by Bethany-Kris
Jesus.
“Yeah, I got it. What’s the problem with John?”
“He’s seeing someone. Or he might be. We’re not entirely sure at the moment.”
Oh, that.
Dante nodded. “By the look on your face, I can safely assume you already knew this, and it’s not news to you.”
“If you mean Siena Calabrese, then yeah, I knew something about it. Not a lot, mind you, but just enough to mind my fucking business. Kind of like everybody else should do.”
Dante’s gaze narrowed. “Watch your step, now.”
Andino had another thought.
“Wait,” Andino hedged, “how do you know about Siena and John?”
Because he’d only run into Siena once at her brother’s restaurant the other day, and she asked about John. His cousin hadn’t even told him he was involved with someone yet, let alone Siena. Andino didn’t even know if someone could call it a relationship.
Andino doubted his cousin offered that information freely to his uncles, or even his father. John just wasn’t the type; he didn’t like people in his business.
“Well, I needed to keep an eye on him, as you can understand, to make sure he’s following the rules I set out for him,” Dante started to say.
Oh.
Andino got it.
“You’re following him? Because that will not end well for you.”
Dante leaned back in his chair, and steepled his fingers. “Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s a warning. You know how John is. Just let him figure out shit on his own. Don’t step in on his personal business. That’s all he asks.”
“I can’t do that in this case—the Calabrese woman isn’t acceptable for a man like John, and you know the history between our families. Bad blood, Andi. We can’t trust them; we never have, and for good reason, too. So yes, information. I need it. Hand it over.”
“I don’t have any.”
Dante sighed heavily, and stared him down. “If you’re trying to protect your cousin—”
“Listen, I don’t need to lie to protect John, but I don’t know anything about the Calabrese chick. Not yet, anyway.”
“Well, when you do, I need to know.”
“It’s probably harmless. He’s been in lockup for years. Let him get his fucking dick wet.”
“Andino,” Giovanni murmured from the corner of the room. “Come on, now.”
“It’s true. All the man thinks about is staying under the radar, getting work done, and taking his fucking meds at the right time. This is harmless. She’s a woman. Let him have his taste of her, and move the hell on. I would stay out of it.”
“Not possible,” Dante said simply. “And now we move to the topic of you.”
“What about me?”
Giovanni cleared his throat, bringing Andino’s attention to his father. “Your personal affairs—it’s time to considering getting things in order, or at least, start planning for it so the move from Dante’s underboss to acting boss won’t be challenged by anyone.”
Andino heard what his father didn’t say.
Personal affairs.
A boss needed a wife.
Cosa Nostra rules.
Andino felt suffocated by it all. “It can wait.”
“Not for much longer,” Dante countered, “and if you want, we can start the process for you.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“We could find you an appropriate wife,” his father explained, “if that’s what you would prefer.”
Jesus Christ.
Not likely.
“She has to be appropriate for your standing, and for la famiglia,” his uncle reminded him. “I can’t give you much longer to figure this out on your own, Andi.”
Yeah, shit.
Probably not.
With a flick of his wrist, Dante dismissed Andino from the meeting without a word. Andino just wanted to get the hell out of there, and get back to his bed as soon as possible. He didn’t say goodbye as he left the office and found Snaps patiently waiting for him at the end of the hallway like he always did.
Giovanni followed Andino out. “Don’t stress over the semantics, son. Dante is on edge lately, that’s all.”
“Mmm—heard through the grapevine that Catherine is fucking around with Cross Donati again. How much truth is there to that?”
Because … that spelled bad news for Andino, in a way. Andino might have been able to keep his business with Cross quiet when Dante wasn’t keeping an eye on the man since he wouldn’t be anywhere near Catherine. But if Cross was screwing with Dante’s daughter, it wasn’t likely that their deal for Cross to run the guns would stay secret.
Didn’t he have enough to worry about where his boss was concerned without adding that to it, too? Andino fucking thought so.
“Quite true, from what I hear,” Giovanni said. “And you know, from the way Dante’s going on about it. Like I said, don’t stress over all that shit. You’re doing you, and taking care of your business like you’re supposed to. That’s what matters.”
Right.
Like he was supposed to.
Not that he was working with a man who his uncle hated just to make sure a deal went through. That wouldn’t matter at all.
Right.
Andino bent down to pet Snaps—his one source of calm in his life right now. “Kind of hard not to stress, that’s all.”
“You could let us look for a wife, if—”
“Just … don’t bother right now,” Andino muttered.
“Dante is right, though. She does need to be appropriate for your standing. Italian, Catholic, preferably in the life, or from a similar family. A good reputation. A respectable wife for a boss.”
Andino scoffed, and under his breath, said, “I suppose a non-Italian white girl who occasionally dances on a pole and is tattooed all over won’t fit the bill, huh?”
“What?”
He glanced up at his father.
Shit.
