Page 59 of Blood Money

“I bet that’s not what your father would say.” For a moment Liam looked horrified, like he shouldn’t have said that, but as soon as I laughed, he laughed too. We were both trying to recover when a waitress approached our table.

“How can I help you gentlemen?”

I gestured for Liam to go first. He ordered his Jumbo Breakfast and a large orange juice. Once I’d asked for the omelet and coffee, our waitress hurried off to put in our order.

“You aren’t bothered by drinking coffee in the middle of the night?” Liam asked.

“If a guy like me can’t basically live on coffee and alcohol, he probably doesn’t belong in this job.”

He sniffed. “Isn’t everyone in your job a family member? Aren’t you born to it?”

“Not all of us,” I said thinking of the guy I had on duty watching Liam’s storage unit. “And for all we know, Vito and I aren’t really family.”

“Is that hard for you? I mean, of course it is, but have you had trouble getting other members of the family accept you?”

“At first, it wasn’t easy with those in high positions. Anyone less powerful was too scared of my father to say anything about his decisions, but Vito and I had to earn the respect of Lucien, the head of the family, and his brother and cousins. Once we did, we had no more trouble. Well, I didn’t. Vito, he’s another story.”

Liam smiled. “I like him.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You better not like him too much.”

He waved his hand at me. “Not like that. He’s funny and I feel comfortable around him.”

“You do know we’re supposed to be threatening.”

He nodded. “I’ve seen him threaten plenty of people.”

“People who tried to touch you?”

“It only took a day or so of him standing by the side of the stage the whole time I danced to give people the message that touching me is not allowed.”

I smiled, wishing I could sneak in anonymously and see my brother standing there defending my man when I wasn’t able to. I was so lucky to have him.

“When will you be back at the club?” Liam asked.

“I’m not sure, probably sometime next week.”

“Will I see you again before then?”

I grinned. “You really miss me that much?”

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I’ve missed you a lot.”

“I’m not sure when I can return, but if it was up to me, I’d be there to see you every night, every day, every minute.”

His laugh made my pulse speed up. Damn, I was so far gone for him. “You really are obsessed, aren’t you?”

“Is it obsession if the object of my obsession belongs to me?”

“Yes, if you can’t stop thinking about him. About me.”

“I can’t.”

“What are we going to do Val? This…”—he waved his hand back-and-forth between us—“whatever it is can’t work. And I don’t even understand why you’re interested in?—”

I laid a finger over his lips. “Don’t you dare put yourself down. You’re beautiful, you’re caring, and you stand up for yourself even when the odds are against you. Who wouldn’t want you?”

“That’s…I don’t know what to say, but this isn’t realistic. What about your family? You said?—”

---