Page 66 of Beautiful Dangerous

So much…

Lucca

She’s looks beautiful as she floats around the garden, mingling with the crazy mess of guests at this party – senators mingling with bikers; high-ranking officials deep in conversation with drug dealers and gun-runners, and she’s taking it all in her stride. As she has done since the day she’d thought Javier was dead.

The day you started lying to her…

But the smile on her face is fixed, most of the time, I know her well enough to be able to read her now; spent too much time with her not to know when something’s wrong. She isn’t happy.

Neither are you…

“You look pissed off, brother.”

I turn my head to see Angel leaning back against the wall, a beer in one hand, the other in his pocket.

“Something up?”

“No. Everything’s fine.”

There’s more than a touch of sarcasm attached to that retort, but I think he gets that.

“You thinksheis?” He jerks his head in Olivia’s direction, just as Javier appears, his arm sliding comfortably around her waist as he pulls her against him. He’s acting like he’s never been away, never faked his own death in order to kick-start a war. But she’s finding that a little harder to do, and the second he touches her I’m sure I saw her, just briefly, flinch slightly. Or maybe that’s just what Iwantto see.

“Whatever she’s feeling, it’s not really any of our business, is it?”

“Isn’t it?” Angel swigs back a mouthful of beer, and I frown. “You two got real close while Javier was away, huh?”

“It was my job, to keep her close. To protect her.”

To lie to her…

“Not anymore.”

No. Not anymore. I’m back to being Javier’s faithful lieutenant, and I can’t ignore the almost constant pain that rips through my heart now. And yet, I always knew this was coming. Always knew he’d be back, at some point.

Always knew you were in love with Olivia…

And yet I still, at times, got too comfortable. Too complacent.

I fucked up.

“I hear Endo French is on his way to San Diego,” Angel continues, realizing I’m not rising to his bait. Not talking to him about Olivia, or the way I feel about her, because he’s fishing. But he’ll get nothing.

“He’s one of the Pino cartel’s most important business contacts. And we have his product, so it stands to reason he wants to talk about it. Finalize the details.”

“Word is he only wants to deal with Olivia. You know if that’s true?”

“Yeah,” I sigh, leaning back against a palm tree. “He’s not the only one, either. Guess it’s going to take a bit of time for some people to get used to Javier being back in control.”

“And how’shefeel about that?”

“Javier deals with things the way he always has. He does what’s best for the cartel, and right now, having Olivia by his side is crucial, even if it hadn’t been his initial intention.”

“And what about you?”

I shoot him a look through narrowed eyes. “Whataboutme?”

He takes another swig of beer. “You and Olivia, something was happening there, between the two of you. Am I right?”

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