He really thought he said that quieter.
“Nothing,” he said. “I need to take Snaps for a walk.”
“Yeah, all right, son. You do that.”
SIX
“… to see what she could see, see, see …”
Haven smiled down at the black mane of thick curls bobbing along at her side. Valeria’s daughter kept a tight hold on her hand as she skipped on the sidewalk, and sang the song her mother had taught her the day before.
She figured her friend needed to keep an eye on this kid—Maria didn’t miss a click, no matter what the situation was. She was smart as hell, picked up on just about anything quite fast, and ran with it.
“I don’t think you missed even one see that time,” Haven said.
Maria beamed up at her. “No?”
“Nope—got ‘em all.”
“Yay!” Maria pumped a small fist in the air in triumph, and did a tiny jump at the same time. Still, she didn’t miss a step beside Haven as they continued their walk. “You’ll tell Ma for me, won’t you?”
“You bet I will.”
“Awesome.”
Usually, Valeria would walk Maria to school in the mornings. She tried her hardest not to miss a day, but occasionally when she had to work a long shift at the club the night before—especially if she had to dance—then Haven didn’t mind stepping in to help her friend. Today was one of those mornings.
Maria never complained, either. Haven always suspected that was because Maria did have such a good mom—Valeria was hands on, and never stopped being involved in anything and everything her daughter wanted to do. Even if there wasn’t a father figure in the picture, Maria was getting on just fine with her mom.
Haven stopped in front of the gate to the school where Maria attended—a public school that didn’t require very much documentation, and apparently didn’t ask very many questions. Or, that’s how Valeria explained it. All the school was worried about was that every child that needed to be educated, got their education. Permanent resi
dency or immigrant status be damned.
As it should be, Haven thought.
“Okay,” Haven said, bending down to be at eye level with Maria. The sweet five-year-old beamed in that way of hers, and held on tight to Haven’s hand. “You have a good day, and be nice to everybody.”
Maria nodded firmly. “Even if they’re not nice to me.”
“And why do we do that?”
“Kill ‘em with kindness.”
“That’s right.”
Maria let Haven kiss her on the cheek, and only then did she let go of her hand. Haven stood as Maria darted beyond the safety of the playground gate, and headed for the waiting teachers supervising the incoming children. She didn’t turn around to leave until Maria was safely inside the school, and gone from her view.
It was a twenty-minute walk back to the house, but Haven took her time. She didn’t exactly have anywhere to be until around noon when she needed to go into the club, and do the paperwork she had been leaving to the wayside for longer than she should have.
Well, about two weeks.
That’s how long she’d been distracted.
Ever since—
“No run today?”
That voice.
Haven recognized it even as it traveled over the light early September breeze to carry his words to her. She hadn’t heard him talk in weeks—since that night at the club when she left him standing in his office with his fly still undone and the assurance she would get herself home just fine without his help.
Andino.
Haven looked up from her feet—when she was running, she always looked straight ahead so she didn’t miss a step, or stumble over something she didn’t see coming in plenty of time. But when she walked? She enjoyed looking around, or even staring at the ground.
Clearly, that was a mistake today.
She hadn’t seen Andino coming at all.
Shit.
It would have been better if she had.
Haven found Andino leaning against the side of his black Lexus that he’d parked in front of her fucking house. She was momentarily distracted by how relaxed he looked in nothing but dark slacks, a silk dress shirt rolled up to his elbows, and black leather loafers on his feet that he’d crossed one over the other.
Cool.
Calm.
Collected.
His silk shirt was tight to his chest, and showed off all the hard lines of his muscles. The definition of his body really was something else. Did he know how fucking good he looked when he didn’t even try?
In his hand, he held a pair of aviator sunglasses, and wore a smirk that could melt the panties off any woman he turned it on. Probably her, too, if she let him.
Like sex on a stick.
Sin walking.
And he was waiting for her.
Haven didn’t know what to do about that—never mind the way this man left her confused. Something about Andino screamed bad news, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on exactly what it was. She did know that the whole club incident hadn’t helped.
A man had been beaten.
Beaten.
And Andino barely blinked about it.
In fact, he told the people to take it elsewhere. As though they were being a nuisance to his evening, and not like he was surprised it was actually happening. They called him boss, because yeah, Haven had heard that little tidbit, too.
So, what did that tell her?
People worked for him—an illegal bookie who occasionally visited her club, and others who beat people up. That was just on the surface. She wasn’t sure she wanted to dig deeper because she didn’t think she would like what she found should she try.
Oh, yeah.
He had that dark, handsome, and mysterious thing going on. That was also a huge part of Haven’s problem because she didn’t know this man at all, and some of the things she did know, she wasn’t very fond of.
Haven crossed her arms over her chest as she came closer to the car. In that second, Snaps jumped up to the passenger window, and stuck his big head out. His pink tongue lolled out of his mouth, and he panted happily as he stared at her. She didn’t even think about it—just reached out to pet him because he looked so fucking happy to see her, and it was cute.
