Page 49 of Taking Care of the Target

That was blood for you—made you do things you normally wouldn’t.

Is it making me soft? I can’t do soft.He should’ve denied Vince’s request to run the restaurant and pushed harder from the beginning. Now Vince had gone and forced his hand.

The kid would thank him later. He might need to learn a hard lesson first, and Carlo would give it to him.

He stroked his goatee, working out a plan of action. If the feds were circling—the way they tended to do every few years—he needed to make sure he had all his ducks in a row. Covering his tracks and no loose threads were why the feds never got anything on him, and why they never would.

His mind circled back to Cassie, the only loose thread he’d ever let live. With everything else going on, he’d nearly forgotten about his plan to check in on her this afternoon. He told himself Vince was taking care of it, and maybe it was the extra paranoia talking, but suddenly he wondered if he was just dragging out the inevitable.

Possible attention versus a dead possible witness?

Attention he could handle; a witness, not so much.

Which was why a dead possible witness always won, hands down.

***

Cassie approached her beast of a car and turned to Vince as she patted the hood. “Do you want to take my car to New York instead? I’ve been neglecting him lately, and he’s super impressive. Goes from zero to sixty in, like, five minutes, and everyone will stare at us.”

She got the smile she’d been hoping for. Ever since his brother had called yesterday, stress radiated off him in waves. After switching shifts with Tyra without a reason why, they’d headed to her place. When Bobby called again, Vince stepped into the hallway to talk. She’d tried not to be hurt by it. She understood he was a private person, but she’d basically spilled her entire life story to him over the past few weeks, and she wanted to help him, while worrying he’d never let her.

But the second he’d stepped back into her apartment, her main concern had switched to taking away the worry creasing his features. She’d wrapped her arms around him and told him she was there for him, whatever he needed.

Then he’d said, “I want you to come with me to New York. I…I need you with me.”

And even though it was fast and possibly foolish, she fell a little bit in love with him right there.

“Your offer to take your vehicle is very…well, it’s very something,” Vince said now, putting his hand on her back and guiding her to the next spot over where his badass Jeep sat ready to take down other cars that dared come near. “But I’m going for anonymity today.”

“Sorry, I don’t think you can pull off anonymity.” She made a circle in front of his face. “Not with the whole sexy-hotness-look you’ve got going on.”

He shook his head, but flashed another smile that demonstrated exactly what she meant; it left her a little breathless and a lot enchanted. “You’re one to talk.” He opened the door and made a sweeping, gentlemanly gesture for her to get in. Then he smacked her on the butt as she moved past.

She glanced over her shoulder, and he gave an unapologetic shrug. And all she could do was grin at him like an idiot.I’ve completely lost my mind.

Even worse—or maybe even better—she didn’t care to get it back.

Vince fired up the Jeep and wrapped his hand around her thigh. Obviously last night his mind had been on his brother, and she understood, but lately she was having one-track thoughts about sex. Every gesture, every heated look said he wanted her, so she didn’t understand why he always pulled away. She didn’t want to make a fool of herself, but much longer and she was going to research seduction tips.

His fingers twitched on her thigh, and it shot a jolt straight through her core. Okay, make thatanylonger.

“So…” Her voice came out breathier than she would’ve liked, and she reached for the water bottle she’d brought and took a large gulp.

Vince raised one dark eyebrow at her.

“I actually don’t have anything to say.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “It’s just a long drive, and it’ll be super long if there’s total silence.”

“I like listening to you talk,” Vince said.

“And I appreciate that, I do, but we always focus on me. What about you?”

“No, let’s not do me.”

“But what if I want to… do you?”

The Jeep swerved, and the car next to them honked as Vince straightened out the wheel. “Holy shit, Cass.”

She clamped her lips together, trying not to laugh. At least she knew she could elicit that kind of reaction. “Would you rathertalkabout you, then?”

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