Page 30 of Merciless & Mated

“Walk with me.”

The three of us set off together to take Gianna to the restaurant.

“Are any of you going to explain to me what happened today?” Gianna asked.

“In time,” I replied. Just to be safe, we waited until we’d arrived and were headed down the street to the restaurant to speak just in case Bianca had gotten paranoid and bugged our vehicles.

“You’re manager for now,” said Elio. “We added a clause that ownership automatically reverts to you after two years. I figure by that point Bianca won’t give a shit.”

Gianna stopped short. “Wait, what do you mean ownership?”

“Marco wanted us to find a way to get it back to you. This way you can run it with Bianca’s blessing and your father can’t fuck it up again. Once you’re no longer a novelty and Bianca’s not staring you down, it’ll be yours.”

Gianna turned to me, her eyes wide and lashes ringed with tears. “You wanted to do that for me?”

I swallowed against the swell of emotion both from myself and what was radiating through the bond. “You said you wanted something to do during the day.”

Gianna launched herself at me, and while I initially braced for a hit, what came instead was her arms wrapping around me and her lips descending against mine. That perfect pink mouth I had been craving tasted just as sweet as I had imagined. I hooked my hands beneath her thighs and scooped her up, the slight tang of salt from what I could only assume were happy tears mixed with the sweet peach of her lips. A growl snuck free and Gianna devoured the sound. Affection and gratitude tumbled through the bond toward me, all tangled in a haze of lust.

Elio cleared his throat. “Please don’t fuck in the middle of the street.”

I broke away from Gianna’s kiss just long enough to tell him to fuck off. It wasn’t an uncalled-for reminder because with every sweep of her tongue I was a little more tempted to take her into the alley and fuck her up against the brick.

“We have shit to do, Marco,” Elio reminded me, his words clipped. “You can find your own way home if you’re going to fuck around. Let her go to work and you can do whatever the hell you want tonight. I’ve got to head to the airport.”

He disappeared back down the street in the direction we’d come, and I reluctantly put Gianna back on her feet, pulling a slim device from my pocket and handing it to her.

“A phone?”

“A burner phone. You can communicate with me on this. Don’t go anywhere without it.”

Both of our phones beeped.

“Oh my god! Marco! We have a group chat with Elio? You don’t really seem like the type to do that.”

I shrugged. “It’s convenient.”

El:

Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone

It’s a long flight to save your ass

G:

It’s like you don’t even KNOW us

M:

She’s promised to be good

El:

I meant you, but sure

G:

Come back with a partner so I have a friend here

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