Page 100 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation

But no matter how I spin the details around in my mind, I keep coming back to two things.

I don’t trust her. And she seems to be focused on her bratva.

She is trying to settle into this uneasy place we’re in, of having to be together for the next twelve months.

Ava sits at the table, barely eating as my family raises the ceiling with their rowdy noise and chatter as they scarf down the food. Compliments flow over her, and she’s like a deer in headlights.

“You have to give me this recipe,” Harry says. “If it’s simple. I’m not much of a cook.”

“She doesn’t have to be. Harry has other skills.” And Torin hooks his arm around the back of his wife’s chair, kissing her throat as she blushes.

Lucie takes a piece of bread and slathers it in butter. She’s about to take a bite when Cal steals it and feeds it to her, earning a groan and a puking sound from Dec. But Lucie smiles at her husband. “I’m not cooking for you.”

“Do I look like I care, Lucie Joy?”

And she laughs.

They’re boisterous, wild, relaxed.

Ava looks between them like she’s at the circus.

I lean toward her. “Sweet thing, relax.”

She digs her fingers into my thigh, and all it does is send a bolt of need through me. I like her violent streak. I like it when she fights me.

Which bothers me, because what if I’m missing a piece of this puzzle by being dickmatized by her?

“I’m relaxed.”

“Yeah?” I say. “Either you’re up to something or you’re completely out of your element.”

“Maybe it’s you.”

I reach under the table and pluck her hand from my thigh, putting it on my crotch. I might be playing with fire, but I don’t think she’s going to try to maim me, not with the entire family here.

For a moment I think I might be wrong. Her fingers tighten. But almost instantly she lets go and pulls her hand away to set in her own lap.

“Maybe it is,” I say. “But I have questions.”

She shoots me the dirtiest look. “You always have questions. And I’m not in the mood. My friends were murdered, and I was attacked.”

“Only because you didn’t obey the order to go home.”

“Forgive me for wanting to know what you’re up to,” she snaps in a low voice. And then she pours herself a big glass of wine. “I think I’ll start clearing up.”

I lock eyes with Cal.

He and Torin will start looking into things. Dec, too. We have fronts to cover. I won’t rule even an Irish faction out. Becausethere are some we don’t know. There are those we missed in the Siobhan purge.

Then there’s Romanov. Something with him doesn’t sit right. Shit, maybe this is all a long game that was set up and Ava was the bait.

I make myself stop. They’ll look into everyone who was at the club, if Cal doesn’t already have Torin and Dec on it by now. But if I keep spinning this shit in my head, I’ll go crazy.

Instead, I stand, take her wine and my whiskey, and say, “I think we’ll skip dessert. Dec, you’re on cleanup.”

We leave, giving Ava no other choice but to follow.

I’m halfway up the stairs before I realize she’s not following. I down my drink and set down the glasses before storming back down.