“Hey, there,” she murmured to the dog.
“At least he gets a greeting,” Andino grumbled.
Haven passed him a look. “How do you know where I live?”
“I looked you up.”
“How?”
“I have my ways,” Andino returned easily. “You have a roommate, huh?”
Haven stiffened. “Pardon?”
“I saw her come out to get the paper, and put the Barbie bicycle away.”
Oh.
Haven nodded. “I guess you could call Valeria a roommate. Her and her daughter have lived with me for a while. She also works at my club.”
Andino turned his head a bit, and Haven swore she could feel his eyes drinking her in although he didn’t say a thing. For a long while, the two of them stayed silent like that, and she kept petting a very happy Snaps.
“Why are you here?” she asked, finally breaking the silence.
“I wanted to see you—I actually got a minute to get away.”
“What, from work?”
“Work, family … life,” Andino muttered. “It’s all the same to me now.”
“Andino—”
“Did the club thing scare you off, was that it?”
Haven let out a heavy sigh, and finally looked at the man. Looking at him, she found, was bad for her body in a multitude of ways. He was still staring at her in that intense way of his. As though for the moment, he couldn’t and didn’t want to see anything but her.
It was enough to make her skin heat up, and her heartbeat race out of control. It was enough to send memories of the way he felt fucking her rushing through her mind, and setting her nerves on fire.
Damn.
Get ahold of that, girl.
“It was more than the club,” Haven admitted.
“What, then?”
She shrugged. “I just … don’t get involved with people I don’t know, and despite what you may think because of my job and my appearance, I don’t do the casual sex thing. Jesus, Andino, I don’t even know your last name.”
Andino chuckled. “Is that all?”
Haven’s brow furrowed, and her gaze narrowed. “Don’t dismiss my concerns just because you might think they’re silly. I’m allowed to have them.”
“I didn’t dismiss them. I don’t assume anything about you because of your job, or appearance. I don’t mind casual sex—I actually tend to think that’s an easy way to handle something like sex when you just don’t have the time to get involved. I never said I wanted casual sex with you, though. And it’s Marcello. My surname, I mean.”
Haven blinked.
That name.
Why did it—
“Like the Marcello Complex?”
A huge, towering building in the middle of upper Manhattan. It was just one of several buildings in the city with the Marcello name on it, if Haven was correct.
Although, something else prickled at the back of Haven’s mind—another reason she should recognize that surname, but it just wasn’t coming to her. The more she tried to remember what it was, the less she actually knew.
Andino smiled. “Yes, that’s my uncle’s building, actually.”
“Huh.”
“I would like to take you to breakfast,” Andino murmured, “if you have time, and would like to join me. Snaps would be happy about that, too.”
“Don’t manipulate me with your dog, Andino.”
He grinned. “Where was the lie, though?”
Because Snaps was happy, and every fucking time she stopped petting his head, he leaned out of the window, and bumped her hand with his nose to make her start up again. Cute dog—even if he did look like he might kill somebody.
“Just breakfast, though,” Haven said. “Nothing else.”
Jesus.
This man was something else.
“I take it you own this place, too,” Haven said, cutting into the waffle dusted with cinnamon and confectioner’s sugar. “Right?”
Andino smiled across the table. “What makes you think that?”
Haven nodded in the corner of the private dining area where Snaps slept on his own bed. Yeah, he had his own pillow that was big enough for a dog his size, and that’s right where he had gone after they entered the business through the back.
“I figured it out when Snaps went to his bed,” she said, giving him a look.
Andino laughed. “Yeah, he’s not really supposed to be in here. They call him a health hazard.”
He scoffed.
“He’s actually really well behaved.”
“I know,” Andino replied. “So, I bring him in through the back, and he sleeps on his bed in here when I’m doing business, or he’ll sleep next to my desk in the office.”
Haven popped a bite of the waffle into her mouth, and considered his words until she was free to speak again. “So, I take it you do quite a bit of work here, then?”
“Mostly, yes.”
“For the restaurant?”
Andino lifted a brow. “Yes, and no.”
“What does that mean?”
His husky laughter filled up the table, and the rich sound was enough to make Haven’s stomach clench in the best way possible. He looked damn good no matter what he was doing—laughing, though?
Christ.
Andino looked sinful when he laughed.
Reaching for the cup of coffee in front of him, Andino lifted it for a sip, and then stared at her over the rim of the mug. “The restaurant is a hub of sorts for a lot of my business—look at it like that.”
That told her nothing, and left her with more questions. This man had a way of doing that with every single thing he told her, but Haven didn’t quite know what to make of it. She just wanted a straight answer, and yet, she also found she didn’t care.
Why?
She liked his company.
Talking to him.
It was all easy.
Or … it seemed to be.