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.”With that, Cecelia was gone, leaving Jordyn alone to her thoughts once more.Chapter TwelveWhen Cecelia stepped out on the porch and eyed Antony’s empty glass of whiskey, Lucian was quick to leave, not wanting to hear a lecture about drinking hard liquor on Sundays again.It wasn’t long before he found Jordyn in the kitchen at the stove.She was stirring a sauce with all her attention focused on the cooking.Jordyn didn’t seem like she was overwhelmed by the three different foods she had going, easily slipping from one boiling pot to another without issue.Lucian hadn’t known she could cook, and that bothered him.It wasn’t her fault, considering he ordered most of their food in over the last week.Seeing her now, though, cooking in a kitchen fit for a queen like his mother, hit him straight in the gut.A home like this could have very well been hers and no one would have known the difference.Where she’d come from didn’t matter, a lot like where he started out.Adapts well was an understatement, Lucian thought.Jordyn didn’t look a bit out of place and Lucian felt stupid for thinking his wealth might be off-putting to her because she wasn’t accustomed to it.Maybe Jordyn just didn’t give a shit about money.After all, she’d kicked those six-hundred dollar pumps off earlier when they arrived without even knowing the price of the heels on her feet.She was tending a bubbling, messy red sauce without an apron on and didn’t care a bit about staining the very expensive dress she wore, not that she knew the price of it, either.An elastic, which she hadn’t been wearing before, was holding back her curls in a ponytail at the nape of her neck.With her hair pulled back like it was, some of the bruising on her neck was visible, but it wasn’t bad.There was also a slight reddish discoloration at her pulse point that hadn’t been there last night, but was curtsey of Lucian’s teeth and mouth that morning.He’d marked her very clearly.Anyone standing close enough to see the love bite would know exactly what it was.Lucian liked that a whole hell of a lot.Just looking at it from a distance sent something primal curling through his stomach while lust flooded his veins.Kind of like it made Jordyn his.That was dangerous territory.Needing to get his mind away from that topic, Lucian crossed the distance between him and Jordyn, coming up behind her silently at the stove.Both of his hands landed at her waist, grabbing tight as he leaned in to kiss her neck.Jordyn didn’t start in surprise at his sudden presence.In fact, she relaxed in his hold and turned into his cheek, allowing Lucian to press his lips to the corner of her demure smile.“Hey,” she said.“How’d it go?”Lucian hadn’t hid the fact he and his father were going to need privacy for their chat, and it would be dealing with Jordyn being under his protection and in his life.He figured she deserved to know things that dealt with her.“Fine,” Lucian replied.“I think we settled it all, anyway.”“Bringing a girl home is a big deal for you Marcello boys, isn’t it?”“Yeah, it kind of is, sweetheart.Especially if that girl has a gang looking for her and it might cause us trouble”Jordyn turned rigid at the reminder.“Sorry,” he said quickly.“No, I just … Never mind.”“Tell me.”Jordyn continued stirring the many pots on the stove, sighing.“I guess it’s easy to forget.”Lucian’s brow furrowed.“Forget? Jesus, how?”“I’m not sure,” Jordyn said with a weak laugh.“That sounds crazy, I know.But when I’m around you, I don’t feel like I need to look over my shoulder.I haven’t felt unsafe.I mean, look at this house, Lucian.” She waved at the kitchen they were standing in.“Right here, right now.How am I supposed to feel like some troubled girl on the run from a man who wants to kill her when I’m in a place like this? It doesn’t make me feel that way.So yeah, it’s easy to forget.”Maybe he could understand that, if he tried.And hell, if she wanted to slip away from reality for a little while, who was he to bring up something to worry her?“Helping my mother, hmm?” Lucian asked.“I didn’t know you liked to cook.We could go pick up some things, if you want.Being Italian means Cecelia made damn sure we all knew how to feed ourselves.”“She let me try something different, actually.”Lucian froze [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]