by Mae Doyle
“I think that you’re forgetting that you’re not the only one here getting this news today,” I tell her. “Sit down and let’s listen.”
She doesn’t have much of a choice, but I’m still a little surprised when she does just that, although she doesn’t sit down in the chair next to me.
She chooses a chair across the table from both of us, about as far away as she can get.
Fine.
I sit down, her keys digging into my leg. This girl had better be worth the trouble. She’s hot as fuck, no doubt, but a bit of a hellcat.
I find myself smiling while we wait to hear what Pops has to say. I’ve always liked a hellcat, myself.
Chapter 3
Lucia
Enzo.
Who the fuck names their kid Enzo? It’s just so pretentious and Italian, although I guess that the Torenti family didn’t do much better in the naming department.
Still, it fits him.
Fuck. I don’t want to look at him, but I can’t help that my eye keeps getting drawn right over to where he’s sitting. He’s gorgeous. Taller than me, dark hair and eyes that I want to go swimming in, and a body that’s so tightly wrapped in muscle that I can see them twisting under his suit.
I bet he has some tattoos hidden under there, and the thought of being the one who gets to find them makes my heart race.
Fuck yeah. Enzo is just my type, but he’s exactly the kind of guy that I’ve been avoiding for years. You know who lawyers don’t date? Guys in the mafia.
We date guys with names like Greg who work in accounting and are too afraid to actually ask us for sex so they settle for dry-humping on the sofa while we suffer through some shitty made-for-Netflix show.
That’s who lawyers date.
Not men like Enzo.
Not men who look like they’re ready to yank your panties off of you with their teeth and who look like they could make you scream their name all night long. I mouth his name to myself and then my face flames as I realize that both he and my uncle are staring at me.
Fuck. The last thing I need to do is think about what kind of huge cock he probably has hidden away under his suit. It’s not like I’m ever going to see it, and I’m sure as hell not going to marry him, no matter what this post-mortem letter from my dad says.
It’s fucking psychological warfare, that’s what this shit is. Nobody in their right mind gives someone a letter from their dead parent begging them to help their mafia aunt and uncle make an alliance with marriage.
Fuck.
Uncle Marco stares at me, his gaze never wavering, but it’s Enzo who’s making me nervous. I know that my uncle has killed dozens of people and that I should be afraid of him, but he’s my uncle, for god’s sake. I don’t know anything Enzo.
And I want to.
Shaking my head, I push the thoughts I’m having away so that I can concentrate. I shouldn’t be thinking these thoughts about some guy I’ve never even met, especially when the words in my dad’s letter are ringing through my head.
My uncle takes a deep breath, but I shoot him a look to shut him up. I don’t want to be here, but I am, and I’m going to try to gain as much control over the situation as I can.
“Do you have any reason to doubt that my dad really wrote this?” I gesture at the letter on the table, but I can’t bring myself to pick it up and look at it.
Uncle Marco shakes his head. “No, I was there when he wrote it, Lucia. It was a really big deal for him to make sure that he could protect you, and this was how he thought that he could do it best. I watched him write and sign it, and I’ve kept it locked up until now. You and I are the only ones to have ever touched it.”
My shoulders slump a little, but I immediately sit back up straight. I don’t want these men to think that they can take advantage of me because I look tired.
“And him?” I cut my eyes at Enzo, who, for his part, is keeping quiet, even though he can’t seem to take his eyes off of me. I get the chills just looking at him and his dark eyes, and I have to force myself to look back at my uncle.
This is not the time to be checking out the eye candy. My very future is on the line.
“Him?” My uncle levels his stare at me. “Listen, Lucia, Enzo is practically family. You’ll be making him family and getting the protection that you need.”
I start shaking my head before he even finished speaking.
“I don’t need protection,” I said, trying my best to keep my voice as calm as possible. “I’m safe. I’m secure. I work hard. Nobody threatens me. It’s not like my parents gave me your last name.”
It’s true. My mom and dad did everything they possibly could to keep me away from the Torenti family. Hell, we hardly got together growing up, which means that I know my cousins Arlo and Roque, but that’s not all that they did. I’m Lucia Hall, not Lucia Torenti, and that’s damn fine with me.
Uncle Marco sighs and pulls an envelope out from inside his jacket and slides it across the table to me.
I don’t move. “What is this?” I’m curious about what could be in the envelope, but I also know that as soon as I open it, I’ll get sucked into his world.
“It’s a threat. Your parents did a great job hiding you, Lucia, but not great enough. You need our protection, and the best way for you to get it is to marry so that you’re closer. Enzo can offer you the protection that you need.”
My blood chills and my jaw drops open. Even though I want to look cool and collected, especially in front of the gorgeous Enzo, I grab the envelope and ripped it open.
I don’t recognize the handwriting, but I already knew that I wouldn’t. What I do recognize was a threat. My analytical mind immediately springs into action and I think about how hard it would be to find this person.
To send them to jail for what they were threatening.
When I looked back up at my uncle, my face is pale. I can feel that my head was swimming, and Ipm glad that I’d had so many of my Aunt Fia’s meatballs to tide me over or I might pass out.
