Page 39 of Veiled Amor

Knowing he’d go above and beyond to ensure her safety.

This was a step too far.

An hour ago, she would have taken him on any terms.

Lucia was learning where her heart was concerned, she had hard limits.

A lot could have been said at that moment, but what words could she say that wouldn’t make her sound like a simpering idiot? Instead, she cocked her head back to look at the taller beast and kept her face cool as a snowman in December.

“If a woman is going to impersonate me, I think I need ice cream first. Do you think these guys have any around here?”

He snorted, and the tension broke.

Over an ice cream cone, she watched grown men bickering.

It was riveting to see and a little hot.

Capone was pacing between five feet of space, his hands resting on his hips as he blew out air. The other big mountain man was growling and snarling, his head anchored down almost to his chest, hair fell into his eyes, but it focused his gray stare on Lucia’s table. It had nothing to do with Lucia and all to do with the woman sitting at her side.

Between those two men was the MC boss, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Are the bikers always like this?” She asked, licking a slurp of toffee sauce from her thumb.

“Yep,” answered the amused woman, “more than you’d think. Prez, that’s Shark, has a no-guns policy in the club, so if the boys wanna fight, they either do it with their fists, or they sling arguments around like high school girls. It’s so funny.”

“I bet it is,” Lucia grinned, entertained.

It was unfortunate she was mid lick, her tongue swirling like a suggestive horny serpent when Capone glanced over. She watched his moody eyes flash and his nostrils flare. Whoa, either she was in the middle of a sugar rush, or he appeared aroused.

“What’s the problem?”

“He doesn’t want me to do it.”

At that. “She’s not going,” the mountain man called Tiger growled. Lucia was sure she felt it trembling the ground under her feet. God, what must the man look like if he got pissed off? Bet he broke boulders with his bare hands and ripped trees out by the roots, no problem.

The plan was to have one of the club girls dress like Lucia and to lure the spy to the airport. When Capone saw how much Jacie resembled Lucia’s coloring and frame, he’d asked Shark if she’d do it. Jacie agreed right away, and the two women had been talking up a storm for the past few hours. It would be easy enough for Jacie to wear something of Lucia’s, pull a cap over her hair, keep her face down, and the pair could be twins.

But the moment Tiger heard of this, he’d rattled all the walls with his roar.

“I think we should get someone else,” Lucia suggested.

“No way. I want to help you. Tiger will come around.”

From the looks of how he was glowering, he was more likely to headbutt Capone than he was into coming around.

The arguing went on a while longer. Shark was trying to reassure Tiger.

“Are you guys together? Is that why he’s so… grrrr over you.”

Jacie whipped her head around, and Lucia watched a blush crawl up from her neck and up her pretty face. “Oh, my god, no. We’re friends. He’s mybestfriend. He doesn’t think about me like that.”

“Hm. Well, if you don’t mind me butting my nose in and giving you an unsolicited observation. The way Tiger has his eyes all over you like he wants to drag you onto his shoulders and lock you up somewhere. I’m betting he thinks about you like that.”

“Do you think so?” Gasped Jacie. And then. “No, he says he has to keep me out of trouble. I’m his wayward pet.” She tried to laugh, her stare fixated on the big brute with his tree-trunk, thick arms crossed over his muscular chest.

“Does that mean you belong to one of the other bikers?”

“Nah, it’s nothing like that. The guys helped me out a few years ago, and I’ve stuck around. They’re family.” Jacie turned her eyes on Lucia and popped a shoulder shrug. “What about you and brooding eyes over there? What’s the story?”