Page 2 of Merciless Desires

Her long, black hair cascaded down her shoulders and over her back. Her huge, expressive eyes gazed into mine, making it difficult to get into my waiting car. We had been inseparable for the past few weeks. I had toured the countryside with her family, stayed in their villa, and shared most meals with them. We didn’t have a whole lot of alone time between her father’s protective nature and her various aunts, uncles, and cousins dropping in to visit, but we managed a few stolen moments.

“Why do you look so sad?” I asked her.

“I’ll miss you.” Cinzia swept the wind-blown hair from her face, revealing her soft glowing skin. “You made life interesting around here. You’re the only one who speaks English with me.”

I had gotten used to her Italian accent, and the way she messed up American phrases made me smile.

“You can call me whenever you want,” I said, hoping she would take me up on that offer.

“It won’t be the same.”

“I’ll come back to visit when I can.” That wouldn’t be anytime soon, but I did want to see her. Now that she wasn’t a child any longer, my view of her had changed. I wanted to get to know the woman she had become.

“Why can’t you stay?”

“Because Romero needs me.”

“My father needs you.” She bit the tip of her perfectly polished pink thumbnail. “Business is getting intense. I can tell. He relies on you.”

Her perceptiveness surprised me. Business was getting intense and her father had been relying on me these past few weeks to get things done, but she never let on that she paid any attention to what went on around her.

“Your father needs me to go back to New York.” Even if I could stay a few more days, Janero wanted me back with my brother. No matter how much I wanted to be with Cinzia, business came first. Her father’s orders couldn’t be ignored.

“Well, if that’s what Papa wants, we can’t argue.”

She was right about that.

“There is uno thing I want before you go.”

“Uno?” I laughed at her cute habit of mixing Italian into her English conversation.

“One thing.” She giggled but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Anything for my little Cin.” What I would give for her to be a sin I had to atone for. “What do you want?”

“This.”

She inched up on her toes and pressed her full, sexy lips to mine. The contact caught me off guard, but I went with it because I had been thinking about kissing her for weeks. I stepped forward, pushing her against the SUV waiting to take me away from her. Conflict ripped through me. She was off-limits for now. I stole one more kiss as I lingered against her eager mouth, savoring the sweet taste I had found there, craving more than anything to claim her.

“Whoa.” I took her slender shoulders in my hands, noting how heavy her breathing had become. If I stayed any longer, I’d never be able to leave her. “I have to go.”

“Take me with you,” she whispered. “Please.”

“Fucking, Gio?” Romero’s agitated voice pulled me from my sweet memory. “Where the fuck are you?”

“I’m here.” I looked at him, realizing I didn’t have a clue what he had said in the past three minutes. I had been too busy reminiscing over a moment that never should have happened. “I was, um… Sorry.”

“Are you alright? Because if you’re too preoccupied to handle what I’m asking of you, then you’re of no use to me.”

“You couldn’t manage without me.” My brother knew that was true. If I wasn’t around to rein him in, I didn’t want to think about the trouble he would get us into. His temper was as notorious as his trigger finger.

“I’ll handle tonight’s shipment,” he said. “You focus on your latest situation. She’s flying in with two of her father’s security guards. They’ll remain with her for as long as she’s here, but you have total control on her security detail.”

“How long will she be staying?” I stood, smoothing out my pants.

“As long as the tensions are high in Janero’s territory. It could be a few weeks unless he negotiates with the Calabrese family.”

“That family has three sons,” I said. “All in a position to overthrow Janero.”

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