“So, you have a death threat. And you think that it’s credible, so now you want me to follow through on my dad’s wishes and get married, because you think that having a mafia husband is the only thing that can protect me?” I shoot a glance at Enzo, but he hasn’t moved.
Fucking statue.
Uncle Marco nods. “That’s it in a nutshell, kiddo.”
My heart squeezes at the term of endearment. I haven’t heard him call me that since I was about five. As much as I hate what he’s saying to me, I’ve always loved my uncle. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, would he?
There’s no reason why he would want me to go through with this marriage if he didn’t have a really good reason, right?
I turn to Enzo. He’s been so quiet, just silently accepting his fate as my future husband, and now I want to know what he thought about it.
“Well?” I ask, crossing my arms on my chest. “Do you have anything you want to say? Are you okay with this? You want to go through with this…why? Because you have some weird boner about being a Torenti? What’s your deal anyway? Who the hell is my uncle trying to pawn me off on?”
He sits for a moment before answering, and I suddenly became afraid that I had really pissed him off, but then he smiles, and I swear, my core lights on fire.
Holy fuck, he’s hot. He’s got a great jaw and strong shoulders, and he’s totally the kind of guy that I’d eyeball from across the bar before giving up and going home with Greg. Or Kevin. Or Derek.
“I’m loyal to Pops,” he says, and the mafia nickname that everyone uses when referring to my uncle grates on me even as it rolls off of his tongue like honey. “I want to help the family however I can, and I’m not one to turn my back on a damsel in distress.”
“I’m not in distress,” I snap, even though I can’t help but think about the letter my uncle showed me.
No, not letter. Death threat. Fuck. You put one wrong person behind bars and every little shithead in town thinks that they can come a
t you. Something must be different about this guy, though, if he has my uncle spooked.
“But you are a damsel,” he points out, allowing his eyes to rake down my body. Well, the part of my body that he can see. I’m still sitting at the table, and there’s no way in hell that I’m going to stand up right now, not when my core throbs for him and I can feel my panties getting soaked.
Men think that they’re the only ones who have a hard time, but they have no idea. I’m sure that I’m flushed, but there’s no way for me to look down and see if they’ll be able to tell that I’m soaking through without him knowing, so I just squeeze my legs together and pray that he can’t tell.
One look into his eyes, though, and I know that he can. He cocks his eyebrow at me, a smile dancing on his face.
“So you’re totally cool with marrying a random person? You don’t have a girlfriend or anything who would be mad at that?” There. I’ll deflect how I feel and make him feel stupid.
“No girlfriend.”
“Probably a cat, huh? You’re a cat guy?”
His eyes narrow at that. “Nope, a dog. Big one. Probably weighs as much as you do when you’re soaking wet, actually.”
“I don’t share beds with dogs.” There. It’s a lie, but he doesn’t know that. I share a bed with my dog every single night, and I don’t want to give that up. But I know exactly how men feel about their dogs, and I also know that most of them aren’t willing to give them up for anything, so I just want to see how far Enzo will let me push him.
“Fine. You don’t have to sleep in my bed. You’re welcome to leave it at any time during the night.”
Now I know that I’m flushing. My face burns and I have to drop my eyes from his, which really pisses me off. I’m not used to being the one to back down first. Not in the courtroom. Not in my personal life.
So what is it about Enzo that can make me fold like this?
My uncle clears his throat. “Sounds like you two have some getting to know each other to do.” He turns to me and I force myself to look at him. “Lucia, I know that your cousins would love to see you, if you think that you can stick around for dinner.”
I shake my head immediately. There’s not a chance that I can spend another fucking second under the same roof as Enzo. My fiancé-to-be. The thought gives me chills, but they’re not at all the bad kind.
Dammit.
“I have to be home. Big cases this week, uncle.” Abruptly I stand up, a little surprised when Enzo does, too.
“I’ll walk you to your car. If I remember correctly, I have your keys.” He drops his hand into his pocket and I let my eyes graze down his chest before tearing them away.
God, Lucia, get a grip. Just because your dead dad and your mafia boss uncle want you to marry this guy doesn’t mean that you have to.
I don’t have to.
As long as I remember that, I’m going to be okay.
I’ve always been one to play by my own rules, and I don’t see why this has to be any different. Just because people want me to marry Enzo doesn’t mean I have to.
And just because I’m kinda dying to see what he looks like under that suit doesn’t mean that I need to give into the idea and do something stupid.
I’m smarter than that.
Right?
Chapter 4
Enzo
Lucia is a damn snack, but right now she’s looking at me like she’s the one who’s going to eat me, and I love it.
She’s wound up tight as fuck, but I know that I could take care of that for her. There’s no reason for her to drive all the way back to her house and her vibrator when I’m more than willing to help her blow off a little steam, but I have a really good feeling that she’s not into it.
Well, not yet. I never give up, and I sure as hell don’t back down when there’s something that I need to do. Pops called me because he knew that he could rely on me. I’m basically a Torenti thanks to always working with them and helping them out.
We don’t share blood, but I’d die for them, and they know it.
Now I’m willing to marry Lucia for them, but she looks like she’d rather suck start a Glock than go down that path with me.
