Red Hot Dragons Steamy 10 Book Collection

by Lisa Daniels

  Luca knew it wasn’t fair to compare Teresa to Mara, that they were two completely different people, ones from different walks of life. Teresa had an innocence that Mara never did.

  Yet he couldn’t let go of the idea that they were somehow connected.

  They are connected because they both have some odd spell over you which you can’t seem to shake.

  “You’re looking at me weird,” Teresa told him nervously. “Is something wrong?”

  Luca shook his head quickly.

  “I’m just trying to figure you out,” he replied and her complexion paled at his confession.

  “Figure me out? How? What do you mean?” she asked quickly, reaching for her water. “There’s nothing to figure out. I’m just a normal girl from Virginia.”

  “Tell me about that,” Luca said, sitting back in his chair to fold his arms over his chest. “What brought you to Miami?”

  She stared at him for a moment and he realized she was trying just as hard to figure him out as he was her.

  I can’t really blame her for being suspicious. She has every right to wonder who I am. She’s not from around here.

  He wondered what she would say if she knew the truth about him, about his history, his family. The fact that he was a dragon didn’t seem to bother her in the least and he considered that perhaps that was their connection.

  Is she my mate?

  The question was unbidden and odd, one that he’d never asked himself of any woman before, not even Mara.

  Teresa was saved from having to answer when the waiter brought their meals to the table.

  “You like osso buco?” he asked as she reached for her fork. Teresa nodded eagerly.

  “Are you kidding?” she asked, her eyes brightening as she stared at her plate. “I live for meat.”

  She seemed embarrassed by the words as they tumbled out of her mouth and she glanced at him through her peripheral vision.

  “Uh, I mean…” she faltered. “I like food.”

  The pale of her face was replaced with an endearing hot flush and Luca found himself moving closer to study the lines of her face.

  “Hey, I’m Italian. I love a woman who appreciates food. Around here, all the women are worried about gaining an ounce. It’s refreshing to meet a lady who will order veal once in a while.”

  Their eyes met and Luca noted with some amusement that she blushed deeper, despite her attempts to hide it behind her silken tresses.

  “So?” he asked as she took a mouthful of her food.

  “It’s really good,” she replied, nodding, but Luca chuckled.

  “No, that’s not what I meant.”

  Her beryl eyes met his questioningly.

  “What?” she asked.

  “What brings you to Miami?”

  Teresa continued to chew and Luca wondered if she wasn’t stalling for time on her answer but he didn’t push.

  “Adventure,” she answered finally and he snorted at the response.

  “I see. How’s that working out for you?”

  She eyed him speculatively, reaching for her glass of wine.

  “I’m still here,” she replied. The answer was meant to be lighthearted but he could detect a note of gratitude in her voice. He leaned forward, wanting her to see the sincerity in his eyes as they locked on her. She didn’t look away.

  “That guy is being dealt with,” he told her in a low voice. “You don’t have to worry about him again.”

  Something flashed in her eyes and for a second, Luca wondered if she had ever really been worried about August in the first place. Sure, she had been scared, but when he found her, she wasn’t crying or acting hysterical.

  I wonder if she could have taken him.

  It seemed farfetched, given her slender frame, but as he continued to study her face, he felt like the woman sitting before him might have the capacity to take care of herself.

  Especially if she’s a dragon too.

  A wave of arousal shot through him and he sat back, suddenly concerned that he might act on his primitive instincts.

  Teresa cleared her throat and turned her attention back to her plate.

  “What do you do, Luca?” she asked, scooping another forkful of pasta into her mouth.

  “I’m in consulting,” he answered automatically, reaching for a piece of bread nonchalantly.

  Her dark eyebrows raised with curiosity.

  “What kind of consulting?”

  Under normal circumstances, he would be wary of her questions. His experience in the family and his genetic makeup ingrained in him suspicion and caution with strangers.

  But it was different with Teresa. He had sought her out, after all. He had been drawn to her.

  “Business,” he replied, hoping she wouldn’t push him for more details.

  She didn’t.

  “How about you? Are you working? In school?”

  Teresa chuckled.

  “How old do you think I am?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “School was a while ago for me.”

  “Oh? Are you an old woman of twenty-five?” he chuckled but he found himself curious to hear her response.

  She smiled enigmatically.

  “Something like that.”

  They ate in silence for a moment but there was nothing uncomfortable about the quiet between them.

  No, Luca thought. I’m wrong about her. There is nothing about her which reminds me of Mara. I don’t know why I thought there was.

  He wiped his mouth, determined not to think about his former lover again for the rest of the night.

  After all, he had a much better place to focus his attention on that evening.

  ~ ~ ~

  Teresa reached for her keys and toyed with them in her hand, casting Luca a shy look as they stood in the hallway in front of her apartment.

  “Thanks for dinner,” she said, sweeping her hand through her shoulder-length hair. “I-it was really good.”

  Luca shrugged, leaning a hand against the wall.

  “That’s not the greatest restaurant. If I had known you liked osso, I would have taken you to Il Gabbiano. Next time, okay?”

