Page 21 of By Fate I Conquer (Sins of the Fathers 4)

“Oh. He’s my cousin.”

I always forgot that Maximus was related to the Falcones, that his father was Remo’s half-brother. Even now I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Dad had made sure I didn’t mention Growl or Maximus with a single word. Greta, however, didn’t sound as if she minded.

“Did it make you stronger?” she asked, sounding honestly curious.

“It did. But since we did this, he and I have battled against many enemies and braved far more pain than a friend’s knife.”

Her eyes drifted to the door, and she bit her lip. She wiggled her toes, but I doubted she realized it. I cupped them in my hands, feeling how icy they still felt. Her head swiveled around to me, her expression questioning.

I raised my hands. I shouldn’t have touched her without permission.

“No, it felt good.”

My chest swelled as I cupped her small feet again, hoping to warm them with my palms. “You handle my closeness better than I thought after you ran off screaming when you saw me.”

She tilted her head. Her expression was strained as if she was trying to solve a difficult equation, then she put down her chin on her knee again and drew in another deep breath of my shirt.

Fuck me.

“I don’t know what it’s about you, but…” She gave a small shrug and didn’t finish the sentence. Then her expression lit up in amusement. “And I didn’t run away from you. When you opened the door to my ballet studio, you let Momo escape. I tried to catch him. That’s why I ran so fast.”

I gave her a blank stare. What the hell was a Momo? She must have seen the question on my face because she continued.

“My dog. He’s terrified of everything and you are a very terrifying sight for a small dog.” She paused, “For most humans probably too.”

I shook my head, close to start laughing again.

“I hope he’s all right.”

“I’m sure he’s run to someone from your family.”

“He’s terrified of almost all of them.”

Clever dog.

“Maybe he went to Kiara but she’s in the library in her wing, so I doubt he could reach her.”

“He can’t escape the premises, can he?”

“No, but he could hurt himself trying to escape.” She sighed. “You’re lucky Bear wasn’t there with me in the studio. He would have attacked you. He’s a Cane Corso.”

I assumed that was a dog breed, but I had never heard of it despite my friendship with Maximus. His family had a dog shelter for abused animals. Rottweiler, Pittbulls, Bulldogs…

“If he is the size of a Rottweiler, I could have handled him.”

“By killing him?” The sad note in her voice made me shake my head.

“Only as a last resort. I have experience wrangling beasts like that. I’d have tried to throw him to the ground and hold him there. If he’s 120pounds top. I have a hundred pounds on him.”

“He’s all muscle.”

“Me too.”

She dragged her gaze over my muscles and a delicate blush tinged her cheeks. “Yeah.”

“Are you promised?” The word shot out of me faster than any bullet out of my semi-automatic.

Greta’s brows dipped like she couldn’t quite understand the question. Neither could I. “No,” she said it as if the answer was obvious. And maybe it was. Considering her crazy twin and the rest of the crazy Falcone bunch, you needed balls the size of Nevada to ask for Greta’s hand.

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