Adrianno woke up with Angela in his arms. She was sleeping soundly, her arms straight by her side. She was facing him and so Adrianno took in every detail of her pretty face. He brushed her hair off of her face gently, as to not wake up her. He looked at her and realised her shirt had ridden up, exposing her stomach, his hand was on her bare back and he felt like he could burn a hole through it with his hands, so quickly removed it and pulled her shirt down. Why the hell did he pull her into bed last night?

He needed to get up for work. He was probably late already. He could tell by the way he didn't feel as tired as usual, which meant he had gotten more sleep. He got up out of bed quietly, which caused her to stir a little and turn over onto her back, but not wakeup. Adrianno left her in the room alone to take a shower in his bathroom.

He was trying to collect all the memories of last night and as to why she was in bed with him this morning as the warm water fell down his body. He remembered pulling her down and holding her and couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed. Never once had a woman stayed in his bed with him, they both hadn't even done anything and she had slept there the whole night. Adrianno panicked slightly at the thought and wondered, what the hell was he doing? Taking her and keeping her here until he knew he could trust her was one thing, but going out for dinner, hugging and sharing the night in bed with each other as another.

And just then, Adamo's words had echoed in his thoughts.I'd keep my eye on that pretty little thing if I were you Adrianno, we wouldn't want anything happening to Angela now would we? It was clear to Adrianno that this had gone too far, he would send Angela home tomorrow, and keep an eye on her for a few days when she returned back to where she belonged, just in case Adamo's men had followed her. She was getting too tied up in his business without even doing anything; it wasn't safe for her to be here or anywhere near Adrianno, right now or ever. He'd tell her tonight, so she could pack up whatever she had and go tomorrow morning.

Adrianno wondered if she would be safe here in the apartment on her own until tonight when he returned. He would need to get one or two more guards even just for today while he was out, he had decided, stepping out of the shower now. He wrapped a towel around himself and left the bathroom to find something to wear.

Angela had been rubbing the sleep from her eyes and done a double take of Adrianno, wearing nothing but a towel. His chest was bare of clothing but full of tattoos. She had seen him like this before, only once, but still couldn't help but stare a little longer. Once she realised she had been checking him out, her face began to redden and she pushed the covers back.

"Morning Angela." He said, not even batting an eye. He walked over to the wardrobe near her side of the bed and turned his back to her. What was she supposed to say? God this is so awkward, she thought. She must have fallen asleep last night before she could get free of Adrianno. She really had planned on going to sleep in her own bed last night.

"Er, morning." She mumbled awkwardly as she got up and began to gingerly walk towards the door.

"C'mon Angela, there's no need to be shy now." He said with his back to her and finally turned around. She froze mid-step and looked over at him.

"I-I'm not." She lied.

"It's not like we fucked or anything." He stated bluntly, holding up two suits and examining them. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Um, okay." She said before leaving and cursing herself for being so well, stupid she thought. She was surprised by his directness but said nothing about it when he came out into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl.

"Don't make dinner tonight." He said nonchalantly as she poured herself some coffee.

"Why not?" she asked, still avoiding eye contact with him.

"We're going out to dinner. Nothing fancy." He was being short with her. She didn't know it was because he was late for work, confused about why last night felt like the best night's sleep in a long time or that he was trying to focus on anything else other than Angela.

"Okay." She said quietly, staring into her mug of coffee in bewilderment of some kind. Angela didn't notice Adrianno nearing her and coming around the kitchen island to stand in front of her. He placed his fingers on her chin, tilting her head up to look directly at him before he spoke.

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to call the guards outside okay?" he said, just above a whisper. His voice was velvety and made her weak at the knees, looking up into his coffee eyes. All she could do was nod, speechless at the close proximity again. He said nothing either, just grabbed his coat and left.

It was almost six o'clock when Adrianno had gotten home. Angela was standing there looking at the piano in the living room when he called her name. He was near her, closer than she thought.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her, almost letting out a sigh of relief that she was okay and nothing had happened to her. He noticed Angela looking at the instrument standing in the middle of the room and spoke again. "You know, I didn't buy it for you to stand there and look at it." He said with humour in his voice.

