Page 98 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation

He lifts the finger coated with sauce up and traces it over my lips.

“Or,” he adds, “maybe the right way.”

And he leans in and kisses me, licking the sauce from my lips.

“Delicious. I’ll take being poisoned if I get to eat like this.”

My clit throbs.

I don’t think he’s talking about the pasta sauce.

He takes the spoon and sets it down, and now my heart goes into overdrive, and that ache starts between my thighs. He backs me into the counter, and then he slides a hand up my side, resting it on my hip as he tracks licking kisses down the side of my throat.

“What did he want, sweet thing? I know he said something to you.”

I try to breathe in. Of course he doesn’t want me. He’s just trying to dismantle my defenses and get what he wants. “How do I know you didn’t sic him on me?”

“You don’t.” He wraps his other hand around my throat and eases my head back. “But it would be pretty fucking stupid to sic someone on you and then have you kill one of my men, don’t you think?”

“I think you’re capable of anything.”

“And I think you are,” he murmurs, kissing me soft and slow and sweet until I can’t think. “If I find out you’re lying to me and setting me and my brothers up, I’ll take you down, Ava. And hard.”

He steps back and away from me.

“I’m going to work on my bike, but yeah, I don’t trust you.”

“You think I trust you?” I ask. “I know you took my crest. Where is it?”

He looks at me for a long time. “Somewhere you won’t be able to find it. Remember what I just said.” Then he winks. “Call me when dinner’s ready.”

And then he turns and leaves.

“Asshole!” I throw the glass at him. It misses, shattering against the wall.

Fuck.

TWENTY-THREE

seamus

“So,”Cal says, leaning against the wall in the garage. Ava’s right, garages like this are rare in the city, private, and hidden behind a false facade.

I continue working on my bike, happy to have it here, rather than loitering in a rented garage we have in Midtown. It’s not that it’s far; it’s just I never have the time to go there. But here… I can tinker, spread pieces out, and rebuild her to what she should be at my leisure.

“So?” I turn a page in the manual, still tasting that delicious sauce Ava’s making, and the more delicious sweetness with bite that is all her own.

He sighs, walks over, and taps his cigarette pack on the saddle.

“I thought you were quitting.”

“Trying. Big difference. For Lucie. She wants…” He doesn’t finish.

He doesn’t have to.

She wants him not smoking, and I’m gonna guess she might want a baby sometime soon. Thank fuck it’s not something I’ll be facing. Ever.

“So?” I prompt.