Page 23 of Tempting Little Thief

Damiano is the son of a henchman who succumbed to greed and trusted the wrong man with his treachery. His mother was a random beauty paid to provide his heir and never heard from again after his birth.

I’m the daughter of the most notorious kingpin my world has ever known, the man all men must come to if looking to cross from the eastern to the western borders. My mother was the sole heir of the largest real estate enterprise in the nation, giving my father the furthest reach a man in his position has ever had.

His family is falling.

Mine is nearly limitless.

My father isn’t an ignorant man. He knows Damiano is a fantastic asset, the kind you want on your side, and he does admire his dedication, but as of right now, it stops there.

As for me as a person and not as a Greyson or the daughter of Rayo Revenaw, Dom is only relevant when he and I wish to capitalize on matters of apersonalnature.

It works for us. It’s easier, safer. He doesn’t have to worry if a woman will claim foul play in search of a quick payout, and I don’t have to worry about a gun being pressed to my neck when expecting lips instead—that was one of those lessons you need only learn once.

Dark hair and crystal eyes flash in my mind, and I frown.

Or maybe I didn’t learn a damn thing …

The best part of it all, outside of not being potentially murdered or kidnapped as a bone for barter, is Dom still does as he pleases, with whomever he pleases,wheneverhe pleases, which I more than appreciate. The last thing I need is him coming after me tothe point of obsession, and exclusivity always leads to something to that effect. I’ve led enough welcome wagons for girls dumped here for this very reason to know firsthand.

Fucking rich boys, I swear.

Damiano Donato, while a lover of all things love and the truest romantic I’ve ever seen, wants me outside of the bedroom for one reason, and that is what a position at my side offers him. But it’s as my father says,money does not give you power and love destroys everything.

Damiano would fall in love with me if I allowed him to, and that love would get him killed.

Just as it did my mother …

“You didn’t have to put yourself at risk by relieving Sai last night and taking off in your favorite car.”

Irritation prickles along my skin. I don’t like to be psychoanalyzed, but I am stressed. Tense. So I stand silent in his arms a moment but say in the next, “I’m giving morning announcements in five minutes.”

“You’re right.” He releases me as he steps away, and it’s only when he adds, “Not nearly enough time anyway, is it?” that I realize my irritation isn’t only coming from this conversation and the fact that he dared to have it, but also in the direction I took it.

Dom’s words should be enticing, the statement sensual, alluding to naughty things, but it doesn’t quite ring right when you happen to know that while, yes, he’s known to last the night … he took my five-minute warning as his hint to exit, when he could have read it as a challenge.

I only need three,the raspy roughness of my intruder replays in my mind.

What a smooth bastard he was.

With one last kiss to my knuckles, Dom makes his way to the door.

“Before I go.” He pauses. “Sergio mentioned a security alert came through.”

I don’t allow my frown to slip into place, my focus remaining out the window while my lungs expand.

Did he get caught after all?

“Oh?”

Damiano doesn’t respond right away. “There was a ping of your Aston Martin this morning. Someone ran the plate number, but the system was unable to pick up from where …”

He doesn’t ask why someone would feel a need to run the plate in the first place like he wants to, hoping I’ll offer the answer on my own.

I spin to face him, meeting his gaze with a fixed one of my own. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

When I say nothing else, he takes the hint, leaving me alone once more.

I walk around the desk, lower into the seat, and pull the microphone over, placing it directly before me.

---