by Lisa Daniels
Jumping his bones in the stairwell had not been part of the plan, but in that moment, after the dinner and the attention, she had been unable to stop herself.
At first, she lied and told herself that she had done it for the job, but that didn’t make her feel any better and she soon realized that she didn’t care. Whatever she felt for Luca defied reason, as if her actions were genuinely not her own and belonged to Teresa.
Luca was breaking down whatever guards she had constructed going into the assignment, making her feel something for him despite her better judgment.
It was clear that Luca was protective of her and the idea that he had hurt her cousin was almost impossible to accept.
But what would he do if he found out she was a cop, that she was using him for information? He is a mobster, after all. His loyalties lie with the family, don’t they?
There were a lot of “what ifs” and speculation dancing through Angela’s mind, but her immediate concern was not Luca Gallo, no matter how much he seemed to consume her thoughts those days.
“I don’t know what the hell that means, but Duggan, you better start explaining. How can you have eyes on me?”
He stared at her, his mouth pulling in at the corners slightly.
“It’s changing you, being under,” he muttered. “You’re not the same girl I met in Keller’s office three weeks ago.”
She glared at him even though the statement filled her with a particular sense of pride. The words were having the reverse effect than he intended.
“I’m a different person, remember? An unprotected patsy who’s set to get herself killed,” she barked back sarcastically.
“You’re not going to get yourself killed if you stick to the script, Angela.”
Teresa, she thought automatically and a strange pang of worry shot through her. It wasn’t the first time she’d started referring to herself by her UC name, even in her own head.
They had warned her about this at Quantico when she’d undergone her training.
“You can’t play a part without taking some of that character’s personality with you. The important thing is that you hold onto your cornerstones and remember who you are,” the instructor had said.
I’m still Ang. I’ll be Ang when I leave here, she thought defensively. But right now, I’m Teresa.
She had become Teresa and not just because it was part of the dangerous game she was playing. Teresa Milano was the woman who Luca wanted. He didn’t know Angela Garnet.
He would hate Angela Garnet in her sweats and owl glasses. The woman he cares for is a fashionista, a debutante from Virginia.
“I’m waiting,” Angela snarled, folding her arms over her chest as she glared at Duggan. “Tell me how you have eyes on me.”
He sighed heavily as if she were asking him to euthanize his dog.
“You are not currently our only undercover working in the family right now,” he told her and she balked.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I have another operative working with the family, someone who is close and can keep an eye on you.”
“What?” Angela gasped. “Who? Who is it?!”
“I can’t tell you that,” Duggan muttered, rising, but Angela grabbed his arm to stop him.
“You can’t tell me? But he can know who I am?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s bullshit!” she snapped. “I made detective in six months after graduating the academy. As a woman. I have a ninety-six percent collar rate and—”
“You don’t need to sell me on your merits, Angela. I read your file.”
“And yet you continue to treat me like every other Denisovan dickhead at the precinct.”
“Angela, don’t be difficult. We knew it was a risk sending you in to begin with and—”
“You keep saying ‘we’ but you seem to be a one-man show here, Duggan.”
His head whipped around and his eyes turned icy as he looked at her.
“What are you implying?” he asked, his voice a low growl. “Are you suggesting something improper?”
Angela’s back tensed as she realized she had struck a massive nerve with her handler. A peculiar feeling shot through her as she tried to understand why.
Back off. Upsetting him is not a smart move, no matter how shady you think he is. Obviously, he put you in here because he needs something. Bide your time… if you can.
“Maybe I should have listened to Keller. You can’t handle this,” Duggan snarled. “I should have realized that the first day you were under.”
Apprehension shot through her body and she leapt from the bench.
He can’t pull me out. Not yet.
She wondered if her concern was professional or personal.
It didn’t matter. She had to placate Duggan before he decided to yank her.
“Wait!” she cried, trying to keep the desperation from her voice.
“What?”
“I can handle this,” she insisted. “I’m—I’m just under stress because I’m eager to get something too, you know?”
She stared up at him beseechingly.
“Sorry. You’re right,” she hurried on. “Being Teresa is turning me into someone else.”
A soft, guileless smile touched her lips and she turned her bright cobalt irises on him pleadingly.
She watched as his face relaxed slightly.
“Yeah,” he conceded. “The first one is always the hardest.”
She nodded, bowing her head demurely.
“I’ll have something, I promise. You just need to give me some time. I’m working as diligently as I can.”
Duggan smiled ruefully.
“I guess we’re both on edge,” he relented and Angela’s face exploded into a relieved smile.
“You won’t regret this,” she told him.
“I hope not, Angela.”
Teresa, she thought again but this time, it didn’t cause her any alarm or shame.
Angela realized she had grown to like Teresa, maybe even more than she did her real self.
“Do your check-ins,” Duggan told her. “And get back out there. I know you haven’t been going to any of the places we talked about.”
