Page 27 of Ruined Vows (Borrelli Mafia #5)

VUKAN

THE FIRE AND THE FUSE

T he estate is quiet this morning—eerily so. The sun is bleeding in through tall windows, and there is the smell of strong coffee. Thank god for Irina. I am slightly dehydrated from the tequila, but other than that, I’m fine.

Well, if fine means I’m lusting after a woman who is determined to ruin me—kind of fine.

My phone is buzzing with half a dozen updates I haven’t opened. And all I can think about… is Bianca .

She will be the death of me, one way or another, but I’ll die a happy man. The way she laughed when I missed the bullseye by a hair. The way she leaned into me when she threw her winning dart. The way she tasted when she met me halfway and kissed me like she’d been waiting for an excuse.

I can still feel it and taste it.

My God, her hands were on my chest. I have no idea how I refrained from fucking her in the backseat of the Bentley. And the way she pulled back with swollen lips and a smug little smile? Well, it’s as if she knew I’d be thinking about that kiss ever since I dropped her off—and she’d be right.

I sip my coffee, phone finally in hand, but my messages blur. Not because I’m hungover, but because my brain isn’t on the threats rising inside the ranks.

It’s on the way she looked walking into that bar like I built it for her. She was all sharp lines and shapely curves; she’s the kind of woman no man forgets touching.

Luka enters the room, tablet in hand. “Morning.”

I grunt. “You’re chipper.”

“You look like you got laid.”

I glance at him over the rim of my mug. “Didn’t.”

“Worse.”

“What?”

“You kissed her.”

I don't answer.

Luka laughs. “Oh, you’re so fucked. ”

“Updates,” I growl.

He swipes the screen. “Council meeting pushed to Friday. Supply shipment cleared customs. One of Radovan’s boys was spotted outside the old port building last night. Armed.”

My jaw tics.

“Want me to handle it?” Luka offers.

“No,” I say, setting the mug down. “Let him think I don’t know. Let him make a move. It has to be a justified kill.”

“And Bianca?”

I pause. That’s the question.

What now? What happens when the girl you wanted to toy with ends up under your skin so deep you’re not sure what parts of you she’s already claimed?

“She’s the fire,” I say softly.

Luka frowns. “And?”

“I’m the fuse.”

And we both know how that ends.