Page 58 of Heated Caress

I glare and point savagely at him. “Wipe that smile off your face.”

“What smile?” Now he’s grinning.

“You know what your problem is—” I stop, angle my head, and look out the open door. The three guys aren’t there. “Is that . . . are they laughing?”

“Holy shit. I didn’t even know Tizio knew what that was.” Then Leo slides a sharp glance at me. “This isn’t done.”

Together we head out to the kitchen, where the four of them are eating.

Diego looks up, a forkful of spaghetti halfway to his mouth. “Boss, have you tried this? Mia can cook.”

Mia doesn’t speak to her brother the rest of the night and barely speaks to me. Instead, she’s sweet and friendly to the other three. Typical.

When the dishes are done and praises are sung, she announces she’s going to bed. I let her go and at the front door, Leo turns. “Fucking Mia is stubborn as hell.”

“Wonder where she gets that from.”

The look he sends would make dirt blush. “I’m going to think about all this. I’ve got to take care of this guy sooner or later, and sooner might be better. We’ll meet in the morning.”

I lock the door and place a call, upping the ante on the dig into Frank’s ties. This time I get them just to use a description and cast a net wide. Through so-called family friends, neutral parties, and big and small enemies.

In short, everyone.

Then I go in search of Mia.

She’s upstairs in her room, with her door ajar. I’m not sure if that’s an invitation or an oversight, but I’ll take what I can get. For a moment, I drink her in as she lies there on her bed on her stomach. She’s in her oversized T-shirt, boy shorts, and some kind of bright cartoony socks. She’s hot as fuck there, like that, the lamp on and a book in her hands.

I knock.

She doesn’t stiffen, she just puts the book down. Mia knows I’m there, knew before I knocked.

Guess we both have that in common. That almost preternatural awareness of the other.

As always, she reaches into me and squeezes hard on something in my chest that just might be my heart.

“Go away, Christian. Or do you want me on your knees sucking you off?”

I wince and cross her room, sitting on her bed. My hands coil on the covers to stop myself from touching her like I want.

If I start, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop.

“I’ll gladly have your pretty lips—either set—wrapped around my cock. But somehow, I don’t think you mean that.” I pause. “At least not right at this second.”

She sighs. “We shouldn’t have done that.”

“Bad idea? Maybe, but it was a wild fucking time. Literally.”

“I’m tired,” Mia says, still not looking at me. No, she’s studying the cover of the book like she’s got an exam on it the next day. “And I’m humiliated.”

“Your brother loves you.”

“He loves lording it over me. This is why I don’t want him interfering. He already has.” Deep rose stains her cheeks. “You’re here.”

“Actually,” I say, my voice dry, “That was my idea. He wants you back at the estate. He’s not wrong, but this is the next best thing, me being here. Shit’s happening, Mia, and the last thing in this world we want is for you to get hurt again.”

This time, she looks at me, and there’s a vulnerability in her eyes that takes my breath. “And who’s going to protect me from you, Christian?”

The words are a sucker punch.

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