Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines Book 2) by Bethany-Kris

for
what?”
    “Bloodwork. The baby. Standard things,” Affonso said.  
    “It’s a quick appointment,” Emma assured.
    Calisto sighed, and his jaw clenched. “Sure.”
    “Great,” Affonso said, clapping his hands together
once.
    Calisto wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t exactly running to
get away, either.
    Wonderful .
    “Sit. We’ll eat together. Like a famiglia should,” Affonso demanded.
    Calisto smirked, never taking his eyes away from Emma.
“Right. Just like a family.” 

 

     
    Calisto
     
    Emma sat still and quiet in the passenger seat. She
propped her chin in her hand and watched the buildings fly by as Calisto
navigated the tough, thick early morning traffic. She hadn’t said more than a
couple of words to him.
    It wasn’t like he blamed her.
    After last night, she had every reason to want to
avoid him. He’d been stupid, got stupid-drunk, and then acted stupid all over
her.
    Calisto knew better than that.
    “Hey, Emmy?” he asked.
    She never took her eyes away from the window. “Hmm?”
    “About last night.”
    “It doesn’t matter, Calisto. Leave it alone. I’m
fine.”
    “Yeah, I figured. What I said still stands. I wanted
to say it again.”
    Emma slowly rotated in the seat until she was staring
at him. “Which one? The part where you deliberately accused me of keeping
something from you, the part where you accused me of not trying to tell you at
all, or the apology?”
    Calisto’s hands squeezed the steering wheel harder.
    Good men apologized when they did wrong.
    Simple as that.
    “The apology,” he said quietly.
    “Thank you. Now, can you please drop it? I don’t want
to talk about it.”
    “I get that. I just …”
    “What?” Emma demanded, blowing out a heavy breath.
    “Why are you so irritated?” Calisto asked. “I’m making
small talk. You’re barking at me.”
    Emma shook her head, and turned back to the window.
“You don’t get it, Calisto. I don’t want to talk about it. Not the pregnancy,
the baby, or what happened. It hurts.” She pointed to her chest, drawing
Calisto’s attention from the road for a moment. “In here, it hurts me all the
time. I don’t want to talk about it, okay? Drop it.”
    “Dropped.”
    “Great,” she muttered.
    “I am sorry you had to go through it alone,” he added
quickly.
    Out of the corner of his eye, Calisto watched as Emma
clenched her hands in her lap until her knuckles turned white from the
pressure. She let out a slow exhale, and her pretty mouth turned down into a
frown.
    “I wasn’t entirely alone,” she said. “Affonso was
there for a while.”
    “For a while?”
    “He left after he took me to the hospital.”
    Calisto’s brow furrowed as he slowly took a sharp
corner with the car. “But he must have come back, yes?”
    “A day later when I was released, he sent Carter to
come pick me up and bring me home.”
    Carter was one of Affonso’s men, and Emma’s full-time
enforcer. Calisto’s rage bubbled up from his stomach at the very idea of Emma
being alone in the hospital while she was suffering, and probably lonely.
    “I’m sorry,” Calisto said again.
    Emma shrugged. “Don’t be.”
    “I can’t help it. Last night wasn’t entirely about
you, either. I was pissed at myself for being a fucking idiot, and for putting
you in that kind of position. I should have taken more care in Vegas. Instead,
I made a mess and you were left to clean it alone.”
    Calisto had kept his eyes on the road, not wanting to
chance hitting another vehicle if someone cut in front of them. The last thing
he needed was for Emma to be hurt in her current condition. Affonso wouldn’t be
pleased.
    Emma’s hand landed on Calisto’s arm with a gentle
touch. The softness of her palm soaked into his skin immediately, reminding him
of what it felt like to feel every inch of her body, explore all her silky
curves and dips, with his own hands.
    Just as fast as her hand was there, it was gone.
    But he’d still felt