Page 1 of The Hard Way

Chapter 1

Rome, Italy

Sittingwith my guys in an old alley café in an even older part of Rome, I drained the last drop of champagne from my glass and held it up so that the festive strings of light would perfectly illuminate it.

This wasn’t the tall American stem-type champagne glass I was used to; it was the short Italian kind with filigree designs all around the outside.

“I love how the designs on these glasses are worn away in spots, like maybe people have been sipping from them through the decades.” I was feeling sentimental, and a little bit tipsy. “Celebrating, commiserating…even these glasses have a rich and beautiful history.”

“Or an overzealous dishwasher,” Zeus said.

I gave him the side eye.Guys.

Our favorite waiter came by. “Another bottle?” He looked from me to Zeus to Odin to Thor and back to me. Another bottle would put us on the one-bottle-each plan, of course.

“Itisour honeymoon,” Zeus said, beaming at me.

“Ah,congratulazioni!” The waiter seemed uncertain now, wondering, perhaps,why, if it was our honeymoon, did we bring our two friends along every single night that we dined out? What kind of honeymoon was that?

Thor winced. Odin stiffened.

Zeus could get a little, um…passionatewhen people assumed the four of us couldn’t possibly be a romantic unit. He cleared his throat like he was going to say something.

“Thank you,” I said, way too brightly, with a quick warning glance at Zeus.

I loved this little café, and we’d been this guy’s favorite customers all month, ordering expensive drinks and leaving crazy good tips. We’d been well-behaved, too—no hand jobs under the tablecloth. No outrageous drunkenness. Nobody playing theyeah-that’s-right-all-four-of-us-are-married-WHAT-THE-FUCK-ARE-YOU-STARING-AT?card.

“So here’s the thing…” Zeus began.

“Yes, here’s the thing, we’ll for sure get another,” I interrupted. “Because we want to have a beautiful night.” I set my glass on the table. “Yes, for sure another bottle!” I gazed at him with a look that hopefully suggested extreme need for another bottle at thatvery instant. “Another would beamazing!”

“Bene.” The waiter nodded placidly. If he thought I was acting like a total freak about more champagne—and let’s be clear; I was—he didn’t show it, professional that he was. He nodded and headed off.

Odin narrowed his eyes at me. “Should we be jealous of that champagne?”

“Maybe.” I exchanged glances with Thor, who sat across the table, all innocent blond hotness. He shifted slightly, and suddenly I felt his foot touch mine underneath the table. He hooked his foot around my ankle and guided it up to his lap. A shiver went through me as his fingers settled onto the bare spaces between my shoe straps.

“I wasn’t acting fucked up. Was I acting fucked up?” Zeus adjusted the cuffs on the ultrafashionable Italian shirt I’d picked out for him. It was dark purple with fancy gray detailing under the button and collar, made of whisper-thin fabric that draped over the contours of his muscles like a yummalicious second skin. His short brown hair had been getting to a grabbable length over the past few weeks. “Was I?” he continued. “No. But there are four people at this table with wedding rings. He should’ve noticed that.”

“Right, that’s the automatic thing he would think,” I said. “If all four of us have rings, we must be married to each other.”

“He’s been waiting on us all month,” Zeus said. “You think he hasn’t seen you sitting on each and every one of our laps? I’m just protecting your honor.”

“I don’t know if telling him I’m married to three guys protects my honor.” Not that I cared. I was with the three hottest, awesomest guys on the planet. I gazed happily up at the spatter of stars in the slash of sky bracketed by ancient building tops.

According to Thor, some of the buildings around here had been constructed in the seventh century. Which explained the weirdly narrow, horse-sized streets. This entire neighborhood was a maze of alleys with more alleys off it. It reminded me of the corn mazes they used to cut out in the cornfields in Wisconsin. My bank robbers liked a good maze-like neighborhood. Lots of getaway options.

“Me sitting on the other guys’ laps, maybe he sees it as avuncular,” I added.

Thor nearly snorted out his champagne. “Avuncular?”

Odin’s eyes glittered. “Doyou, goddess? Is that how you feel?”

“What?”

“As though we’re your three uncles?” Odin said. “You feel married life is making us tame? Like Mr. and Mrs. Santa?”

The waiter came back with our new bottle.

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