Page 18 of Enforcer

My nerves calm some. I don’t know why it makes me anxious to have Slate know that I’ve fucked his enforcer twice, but it does.

I’m sure he doesn’t want his man distracted right now, and I won’t be the one who is doing the distracting.

“Goodnight, B. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Safe travels,” I tell her, and she returns the sentiment.

I stand and stretch my back out, looking out the window of Slate and Brynne’s apartment that Lorenzo had dropped me at and then posted up at the door once I was inside. The streets below are busy, even at this late hour, and I watch people milling around, looking like ants from this height.

Brynne said that when she gets back, I’ll be moved into my own place, but I don’t know what that will entail or where I’ll be moved. Coming from a small waterside town in central Florida, the city seems like a massive place to be alone.

A knock at the door pulls me back to reality, and I sigh and spin. I walk over to it and look in the peephole—well, I try to.

I can’t see out of the damned thing, almost like something’s over the other side.

When I open the door, I understand why I couldn’t see out of it when Dante drops his fucking hand away from the hole.

“Good evening,” he says, smirking.

“No.” I try to close the door, and he slips his foot in the jamb to stop it.

I growl under my breath, trying to kick it backward, but my bare feet are no match for his dress shoes, which seem to be made of impenetrable steel.

“What do you want, Dante?” I groan, moving away from the door and retreating toward the island in the kitchen.

“I’m your guard tonight. Just wanted to let you know.” He lets himself inside and shuts the door behind him.

“Great. Cool. Don’t you usually guard fromoutsideof the door? That’s what Lorenzo does.”

He smiles brightly. “I’m ahands-onkind of man, myself. I’m not knocking Lorenzo’s approach, but I like to keep my eyes on my target.”

“As long as your hands remain to yourself, whatever. Knock yourself out. I’m going to shower and get in bed. Have a good night.”

Before I make ten steps, he slides across the floor, landing before me. “Did I do something wrong?”

What is he talking about? The way he’s acting is in direct contrast to the curt mafioso I fucked on Slate’s private jet only two days ago. Sure, he still looks the part, but he’s back in his element now, in his city, and it has him a little laxer than I’ve seen him before.

“What do you mean?” I ask, exasperated, my tone denoting that emotion.

“That,” he points out, finger flying in my face. “That tone. The way you seem overly annoyed with my mere presence.”

“Well,” I start, sidestepping around him to walk to the guest room I’ve been staying in, “I’m not used to one-night-stands constantly popping up after I’ve explained to them that it was only one night.”

There’s a moment where a bit of hurt waves like the finest silk blowing in the wind across his face, which I’ve been worried about since this started between us.

Not started, I tell myself. He and I are nothing.

No more than what’s already happened.

Fuck, what a mess.

He follows me into the room. “Well, I get that. You and I are stuck with one another, however. So, you have to find a way to overcome your aversion to me.”

Aversion to him? All I want to do is wrap up beside him, breathe him in, and have his hands on me for the rest of my fucking life. What doesn’t he get about that?

My brain reasons, reminding me he can’t understand what I haven’t told him. And I won’t tell him that. Admitting he’s the one who’s single-handedly been taking my wall down brick by brick with each interaction he has with me is like redefining my entire existence. For as long as I can remember, I didn’t want to end up in a relationship. I don’t want to be hurt like my mother was.

Ever.

I erected my walls as well as I could to keep men out. To keep anyone out. The only one I ever let in was Brynne, and that’s because she was there before the walls had to be built. She helped me make them.

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