“Your keys,” I tell her, holding them out so that they swing from my finger. She lunges at them across the table, her tits full and swaying a little in her shirt, but I jerk them back at the last second so that she can’t quite reach them.
“Give them to me.” Her green eyes look darker than before, and I love it. There’s nothing like a little hate fuck between friends. Enemies. Fiancés. Whatever.
“I thought that you might want to go shopping to pick out your ring. To be honest, I didn’t really know what kind of style you would like and I didn’t want to choose the wrong one. But we can do that now, if you’d like.”
I’m bating her and I know it. The only thing that I want to do with this gorgeous redhead is get her into my bed. I bet that she’s a hellcat between the sheets, and I can’t help but grin to myself just thinking about pinning her down, her gorgeous body arching under mine.
“There’s no way that I’m going to marry you.” She walks around the table and grabs the keys from me before I can react.
Okay, I was too busy staring at her tight jeans, the way her shirt is pulled around her waist, and her pouty ass mouth.
This girl really needs someone to take her down a notch.
“Bye, Uncle Marco,” she says to her uncle and then she walks from the room without another word. Her ass looks amazing in her jeans, and even though I know that I should probably stay and talk things over with Pops, I’m not letting her sashay her way out of this house without talking to her again.
“Hey,” I say, catching up with her at her car. She has the door open and slips next to it so that it’s between us and I’m blocking her way into her car. “Listen, I know that this is a lot to take in, but I want you to know that all I want is the best for you. Pops is obviously really worried, and – ”
“But I’m not.” She cuts me off and rolls her eyes. “I’m not worried at all, Enzo. I think that this is all a load of shit and I’m not interested in playing into it. You know why my last name isn’t Torenti even though Uncle Marco is my dad’s brother? So that my parents could keep me out of this shit. They didn’t want me anywhere near it, so why the hell would I willingly walk into it now?”
“To be safe. Listen, I know that you think you have everything under control, but it sounds like maybe you need to listen to Pops.”
“Do you hear yourself? Pops. You know that you’re not a Torenti, right? And if marrying me was your one last-ditch attempt to become one, then you need to move on. I’m. Not. Interested.”
God, she’s insufferable. I’m beginning to wonder if getting her into my bed is even worth the trouble of having to put up with her. “But don’t you think you should listen to him? Obviously your dad wanted you to, or he wouldn’t have written you a letter.”
Wrong thing to say. She flies out from behind the door and jabs her finger into my chest. “Listen. You’re not allowed to talk about my dad. Or my mom. Or me. I’m out of here and I swear to you, this is the last you’re going to see of me.”
“Oh, no, sweetheart,” I tell her, reaching out to grab her wrist. It’s slim and fragile and I squeeze it just enough to make her gasp.
Just enough to let her know that I’m the one who’s in control here. That if she doesn’t want to have a bruised wrist she needs to learn to shut up.
That she needs to pay attention to what I’m going to say.
“You may not give a shit about your life, but you obviously have family members who do. And I know that you think you’re some hotshit lawyer and nobody will fuck with you, but you need to understand that you’re exactly who people want to fuck with.”
I pull her closer so that she’s standing right in front of me. Heat pours off of her in waves and she bites her lower lip. Just another inch and she’d be pressed right up against my body. All I have to do is tilt my head a
nd I’ll be able to taste this fiery little redhead who’s determined not to be my wife.
She looks up at me, her green eyes deep and mysterious, and I lean down so that I can whisper in her ear. Her perfume is intoxicating and I take a deep breath, enjoying how it swirls around me.
Lavender? Honeysuckle? I can’t place it, but it’s too light for her. Someone as tough and strong-headed as she is needs to wear something deeper. Musky.
Fuck. I want this girl.
“You want to play this game? Feel free, Lucia, but you need to know that the only thing you’re playing with is your life. If you want to walk out of this in one piece and know that nobody is going to fuck with you, then you need to marry me.”
She doesn’t move. I can feel her pulse in her wrist and I know when it speeds up. Even though Lucia doesn’t want to admit that she wants me, she does. I can tell, and I wonder if she knows how obvious it is.
“Fuck you.” My face is so close to hers that I can feel her breath on my skin.
“You’re the only one I’m going to let fuck me,” I tell her, and she jerks back, slapping me across the face with her free hand. It stings like shit and I drop her wrist.
Before I can stop her, she pushes pas me to slide into her car, slamming the door behind her. I hear the locks click and then the motor purrs to life before she backs down the driveway in a hurry. I think that she’s going to hit my truck, but she misses it at the last second before pulling out into the road and driving off.
Back in the house I see that Pops is still at the table.
“That went well,” I tell him. “I had no idea that your niece was such a…” I pause, not sure how far I can go without pissing him off.
“Pain in the ass?” He offers, and I grin.
“Yeah, that. You didn’t mention that she would be vehemently opposed to getting married.”
“I didn’t know.” He shrugs and pushes a slip of paper across the table to me. “Home and work addresses. I know that you’re probably too busy to babysit, but we need to keep eyes on her. If you don’t want to, I can get someone else to handle the busywork for you.”