Angela nodded very slowly, her mind whirling.
No one has seen me with Luca yet. That’s good… I think.
“We’ll be in touch but let me know if you learn anything about Val.”
He walked away, leaving her alone in the park to compose her thoughts.
He’s lying to me. He’s been lying to me from day one, hence the secrecy. Is he really running this alone and if so, why? An operation like this requires a team, especially if there are more undercovers involved.
Angela considered finding out who else was with the FBI, but that was not something she could afford to be nosing around in.
So far, you’ve managed to keep a low profile. You’ve captured Luca’s attention and because of the way we met, he doesn’t suspect anything. If anything, I am ahead of the game right now.
The realization put her mind slightly at ease but it still did not clarify what was going on.
All she knew for sure was that she didn’t know who she could trust.
I just have to keep shaking the tree until something falls out, she decided. And part of shaking that tree is continuing doing what I’m doing with Luca.
As if reading her mind, her phone chimed and she felt a familiar frisson of pleasure jolt through her body as she saw Luca’s name appear on her screen.
Lunch?
She smiled and typed back a response, her heart still fluttering in her chest.
You’re okay, Angela assured herself. You’re just a girl from Virginia who met a boy and is learning about him. It doesn’t matter who’s watching you or what Duggan’s motives are. You are Teresa Milano.
Sure. Just job hunting, she replied, tapping her index finger against the phone as she waited for a response.
Meet me at the Perez in an hour. I may
have a job for you.
She stared at the phone in disbelief, blinking.
If he has a job for me, that will get me in with other members of the family. If I can get in with them, I can get more information about Val.
She didn’t hesitate to respond.
Done!
She slipped the cell back into her purse and wiped her sweaty palms along the sides of her white sundress, adjusting her sunglasses against her face.
She had an hour to go make up some fake resumes.
Chapter Nine
Too Close for Comfort
She was already seated in the fashionable dining room when he arrived and Luca had to pause and stare at her before she noticed him standing there.
Instantly, he felt himself growing aroused at the mere sight of her. He paused to shake his head at the response his body had to seeing her sitting at a table, innocently sipping water, oblivious to him gnawing on his lower lip as he studied her from afar.
Teresa wore a simple, white sundress, her hair falling about her shoulders in an ebony waterfall, and even from the space between them, he could see the vividness of her blue eyes.
He wanted her, right there.
Without acknowledging the maître d’ who watched him, Luca strode toward her, the heat inside him rising with each step.
“Oh, hey—” she started to say but she barely had time to finish her sentence as Luca pulled her up, spinning out of the dining room. She gaped at him in shock, unsure of what he was doing, but he didn’t permit her a word.
“Are you leaving, sir?” the maître d’ asked, his eyes widening in confusion.
“We’ll be back,” Luca assured him, his voice a low growl as he continued out of the restaurant and toward the parking lot.
“Luca, what are you doing?” she giggled nervously but he didn’t respond as they brushed past the valet.
“Sir, should I get your—”
He was already out of earshot, half-dragging Teresa along with him.
“You’re freaking me out,” Teresa called but she didn’t struggle as if she could sense what was coming.
Against his hand, he could feel her palm growing damp and he knew that he was going to find the same slickness somewhere else.
I am learning her so well, he thought, stopping abruptly at his dark red car, spinning her around so her back landed against the driver’s side door.
Her cobalt eyes widened in surprise but Luca could see she had been expecting it.
His hands encircled the creamy skin of her thighs beneath the hem of her mid-thigh dress, fingers squeezing gently.
“I am always shocked at how beautiful you are,” he told her. “All I can think about is taking you.”
Teresa’s smile widened and she cocked her head to the side, studying his face.
“You’re a hopeless romantic,” she teased but her hips jutted outward as his palms slid up under her skirt, cupping around her buttocks.
She was wearing a thong and as his fingers made their way between the crack of her cheeks, he felt the flood of heat inching toward him.
She wants me just as much as I want her, he thought, nuzzling his nose against the curve of her neck.
“You want romance?” he murmured. “I can romance the shit out of you.”
Teresa purred against his lips, her hands resting against his waist as she ground toward him, her dress rising higher.
“That sounds hot. Are you going to do it right here in the parking lot?”
As if to answer her question, he slipped his hand around the front of her crotch, his fingertips teasing against her and Teresa gasped at the boldness of the move.
Still, she didn’t try to push him off, despite the fact that they were in plain view of cars coming and going down 12th Avenue.
She doesn’t care, he realized and the understanding only made Luca want her more.
She hardly seemed like the same girl he had met a couple of weeks earlier as her breath quickened against him, grinding her damp center toward him with a mounting urgency.
To his surprise, Luca suddenly felt conspicuous, even though he could see that she would have been happy to continue their afternoon tryst right there in the middle of the parking lot.
Still, he couldn’t stop himself from pressing a finger inside her.