"How did you know?" Angela asked, it was true, all she had been doing was looking at it. She had tried to sit down a few times to play but that got up quickly to do something else. It was something she used to do, but not anymore she thought.

"The keys are getting dusty." He moved to beside her now, causing her to look all the way up at him. "Do you need my coat again?" he asked, causing her to laugh a little.

"Yes please." She was glad the subject was changed. Adrianno left the room and came back seconds later with his coat. She put it on and grinned at him childishly, causing him to smile back at her.

"Let's go." He put his hand on the small of her back and directed her out of the apartment, into the elevator.

They arrived pretty quickly to the restaurant and ordered as soon as they got inside. Angela took off her coat and shivered with the cold. He looked up from his cell phone and put it down, wanting to strike up conversation with her.

"I'm guessing you aren't used to the cold are you?" he chuckled warmly. He wished he would be cold with her because she was gong tomorrow and she didn't even know it. He wished he could be meaner with her but he couldn't be. Adrianno couldn't place a name on what he was feeling right now at the thought of her going. He barely even knew her?

"No." she said shyly, "Back where I come from, it's never this cold." She looked up at him now with her grey eyes.

"And where is it that you come from?" Adrianno asked, interested to know more. "Thank you." He said quietly to the waiter who handed them both their dinner. She thanked the man too because continuing on with their conversation.

"Florida." She smiled genuinely now, memories coming back to her from the years she had spent in her home state. "I'm from Miami." Angela remembered her childhood there, every day was sunny, or at least that's what she remembered it like. She loved the warmth, the cloudless sky above, the scorching sun and the beach. "I've only ever seen snow once in Florida." She said sadly, looking out the window at the snow falling heavily on the pavement outside.

"Do you prefer the sun?" he asked, wondering what was wrong with her.

"Yes, I love it."

"What the hell were you doing in a place like Toronto then? Wouldn't you like to move back home?" he wondered again why she had went to Canada instead of back home when she left New York. She hesitated in answering, not finding the words to lie but that was what she had to do. She couldn't tell Adrianno that she was forced to run away from her abusive boyfriend and well, she thought he would never find her in Canada. If she had returned home, he would likely go there first to look for her. There were also other reason's stopping her from going home that she didn't want to think about.

"I-I..." She stuttered, because she really didn't know what to say. She was put on the spot, and Adrianno was looking straight at her, intrigued and waiting patiently for an answer out of her. "I can't." she finally found the words to speak, she looked down at her plate of food as she spoke.

"You can't? Why not?" he questioned again, not understanding what she was saying. She realised that she would just tell the partial truth, like she had before when he had asked about Derek a few weeks ago.

"I can't go home because- because, before I left, I had a huge fight with my parents. They didn't want me to leave, they told me to wait a while longer because well, I was so young but I didn't listen. I said some horrible things that I'm proud of and I haven't seen them since. That was almost six years ago now. I'm too ashamed to go back there and show them exactly what they were telling me. I'm a failure, nothing worked out here." Her eyes began to water, she picked up some food on her fork and munched on it, hoping to busy herself with something else. Adrianno was the one who didn't know what to say now.

"Everyone can be forgiven, especially someone like you." Her eyes caught his at his words.

"Like me?" she asked.

"You aren't a bad person. I can tell." He said softly, he wasn't very good at all this making people feel better thing but he knew he had to do something before she broke down. She looked so close to tears, like she was about to crumble at her own words. "I'm sure that if you went back home, you could mend things."

"No, I can't go back to Florida." She shook her head, her mother and father had known best. Derek was a lowlife who cared more about himself than anything else. They wanted her safe at home with them, but she thought she was doing the right thing. She thought she had a bright future ahead of her and that she and Derek would last forever but they didn't. "It's not my home anymore. I haven't got a home." She said the last bit more so to herself than him but he strained his ears to hear her. She wiped away a tear before it fell down her face and looked out the window.

Adrianno felt bad now, he had started the conversation in the first place. He looked at her pale face and her red eyes and couldn't help but feel something in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want her to cry, he wanted her to be happy again. Then, he remembered how he was going to send her home in the morning and how he was going to tell her tonight but now; he couldn't bring himself to do it. Especially not if she wouldn't be going home to her family, but back to that rotten old apartment outside Toronto where she had come from.