  Again, her cheeks flushed an endearing pink and she grinned.

  “Next time?” she asked shyly. “Is there going to be a next time?”

  Luca dropped his arm, his face turning serious.

  “That’s up to you,” he replied quietly. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you again, showing you around town.”

  He didn’t add that he felt responsible for her safety or that the attraction he felt toward her was mounting with each look they shared.

  The last thing I want to do is scare her off, not after what she’s been through.

  They stared at each other and Luca felt a rush of blood flow through him but he willed himself not to act.

  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what her luscious mouth tasted like.

  The way she keeps biting on her lower lip is driving me crazy.

  He knew she wasn’t trying to be coy, that she had a natural innocence about her, and that was what drove even more heat through his frame.

  Luca stifled a groan.

  I gotta get out of here before I do something which freaks her out, he thought, ripping his eyes away from her face, but before he could move, she moved first.

  He hadn’t expected the abrupt motion, his back landing against the wall he had been leaning on as Teresa pressed her mouth to his, her body extended onto the balls of her feet.

  She had seemed much taller to him, but in that moment, as she pushed her lithe form against his barrel chest, she was a waif.

  A part of him thought of resisting her, wondering if she felt like she owed him something, but as her kiss increased in urgency, his mouth forced apart by her tongue, he realized that she was acting completely of her own volition.

  Luca’s huge hands fell onto the small of her back, pulling Teresa’s frame closer, and she sighed as her legs scissor-crossed into his.

  Their tongues clas
hed, his mouth suctioning to her, sucking back the fullness of her lips.

  She tasted like wine and meat, the combination only fueling his arousal.

  Her palms slid around the back of her body, covering his hands, and she pushed him down, the hem of her skirt catching along his fingers.

  “Let’s go inside,” he murmured but she shook her head, pulling him away from the wall and dancing him back toward the stairwell, her lips still locked on his.

  She’s freakishly strong, he thought, mildly impressed, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it as they crashed through the exit and he toppled backward onto the stairs.

  His hands cupped her rear and she straddled him, her eyes fixated on his.

  Her hips began to grind against his pants and Luca felt a burst of heat in his crotch, her fingers lacing around his neck to guide his face along the line of her throat.

  Luca grunted slightly, his lips meeting the sweetness of her skin, inhaling the scent of her perfume, and he bucked upward as she fumbled for his buckle.

  Lower his mouth moved, meeting the swell of her full breasts against the low neckline of her sequined dress.

  Somehow, she managed to slide off his pants, a rigid nipple finding its way into his mouth, and for a moment, Luca wondered how they had gotten to that place.

  Is she feeling vulnerable? Am I taking advantage of her?

  “My God,” she murmured, wrapping a warm hand around his shaft, and he groaned aloud, his hesitations dissolving as she slid his unit against the wet cleft of her center.

  “You’re beautiful,” he mumbled, his mouth exploring the taut skin, teeth gnashing out, and Teresa mewled, slipping her panties aside to allow him inside her.

  She pushed herself against him, using her heels as leverage to lower herself over him.

  She gasped at the size of him but the time for restraint was gone and Luca jerked upward to fill her entirely.

  She yelped, her nails digging into his neck, forcing his face further into her chest and suddenly they were in a frenzied rhythm as he bucked beneath her.

  Her cries increased as she bounced along to his set rhythm, sweat forming at her cleavage.

  He could feel her tensing beneath his thrusts, her body bracing for climax, but he did not slow, driving himself high and deep as she cried out.

  “Oh my God! Oh God…”

  He felt it, an outpouring of heat through her thighs, but he continued to plunge into her, his own release so close.

  She cried out again and again as he drove himself into her almost violently, barely aware of her long nails drawing blood at his neck as they sunk into his skin.

  Teresa almost seemed to be a rag doll as he met her height of pleasure.

  “Holy shit!” he growled, pinning her waist against his hips as his body twitched. “God, you’re so hot!”

  She seemed unable to speak as he finished, his hands gripping her rear firmly.

  Next time, I’m going to take her like that, he vowed and the realization that there was going to be a next time almost brought him back to life.

  He drew his head back from her chest, suddenly realizing that he was short of breath.

  Teresa stared at him, a look of shock on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked as she rose suddenly, pulling her skirt down to cover her crotch.

  She smiled weakly and shook her disheveled dark hair.

  “No, nothing,” she murmured, backing down the step to the landing. She ran her long fingers through her mane again and Luca realized that it was a nervous habit.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, slowly rising to pull his pants up.

  “Yeah,” she replied quickly, looking around as if she expected there to be an audience. “I just don’t usually do things like that.”

  There was a sincerity to her words and Luca grinned at the almost embarrassed expression on her face.

  “Me neither,” he replied truthfully. “I guess you just can’t fight attraction sometimes.”

  She gazed at him, unspeaking, but he could see a worry in her blue eyes.

  “Teresa,” he offered, nearing her. “I don’t really do one-night stands. I’d like to see you again.”

