Page 18 of Bad Men

“Busy,” he replied cryptically. “You’re not an easy woman to find, Mia.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about? You know where I live … and apparently, where I work.”

He shook his head, penetrating eyes never wavering off my face. “We’ve been by your house—”

Horror streaked through me. “You went to my house?”

He put up a hand to stop the tirade I could feel building in my chest. “We didn’t go inside, but we waited for you. The only number we have is for your father. We didn’t think you would want us to contact him.”

I didn’t. I really, really didn’t. My parents would be so hurt and mortified if they ever found out what I’d done. They would never trust me again.

“How did you find me then?” I asked instead.

He pulled in a deep breath. “We asked. You didn’t leave us a choice,” he stated when I opened my mouth. “You didn’t call us.”

“I don’t have your numbers,” I cried.

Without missing a beat, he reached over and snatched up my pen and order pad. In quick strokes, he scribbled down his number, then Nero’s. He shoved the pad back to me.

“Don’t disappear on us again,” he said. “We don’t like worrying.”

I took the numbers and tore the page free. I was folding it in half when his words hit me.

“You were worried?”

His attention swayed over my face, lingering on my mouth before settling on my eyes. “Possibly.”

I pursed my lips. “That isn’t a very good answer.”

Davien shrugged. “It’s the only one I have. Now, come here.”

I started to tell him to stop bossing me around, but my feet had already pushed away and were making their way around the counter. Their betrayal would have been astounding, except I found myself standing before his dominating stature, head tipped back, waiting for his next move.

Instead, he brushed his fingers along the side of my face, starting at my temple and pausing at my chin. He tipped it further towards the mouth he lowered to settle over mine.

I moaned as that simple gesture rocked me all the way to my toes. My belly erupted in a storm of emotions that had my heart going wild in my chest. I reached for him, mainly to steady myself, but the moment my hands slid around his neck, my fingers were delving into his damp hair. They curled, keeping him against me while I took my fill.

“I was worried, too,” I panted the moment I broke the kiss. “I thought that was it, that you’d changed your minds, or...” I broke off on that thought, too mortified to voice it out loud.

“Or what?” he pressed, taking slow nibbles of my bottom lip.

I drew back and lowered my chin to stare at the center of his chest. “It’s not important.”

“New rule.” He nudged my chin up a second time, forcing me to meet his gaze. “No lying.”

I wanted to tell him I wasn’t, but we both knew I was.

“I thought maybe you realized you didn’t want me.”

I bit my lip the moment the confession was out, but it was too late to stop it.

Davien studied me for much longer than I cared for. His brown eyes searched my face as if trying to find the answer to a question he hadn’t yet asked. I wondered if he was trying to think of a nice way to tell me I was right.

“We broke a lot of rules that night,” he said instead. “Not just rules between me and Nero, but Eduardo’s rules … for you. We’ve never done either before.”

I frowned. “Then why—?”

“Because we want you,” he cut me off. “We agreed on the risks and we both agreed that we were willing to face the consequences.”

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