by Bella J.
Fuck!
In the end, I didn’t send any messages. What good would it have done? I was still a cop, and she was still the daughter of Lorenzo Valenti. No matter how we looked at it, this thing between us had “complicated” written all over it from the start.
So, I guessed it was only natural that my heart was currently pounding like a jackhammer against my ribs. I was sitting in the car right outside of Paradiso with my gun and badge, about to walk into the restaurant and start questioning the Valenti brothers regarding Gio’s murder.
And, naturally, my friend Murphy’s Law also decided to join us, since Karina’s silver Mercedes was parked right outside the damn restaurant. Now, wasn’t that just my fucking luck? For the last two years, she’d only been at this place three times that I knew of. But of course she would be here…now…today…right this minute…when I was about to flash my badge around. Suddenly, the gold detective badge felt like it weighed a damn ton. And as for Lucy? Well, for the first time in my career, I hated having her tucked so damn tightly against my side.
“Something doesn’t add up,” Anderson muttered next to me. “It doesn’t make sense the Valentis would execute the guy and then leave such a huge chunk of evidence on his chest.”
“Yeah, I feel ya.” I rubbed the back of my neck, frustration causing the muscles in my arms to twitch. “But like I said, the Valentis knew Gio. At Vertigo, I distinctly remember Antonio addressing him like he knew him.”
“Oh, come on. Everyone fucking knew Gio.” Anderson was as frustrated as I was. “I’d be surprised if they didn’t know him.”
I eyed the sleek Mercedes, thinking about that night at Vertigo, the night everything changed. I should have let her walk away. I should never have pursued her, but I did—hence the giant fuck-up my personal life was currently in. I just couldn’t let her go. My mind refused not to think of her, not to remember what it felt like to be skin on skin with her. If it were any other woman, I would have been able to walk away without fucking blinking. But I couldn’t, not with her.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Anderson got out of the car, and I remained seated for a few seconds longer. I’d faced hardcore criminals, stared death in the face a few times, yet I’d never been this fucking nervous. There was a huge chunk of me that didn’t want to do this because I knew it was going to hurt her. She might not like being a Valenti, but she loved her family—especially her brothers. How the hell was I going to walk in there, stare into those dark brown eyes, and not feel anything other than motherfucking regret?
Anderson tapped against the window. “You coming, or are you planning on jerking off the rest of the day?”
“Fuck you.” I opened the door and got out, straightening my leather jacket and trying to hide the gun on my side as much as possible. There was no warm blood flowing through my veins, only ice. My stomach felt like it had been caught in a goddamn bear trap, the sharp teeth puncturing every nerve in my body.
“You know,” I stopped about three steps from the restaurant door, and Anderson turned to me, “I can’t help wondering why the commander had such a quick change of heart.”
“You and me both,” Anderson admitted. “I couldn’t believe it when he told me your suspension had been lifted and he wants you on the case with me.”
I frowned. “Real smooth, jackass.”
Anderson shrugged. “What? I mean, I was shocked because everyone knows he was looking for a reason to get rid of your ass, and then all of a sudden, he wants you on one of the biggest cases of the fucking year. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I know. I’m telling you, man, my spidey senses are tingling.”
“Your spidey senses? What the fuck, are you twelve?”
“Funny enough, you are not the first person to say that.”
Anderson shook his head. “Let’s just get this over with before I develop a migraine.”
I went first. Even though I was nervous, I was also eager to see her again. When I opened the door, my heart went apeshit, beating so damn fast it felt like it was about to explode into tiny pieces of muscle.
I walked in, and right away my gaze found her. It was as if every instinct I had zeroed in on her, revolved around her. She was standing over at the bar next to Dante, and the moment our eyes met, my chest constricted, forcing all the damn air out of my lungs. God, was it possible she had gotten even more beautiful during the last few days?
Her dark, captivating eyes seemed like they were beaming, her long curls framing her face perfectly, making her look like a goddamn angel. My angel of sin and temptation.
She was wearing a sleeveless buttercream-colored mini dress that hugged her flawless curves like a second damn skin. And those legs? My God, those motherfucking legs would surely mean the end of me, especially when she was wearing those damn sexy black heels.
Images of me on my knees in front of her, eating her pussy like I’d been starved for it my entire life, bombarded my mind. Her moans, her taste, and the way she fucked my mouth, desperate to find her release against my tongue was downright euphoric, and I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to experience that again.
“Karina.” Her name rolled off my lips like it belonged there, like her name was only mine to say, to speak, to whisper…to scream. There was no use denying it; this woman had captivated me, demanding all my attention without even trying.
Dante walked up to us, and I was instantly annoyed, since it meant I had to break eye contact with the woman who currently had my balls in the palms of her hands.
“Can I help you, gentlemen?”
I held up my badge. “We have a few questions.”
Dante straightened and placed his hands on his hips, pushing his jacket to the sides. “In regard to…?”
I glanced from Dante to Karina, who had stepped closer to listen to the conversation. “Gio Boroni’s murder.”
“Oh, I heard about that.” Dante relaxed a little. “Can’t say I’m surprised, though.”
