Page 40 of Enforcer

If you love games, you’ve got the wrong girl. I’m working with two men who don’t know how to problem-solve to save their lives. How’s your day going?

Want me to kill them for you?

I don’t think violence is necessary.

Violence is always necessary.

At least I’ll get silence tonight at the cake tasting.

Going alone?

Yes. Brynne and Slate are tied up with meetings.

Send me the address; I’ll meet you there after I go home and shower.

I’ll do you one better. I’ll meet you at home with dinner. We can eat before we go, so we don’t fill up on cake.

I’m keeping my innuendo-filled comment to myself.

I appreciate it. What would you like for dinner?

You, but I’ll settle for Chinese of some sort. You choose the place.

See you at six, then.

That you will.

I try to ignore the giddy energy in my stomach as I read the messages over and over. I’m unclear what Lorenzo and Antonio are arguing over now that I realize I referred to his apartment as ourhome.

This is the dangerous thing about letting my guard down. Dante storms in with his troops when my defenses are down, determined to overthrow my carefully built plans.

I can’t let him.

I’m unpackingthe Chinese food when I hear the door slam shut and boots sounding on the marble floors.

“I hope you’re ready to overeat because I couldn’t choose what I wanted, so I got nearly everything on the menu. We will say it’s a working dinner and charge Slate and Brynne for the food... Oh, my God, what happened to you?”

I drop the egg rolls on the counter, rushing him to check him over for wounds. He’s covered head to toe in blood, stinking of the metallic stuff.

His eyes are dark and feral, as if a beast from the depths is still creeping through them.

“I’m fine, tesoro. Thank you for the concern.”

He leans down, skimming his nose up my throat like he’d been waiting all day to do so.

“Dante,” I breathe, trying to steady my breathing and failing.

“You smell so fucking good,” he growls, and I’m afraid of the way my pussy throbs at his words. I’m scared to examine too closely how much my stomach had spun, too, if I’m honest.

“Is the other guy alright?” I ask him.

There’s so much blood soaking him that I’m confident the answer is no.

“You said you knew what I did for a living. That you understood, that look in your eyes, tesoro, says otherwise.”

I knew he took over the Enforcer position for the Ricci Family, but I think I blocked out thoughts of the blood and the killing.

“What do you keep calling me?” I ask him as he lifts and places me on the island’s edge.

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