kneading tension out of muscles. "That's something I've never seen, either. It would be amazing to go, someday."

"Well, let me know when you go, and maybe I can stow away in your suitcase," Alicia snorted, slipping back a little in the couch to extend her foot out a bit further. Ooh, the man knew exactly how to work her feet to get out all that tension! She hadn't even realized what kind of tension was there until she felt it flowing away. "What about you? Where do you want to go?"

For a moment, he paused in his foot massage as he considered the question. "Greece," he answered eventually.

"Greece?" Alicia repeated, glancing over at him. She lifted up her other foot onto his lap, and he obligingly switched his attentions over to it.

"Yeah. All that history, all those old temples and buildings there - I think that it would be amazing to see them, maybe go sailing on the Mediterranean and hop among the islands. It would be like taking a trip back in time."

"Ahh." The sound was partly as she imagined Greece, and partly as he pushed his thumb deeper against the bottom of her foot. "That does sound nice."

For a moment, only silence passed between them, as he kept on massaging her feet and Alicia kept feeling her tension slipping away. Oh, if only this could just become a daily occurrence!

"What do you want to do, though, with the rest of your life?" Killian asked after another minute, not stopping in his attentions.

It was a little tough for Alicia to think through the warm feeling of relaxed muscles and the touch of his warm skin against hers, but she tried. "Maybe open a little cafe, or a bed and breakfast," she offered after a minute. "I feel like I know how to handle people thanks to working as a waitress, but I'd love to actually run my own little cafe, or even just an inn where people can come and stay, get away from it all. Maybe a little place, just have a few guests each night, actually get to know them."

"Sounds exhausting," Killian commented, but she had learned to hear the little bit of mirth in his dry voice.

She sat up, intending to lean forward and punch him gently - but as she moved up from her reclining spot on the couch, she heard her stomach growl - loudly!

Killian heard it too. He opened his mouth to respond - but before any words could come out, a growl erupted from his stomach as well!

"Maybe it's time to get some food," he sheepishly admitted, as Alicia burst into peals of true, genuine, honest laughter.

Chapter nineteen

After Killian admitted that they could go get some food, however, neither one of them moved from the sofa, Alicia's legs still up on Killian's lap - and in his gently rubbing hands.

"There's a lot of great places to eat in Dallas," the man mentioned, not moving. "If we wanted to get dressed up, I know several five-star restaurants that could provide some great quality food, a multi-course meal that could keep us distracted for a while."

Alicia considered this, but then shrugged. "Look at me, would you?" she asked, batting her dark eyelashes over at him. "Do I look like the kind of girl who needs to be taken out for a fancy dinner?"