  Her eyes seemed to darken and brighten simultaneously as she nodded.

  “Yeah?”

  “Tomorrow night?”

  She visibly swallowed and nodded.

  “That sounds good,” she almost whispered.

  Luca brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “I’m fine,” she assured him, turning to pull open the fire door leading back onto the fourth floor, but he couldn’t shake the sense that she regretted what they had just done.

  You’re letting your suspicion of all women cloud your judgment, he told himself. She’s a good girl who’s overwhelmed with everything that’s happened over the past couple days. Don’t suffocate her.

  She paused at the door to her apartment and turned to look at him, the look of confusion gone.

  “Tomorrow, then?” she asked, leaning against the door, her arms against her back.

  He offered her a smile and leaned forward to kiss her mouth softly.

  “Arrivederci, bella.”

  “Thank you for dinner and… everything.”

  Luca felt a frisson of pleasure.

  “Prego. I enjoyed myself too.”

  She nodded and unlocked the door to the unit and Luca waited until she was safely inside before turning to saunter off down the hallway.

  Heat still filled his body but Luca knew it had nothing to do with the Miami night and everything to do with Teresa Milano.

  Chapter Eight

  Playing Both Sides

  Her dark sunglasses blocked the light blindingly bouncing off the channel as Angela waited nervously for Duggan to show.

  It had been a week and a half since she had stormed into his office and since then, it had been virtually dead air from the FBI.

  The previous night, she had returned home from a date with Luca and found a note slipped under her door.

  “What’s that?” he asked as she read it, her heart beginning to hammer in her chest.

  “The super,” she replied quickly, flashing him the note. “He’s coming to fix the leak in the toilet tomorrow.”

  And that was what the note read, but Angela knew it was Duggan who had sent it and not the building manager.

  As soon as Luca had passed out, she pulled out the burner phone for more complete instructions.

  Margaret Pace Park. p.m., the text read. She didn’t know

  what to make of this new correspondence. A part of her had almost forgotten that she was an agent for the FBI. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing Duggan’s face and lying to him about her relationship with Luca.

  How did this even happen? How did I let myself get here?

  Angela stifled a sigh and glanced at Teresa’s cell phone.

  It was ten after two already and each second she spent sitting on the bench waiting for Duggan was only adding to her intense anxiety.

  “You haven’t been checking in.”

  She jumped and gasped, spinning her head to look at Duggan. Her mouth parted in surprise.

  “There’s nothing to check in for,” she replied quickly, stilling her rapidly beating heart. “I don’t know anything yet. And you haven’t been checking in either.”

  The best defense is a good offense, she thought grimly.

  “Are you in with the Menottis?”

  The question filled her with a renewed sense of dread.

  Luca is in me, sometimes three times a night, she wanted to say, but she didn’t need to be told she shouldn’t say that out loud.

  “Kind of.”

  “Kind of? What does that mean? You’ve been undercover a week. Either you are or you aren’t.”

  He glared at her warily.

  “Hey!” she snapped, not appreciating his tone. “You’re the one who told me this could take time. What�
��s with the about-face?”

  Instantly, the agent’s intense expression relaxed and he gave her a quick smile.

  “You’re right. I’m just on edge. I wish you would do your nightly check-ins.”

  “Why should I have to?” she asked, the venom she had been holding onto growing as she spoke. “I thought you had eyes and ears on me at all times.”

  The lie was obvious now and not just because she had thoroughly searched her apartment. There was no way that Duggan didn’t know what was happening between her and Luca if she was being monitored.

  It was as if the FBI agent had just willy-nilly plucked her out of nowhere to throw her inside the Menotti family for reasons that had nothing to do with what he said.

  Something strange is going on here but I can’t find out without risking my cover.

  Duggan cast her a sidelong look and exhaled deeply.

  “We couldn’t risk wiring you so we didn’t,” he said simply and Angela’s eyes almost bugged out of her head.

  “What?” she screamed and Duggan’s face went pale.

  “Keep your voice down!” he hissed, looking around the park in a panic, but Angela had already leapt to her feet.

  “What do you mean you didn’t—”

  She stopped yelling abruptly when she realized there were a dozen sets of eyes on her. Slowly, she sank back onto the bench, shifting her gaze downward until the passersby continued on their way.

  “You sent me in blind?” she hissed, heat rising through her body. “So, you didn’t even know what happened to me that first night, did you? Not until I came and stormed into your office!”

  “I did,” Duggan insisted.

  “How?” she spat. “How could you possibly have known what happened to me?”

  “Just because I don’t have tech on you doesn’t mean I don’t have eyes on you.”

  The words sent a chill through her she tried to understand the implications of what he was saying. Was he suggesting that someone was watching her?

  Has he seen Luca and me together? Why do I care if he has? The idea is to get close to him, isn’t it? That was why I was sent in.

  But Angela didn’t want Duggan to know just how close she’d gotten to Luca, not yet.

  Not until I have something for him, she tried to justify, but she knew it was much more than that. The time she had been spending with the capo was doing something she had not anticipated.