Wedding of Our Dreams: Dante & Steele (Croft Family Mob Series Book 0)

by Morgan Kelley

  She stared at him.

  “There was a time when you’d greet me first,” she said, “or at least be standing at the door when we pulled up. You know…to show us how much you missed us?”

  Yeah, he would have, but she’d ruined that by being bitchy, controlling, and starting her shit on Emma.

  She was the queen here.

  Not his mother.

  While Reggie gave him life, Emma gave him everything else he needed to survive. She was his all.

  “Well, Mom, had you not barged into Emma’s office while we were having sex, I would be happier to see you. That makes me angry despite who the person is.”

  Christopher Croft began choking on his beer. “Reggie! You did not!”

  “How was I supposed to know that she would be naked and on our son? They were having sex on a desk, Christopher. How undignified!”

  And it began.

  “Because she’s my wife, and that’s how I like her,” Greyson stated. “For your information, not that it should matter, but Emma was working. I accosted her. If you had been ten minutes earlier, you would have found our positions flipped and me on top.”

  She made some disgruntled sound as if she were replaying it over in her mind.

  “In my day…”

  He stopped her.

  “I once came home from school to find you naked and dad shouting, ‘make it count’!” he stated. “You weren’t playing basketball in your bedroom. Also, I recall him having to clean his handcuffs more than once, so, mother, stop and think about what you’re going to say to me next.”

  She got red.

  Christopher Croft laughed. “No, we weren’t, and I still have to...”

  When she gave him a look, he patted her on the leg, but wisely, shut up.

  Chris entered the room. “Uh, sorry to bother you,” he said, trying to keep a straight face.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m heading out,” he said, putting on his body armor. “Emma and Steele need to run out.”

  Greyson tossed him the keys to Emma’s ride. “Make sure she’s safe,” he said, patting the man on the back.

  “Will do. Natasha is going to be following. Dimitri is…busy.”

  Yeah, that was code for being cranky.

  Ever since the last case, he was as miserable as sin. It was starting to wear on everyone’s nerves. Before, he’d be silent but present. Now, the whole team was picking up the slack. Marissa Pierce did a number on him.

  “Thanks.”

  Chris threw his suit jacket over his body armor and grabbed Emma’s purse.

  “Don’t bust her ass,” Greyson warned.

  “But it was such a nice ass. Were those handprints on her cheek? Maybe we should dust her for fingerprints.”

  He laughed.

  They could swab her for DNA for all he cared. Emma was his wife, and a man had every right to get his girl messy.

  “Tell her that. Let’s see what happens,” Greyson said, grinning at him.

  If he did…?

  The man was dead.

  Emma was going to get even, and it was going to be epic. He almost wished he wasn’t stuck with his mother so he could see it happen.

  “Where is she going?” he asked absently.

  “The sex shop.”

  It was Reggie who choked on her wine.

  “She said something about buying Steele and Dante one hell of a wedding gift.”

  Greyson knew the man was kidding, but he wasn’t fond of Reggie either. She kept asking him what it was like to be that big.

  Chris was sensitive about his size. He was a brick wall, but no one liked that one thing you tried to ignore to be pointed out.

  “Great. Tell her to get me something fun for when we’re in the kitchen. She’ll know what I mean.”

  He saluted and tried not to laugh.

  When Chris was gone, his mother opened her mouth to say something, and he shut her down.

  “Don’t.”

  She stared at her son.

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t need to hear you tell me I shouldn’t trust my wife with another man, or that sex toys are dirty. I’m the head of the mob here, Reggie. I get to be dirty. I was clean before, and it wasn’t as much fun.”

  Okay, it was, but he’d never say shit to his mother about anything related to their mob life.

  It wasn’t her business.

  “I wasn’t going to discuss your sex life.”

  Greyson stared at her.

  “I was going to ask you why the whole world, including all of my friends, are calling me and asking why the hell you’re involved in this mob thing?”

  He took a seat with his bourbon, and opened the humidor for his father as he considered what to say to that.

  They both took a cigar.

  Since Emma and Katerina weren’t there, he could smoke. He missed his kitten prepping his cigar, but they weren’t risking the baby and second hand smoke.

  “They are probably telling you that, Mother, because I am the mob. It’s not some made up story on the news. It’s fact.”

  She stared at her son as he flicked the lighter for his father. The man puffed away on the pricey cigar.

  “Greyson Thaddeus Croft, I didn’t raise you to be some mob gangster. I raised you better than this. You were a cop. Can’t you go ask for your job back?”

  Already, she was on his nerves.

  His career weighed heavily on his shoulders. He’d lost his badge, Emma tossed hers, and he had to pretend he was a criminal.

  Seriously.

  His mother was pushing it.

  “Mom, I love you, but stop. You’ve been here thirty minutes, the housekeeper has been crying, the chef has told me you’re not allowed in the kitchen, and Emma and I have been found fornicating. There’s not enough bourbon in this house to get me through the next two days if you keep it up. My liver will need to go to detox.”

  Christopher Croft laughed.

  His wife…not so much.

  Dante took that moment to walk in, and then stop in the doorway when he realized who his brother was talking to in the living room.

