Page 8 of The Lieutenant

“My pleasure, as was spending time with someone very unusual.”

I wasn’t certain whether it was a compliment. He waited until I grabbed my things, behaving like a gentleman by stepping behind me. When he placed his hand on the small of my back, a series of stars tickled the perimeter of my vision. He remained silent as we both stepped out onto the street.

Lurch was right behind us, his hand positioned in the same place on his jacket as when they’d arrived.

As savvy as I considered myself, I did the unthinkable, taking a back step and almost tripping on one of the cobblestones. Somehow, the handsome mystery villain managed to catch me before I toppled onto my ass, sweeping his massive arm around me protectively. As if by instinct, he dragged me against his body, his chest rising and falling.

A quiet yet audible ‘oomph’ pushed past my lips and I threw my palm against his chest. The warmth and electricity we shared at that moment could light up the entire city. I was shocked from the connection, lost in the moment of basking in the intense vibrations from being in his arms.

“Be careful, little star. The world around you can be quite dangerous. You never know when you’re going to step into something you shouldn’t have.” He was even taller than I’d originally thought, towering over me.

Very slowly, so slowly I didn’t see any movement, he lowered his head. Once again, I was faced with those dazzling lips right above mine. He brushed his knuckles across my cheek and the world around us ceased to exist. My pulse was increasing, the throb in my core explosive.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” My voice was little more than a whisper.

Another frozen moment.

Another blip in time.

Another heart-stopping series of sensations. Yet I finally came to my senses and pushed away, this time carefully taking a step backwards.

Before he had time to say anything, I spun on my heel and walked toward my hotel. His words were almost guttural, low and slow and pushing into the darkest parts of me.

“Méchri na xanasynantithoúme, kai sas diavevaióno óti tha to kánoume.”

Whatever he’d just said, the words and his tone left me with a strange feeling I hadn’t seen the last of him.

CHAPTER 3

Havros

“Boss?” Jonas asked before we rounded the corner where the car had been parked.

“You’re certain your snitch saw the asshole with his own eyes?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. He’s no snitch.”

In my mind, every jerk who enjoyed providing overheard information for money, drugs, or clout was equivalent to a cockroach. My second in command didn’t see it that way.

“Whatever. As long as your buddy is right, and Mr. Artino doesn’t skip like he did thirty minutes ago. Marco is waiting for us to confirm his sighting. Yes?” The pissant damn well better be. I jumped into the passenger seat, waiting as Jonas lumbered around to the other side, guiding his large body into the driver’s seat.

Lurch.

The nickname was really quite good and fit his surly personality perfectly.

“He damn well better be standing right there in plain view or I’ll break his Italian neck.” Our snitch was formerly a lower ranked soldier for the Cosa Nostra, his internal information proving valuable on more than one occasion. We were an international firm after all. We required being kept abreast of our enemies.

There were days I hated the business my family had been in for generations. Often my days consisted of nothing more than shoving paperwork around, meeting with various officials from Greece and other countries. We’d been attending more than our share of charity events as of late as well. While business was booming on both sides of our world, there were always those on both the right and wrong side of the law who made the bad decision to challenge us.

That’s why I was out searching for Theo Artino.

What I should be doing was driving him into concrete for a permanent burial. Sadly, killing him would only prove his accusations.

He’d gone on his popular show, telling the entire Greek population that my whole family consisted of cold and calculating killers.

Had I killed my share of men over the years? Yes, but always for a damn good reason. Since our business had gone more mainstream, there’d been less opportunity for me to take out my aggressions. Maybe I needed to take up boxing like my big brother. I needed something to relieve the tension.

Several months before, Theo had almost made a fatal mistake by penning an article for a rag newspaper he’d once worked for onthe death of Leandro, my youngest brother. While the guy had just been doing his job, Dimitrios had almost killed him. I was beginning to wonder why I’d stopped my brother from doing so in the first place.

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