Page 67 of Dirty Hearts

I glanced down at the proposal. “He’ll get his answer when I give it to him.” There was some fine print shit about seven days, but I glossed over that.

“So, we have a Manello grunt, Barabbas Antonella, and now this.” Dante ran a hand over his beard and smiled a wicked smile. The scent of trouble got my guys going like fire on gasoline. “What does it all mean?”

“Means there’s a fucking fox in my henhouse. But what do I have that they want?”

Not me specifically.Chicago.It was Chicago. The shipping company was the part that I had, but what did they need it for?

It was just as we said; something was here in Chicago. Something I didn’t know about, and they were trying to get to it without me knowing. And use me. Sneaky bastards.

“We need to focus on this, see what’s happening and decide what we’ll do with it.” That was important. Deciding what we’d do with the information we’d get. “I need you guys ready for trouble if there’s any.”

“Oh, we’re ready.” Dante pulled out his trademark Berettas. Twin guns with Japanese characters engraved on the handles. He swiveled them around cowboy style and laughed. “Those fuckers don’t know who they’re messing with.”

I needed to speak to Luc. I looked at my team as they looked more excited than they had been in a while, but I was reminded that there was someone here I couldn’t trust. Pa glanced at me and probably guessed what I was thinking. It was because of what I’d said back at Luc’s shop.

I was serious though. I wouldn’t allow anyone to get to Ava. Never again.

* * *

The next few days that followed saw me working hard with the guys to gather intel. We came up with nothing. By the following week, I was wiped out, but hell, I couldn’t completely blame it on working.

When I wasn’t searching the streets, I was with her.

Ava.

We were together all the time, lost in this bubble of erotic passion that trapped my damn mind, and I couldn’t see for shit.

No way was I complaining, not one damn bit. The angel was all mine day and night, and I indulged in her perfect body every day like it was my last.

Something sounded on one of the windows, and I opened my eyes. The force of the sun beaming through the long case windows forced my eyes shut again.

What day is it?

This part I didn’t like because it felt like I lost time somehow.

I was on the hardwood floor. That meant I was downstairs.

No, not I… we. I opened my eyes again and smiled at my Angel Doll cocooned in my arms.

Her hair was a sexy mess. A complete sexy mess of waves. It went wavy when it got wet. Last night—or it could have been in the early hours of the morning—I had her pressed up against the granite walls of the shower with her legs wrapped around me as I pounded into her.

I could have happily died claiming to have lived at that moment.

And still I wanted more.

I wanted more, and I knew there would come a point when reality would rear its ugly head and slap us both.

This train of passion would burn out and bring me back full circle to my fears. My fears hadn’t gone away just because we were like this. Not by a damn long shot. This was just me being selfish. Wanting her, having her, indulging in her, and getting lost in making her mine.

Ava shuffled next to me. The soft end of her fingertips fluttered over the planes of my stomach, and fuck, my dick started hardening. Again.

She moaned a slight hum that reached into me. She was between asleep and awake. I loved watching her like this.

“Claudius,” she purred with a little smile on her beautiful face. “I can feel you looking at me.” Those fingers ran over my skin again, heating my whole body up as she touched me.

“I can’t stop.” I kissed the top of her head, and her gorgeous eyes fluttered open. Her thick, dark lashes cast a shadow over the peaks of her high cheekbones.

Goddam, I swore I could get lost in this woman forever. Just looking at her.