Page 7 of Hot for Her Italian Mafia

“L-Lu…Luca Palermo,” he stutters.

I storm up to him, an extended fist pressing his feeble corpse back into the supporting wall. A hair separates us. He recoils against the bricks, shielding his face with his hands.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” My question comes out in a harsh growl. “Trying to touch what doesn’t belong to you.”

“It’s not what it looks like,” he squeals.

“Naughty.” I drive my first fist into his squishy belly. “Naughty.”

He whines and groans but doesn’t break from my grip.

“Looks to me like you’re giving my woman a hard time,” I whisper.

I hope she didn't hear that. We haven’t said two words to one another. Announcing she's mine in such unfortunate circumstances doesn’t seem great for our future prospects.

“I didn’t know,” he repeats the phrase a few more times.

“Ignorance doesn’t make up for stupidity.” I drive another rapid fist into his belly, starting my onslaught. One after another, blow after blow, I don’t stop until his legs give out.

He drops to his hands and knees, a ribbon of red leaks from the corner of his mouth. Choked breathing doesn’t carry enough oxygen to his lungs, but I’m not done with him yet.

I meet his cheek with another fierce blow. He tumbles to the ground. Instant swelling and a peppering for bruises obscure the features of his gaunt face.

“I’m sorry. Please, let me go. I’ll leave her alone.” He lifts his hands in the air to block whatever else I might throw at him. A lot of good that’s done so far. His words struggle through heaving for oxygen and his quivering lip. Blood and tears mix freely down his cheeks.

And then he says what I feared most. “Don’t kill me.”

If I had him to myself, I would have. His life for Josie’s peace of mind is a no-brainer. But those three words are going to expose what a monster I am.

I grab him by the lapels of his cheap leather jacket and hoist him to his feet. “If you come anywhere near her again, I will. And don’t you forget it.”

I fling him towards the street, and he collapses back to the ground. He finds his feet, still gasping for air from the punishment I dished out. He doesn’t speak again. He takes my good grace in stride and runs, often tripping over his own feet and tumbling forward, until he vanishes down the block.

“You saved me,” Josie says.

It brings me back to the moment.

“I did.”

But at what cost?

CHAPTER 5

Josie

“Are you okay?” Luca asks.

“I am, thanks to you.”

He’s more intimidating up close. His rumbling barrel chest extends double my width, and I have to crane my neck to meet his eyes. A true giant, and it’s good to know his massive size isn’t just to look good. I’ve seen it in action. The violence and power those mighty arms carry.

I want to reach out and touch them. Feel the densely packed muscle busting the seams of his winter coat.

“He bothered you at the Sunken Sailor?”

“He did.”

“Was this the first time you saw him?”

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