Page 160 of The Enforcer

When he stopped her in a check move and pulled her to him again, her face was down, soft and submissive in the curve of his shoulder. It was part of the act of for this dance, but it felt real in a way it hadn’t when they were sixteen.

IT ALL LOOKED spontaneous, like something out of a movie when Tino stepped in. It gathered a lot of attention, but they were technically cheating.

Tino and Brianna had done a bachata routine what felt like a million years ago, but not this close together, not this sexual, with Tino’s hard cock pressed against her stomach every time he pulled her tightly against him. Not nearly this explicit, with Tino’s hands forcing her already short dress to ride higher, and while this particular dance was undeniably sensual, it had never felt like they were fucking on the dance floor.

Tino had always been an amazing dancer.

It was part of Tino’s strange gift. He had a whole collection of unique talents, some of them deadly, like his black belts, some of them extremely impressive, like the front tuck he’d never grown out of as most young male gymnasts did when they became men. Yet he managed to remain largely unnoticed, invisible behind the great wall of Nova, muscle with a gun and a handsome smile, until he stepped up and decided to steal the spotlight for reasons only he understood.

And when that happened, he could make an entire room speechless.

Later Tino would say it was Brianna who caused the rest of the room to stop dancing and just watch. It was her long legs and million hours of dance practice that led the DJ to put on another bachata, and then akizomba, another sexually charged, very intimate dance that allowed them to fuck on the dance floor in front of all those people who would rather watch them than move to the music.

But Brianna knew it was Tino.

It had to be, because the entire room didn’t become rapt with her dancing until Tino showed up. Not until it was his hands on her hips. His warm breath against the curve of her neck. His strong, muscular body making her sweat in a way she hadn’t before, forcing her to remember the time she’d spent in a bunk bed with Tino’s voice against her ear, telling her to use him until she was gasping and moaning his name.

Over and over again.

Only this time there was no climax, though the press of his thigh between her legs was just as intimate as it had been that night. Perhaps more so, with everyone watching the way he guided her moves, and she followed, blindly, with complete trust, even if something about it felt very dangerous. Like flames dancing in the night, she wanted to touch it. She didn’t care if she got burned.

Brianna was breathless by the third song, and it wasn’t from the dancing. Everything in her was wound tight. Her nipples were so taut with need. She knew they showed under the colored lights, but she didn’t give a shit. She wanted the lust to show. She wanted him to know how much he was affecting her.

The truth was, she would’ve done anything for him if he asked.

That was Tino’s magic. For whatever it was worth, she would’ve gotten down on her knees for him if he asked her. She would’ve sucked him until he came, because he was tormented too. She could feel it vibrating off him, the sexual tension that was building between them for too long.

He wasn’t going to crumble empires one day like Nova, but he could make a woman feel like a goddess on the dance floor, and that would always be sexier to Brianna. That was a brand of magic that made her see stars when she was twelve, and it still did.

Italwayswould.

Four songs and it felt like the world had finally righted on its axis after two years, like the Savio basement never happened, like Cosa Nostra hadn’t ruined it for them before it even started.

Then the chaos of a raid shattered the club.

Brianna didn’t know what it was at first, the rush of police through the doors, the press of people trying to get out. She caught the flash of bright yellow ATF on the officers’ uniforms, but she didn’t have time to put it together.

Tino grabbed her hand and jerked her arm so hard it hurt, but she followed him, letting him pull her through the crowd to Carina. Then he let go of her and swept his sister up. Tino actually tossed Carina over his shoulder like she was a bag of flour, and then caught Brianna’s hand again as Carina shouted for Paco.

Tino roughly shoved his way to the bar. It all happened in less than a minute, but Brianna remembered people falling to the floor in the wake of his determination.

When they got to the bar, he handed Carina to the bartender, who held Carina’s hand as she crawled over the polished wood.

Brianna turned to look at the ATF agents pushing their way in from all sides, and Tino smacked her ass in response. “Don’t look back! Move!”

She moved automatically, jumping over the bar and knocking over drinks in the process. The bartender had already pushed Carina toward the back, and Brianna followed after them, but she needed to make sure Tino was still with them.

She turned to look behind her once more, but Tino smacked at her ass again, closer than she realized as he shouted, “Go, Bri! Run!”

She nearly tripped over one of the other bartenders as she followed Carina into the back. They ran past offices, but the bartender jerked open a door at the end of the hallway, revealing a staircase. The hall was a dead end, the one place the ATF agents couldn’t sneak in when they were pouring in from all the other exits.

This staircase was the only way out.

They left the bartender there, and the three of them took to the stairs, hearing theclickof a door being locked behind them.

When Carina hit the first landing, Tino pushed Brianna to keep moving and said to his sister, “All the way to the top. Get to the roof.”

“What about Paco?” Carina argued but kept dashing up the stairs, sounding breathless by the second landing. “He’s got weed on him.”