  Then he saw her.

  “Shit!”

  “Watch your mouth, Dante Atticus Croft! You know better than that. What the hell happened to you two? I raised you and then you went downhill when you came out here.”

  Dante rolled his eyes.

  He had news for her. He was gay the day he was born, and he’d been having sex, not with the neighbor’s daughters, but their sons.

  If he told her that, she’d lose her mind.

  Maybe…

  On second thought…

  “Hey, Mom. You’re here…EARLY,” Dante said, taking the glass of bourbon from his brother and kicking it back.

  He headed to the bar to pour two more.

  They would need it.

  The family who got drunk together, didn’t embarrass each other at the reception dinner.

  Right?

  “You should pace yourself,” Reggie said, as he drank more. “You’re turning into an alcoholic like your brother. In fact, you’re just like him.”

  Greyson spoke up, “I’m not gay. I like pussy.”

  Dante snorted, nearly choking on the bourbon.

  “Yeah, and I like dick. I know that can’t be confusing. I’m like you, he’s like dad.”

  She pointed at him. “Watch your mouth! I’m just stating a fact. He drinks too much, and so do you.”

  “I would cut back, Mom, but Greyson and I have a game. Each time you tell us what to do, we have to drink. I’m two fingers in, and feeling fine.”

  Croft laughed and gave his brother a fist bump.

  Reggie didn’t look nearly as amused.

  “I don’t know why I bother coming here. You two gang up on me.”

  Greyson took a drink.

  Reggie stared at him, almost daring him.

  “Mother, I’m almost forty-three years old. I think I can handle my own life. Tell your friends that I’m
fine, and not to believe the news.”

  “Are you killing people?” she asked.

  He hesitated, but not for the reason she was thinking. He wanted to really freak her out, but Greyson knew Emma would get the shittiness.

  “Nope.”

  Okay, so he lied and she knew it.

  Sue him.

  Dante took a seat.

  “Where are we having dinner?” Christopher Croft asked, as he tried to calm everyone down by changing the subject. That happened often. It was his unofficial job.

  “Here,” Greyson stated.

  “Why?” Reggie asked.

  “Well, Mother, it seems that when you play mob, people try to kill you. We’re not all carrying guns, sporting bodyguards, and wearing Kevlar for shits and giggles. I was afraid if we went out, you might get shot.”

  “By me,” muttered Dante as he took another sip.

  She closed her mouth.

  “You should come home.”

  Her silence was short lived.

  “Since you married Emma, you’ve changed.”

  He knew this was coming.

  “Mom, do you know what I did in the military?” he asked, taking a sip of his bourbon.

  “What?”

  “I killed people. I was a sniper. I’d sit on a ledge, watching a person until I blew his brains out with one bullet. That was done for my country, and about forty times, so, this is actually better. Emma calmed me down. I don’t kill as easily.”

  Reggie stared at him with her mouth open.

  “When you were a cop,” she began.

  “I killed ten people in my ten plus years with the FBI. So, again, I was killing. See the theme here?”

  That’s when Dimitri walked in.

  “Emma just left with Chris,” he said, staring down at his tablet.

  When he looked up, he smiled at Greyson’s mother. “Hello, Mrs. Croft. It’s a pleasure to see you again,” he said.

  She didn’t say anything.

  It was clear what she thought of the man. He was Russian, and she was putting two and two together to get ten.

  “When is dinner?” she asked.

  “Seven,” Greyson offered.

  “I think I’m going to go lie down,” she said, heading toward the stairs. “I have a headache, and a very large pain in my ass,” she stated.

  Greyson put his hand over his brother’s mouth before he could say anything.

  He knew Dante.

  The man was likely the one to set Reggie off over anything. He just had that skill.

  Or gift.

  It was a tossup.

  When Reggie was gone, Christopher Croft had to know.

  “How bad is it, son?” he asked.

  Greyson respected his father.

  The man had taught him how to be a good cop, and he was pretty sure he was disappointed in him, but never once had he ever said it.

  “We’re barely holding Vegas above water. I have a precinct of crooked cops, a commissioner who wants my wife dead, and the FBI is breathing down my neck even though we solved half of their biggest sex trafficking case. This place is a free for all.”

  “You aren’t killing people, are you?” he asked.

  Dimitri cleared his throat.

  While Ethan Blackhawk had called off the Feds, there was still one suspicious van outside.

  It was better to err on the side of caution in this case.

  “Dad, let’s just say I have a better chance of turning up dead than anyone who crosses my path.”

  He didn’t like that.

  At all.

  “Son.”

  “Emma’s pregnant, Dad. We haven’t told everyone. We need to keep it quiet. If it gets out…”

  His father got it.

  “Don’t tell mom. Please. She’ll tell her friends, someone will sell the story to a tabloid, and she’ll be in danger.”

  He got it.

  “When I gave Curtis our name, he became a target. He is still recovering from that bullet wound. He’s finally able to move around. I don’t need to start buying stock in caskets. I have to live with what happened to him. If they find out that Emma is carrying a baby, she’ll be next.”

