Page 60 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation

I’m still holding the bag from the jeweler, so I give it to him.

He takes it, places it on his desk, and rubs his eyes. “Drink?”

I nod and he pours.

“How’s paradise?”

“A lot like hell,” I say. Then I pause. “Semtex? Irish enclave?”

“Fuck if I know,” he mutters. “And I think it should stay that way. The Russians like to take.”

“The ones we knew definitely did.” I hesitate. “We’ve got to do business with them properly, though. At some point soon. You know that.”

“Some, yes, but…” He shrugs, then takes a swallow as he leans against his desk. “It’ll be of our choosing, Seamus. Not theirs.”

My brother’s right, but… “What if he’s interested in her bratva?”

“You interested in her?”

A blithe comment dances on my tongue, but I ignore it. “No. I don’t like her, but the question’s valid.”

He pulls a cigarette out of his packet, looks at it, and shoves it behind his ear. “Trying to give these up.”

“Good job.”

“Fuck off, youeejit.” Then he sighs. “Of course he’s interested. Why else would he be trying to marry her off to his son?”

“True love?” I take a sip. “I think we should see what this is about. If someone’s after Romanov and…” I shake my head.“Considering the wiring of the bomb was something out of the old-school Irish playbook, we should find out who this Hank is… carefully, of course.”

“Okay,” he says slowly. “Because this is the second time Romanov has come to us. Which means he might not have been honest at the beginning. Or given all the details.”

“Like a call or warning something might happen if the event went on.” And maybe my new wife might know more. “If that bomb went off, it could have brought a lot of trouble down. Authorities getting involved kind of trouble.”

“But it didn’t. And if we get ourselves tangled in this, then we’re in, Seamus, like it or not, with the Romanovs and the Assisis.”

“Maybe, maybe not. And there’s one way to find out.”

“Do it, but make it low-key.”

I smile. “I’ll start right now.”

With my wife.

When I get upstairs to my room, I unlock the door and go in, narrowly missing the knife that flies through the air and embeds itself into the wall with athunk.

I stalk over to her, push her down on the mattress, and pin her with my knee against her rib cage.

“Why the fuck did you plant those bombs?” I bite out, pressing my knee deeper into her chest as her eyes fly wide open. “And you’d better think very carefully about your answer, Ava.”

FOURTEEN

ava

I glare at him.“Get off me.”

“Now, why the fuck would I want to do that?” Seamus asks, voice low and deadly and not about to give an inch. “I’ve got you exactly where I like you… on your back and under me.”

I struggle, heat molten in my veins, and I find myself rubbing against him because his erection has my attention. It shouldn’t. Not unless I cut it off, but that would be a waste of joy, and joy is something so hard to come by in this life.