Page 7 of Hot-Blooded Killer

“You remember my daughter Gia,” Pop says, gesturing toward me.

“Of course.” Lorenzo’s voice has deepened over the years, with a slight rumble beneath it that reminds me of driving on long desert roads, the wheels sending vibrations through the car, just as his voice sends a shiver through me.

Good God, Gia, I scold myself.Quit being so damned poetic.

Without missing a beat, I give him my best professional smile and hold out my own hand to shake. “It’s good to see you again, Lorenzo.”

At the sound of his name in my mouth, his gaze flickers up and down, taking in my entire body, assessing me as much as I’m assessing him.

That makes me think perhaps he hasn’t paid much attention to me—no more than I’ve paid him in the years since high school.

So why is he insisting on this marriage?

His hand is warm and strong, and his touch sends an electric shock through me so strong I almost jerk my palm away from his. But I grit my teeth and will the feeling away.

“Your father tells me you have some requests of your own for this transaction,” he says, easily taking a seat in one of the chairs across from Pop's wide desk, his legs stretched out before him and crossed at the ankles, seemingly at ease in the midst of another powerful man’s domain.

That speaks well of him. Maybe, anyway. He’s either certain of his own position of strength, or unaware that he’s in danger. I’ll have to determine which.

“I do,” I say, taking my own seat next to him and crossing my legs slowly and deliberately, allowing my thigh to flash from underneath my skirt. His gaze flicks down and then back up almost immediately.

Good. Whatever else he may be, he isn’t utterly oblivious, at least when it comes to me.

I glance down at my phone to the list of stipulations I’d created and tuck my blond hair—courtesy of my mother, whose family hails from Northern Italy—behind one ear.

A slow smile spreads across his sensuous lips, and once again I think I see that flicker of darkness, but it’s gone almost as soon as I see it, and I’m once again left wondering if I imagined it.

In any case, I’ll need to keep an eye on him.

As if I weren’t planning to do that, anyway.

“I don’t have any objections to the things he’s told me so far,” Lorenzo continued.

“Excellent,” I say.

Pop seems content to allow me to deal with my own negotiations, choosing to sit back with his hands crossed over his stomach, watching us interestedly. It strikes me as a little unusual. In fact, Pop’s been strange about this entire marriage idea from the very beginning.

I’ve always imagined my father would fight tooth and nail to make the best arrangement for me possible. Instead, he’s chosen to use the bartering of our alliance to go after a family who, although very rich, isn’t as powerful as our own. No matter how I’ve asked over the last three weeks, he’s declined to give me any satisfactory answer—in fact, he eventually told me to do my duty to the family without any more questions. I had stopped asking them aloud, but I’m not about to stop trying to determine what his real reasons are.

But on one level, I’m grateful to Pop. Few enough women in my position have any say in the prenup negotiations at all. That I’m being allowed to negotiate my own marriage details is nothing short of extraordinary in our world.

“Still,” I continue aloud, “I think it’s best that we go over the agreements in detail with one another.”

Lorenzo gives me his most charming smile. “I think you’re absolutely right.”

Something about his voice sends a shiver through my belly, but I shove it down, determined to ignore any misgivings. Having given my word to Pop to marry Lorenzo, I plan to keep it.

“First of all,” I say, “I plan to finish college, and I ask to be allowed to do so without interference.”

Lorenzo tilts his chin slightly. “Of course.”

“And that means no children until after I have my degree in hand.”

He frowns. “How much longer do you have in school?”

“Three semesters. I can complete one of those during summer school. So I will graduate next December.”

“I can live with that. As long as you agree that we begin our family immediately after your graduation.” His bright green eyes darken at his words, and again, his gaze flickers down to my legs.

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