Page 77 of Murder & Mayhem

“Enzo.” I barely recognize my own voice, but it’s enough to snap him out of his trance.

He clears his throat. “Sorry?”

“Can you, uh, do the buttons?” I repeat, feeling the heat in my cheeks as I turn so he can see my exposed back.

“Oh, yeah.” He moves toward me until I can feel him at my back. I lift my hair, pulling it over my shoulder so he can see what he’s doing. The move exposes my neck, and I can feel his warm breath on my skin as his fingers softly stroke down my back. I shiver, and my breathing is ragged. He starts to slowly do the buttons, and when he’s finished, he runs his hands along my shoulders. His body moves in closer, pressing against me, and his lips are right by my ear as he murmurs, “You look so beautiful.”

I slowly turn to face him, a move that dislodges his hands from my shoulders. They find a resting place on my hips instead, and my own come up to rest on his shirt, over his pecs. I can feel his erratic heartbeat as I glance up at him through my eyelashes. His head lowers as I lift mine, static electricity charging the air between us as we both lean in for a kiss—thekiss. The one we’ve both been flirting around for weeks now. Our lips are a hairsbreadth apart when the sound of the front door has us both jumping apart, and I look over his shoulder just as Dante walks into the room. He casts one long, lingering look over my dress before he grits his teeth and storms out of the room without a word.

“For someone forcingmeto marryhim, he doesn’t seem to want to spend any time with me these days.”

Enzo laughs, but it’s lacking its usual characteristic humor that I’ve come to enjoy. He reaches down, subtly adjusting himself in his pants. “He’s trying to give you time to adjust. Seeing you like that…” His scorching hot gaze trails over me. “Any warm-blooded man would want to tear that dress off and fuck you until you realize you belong to only him.”

My lips part, a breathless, “Oh,” escaping them as Enzo takes a step back, before turning on his heel and striding toward the door. Just before he exits, he turns back to face me.

“That’s the dress. I’ll get the others taken away.”

Chapter 27

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” I remind Sawyer as she gets out of the car. The wedding is only a couple of days away, and the stress is getting to her. So when she asked if she could spend some time with her brother, how could I refuse? Things between us have come a long way in the last month. I wouldn’t say she trusts me, but she’s finally letting her guard down and opening up a bit. During all those meetings I had with her in G&T, all I wanted was for her to talk to me, to give me a genuine smile. I finally have that, and I can’t get enough.

Dante’s pissed as all hell. He’s still of the opinion that she’s solely his, but if the last few weeks have shown me anything, it’s that there’s absolutely no fucking way I’m losing this girl now. She’s even more beautiful when she lets down her guard. And the cold, detached way she shot Mickey. Fuck, who doesn’t love a woman who can smile at you serenely one moment and kill a man in cold-blood in the next.

“I know. I’ll see you then.” She closes the door, and I watch as she heads into her apartment building before pulling onto the street.

I drive back into Antonelli territory and park in the underground car park at Bella Donne, the casino. Getting out, I walk over to the elevator, and when it opens, I press the button for the tenth floor. The building houses the casino on the ground floor and several floors of private suites and rooms for hire above that, but the top three floors house the powerhouse of the Antonelli Empire. They are composed of offices, meetings, and conference rooms. Dante has been hiding out here all week, and it’s his office that I head straight for.

“Hey,” I greet when I walk in unannounced. Lifting his head, he frowns before focusing back on his computer.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“We needed to talk, and you’ve been avoiding the house recently.”

His only response is a non-committal grunt. Restraining my eye roll, I drop into the chair opposite his desk. “You know what happens when you bottle everything up.”

I cock a brow when he flicks his gaze to mine. “Yeah, and I’ve never heard you once complain.”

“And I’m not. But you can’t pull the same shit with Sawyer. She doesn’t deserve for you to go silent on her and not communicate, then fuck all that frustration out on her.”

There’s a weighted silence before he finally leans back in his chair and turns to face me directly. “I don’t know how to be any other way.”

“So, learn. Start by telling me why you’re avoiding the house.”

He blows out a breath. “Every time I’m around her, she wants to talk to me.”

I struggle to suffocate my snort. “Yes, girls like to talk. It’s an internationally known fact.”

His eyes narrow on me, not appreciating my tone. “When I watched her at the club, it was different. She was always busy…” he trails off with a shrug.

“You don’t know how to talk to her,” I deduce. “Doesn’t look like you’ve been doing a piss poor job so far.”

He scoffs, clearly not agreeing, but he doesn’t elaborate. I don’t need him to. I’ve watched enough of his interactions with her. Yeah, she stormed off after the last time they spoke, but for the most part, Sawyer doesn’t seem to mind that he’s not the most communicative of people. Yeah, the fact that he doesn’t answer many of her questions pisses her off, but I’m pretty sure she’s coming to expect that from him.

“That night was as much about her as it was about what you said,” I try to explain. “She’s going stir crazy locked up in that house with nothing to do.”

“She’s not going back to the club,” Dante immediately barks out.

I sigh. Praying to a higher power for some patience. “I’m not saying that she is. But she needs something to do. Sawyer is a woman who is used to working all day. She’s not made for a mafia housewife life. She won’t be happy sitting around the house all day, going to brunches and waiting for you to come home. She needs a purpose.”

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