Page 30 of Unexpected Temptation

“Oh yeah?”

“A Trentini man is willingly walking onto a property I own. It’s a property where I have surveillance.”

“Holy shit,” Tank whispers. “Are you sure about this? With a Family like them, we can’t go in half-cocked.”

I think about those three kids. The Vegas guys probably went to extra lengths to make them look rough, but it doesn’t change what they did.

“If I’d had it in me to beat the hell out of three kids tonight, I’d have all the money I could dream of,” I say.

“They put you againstkids?”

“They’re sick, and they’ve been dragging me down just by being near them. They’re scumbags. They drug women. They don’t give a damn.”

My voice is getting louder as the rage in me boils over. That prick had plans for Maya, and none of them were good. Nobody gets to treat her that way. Nobody gets to hurt her. Nobody gets to threaten her. I just won’t let it happen, ever.

With all this mayhem swirling through me, I don’t have it in me to question it. I want to keep her safe.

“We can fight back,” Tank says.

“I’m ready,” I growl.

“And the home?”

I swallow, thinking of the dogs. “I’ll make it work. Get me a contact for those firearms.”

“Ooh-rah.”

“I’ll pick them up from the safe house.”

“What,now?”

“I won’t be sleeping tonight. Will you?”

“Not now,” he laughs savagely. “Wilco.”

I hang up. This is all a huge risk, but the way people get sucked into the grimy underworld is by letting things slip bit by bit. Then, before a man knows it, he’s forgotten who he is. I hurt people for the Mob. I did terrible things, worse than just hurt them, but I always drew the line. Raffie should’ve taken that seriously. I couldn’t live with myself if I let this fly.

Not kids, dammit. Raffie should’ve known that. We were both getting our asses kicked when we were kids. We both knew how unfair it was, how much bigger they were. After riding our bikes and sitting on the hill, he’d say,“When I’m bigger…”Then he goes and throws me in there against … But that was crap anyway. He got bigger, and he still took his beatings like the coward he was.

It’s nothim. It’s me. It came from my selfishness: my ego, thinking I could make a difference. I love dogs so damn much, but I can’t let this pass. They were dealing with a desperate man before. Now they’re dealing with a cold operator.

Ooh-rah.

I need to find a way to get Maya somewhere safe. Strange, that thought hits me, but there it is. If I’m going to be cold, I need to be cold about that situation, too. I feel something for her. There’s a stirring in me. The physical hunger is borderline feral. I get hard just thinking about her, especially tonight with her dress hugging her fine, thick body.

Yet it goes deeper than that. She’s tough. She’s honest. She’s good, but she’s too innocent for this world. I can’t let myself …

I have to remember Vanessa. Sure, it was different with her. I never felt like this, whatever it is. It was more … what? Forced? It was twisted. It was wrong. That’s why I have to keep to the path.

I’ll stay in my lane—the Good Samaritan doing a woman a favor. That’s it.

A minute later, I get a text. It’s from Maya. All my employees have my cell in case of emergencies.

Can I still come to work tomorrow?

Using voice-to-text, I reply,It’s Saturday. You can stay home.

I want to earn my keep,she replies.I need to pay Mom’s nurses.So it’s her mom who’s sick.

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