Page 43 of Lukas

Chapter Seventeen

“Those fuckersin Baton Rouge are probably wishing they’d never heard of La Cosa Nostra.” Dominic leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. He grinned, but there was still a tightness to it. Roman was sitting in the chair across from Dom’s desk, and Lukas was sprawled out on the couch at the side of the room.

The last few days, the Baton Rouge gang issue had taken way too much of his time. This was the third day he was going on having not seen Reina, their longest time apart since she’d showed up at Deeper Threat over a month ago.

He fucking missed her. Missed the sex, sure. Missed her hot little mouth wrapping around his cock first thing in the morning when he was hardly awake. Missed proving to her—over and over—that she could in fact come from oral sex. Missed the way he could only tie her up and fuck her in the ass when they were at his place because of the soundproofing. Otherwise at her apartment the neighbors would—and had—called the cops.

But making her scream his name until she was literally hoarse had become one of his favorite pastimes.

But it wasn’t just the sex. He missed Reina. Missed her laugh. Missed the way she loved to race as they did Sudoku puzzles, although admittedly that usually just ended up causing more sex. Missed her take on politics. Missed watching movies on the TV with her, trying not to let him see her cry at any sad parts. Missed that giant brain of hers that always had a million things going on in it.

There was something going on with work for her, he knew. He’d asked about it when he’d seen shadows of stress cross over her face sometimes, but she hadn’t wanted to talk about it, so he hadn’t pushed. After all, he didn’t talk much about his work either.

There might be parts of their lives they never shared openly with each other. Hell, maybe she had to sign nondisclosure agreements for some of the work she did for companies. He understood and had no problem with it.

“That strike against the Baton Rogue gang ought to keep them out of play for a long time. Hopefully permanently,” Roman agreed.

They had hit the gang hard when the punks had attempted to rob a third shipment. No deaths, but a couple gang leaders would be recuperating in a hospital for quite some time.

More importantly, an understanding that if you fucked with the Rinaldi family, you were going to get fucked in return. Much harder.

“Good, because I’m tired of dealing with this,” Lukas said. “I’ve got better things to do.”

Dominic’s eyebrow raised. “Like Reina Torres?”

“Uh, hell yeah.” Lukas broke out into a grin.

Roman rolled his eyes. “You’ve been holed up with her for over a month. That’s got to be some kind of record for you.”

He tried to wipe the smile off his face but couldn’t. “I don’t know what to say. I’m not even interested in playing with someone else. Hell, I don’t think I’m ever going to be.”

He saw his brothers give each other little smirks, but Lukas didn’t care.

Dominic shrugged. “I thought maybe you weren’t that into Reina when you took Alisha Meadows to the gala on Thursday.”

Lukas grimaced. “That was only because of this shit going down with Baton Rouge. I knew that would get press coverage, and I didn’t want anyone to know Reina and I are an item. Didn’t want to take a chance on making her a target.”

Alisha was a family friend and business associate, nothing else. Moreover, she was someone well-versed in the potential dangers of associating with the Rinaldi family. She had her own security team that would not be caught unawares by any sort of attack.

But Alisha had been a mistake. Despite her pleasant company, the entire night Lukas had just wished it was Reina by his side.

“Well, with Baton Rouge handled, you can probably take your woman out on a proper date now.”

Lukas opened one eye and found both his brothers watching him, undoubtedly to see if he would protest the use of the phrase his woman when it came to Reina.

Nope.

Because that was exactly what she was.

And yes, he would be taking her out on a date as soon as he fucked her four or five times to make up for the missing last three days.

“I’ll be damned,” Roman muttered. “Never thought he’d end up falling for a neighborhood girl. A quiet little brainiac at that.”

Lukas couldn’t help but grin even bigger. “Believe me, she’s not that quiet.”

Dominic chuckled and rolled his eyes. “If you’re going to go public with her, you need to see about getting a protection detail on her. Once anyone suspects you might be together…”

“Trust me, there will be no doubt we’re together. And as soon as possible, I’ll be talking her into moving into my condo. Permanently.”

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