by BETH KERY
“I hadn’t yet called you a thief, but that’s precisely what you are. Among other things.”
“You can’t fire him!” Elise blurted out. Lucien glanced sideways at her, startled by the panic in her voice, but unwilling to look away from Mario when the other man’s hands were fisted into balls.
“Stay out of this. It’s none of your business,” Lucien muttered, setting the glass on the bar.
“It is my business. If you fire Mario, what am I supposed to do?” Elise exclaimed.
“What are you talking about?” Lucien bit out, but Mario wasn’t interested in their tense, private exchange.
“You’ve always been a smug French bastard, thinking you could lord it over me,” Mario bellowed. He grabbed Elise’s upper arm roughly. “Well you can’t fire me because I quit! Come, Elise. Let’s get out of this devil’s hole.”
Elise kept her feet planted and jerked when Mario yanked on her. “Nobody tells me what to do,” she exclaimed. Lucien clamped his fist around the other man’s forearm and squeezed. Tight. Mario yelped in pain.
“Let go of her,” Lucien warned. He saw the flash of aggression in Mario’s expression and resisted rolling his eyes in exasperation. He really wasn’t up for this tonight. “Are you sure you want to start something?” he asked mildly. “Do you think it’s wise?”
“Don’t Mario,” Elise warned.
For a brief second, Mario hesitated, but then the alcohol he’d consumed must have roared in his veins, giving him courage. He released Elise and lunged, fist cocked. Lucien blocked Mario’s punch and sunk his fist beneath his ribs.
One, two, done. Almost too easy, Lucien thought grimly as air whooshed out of Mario’s lungs followed by a guttural groan of pain.
Lucien shot a ‘this is all your fault’ glare at Elise and then put his hands on the shoulders of the now hunched over Mario. He grabbed his jacket off the bar stool and urged the gasping, moaning man toward the front door of the restaurant with a hold on his shirt collar.
When he returned a few minutes later alone, Elise still stood next to the bar, her chin up, her carriage held every bit as proud and erect as her aristocratic ancestors, her gaze on him wary. He walked toward her, unsure if he wanted to shove her into the back of a cab like he just had Mario, shake her for her foolishness, or turn her over his knee and punish her ass for the infraction of peering into his private world.
Beth Kery is the New York Times bestselling author of over thirty novels, including Glimmer, The Affair, Since I Saw You, Because We Belong, and When I’m With You. She lives in Chicago with her family.
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