Page 29 of Protecting Charity

Miss Prude clapped her hands together. “Oh, you look—”

“—shut up.” I interrupted her phony enthusiasm.

Luca sat forward with a fiery look in his eyes that made me want to drag him in here and have him tear this dress off with his teeth.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I warned.

He raised a brow and tipped his lips up in a lopsided grin. I pulled the dress down around my ass to make sure he didn’t get a peep show he didn’t deserve, then turned back to the dressing room while holding my glare on the woman. Luca’s chuckle had me dreaming up ways to make him pay for this embarrassment. If this dress didn’t cost a fortune, I’d rip it up and throw it at her and strangle him with the threads. Maybe I should do it, anyway. He was paying, and it would teach him not to do this to me again.

One more to go, and if this didn’t work, I’d pick one up from the mall and call it a day. I tossed the whorish dress on the floor and worked on pulling the black-and-nude colored floor-length ball gown over my head. Delicate bead work created an elegant pattern right down to the ground. The solid black fabric at the top covered my breasts, but my cleavage showed to mid-waist, making the chance of hiding a knife in my bust slim to none. I had the goods to pull it off, but there was nothing left to the imagination here.

I twirled in the mirror, appreciating the look of the dress, and concluded that it just might work. Watching my step, I picked up the end of the dress so as not to trip and stepped out of the room. Glancing up to catch his reaction and I chilled in my tracks. Sitting beside Vito was the big tattooed Mexican I called Pooch, and next to Luca was Elias Hernandez. I dart my gaze back and forth from Vito to Luca while taking in the scene and contemplating every scenario possible. Was this an ambush because I didn’t sit and speak with him before? How did he know where I was?

I stepped back slowly, ready to grab my gun I left in the changing room, when Luca waved me over. I took one more step back when Luca’s warning hit my ears with clarity. “Charity, don’t.”

I locked eyes with Vito and realized neither of them were afraid. They sat as if conversing with an old buddy. Did they know each other?

“What’s going on?” I gave Luca a wary look.

“It’s okay, Charity. Come sit with me,” Luca assured me.

Miss Prude was nowhere to be seen, and this stupid dress left me standing unarmed while two armed men sat next to Luca. If this turned grisly, I was making sure Pooch went down first. I leaned against the wall next to the door, my hands pressed behind me. I refused to step away from the one thing that would take them down in less than a second.

“Not so cocky without your gun, are you?” Pooch jeered.

Vito raised a brow and gave him the side-eye.

A wicked smile twisted my lips as I batted my lashes to show him he didn’t intimidate me. “Pipe down, Pooch. I’ve already planned three specific ways to kill you. The only thing stopping me is that man sitting right there,” I said, pointing to Luca. “Would you like to hear my psychotic ideas and just how much I’m going to make you squeal like a little piggy?”

Vito laughed, and Pooch scowled as he glared daggers. If looks could kill, I’d be bleeding for sure, but I enjoyed the aggravation I caused him. It was the same irritation I had, having to stand here and take his bullshit.

“Charity,” Luca warned.

All he had to say was my name in that specific way, and the metaphorical collar tightened, which brought me to heel. It did something unexpected to my belly. He was right when he said I liked control, but suddenly, there was something about him that had me handing my reins out for him to take hold of. Was it because we finally crossed that line, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind? I wasn’t sure, but the revelation startled me.

He held his hand out once more, waving me forward, and I did so as if he had pulled my chain. My feet moved of their own volition until they came to rest just before Luca, where he gave me a sharp tug and pulled me to his lap where I was to sit nice and pretty.

“She’s feisty, isn’t she?”

“You have no idea,” Luca confirmed as if I didn’t have my ass snuggled up against his twitching cock.

“Still here,” I said with derision.

Fucking jerks talking about me as if I were some piece of ass hanging on him.

I bent over, making sure my ass never left contact with his lap and filled my flute with champagne. I took a sip and savored the bubbles as they popped against my tongue.

“So back to what we were discussing,” Elias said. “A little heads up goes a long way.”

“Well, I had some time-sensitive matters to address with him. I didn’t have time to track you down. Besides, he was in my territory.”

“I know, I know. I’m not upset about him being eliminated. However, the girl was a recruit.”

“Yeah, and how did you find out about her, more specifically, Charity?”

I whipped my head back and forth, trying to follow a conversation I clearly arrived in the middle of. A discussion that was about me and the actions I took, it would seem. So that would be the reason they tracked me down? I took all the safeguards necessary. There would be no way they would know who did it, especially to Morgan. Her body was just found yesterday because I had to call it in. There wouldn’t be enough time for them to find out what my name was from the time I left her body to the time I hit the diner. It would be impossible. Much less for them to know about my association with the Moreno family.

“Believe it or not, a contact came in and told us he had someone approach him about it. He gave specifics. Who she was, what she looked like and where Morgan’s body was. We just so happened to be arriving at the warehouse when we saw her get on her motorcycle and take off. I needed to see for myself if I was being jerked around because there was no way that this petite thing could be guilty of what my guy said.”

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