Page 6 of Dangerous Proposal

These thoughts startle me; I have no idea where they come from. I’ve dreamed about falling in love, but that person in my mind looked nothing like Red. I imagined a soft and sensitive man, the kind that would surprise me with flowers and work with animals or something. Never in my life did I consider being involved with someone who isn’t remotely phased by a shoot-out in his restaurant.

“Oh my god,” I say to myself, my shaking hand coming to rest over my mouth. “He’s…”

He’s what? Exactly who he says he is? Was I really trying to go toe-to-toe with a mobster? Did I actually let him touch me, kiss me in the most intimate way, and accept it without question?

I should be afraid of him. I know I should be. The gunshots ringing out downstairs are all the evidence I need. This man, this powerful, dangerous man, has probably killed before. The way he handled the situation earlier—it wasn’t fear or hesitation; it was annoyance.

But here’s the thing: I’m not afraid of him. If anything, I’m drawn to him, fascinated by him. The more I think about it, the more I want to understand his world, to be the one thing he treats with care. I want to be the exception. Actually, I need to be the only exception. When he called me his earlier, I thought it was just the heat of the moment, but now... now there’s no doubt in my mind. I want to belong to him, whatever that means. I’d lethim do whatever he wants with me, even if that means putting myself in danger.

Chapter Five

RED

I fly down the stairs, my gun already in my hand. As I burst through the door, my thoughts are on Evie. She didn’t believe a goddamn word I said, and I adore her for it. I expected to take my time with her, to introduce her to this fucked up world gently and over time. I never wanted her to get this close to the violence and danger. I just wanted her to know that it was out there and real, but I’d protect her from it, always.

She’s in it now, though. Really in it. When all of this is over, I’m going to have to take her out of her normal world. I’ll hide her away, shield her from the kind of people who are making their way through our front right now.

Firing my gun feels like instinct. The bullet slams into the intruder’s knee, sending him crashing down. The shots that follow echo in the chaos, but I’m calm. I duck behind a table, waiting for the heat of the moment to die down. These guys? They’re amateurs—out of their depth, with no clue whose turf they just walked into. I won’t take any unnecessary risks with them, especially now that I’ve found something, someone, worth protecting.

“Red!” Jace calls through the gunfire.

My younger brother slides into cover beside me. His jaw is tight, his brow furrowed. For once, I’m grateful he insisted on coming along. I’d been annoyed when I saw his car tailing mine, but Jace has always had an uncanny sense for danger. He’s a damn good second in command. If anything happens to me, I know he’ll take care of things.

“What’s going on?” I ask, peeking up, smirking when I see the intruders trying to reload in the open, making themselves easy targets. “Who the hell are these idiots?”

“Not sure yet,” Jace admits, picking off another one of the goons. “But I have a feeling they’re from the North side. They’re sloppy.”

I scoff, watching the idiots stumble through the chaos. They're always trying to push into other groups' territories, never knowing their place. I don’t get along with any of our rivals, but we all share one thing in common: a mutual disdain for these clowns. They haven’t earned a damn thing—they’ve just taken what others have built and worked for.

“Brandy?” I ask, taking down the third and final guy with a perfectly aimed shot.

“We got her,” Jace replies, his voice steady as the two of us rise, moving as one. “Mike came in before I could even say anything. They're both in the office.”

“Good,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair. I feel a twinge of guilt that Brandy wasn’t my first thought. But I know I can’t be blamed for it. If our old president had been around, he would’ve put Brandy over Evie without hesitation. I like to think he’d understand where I’m coming from.

“We have to do something with these guys,” Jace says, walking over to one and nudging him over with the toe of his leather boot. “Should we get rid of them?”

“Nah. No point in unnecessary killing,” I say, surprising even myself. Has Evie already started to change me? If this had happened just an hour ago, I would’ve had my guys pick one to keep alive for questioning and dispose of the rest without a second thought.

“You’re letting them go?” Jace says, his voice incredulous. “You feeling okay, bro?”

“Of course I’m not letting them go,” I scoff, holstering my weapon with a sense of finality. “They have valuable information. We keep them alive, compare their stories, make sure they’re not lying.”

“Huh,” Jace mutters, kicking one of the men over. He slams a knee into his back and starts securing his hands with zip ties. “You got a point.”

“Don’t act surprised,” I say, moving to handle the next guy, not giving him a chance to regroup. “I know what I’m doing here, Jace.”

“I’m not surprised,” he says, and I don’t need to look at him to know he’s rolling his eyes. We might be dangerous mobsters, but Jace is still my little brother. He gets on my nerves in the way that only a sibling can. “Just seems like you’re going a little soft.”

“Accuse me of being soft again, and I’ll make you regret being born,” I growl, taking my frustration out on the guy beneath me. He groans, and I slam his face hard into the floor. “I’m trying to be more diplomatic in my leadership.”

“Uh huh,” Jace says, moving on to the next guy. “So, what were you doing up there? Didn’t think we had anything on the schedule until next week.”

“Is that really important?” I snap, not wanting to let him know about Evie. I can’t keep her a secret forever, but I want her to be mine, just for a little while longer—at least until we wrap up with these assholes.

Evie is my forever. She’ll meet everyone, and when that happens, they’ll treat her like royalty. It should be a celebration, not an introduction following a damn fight.

“Geez, don’t get so defensive,” Jace says, landing a brutal kick to the guy's jaw. “It’s just weird that you were up there and not with Brandy. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had a woman up there.”

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