I peeled my gaze from Karina and turned my attention to Dante. “Why do you say that?”
“The guy was a crook, owed a lot of people a lot of money.”
“Did he owe you money?”
Dante laughed. “God, no. I know better than to do business with someone like Gio.”
Karina was slowly moving closer. I knew this because I was hyperaware of her presence, feeling that familiar crackle of electricity between us with every step she took. We were drawn to each other, and judging by the look on her face, she was trying her best to fight it—and so was I.
Focus. Back to Dante.
“And your brother? Any chance he had some business with Gio?”
Dante’s eyebrows curved down. “Antonio? Not a chance.”
I turned and glanced around the restaurant. The place was packed with locals enjoying good, old-fashioned Italian food. I’d had my fair share of lunch in this joint, and I had to admit their pizzas were the best in town.
“Where is Antonio? Is he here?”
Anderson shot me a sideways glance, and I could see he was trying to figure out what I was planning. Good luck with that, pal, ’cause not even I know what the fuck I’m doing right now.
“He’s in the back office,” Dante replied. “You gentlemen want me to get him?”
“That would be great.”
As soon as Dante turned his back, my gaze found Karina again. For the entire time I’d been there, it felt like she hadn’t taken her eyes off me once.
Dante walked off and disappeared around the corner, and Anderson muttered something to me before he stalked off toward some guests. I had no idea what he said because I was too busy getting lost in Karina’s big, brown eyes while my groin felt like it was on fire with my desire to have her again.
Unable to stop myself, I walked toward her, and with every step I noticed her chest rising and falling, her skin flushing the most beautiful shade of pink. It was undeniable; we were drawn to each other like water to the earth.
Once I was close enough to smell her entici
ngly sweet scent, I bit the inside of my cheek trying to keep myself grounded. If I didn’t, I might end up grabbing her right there in front of everyone and fucking her on the goddamn bar. I didn’t give a shit if everyone watched. All I cared about was sating my hunger for her, getting my fix of Karina Valenti.
She crossed her arms defensively, and her dark gaze turned into a glare. “Back on the job, I see,” she started, but I didn’t miss the nervous twitch in her voice. “Tell me, Detective, are you here to ask questions or to accuse someone in my family of murder?”
“Don’t, princess.”
“I told you to not call me that.” Her shoulders straightened, and she lifted her chin in a bid to seem confident, but her flushed skin and hungry eyes gave her away. She was nervous, and I knew she felt it too, the intense pull between us.
With another step, I was close enough to ensure no one could hear us. I slanted my head, studying her face like it was my own personal piece of art. “And I told you to get fucking used to it because I’m going to keep on calling you that.”
She swallowed hard, and my gaze fell to the movement of her throat—a throat I was dying to kiss, and taste, and lick.
“Calling me anything other than Miss Valenti would be considered highly inappropriate and unprofessional, Detective Stone.”
I leaned closer, her scent and the need to be close to her luring me in. Like every fucking cliché in the book, I was that dumbass moth drawn to the flame, wanting to feel her heat all around me. My gaze flitted from her eyes to her decadent mouth, and I licked my lips, remembering exactly what she tasted like—so damn sweet…and fatally addictive.
“Tell me, princess,” I lowered my voice to nothing more than a whisper, “would you like me to call you Miss Valenti when I bend you over that dark wood bar and show you exactly how much I’ve craved to be inside you again?”
“Lorik—”
I took another step forward and looked down at her. “And would you like me to call you Miss Valenti while I remind you how goddamn good my cock feels inside you? How loud I can make you scream, and how hard I can make you come?”
She sucked in a breath, and it just about killed me not to be able to take her and make her mine on the spot.
I leaned into her, bringing my lips inches from her ear. “I want you, princess, with every goddamn bone in my body. And I’ve been going out of my mind the last few days thinking about what you feel like from the inside, yet unable to have you.”
She swayed forward, and I could see by her flushed cheeks that I’d affected her. She wanted me as much as I wanted her. There was no doubt about it.
“Lorik, stop. Please.” She breathed out, and a shiver moved down my spine when I felt her warm breath against my skin.
“What if I can’t?”
She looked up at me pleadingly. “I can’t—”
“Everything okay here?” Anderson stepped up, and the tension between Karina and me shattered. I’d never liked the guy much, but I’d never had a stronger urge to turn his balls inside out.
Unable to ignore the fucker, I moved back, but I didn’t take my eyes off her. Her pink cheeks and flushed skin around her neck looked so goddamn enticing, and knowing it was because of me thrilled me to no fucking end. My cock agreed.
“Everything’s fine,” I replied without looking at Anderson, but then I was nudged in the side, and Anderson pulled my attention away from Karina to the two Valenti brothers walking toward us.
With their matching gray suits and pitch-black hair, they looked like a force to be reckoned with. Antonio had enough confidence to make you want to shrivel up and die with a single glance, while Dante reeked of testosterone.
Wasn’t that just typical? Me coming within seconds of fucking Karina on the bar with her brothers nearby only proved how hard I’d fallen, how much I really wanted this woman. But I was here to do my job—a job with the potential to destroy every chance I had with Karina.
