REMEDY: A Mafia Romance (Return to Us Trilogy Book 3) by M.K. Gilher Read Free Book Online Page A

rises as she speaks.
    "Yes. And I fell in love with you the moment I saw your angelic face."
    "You fell in love? With me?"
    I nod and close my eyes. She'll finally know me again. This must be the anticipation a parent feels when they sneak to place a giant box filled with a coveted gift under the tree. Oh god, I hope she likes what's inside.
    "It was so long ago." Her eyes grow hazy. "I wondered what happened to you after we got arrested. I asked the commissioner about you. He said you were long gone."
    "I was. I left."
    "But you came back?"
    "I did. I shouldn't have done it. I promised Bernard I wouldn't contact you. But I had one infinitesimal window to be with you, and I was a selfish prick. I drove back to see if you were there. I got lucky and found you waiting for Viktor on the bench outside the station. You were huddled up in my jacket."
    "The jacket. Yes. I remember the clerk gave me a leather motorcycle jacket. I thought it was a mistake, but she said a young man insisted it was mine. I still have that jacket."
    "I know." I take her hand in mine. "So, I saw you were cold and sitting alone outside the station. I wasn't expecting anything to happen. I just wanted to keep you warm until Viktor got released."
    Her eyes flash with recognition. "My heart leaped out of my chest when you stepped out of that Mustang and told me to get in. Didn't you try to bribe me with a box of doughnuts on the roof?"
    "I spent my last forty bucks on that box."
    "You didn't need to sweeten the deal. I thought you were the hottest guy I'd ever seen. I sprinted to your car without a glance back at the courthouse or a thought of Viktor."
    I sit facing her with one knee on the bed. Damn, her smile was riveting as she ran down the steps to the Mustang, her wild hair flying behind her.
    "Do you remember where I took you?"
    "A big field?"
    "Yeah. A drop zone near Frank's hangar."
    ***
    Jacade
     
    "Cold?"
    She shakes her head and shivers as she pulls my jacket tighter around her. I pop the trunk of the Mustang. Bingo! A blanket. I walk to the front of the car and fan it out on the grass.
    "Join me."
    She sits Indian style next to me and peers into the box of pastries I place in the center of the blanket. "I thought these were doughnuts. But they're desserts. Fancy desserts!" She reaches for a chocolate-covered strawberry.
    "Only the best for you." I hand her a half-pint carton of milk with a plastic straw.
    We eat in silence, keeping a careful distance between our knees. I tap my finger on my milk and steal furtive glances at her.
    She's off-limits .
    Shit. Heldman will kill me if I touch her.
    She stares at her lap and tries to hide behind her hair, but the stars emit enough light to highlight her delicate nose, her pouty lips.
    "Thanks for the jacket," she says softly.
    "You're welcome."
    "And thank you for trading places with me tonight when the cop pulled us over."
    "Not a problem. You're too sweet to go to jail."
    "I'm glad they let me go."
    "Me too. The cops treat you okay?"
    "Yeah. The creepazoid commissioner tried to put his hands in my pants. He got all pissy when I fought him off."
    Bastard. I heard that prick Boothby in the bathroom bragging about giving her shit.
    "He's a dick," I say.
    "Yeah, he's a dick wrapped in a douchebag tortilla topped with fiery asshole sauce."
    "True."
    Our laughter evaporates into the still night air. I gaze up at the powdered sugar sprinkling of stars peeking through the clouds. "So, did they call your parents?"
    "No. My parents are dead. I ran away from my foster home a few months back."
    "Oh." She's a runaway? Why didn't the old man tell me? "Is that guy Viktor your boyfriend?"
    Her hair swishes against the blanket as she shakes her head. "I don't know him that well."
    Fucking Heldman is a scumbag liar.
    She gathers her hair and tosses it behind her back. She leans forward, and her shiny locks slowly cascade over her shoulders to block her face from me again.
    "You have really pretty hair."
    "I do?" She