Page 18 of The Gambler

“She got a hold of my credit card and, to this day, I’m still subscribed toReptiles Magazine. I was lucky Kristoff didn’t find out. He would have never let me live it down.”

Tess’ mouth dropped, but Luca gave her a look. One that told her to either shut up and follow his lead, or that Angel was just pulling his chain. She went back and forth between the two.

Then he gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine, I agree to your deal. If I can’t find the killer, I’ll marry her. Just give me time.”

“How about two weeks’ notice?” Angel proposed.

Damon frowned. “Again, not the right context, brother. That’s not what a two-week notice is about.”

“Deal.”

Tess’ jaw officially dropped. “What?”

Luca’s grip on her upper arm strengthened. “As I said, we have a deal.”

The twins grinned while Luca frowned.

And her? She wanted to bawl her eyes out. She was screwed. So, so screwed.

***

The minute the twins left, after promising to send a cleanup crew for the body—yuck—Luca settled her on the couch.

“We need to talk.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” She snorted. “What was that crazy stuff about getting married after two weeks? I’m guessing they’re joking, right? And you just went along with it, ‘cause it’s some crazy guy thing? Please tell me I’m right.”

He dropped into the recliner next to her. “You’ve heard them. If it were just Angel who was caught here with the body, we’d be fine. But Damon was here as well. The man has just one goal in life—to protect his brother or the ones he considers to be his brothers. He’s not just messing with me. When it comes to Angel’s safety, he doesn’t have a sense of humor. When we were teenagers, he once blew up a whole street just to find the guy that had ambushed his brother over a car radio.”

This didn’t sound good at all. Still, he couldn’t be saying what she thought he was saying, now would he?

“So, what exactly are you…?”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m saying we have to find Grace’s killer. That way, we’ll keep Damon off our backs. After all, once the killer is found, no one could ever indict Angel or Damon for Grace’s murder. In the meantime, you’d do well to consider yourself engaged.”

“Pretend to be engaged? To you?”

“Only for the next two weeks. And only so the twins will know I’m taking their deal seriously.”

“But… I’m a terrible liar.” She looked him over in his expensive shirt and wool slacks that would probably cost her a month’s rent. They were like Lady and the Tramp, but in reverse. “Anyone looking at us would know we don’t match. Like, at all. Nope, I don’t think I can do this.”

His head snapped up. “You know, just for argument’s sake, maybe you should look at this more positively. I actually have a lot to offer.”

“What exactly would you have to offer?” she asked honestly.

Luca’s gaze raked over her body. His narrowed eyes started a path from her lips to her t-shirt, hanging a bit on her breasts, and then back to her lips. An oddzingstarted through her body, making her lips feel warm. Feeling strangely uncomfortable, she fidgeted on the couch.

“How about sex, for starters,” he said.

“You can keep the sex, Romeo. I don’t particularly enjoy it.”

“Then maybe you weren’t doing it right.”

Her body tensed. The way he looked at her was probably the way a lion looked at a gazelle the second he was going to attack her. Except, thankfully, there was no attacking. She felt a bit disappointed. It wasn’t like she wanted to get molested by Luciano Detta, who was basically still a stranger to her. It was just that, for once, she wished she was the kind of woman a man had difficulty keeping his paws off. That he would want to kiss her, devour her, making a meal out of her.

Oh, wow. Where did that come from? Must be all those smut romance novels she read. The kind that had tall, dark, and handsome heroes, though she was more into the tortured ones. She didn’t really like pretty. Hot, pretty men like Luca were not her type.

“Also, there’s the financial security I could offer a woman.”

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