  “I won’t tell your mother.”

  That was exactly why he loved his father.

  “I’m not a bad guy,” Greyson said. “We aren’t doing what we do to get notoriety, money, or fame.”

  He patted his son’s leg. “Greyson, I know you. There is no reason why you have to tell me that. I can look into my boy’s eyes—both of my sons—and see the truth. It’s why I wasn’t shocked when your brother came out, and I wasn’t shocked when the media started calling you the Don Juan of Vegas.”

  Dante snorted. “Emma hates that name. It implies you’re getting pussy all over town.”

  Oh, he was aware. Go into two strip clubs while working a case, and you got a rep.

  It sucked.

  Still, he appreciated what the man was saying.

  “Thank you, Dad.”

  “Fight the good fight, son, and make sure you stay alive. I don’t buy into the media. I know the kind of man you are. I’m not embarrassed to say you’re my son. I’m proud of you.”

  He looked at Dante.

  “And you…”

  Dante waited for it.

  “I have never loved you more. You’re just like your brother. I knew you’d find your niche. I’m proud of you, too, Dante. For the record, and if my opinion counts, I happen to like Steele. He’s a good person. When I was a cop, the ME I always worked with was a kind, smart man. What he did…day after day, week after week—it takes a badass person to dig in guts all day. I’m good with calling him my son-in-law.”

  Dante got up and went to his father.

  “Thank you, Dad. I love you.”

  Christopher Croft hugged him. “I love you too. Now, let’s go smoke these cigars down in the man cave. I want to play some pool, get liquored up, and hide from your mother.”

  They knew where they got it from.

  Him.

  So, that’s exactly what they did.

  * * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *

  Smut Hut

  Las Vegas

  They were getting their kink on, and it was going to be fun.

  As Chris pulled up, he tried to do anything not to go inside with Emma.

  There were excuses.

  Lies.

  Anything but handcuffing himself to the steering wheel. It was clear the man did not want to be seen inside.

  It was a sex shop, and she was…

  A woman.

  On top of the fear of his bodily reaction to Emma perusing sex toys, there was his big one.

  Steele was gay.

  They looked like some wacked out threesome that was seven days past confused.

  Despite his fighting, Emma won.

  All she had to do was put her hand on her belly, and he caved. Of course he would. She was pregnant, and Chris needed to keep her safe.

  It was a no win for him, and he knew it.

  Inside the sex shop, they were met with stares. Everyone knew Emma. She was the head mob man’s babe, and she was in a sex shop but not with Greyson.

  Yeah, this was going to be fun.

  It was also going to be on the news by morning.

  As she walked around, she found every inappropriate item she could find, just to torment him, and she made sure to hold it up, ask if it was his size, flavor, or personal favorite item.

  IT WAS HORRIFYING.

  When she tossed him a cock ring, he nearly had a stroke. The idea that she was thinking about his man junk, in that, made it all kinds of uncomfortable.

  He swore he was going to get even.

  “You should buy this for Natasha,” she said, grinning wickedly at him as she held it in her hand.

  He stared at her. “It’s a collar.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Then she put it on.

  Chris, while in a relationship, was still a man. Of course his mi
nd was going to go there.

  He saw her naked.

  Now she was wearing a collar…

  He turned red.

  “Emma, knock it off.”

  “What? You saw me naked, so you either have to let me see your birthday suit, or you have to tell me about your sex life.”

  He sputtered.

  WHO MADE THAT SHITTY RULE?

  “Well?” she asked, waiting for him to answer.

  Chris wasn’t playing this game.

  It was awkward.

  Before Natasha, he had it bad for Emma. It embarrassed the shit out of him, and she knew it.

  “We have a very active sex life. There is no way in hell that you’re seeing me naked.”

  She snorted, and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I love you, Christopher. I’m glad I have you as my brother.”

  He held her hand—the one not holding a bottle of lube.

  Despite it all, Chris knew he was the lucky one. Emma filled that hole.

  “What are we doing here? You don’t need kink to get Greyson to jump you. He does that all the time.”

  She pointed at Steele as he walked around the store.

  Great.

  What was worse than thinking about Emma doing it?

  Thinking about Dante and Steele doing it. They were on an adventure in Gay-Land, and that made him all different shades of uncomfortable.

  And now he was picturing it.

  Jesus!

  What the hell?

  “He needs a pick me up. So, we are going to help him. He’s worried about…”

  She pointed down.

  He got it.

  He’d seen the police report and what was done to the man. It broke his heart. Not only had he lost his eye, the use of fine motor skills in his hands, but he’d been sodomized with a baseball bat, and likely Dominic’s goons. They’d found traces of semen all over him.

  For that alone, he and Greyson wanted blood.

  Hell!

  The whole family did.

  “Okay, I’m in,” he said. “Let’s go make a gay man feel good.”

  The woman behind them gasped.

  Emma laughed so hard she nearly peed her pants.

  Chris, not so much.

  “I will get even for this,” he said, pointing at her. “One day, I’ll need a favor.”

  She would be there for him too.

  As they headed his way, Steele, picked out a few things that he could use for his wedding night.