“Okay,” I started, trying to pull my shit together. “Now that we have all the Valenti offspring together, I’ll make this quick.”
“Great.” Antonio placed his hands in his pants pockets.
“Dante, mind telling us where you were Sunday morning between one and three a.m.?”
He rocked on his feet. “I was home, since my evening was cut short quite abruptly.”
I didn’t miss the hint of sarcasm in his voice, and neither did I miss the way Karina shifted from one leg to the other.
“Do you have someone who can back that up?” Anderson chimed in from the side.
Dante shrugged. “Sure. Ask my parents. You can also check the security footage, proving I never left the house during that time.”
I turned to Antonio, who looked as cool as a guy who just smoked weed. “And you?”
“I was home.” His answer was clipped but lacked conviction.
Suspicion knocked against my skull. “Will the security footage show you never left the house during that time too?”
Antonio glanced at Dante, and the entire atmosphere was suddenly laden with tension. Everything about Antonio’s demeanor made me wary.
“Well?” I urged.
He inhaled. “No. Because I wasn’t home between one and three a.m.”
“Mind telling us where you were?”
“I was out.”
“Out where?”
He glanced around the restaurant before roughing his hand through his hair. It didn’t take a genius to notice he was pretty uncomfortable.
“I was—”
“He was with me!” Karina shoved past Dante and put herself in the middle of us and her brothers. “Antonio was with me during that time.”
It felt like she’d literally slapped me in the face.
“Excuse me?”
“Antonio was with me.”
Motherfucker. She was lying without even blinking.
I stepped forward and narrowed my eyes. “Are you sure about that, Miss Valenti?”
Her eyes seemed desperate, silently begging me not to call her bluff. I knew she wasn’t her brother’s alibi. I was her goddamn alibi, since I was buried between her legs for the bulk of the time in question.
She cleared her throat. “Yes. I’m sure.”
Antonio reached for her arm. “Karina…”
She jerked away from him. “I was with my brother the entire time. It couldn’t have been him.” She leaned closer to me. “So, you can focus all your attention on someone else, Detective, because my family has nothing to do with Gio’s murder.”
The hidden message in her words came through loud and clear. She was telling me to back off. And by the way she straightened and steeled herself, determination darkening her eyes, she knew I couldn’t take her on about her blatant lie. Not in front of Anderson. Not in front of her brothers. There was too much at risk, which was why she was currently pulling this stunt. She knew as well as I did that no one could know about what happened between us. It would ruin my credibility in this case, and it would bring down heaps of shit on her since one of the top ten mafia house rules was to never be associated with a cop in any way. And I’d say after last weekend, we were as closely associated as two could come—pun intended.
Chapter 19
KARINA
My heart was about to crawl its way up my throat along with the lie that just came out of my mouth. Lorik knew it; I knew it. I was a liar. But I’d be damned if I stood there and did nothing while they insinuated one of my brothers was a murderer. If anyone knew my family’s doings were far from legit, it was me. But I also knew neither of my brothers killed this Gio character.
Lorik’s eyes narrowed, scrutinizing my face, and I was convinced he was seconds away from calling my bluff. I felt the sweat run down my back, my gut on the verge of twisting upside down. But then he took two steps back and looked at my brothers.
“Okay, then. I guess we’re done here.”
I exhaled and allowed my shoulders to relax, even though I knew this entire situation was far from
over. If I knew Lorik at all, I knew he wouldn’t let this lie go so easily.
“Thank you for your time.” Lorik walked toward the door, and I wanted to punch myself for feeling disappointed. I didn’t like the feeling of knowing he was about to walk out that door, and I had no idea when I’d see him again. During the last week, even though it was my decision to call quits on our…whatever you called it, I had been fucking miserable. The last few days, it felt like there was a giant hole inside me, like there was a part of me missing. But how the hell was that even possible, that this man had the power to take such a big part of my soul within so little time?
With a final glance my way, Lorik disappeared out the door, and every fiber of my being was begging me to go after him, not to let him walk away from me. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.
“Karina,” Antonio growled from behind me, “what the hell did you do that for?”
I spun and glared his way, my anger now fully focused on him. “You know what, Antonio, fuck you. I just lied to save your ass from being grilled. A simple thank you would suffice.”
He glanced at the customers before moving closer, afraid of causing a scene in the middle of the restaurant. “I did not ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t have to. That’s what family does.”
He grabbed my elbow and tightened his grip. “Do you know how much shit you’ll be in if they find out you lied? That would push you and me right to the top of their goddamn suspect list.”
“And you think you and Dante aren’t already there? Why the hell do you think they came here in the first place? If you weren’t suspects, they wouldn’t have wanted to know where you were on Saturday night. The only difference is Dante has an alibi, and you don’t. So, now I gave you one.” I jerked my arm out of his tight grip, and if it was possible to shoot daggers through someone’s forehead with a single glare, I would have done it.
“What in God’s name is going on here?” My dad came storming toward us from the back, his face dark with disapproval. “You are making a goddamn scene in my restaurant.”
Antonio backed up. “Sorry, Dad. It was just a misunderstanding.”
