Page 124 of Enforcer

The baby has dark hair like his daddy and beautiful eyes like his mommy, and his aunt Alyssa is beside herself with joy. I look through the nursery window at baby Nico, seven pounds and six ounces, wiping the tears from my eyes.

“He’s beautiful, no?” Dante says, coming from nowhere.

I groan inwardly. He’s the only man I’ve not been effective in shaking after fucking. Then I fuck him some more, and he still keeps coming back. It was an idiotic idea to fuck him in the first place, knowing we’d be working closely together, but I could help it.

His dark features and wicked sense of humor had buckled my resolve.

“He is,” I say, sniffling and wiping my face.

“We have to stop meeting like this, minaccia,” he says. —Menace.

I groan, turning toward him. “Stop fucking calling me that!”

“Stop driving me fucking crazy!” he counters.

“How have I done that? I haven’t spoken to you in weeks!” I shove my finger into his chest.

He leans over me, face far too close. “And that’s the problem, minaccia.”

I roll my eyes and move around him, returning to the exit. Nico had gone for his bath and time at the nursery so Slate could help Brynne shower. The way he dotes on her and takes care of her like she’s his queen has made me lonelier in their presence.

Dante is the one man I can’t shake, yet sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to be his.

I’d leaped at the chance to be in this life with Brynne. To be by her side. Not because I had to, but because she’s my best friend. Also, because of the rush of this life, I could sate that side of myself that needs it.

That was until I met Dante and accidentally fucked him in the bathroom of the Florida mansion the first day I met him.

Every time I get rid of him and think he’s out of my system, here he comes again.

“Alyssa, please, just talk to me,” he begs from where I’m mashing the elevator button repetitively.

“No. Dante. There’s nothing to talk about. Just stop.”

There isn’t. After I went to his place three weeks ago, purged my emotions, and answered his messages, I felt like it closed this chapter. I thought he understood how tangled up shit with us would be; how I’m too fucked-up to be with him. Too broken.

I felt like I could go forward.

I’m not the right girl for him.

His hands find my hips, and he rests his chin atop my head. “Stop ignoring this between us. Stop turning the other cheek. And then there would be.”

“Dante,” I breathe.

The elevator opens, and I shove away from him and hurry inside. But he’s too fucking quick for his own good. He jumps in before the doors close and slams on the e-stop button.

“Dante, security is going to come…”

“I’m security,” he grumbles, backing me toward the wall of mirrors. I reach back and rest my hand atop the railing, running through the elevator.

“Since when do you work at the hospital?” I breathe, my eyes skimming over his beautiful lips. He’s been growing his beard thicker, and I’d love to know what it would feel like as he skimmed it over my pussy, but I can’t shake the feeling he’s more than I can handle.

I could give in, be his. Lord knows I’ve thought about it, but I can’t overcome myself and the fear.

He’s the complete package, and I’m a total spaz with emotions and feelings. I’ll fuck it up and then be broken for the rest of my life. Just like my mom.

“I can see the spiral in your head,” he says. He taps my temple. “Tell me.”

“Idon’twant to ruin things, Dante. I’m not what you need. I’m a broken girl from a broken home who loves to play with broken things. You’re not that. I’ll ruin it, and then I’d be even more broken. I’d be shattered without you. The intensity between us…”

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