Page 10 of Sweet Temptation (Love & Legacy #1)

“Sure can. Be right back.”

“You’ve got the appetite of a twelve-year-old,” Dad chuckles.

“At least I hit puberty.” I stretch my arms out across the booth. “You gonna tell me what’s going on or am I supposed to guess like this is charades or something?”

“Don’t be a shit, Lucky. I heard you were at West End last night.

..” Of course he did. He runs the city of Philadelphia and all the surrounding suburbs here and in New Jersey.

Some of his businesses are legal. Others.

.. not so much. He knows shit before it’s happened.

But the question is what does he know now because nothing happened.

“Most of the guys went. But nothing went down. At least not while I was there.”

The waitress comes over and tops off his coffee with a smile and a wink as I cover my mug with my hand, not wanting a second cup yet.

“I’m more concerned with what went down after you left.”

You ever feel like you’re sitting at a table with the Mad Hatter, and you don’t have a motherfucking clue what he’s trying to tell you?

Same.

“I’m not following.”

“Christ, Luciano. I told your mother I didn’t want to do this, but she said I had to, and I swear to God if you ever tell a fucking soul I said that, I will light your ass on fire while you sleep.

” He blows out a breath, and my chest shakes with silent laughter he’s gonna kill me for one day when I’m not looking.

“Lexie Sinclair. You took Lexie Fucking Sinclair home with you.”

“Yeah, Pop. She lives with me. I took her home.” It’s still kinda scary the way he knows things sometimes. “What’s the big deal? And why the fuck do you know that? Better yet, why does Ma know that?”

There’s a small shake to his head as he sips his coffee that makes it crystal clear exactly how unimpressed he is with my question.

“I hope you don’t need me to remind you exactly how complicated any kind of relationship with that family is.

Your sister is married to her uncle. Your mother respects the hell out of her parents. And Lexie?—”

“Lexie what?” I bark back, pretty goddamn sure I’m not going to like the rest of that sentence.

Dad eases back against the booth and watches me like a caged lion waiting to strike, or maybe that’s just what I suddenly feel like.

“ She what? She’s my best friend’s sister?

She’s the girl I grew up with? The one I’ve always cared about?

The one you and Cooper both told me I had to stay away from because she had too much shit on her plate already?

Or she was the one you and Ma made it a point to remind me it wasn’t my job to look out for?

There’s a whole lotta categories she falls into.

But right now, she’s my roommate. One who had too much to drink and one I didn’t want driving home. ”

I shut up in time for our food to be placed in front of us, but it’s my turn to lean back and stare. “Is this actually why you got me out of bed on my day off? Because you want to warn me off a girl?”

“Not just any girl, Lucky. You’ve had tons of girls in your life. Snuck half of them in and out of our house, like we didn’t know exactly what you were doing. But this one?—”

“There never would have been those girls if I was allowed to do what I wanted to do with this one,” I argue.

“You created me, old man. You told us all about wanting Mom for years. How, when you find the right one, you just know. And the minute you saw my interest in her, you and Cooper acted like the worst thing in the world for her was me. I’m pretty sure that’s what you told me that summer. ”

“That’s not what we said, and you know it. You were fourteen years old, and she’d just gotten out of the hospital for the third time that year. You weren’t what she needed.” He’s more defensive than he is angry, and that’s a tell all on its own. “You still aren’t.”

“How would you know what she needs? Have you seen her since she got back? Talked to her?” I sit and wait for a minute, then shake my head.

“I didn’t think so. You know, you and Coop, you could both tell me what to do at fourteen.

It might be a little harder at twenty-three though.

” I stand, and my father’s blue eyes turn glacial.

“This conversation isn’t over, Luciano. Sit down.”

Most guys grow up hero-worshipping their dads.

I know my brothers and I did. But then the day comes, and you realize he’s not a hero.

He’s a man. One you’ve looked up to. Probably emulated.

Definitely tried to make proud. But he’s just a man, which makes him innately flawed.

We all are. And suddenly, the worship isn’t quite the same. Guess now’s that moment.

“You know, you already tried to fuck with one of your kid’s love lives, Pop.

Pretty sure that didn’t turn out so well for you, did it?

” Ho-ly fuck. To say I just sailed right across any line my father might have had is the understatement of the century.

Those glacial eyes are full of fury now.

Sucks to be him. “It took Caitlin six months to forgive you.”

“You are not your sister, and this isn’t the same thing.”

“You’re right. It’s not. You took away her choice without her knowing. I, on the other hand, know what you did.” Fuck the line. I just burned it down.

“How did this conversation go from me asking what you did last night to this?” he asks, like he doesn’t know exactly what just happened.

“Guess I just finally decided it was time to stop listening.” I grab my keys and my phone and move to leave.

Dad never stands, but he stops me, all the same. “Tread very carefully, Lucky.”

“I always do,” I tell him and walk away, but not before I hear him murmur...

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”