Angela wanted to share more with Adrianno that night at dinner but refrained from doing so. If only she knew him better, she liked the company of having other people around and had forgotten what it felt like to actually talk properly to people every day. She was too afraid to start any friendships when she had ran away, she didn't need anything rooting her in her destination for fear that he would comeback to get her and she would be on the run again. She wanted to tell Adrianno about how lost she felt, how broken she actually was and how scared she would always be of another appearance from Derek but she didn't.

"Can we go?" she avoided looking at him again and he felt so bad now.

"Sure." Was all he could say. He paid for their food and they both made their way to the car.

"I'm sorry for telling you all of that back there, I didn't plan to make you feel awkward." She apologized quietly as they began to drive back to the apartment. "I shouldn't have said so much." She shook her head.

"I don't feel awkward, there's nothing to apologize for." Adrianno gave her a sideways glance. She sighed softly and then asked something that had been on her mind since last night.

"Why did you get so drunk last night?" she asked hesitantly, looking up at him. His gaze was fixed on the road now and she could see how he gripped the steering wheel a little bit harder when she spoke. "Oh, you don't need to answer that. I shouldn't have asked."

"I don't sleep. Drinking makes it easier sometimes." He said truthfully. "I know I drink too much, you shouldn't have to deal with me while I'm like that. Next time, just leave me wherever I am if you find me."

"I couldn't do that." She almost scoffed, imagining leaving a drunken Adrianno on the floor asleep.

"Why not?"

"Well, I can't just leave you there if you're passed out on the floor." She laughed a little.

"Thank you then, for not leaving me to sleep on my apartment floor last night or the other night too." He chuckled back, really feeling like he had warmed to this girl just a little bit more than yesterday.

"So you can't sleep?" she asked, wanting to know as much information about him as she could gather.

"No, but I've gotten used to it by now. I never could."

"Sometimes I get like that too you know? It's very well... tiring." She giggled at her choice of words. "Exhausting actually, for want of a better word." It made him laugh.

"Yeah, I know."

They had reached the apartment and the pair had gone to bed but both lay awake, staring at the ceiling for different reasons. Sometimes when Adrianno was about to drift off to sleep, the noise of gun shots playing over on repeat in his own mind stopped him, he was haunting himself, no one else. He needed comfort, and knew Angela could give that to him except he wasn't about to go in looking for her at three in the morning.

Angela was lying awake because of the memories of her family, her younger sister and Derek. It was so much sadness and happiness crushed together for her to handle. She felt so alone and before she knew what she was doing, she made her way to Adrianno's bedroom, knocking on the door gently as to not wake him if he actually were asleep.

She opened the door after a few seconds, not getting a reply and poked her head through the crack in the door. The room was in darkness but there was still a bit of light getting in past the curtains opened slightly. Adrianno had his hands behind his head, looking at nothing in particular but he moved his gaze away from the ceiling and straight to her as soon as he heard her come in.

"Adrianno." She whispered quietly as she stepped through the door. "Can I come in?" she asked, nearing the bed.

"Well I suppose I'll have to let you, considering you're already here." He laughed quietly, he was nowhere near tired right now.

"I'm sorry, I should go. I didn't mean to intrude." She said, regretting even coming in here now. She turned around and began walking towards the door, taking what he had said seriously. She felt kind of imprudent.

"No, don't." his words stopped her in her tracks. "I was joking."

"Oh... okay." She said softly. He patted the bed and so she pulled the covers down and got in. Angela made sure to leave a lot of space between them although that wasn't what she wanted. Someone else's presence was all she needed, even if she would like that someone to wrap their arms around her and hold her tight, she knew she would be pushing it if she asked him to do so. But little did she know, that was all he wanted to do right now too. "I couldn't sleep." She explained. He turned over onto his side to face her. The little light that had entered the room shone on his perfect face.

"Me either..." he whispered.

*****

So, I hope you liked this chapter! If so, please vote and comment please, it would mean a lot. And don't forget to check out my other story on here called "Keeping Secrets", it's completed so no waiting around for updates!

A. Summers xo