Page 12 of Shackled By the Mafia Boss

Ten minutes later, she’s sipping on a large latte and I’m staring at her like she’s a painting I just won in an auction. I can’t believe how many times I’ve thought this already, but she’s beautiful. Way too beautiful for her own good.

The café isn’t a big one. The walls are painted pink and white, as if it’s a photobooth for teenage girls. It smells like croissants and coffee in here. I hate the smell of coffee.

But I like that it’s almost empty aside from the old couple sitting two tables away from us and a middle-aged lady sipping on her coffee and scrolling through her iPad at the other end of the room.

When I’m in public places like this one, I’m usually restless, always on edge because it’s hard to tell when your enemies will strike. All of that seems to go away when I’m with Jane though. She seems to have a calming effect on the storm always raging inside me. I feel serene when I’m around her.

“Are you going to say something or will you keep looking at me all morning?”

A smile plays on my lips. “I don’t mind watching you all morning.”

“Too bad, I’ve got other things to do.”

Playing hard to get? Let’s see how much longer she can keep it up. “Ask whatever you want to know, but not whether I am mafia.”

She snorts. “I already know you’re part of the mafia. I’ll have you arrested for that another day. For now, I’m more interested in catching a killer. It’s starting to look like we’ll find a dead body every day until we get to the bottom of this.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she leans back in her seat. “This will be a tough one, but let’s give it a try. Is there a reason to think someone’s trying to frame you, to put you out of business? Maybe a rival? I’ve heard it’s common in the mafia business.”

I don’t deny it. It’ll be useless lying to her when she already knows. Plus, I won’t stand a chance at getting help from her if I don’t give her something. All I need to is to be careful of the words I use. “None that I can think of at the moment. I have many enemies, some of them aren’t even in New York. It’s hard to know which of them could pull off something like this.”

She scratches her neck and it catches my attention in the craziest way. I lick my lips. I want to trail a kisses all the way from her neck to her cleavage. My dick is getting hard in my pants. Damn.

“Sounds like you aren’t only a jerk to me.”

I can’t help the laughter that bursts from me. The old couple twist their heads in our direction and I swear they get a feeling of nostalgia because there’s a blend of happiness and sadness in their smile. As if they miss the days when they were young and wild, and laughed so freely.

“You’re the only person I’m not a jerk to,signorina.No one except you has ever gotten away with talking to me like that.”

Scarlet blooms on her cheeks, her green eyes lighting up. She fakes a shiver. “Woah. Now I’m scared.”

“You should be.”

“Is that a threat?” she leans forward, her brows lifting. “Do you think you can hurt me?”

“Maybe not, but I bet I can make you scream.”

She blushes again and harder this time. For the first time, she looks away and refuses to meet my gaze. “You have no filter, do you?”

“I’m a jerk, I don’t need filters.”

A glimpse of a smile parts her lips, but it seems she realizes she’s falling for my charm and frowns. “Back to business. How about we make a deal? Looks like you’re the target, so, how about we help each other?”

I thread my fingers together. “In what way can you help me, Detective?”

“We find the killer together.” She glances around, then she whispers, “I need a promotion, you need to find whoever’s after you. We can help each other.”

“And my illegal businesses? Are you just going to overlook them?”

“I’ll deal with that some other time. For now, we catch this asshole. What do you say?”

“I’m in.”

Chapter Four

Jane

“Please don’t tell me you’ve become entangled with the mafia,” my younger sister, Bella, says, eyes almost popping out of their sockets and her mouth full of pasta.

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