Page 46 of Veiled Amor

Unnatural.

Uncalled for.

Completely out of fucking line.

Club women approached him. Capone couldn’t rally the enthusiasm to even pretend he wanted company. He grunted a few words, and they slunk off to find a better biker reception. One woman stuck around longer, hovering at his elbow, not giving a fuck that he wasn’t replying more than a grunt or two to her inane chatter.

“Hey, Sassy, do you mind if I have a word with Capone?” He heard, not realizing Lucia had come over. He pierced her with a look so fucking hungry he almost reached for a knife and fork to eat her up.

“Oh, yeah, sure, babe.” The other woman replied, placing a hand on his forearm like she had the right to touch him. She winked at Capone. “But don’t keep him long, I got plans for this one.”

It was news to him. The woman was gonna be disappointed.

He caught Lucia's frown as the woman walked over to the crowd of bikers, finding a lap to sit on. He saw Jacie from the left, closely followed by Tiger, towering down over the smaller woman. But it was Lucia he watched as she bit into her corner lip.

“Is something wrong?” She asked. “You’re quiet over here.”

Capone was a calm guy, having learned the hard way and battled through his turmoil and anger for years. Any other emotion didn’t touch him. But as he replayed her smiles and giggles for Sideways, there was no denying how irrationally jealous he was feeling.

He could have said any number of responses, but what flew out of his goddamn stupid mouth was, “You’ve been flirting with thatcabrón.”

Lucia blinked. Her mouth opened and closed.

“I’ve what?”

Capone glowered. An awakening caveman clawed at the inside of his skin. He’d never given much thought to the PC brigade these days, but he’d always treated women with respect and care. Only now, he wanted to drag her off to his cave so no fucker could even smile at her. How was that for a modern man, huh?

“Do you mean Sideways? You think I’m flirting with him?” Each question brought her tone higher. And then her stabbed finger into his chest came out of the blue. “Of all the cheek. You just don’t quit being a jerk, do you?”

Lucia went on. “I was playing cards, but you’re over here with your whoredom flaunting all over you,touching you. And that’s your business. What I do ismybusiness.”

Poke. Poke. Poke.

Her skinny finger was almost embedding into his chest.

Wrong thing to say to a man who was on the edge of sanity as he reached out and grabbed her wrist. Hauling her the few inches separating them until she bounced against his body.

“I was not flirting. Not that you have a say in what I do.”

“My whoredom?” He growled low between his grit teeth.

“Yes! Your…hey, wait up.” Capone shackled the top of her arm, and pulled her along to a quieter spot in the hallway. He all but slammed her up against the wall and climbed into the space with her. His head, feeling heavier than a fucking boulder, as it hung low to see the color of her eyes.

“My whoredom?”

“I said what I said. Every time I look over, you have another woman buzzing around you. You didn’t seem to mind at all. At. All. Capone.”

He’d been Capone for as long as he could remember, but hearing it on her lips now sat wrong with him, made him feel a type of way he couldn’t understand, and because he was already fucking irrational, he went with the sensation.

“What’s my name?”

She dared roll her eyes. “If you don’t know your name by now, then I’m not telling you.”

“Say it.”

Another eye roll, Lucia sucked in her breath when he braced both fists by her head, trapping her in the confines of his body. “Giancarlo.”

“Sí. That’s whatyoucall me.”