Teresa gasped, her grip around him tightening.
“Does that feel good?” he murmured from his spot at her throat. “Do you want some more?”
“Yes, please,” she breathed, arching herself as if to force him further inside.
His mouth suctioned around her skin as it prickled with gooseflesh.
She fell back against the car, raising a leg around him to encourage his thrusting fingers higher inside her and Luca felt a burst of sweat erupt over his brow.
“Come for me,” he ordered her. “And then I’m going to take you so hard, they’re going to hear you scream inside the restaurant.”
His words had an immediate effect on her and her slender frame tensed, a gush of hot spilling over his hand.
Teresa moaned softly, a spasm of quivers wracking her and Luca knew that whatever modesty he had been experiencing had dissipated as he freed himself from his pants.
He spun her around, her hands spread onto the roof of the car as he hiked her dress up.
She bucked backward and Luca needed no further encouragement as he drove himself inside her.
“Oh my God…” she moaned, gasping, and Luca saw her knuckles whiten against the car.
“Do you like it, cara?” he murmured.
“Oh God, yes,” she choked, her words escaping in short breaths.
Inside her he dove, filling her as deeply as he would go, and beneath him, Teresa’s body shook with her climax.
His lips laced around her ear, his breathing erratic, inhaling her pheromones, the scent of her bringing him closer to the brink.
She spasmed, bucking back again and yelping. He was seized by a rush of tension through his groin.
“Oh shit!” he cursed and Teresa squealed as he exploded inside her in streaks.
Teresa giggled shakily as he withdrew slowly, turning to look at him with hazy eyes. She gazed past him and cleared her throat.
Casually, he looked over his shoulder at where she was looking and caught the eye of an elderly couple gaping at them in contemptuous shock.
“What?” he barked at them. “You’ve never watched porn?”
“Luca!” Teresa hissed, dropping her head in embarrassment, but he only laughed, pulling her away from the car.
“Come on,” he told her, brushing past the couple. “I’m starving all of a sudden.”
She followed him without argument but through his peripheral vision, he saw she kept her gaze averted.
“Have a good day,” he chirped at the couple, who continued to gawk at them in disgust.
This woman brings out the beast in me, he thought, squeezing Teresa’s hand affectionately. When have I ever wanted to do anything like that before?
It was as if nothing else existed when she was around and Luca could see he had the same effect on her.
It’s time to bring her in on the real me, he thought and the idea filled him with apprehension.
Teresa was a good girl, after all. How would she handle knowing the truth about him?
I guess we’ll find out. It’s better to know now than a year from now, he reasoned. I didn’t find out what Mara was up to until it was too late and look how that worked out for me. I don’t want there to be secrets between us. If she doesn’t like who I am, she is free to walk away.
He hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but he knew she needed to know sooner rather than later.
“Are you embarrassed?”
Teresa’s words danced him out of his deep thought and he cast her a quick look as they made their way back to their table.
“About what?” he replied nonchalantly, holding out her chair for her to sit. She giggled, reaching for her napkin.
“I guess th
at is something you do regularly,” she joked but he could read a certain spark of worry in her eyes as if she suspected he might agree.
Sinking into his own seat, he stared at her closely.
“Are you asking if I’m in the habit of banging my girlfriends in public places in broad daylight?”
A wry smile formed on her lips but the look of concern in her eyes didn’t falter.
“Maybe? Do you have more than one girlfriend?”
Luca’s dark eyebrows shot up and a rush of pleasure slid through his body.
She’s worried that I have other women.
“You are my only girlfriend,” he told her gruffly, his face growing slightly warm. It sounded so damned cheesy saying the words aloud but he wanted her to know that she was the only one who consumed his thoughts day and night.
Her eyes brightened and again, her face flushed.
He loved how expressive her face was, as if hiding her emotions was a completely foreign concept to her.
Why can I picture her on a beach in Sardinia right now, wearing nothing but a pair of bikini bottoms?
A spark of excitement filled his loins as he seriously considered it. Maybe it wasn’t such a pipe dream after all. What would it take to sweep her up, for them to ride off into the horizon in their dragon forms and live in Italy? Leave it all behind.
Good God, what have I become in my old age? A romantic?
Teresa cleared her throat and glanced down at her menu as if she was pretending to read it.
“I have a job offer for you,” he told her, eager to change the subject. He was surprised by the barrage of intense emotions which overcame him and talking about his feelings was not his strong suit.
There had never been anyone around to listen to them anyway.
She raised her head to look at him, cocking her head to the side with interest.
“You were saying that in your text,” she replied, sitting back in her chair. “What is it?”
“Do you have any experience bartending?”
Her face shifted into a look of wariness.
“I served a bit in college,” she replied slowly. “Picked up a couple bartending shifts. Why?”
“I spoke with the owner of La Perla. He’d like to offer you a job bartending there if you want it.”