by Ali Parker
"Wouldn't surprise me much." I picked up my walk to a jog as my thoughts moved back to high school when Erik and I were friends. He'd had a hard-ass life, and there was no out for him. No matter what he wanted to do for the rest of his days, he was stuck. Once a Bertinelli, always one. The mafia didn't play games, and his father, Lucian, didn't seem the kind of guy to give anyone a free pass in life.
Erik would forever be a hired hitman and the vilest of his kind.
"You still talk to him?" Mikey's voice softened as if he knew my thoughts.
"No. Not really. We've run into each other over the years, but not in the last five or so." I shrugged. "Race you to the house."
"Fuck you. You know that I can't-"
I didn't hear the rest of his whining. I pumped my arms and legs instead, making it to the front of the apartment and pausing to catch my breath. The world seemed brighter with adrenaline pumping through me.
Maybe I should ask Jenna out. Maybe Mikey's right. A movie wouldn't kill anyone unless Ashley caught us out together. That could be dangerous. But like everything, she was manageable.
"Why do you do that?" Mikey jogged toward me, stopping beside me and pressing his hands to his knees as he gulped at the air.
"What? Run? It's good for the heart. Gets your blood pumping! Helps with erections and shit." I gripped the back of my head and glanced up at the sky.
"Fuck you too."
"Not my type, fruit fly." I glanced over at him and winked. My phone rang and I pulled it from my pocket, checking to see who it was before answering it. "Ashley. What's up, girl?"
Mikey rolled his eyes and half-limped past me.
"Everything is set up for Friday. I'm ready for this to be over. You're still free, right?"
It took me a minute to realize what she was talking about. The hit.
"Yeah, of course, I'm free. How are we doing this?"
"We'll talk about it in person. I'll see you soon." She hung up, leaving me standing there with the phone still pressed to my ear like an idiot. She did that shit for a power trip. Seemed like fucking her violently wasn't helping with her alpha attitude much. I'd have to break her in another way if she didn't step off my dick soon.
"What's up? I hate that look." Mikey held the door to the main hallway open for me.
"What look?" I walked in and glanced back at him, narrowing my eyes and growling low in my throat.
"Oh, sure, just scare the little guy. I see how it is. I have your back for twenty-six years and this is how you repay me."
I flipped him off and jogged up the stairs. "I repay you by letting you hang out with me. It's a benefit most people don't get."
"How does hanging out with you benefit me?"
I snorted and opened the door to the apartment. "How does it not help you?"
"Whatever, man. Where are you headed after this?"
"Coffee shop. I gotta see my girl."
"She working today?"
I loved that Mikey already knew who I was talking about and wasn't willing to front me anymore on Jenna actually being mine. We both knew it was just a matter of time.
Now it was time to let the pretty girl in on the secret.
She already belonged to me. Lucky little thing.
Chapter 6
Jenna
The sound of my pen tapping on the table in front of me was soothing, but only to me. Someone cleared their throat loudly to my left, and I glanced over and gave an apologetic look.
"Sorry." I sat back in my chair and let my eyes scan the expanse of the library, looking for Grace. She'd come over when I first got there, but with Nelly breathing down her throat, I wasn't sure I'd get the chance to see her again.
"Good thing you're here to study," I whispered to myself and leaned back over my physics book. It only took a few seconds of staring at the numbers and shapes for my mind to disappear to the place it always did... in a dark bedroom. With Nate.
For someone who'd never had great sex, I sure knew how to conjure it up in my mind in a split second. His strong hands greedily pulling at my hips, his soft lips racing across my skin, his huge, thick-
"Jenna. There he is."
I yelped as Grace's hot breath hit the back of my neck. "Dammit."
"Shhhh!" An older woman got up and gathered her things. "This is a library for Pete's sake."
"Sorry." I blushed and covered my face with my hands. "I hate you, by the way."
"No, you don't." Grace pulled out the chair beside me and sat down before picking up my physics book and pulling it up to hide behind. "He's here."
"I heard you the first time." I scanned the tables in front of me, looking for who he could possibly be.
"Oh my God. He's so damn hot." Grace closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "This book is too heavy to hold up."
I reached over and snatched it from her. "Why are you hiding, and who am I looking for?"
She tugged on the book, winning the battle and almost falling over backward out of her chair as I let the damn thing go.
"I don't know his name." She huffed and pulled the thick book down a little. "He's right over there. Dark blue t-shirt, gray beanie, five-o'clock shadow. He's so damn hot. I swear every time I see him, I feel like my heart is going to burst from my chest."
"Wait. You're in love with someone?" I continued to scan the room. "Why wasn't I informed of this?"
"Not in love. At least I don't think it's love. Feels like lust." She fanned herself until the book started to fall toward her face.
I reached out and grabbed it. "I don't see him."
"Stand up and look." She glanced down at her hands, far more nervous than I'd ever seen Grace before.
I stood and glanced around, my eyes landing on a face that was a little too familiar. A smile lifted my lips as I turned my attention back to my best friend.
"Please tell me you're not talking about Erik Bertinelli."
"Is that his name?" She fanned herself faster. "He makes every part of me ache."
"Too much information, though I know the feeling myself." I leaned forward, grateful that the handsome hitman had his face in a book. "What the fuck is he doing in here?"
"He's here all the time. He reads in a corner at the top of the stairs usually, but Nelly made him stay down here because he's got a reference book today." She turned and lifted up out of her seat a little. "I want him to take me to his apartment and make me forget my pathetic ass life. You think he would?"
"What? No." I sat back down.
"It's the dress, isn't it?" She glanced down at her pretty white and navy blue dress and shook her head. "I just love this style. I don't know why."
"No, it's not the dress. He's," I leaned close and pressed my face against her hair so I could whisper into her ear, "a hitman for the mafia. No one knows that, and you don't either. I don't want to see you in some dark alley with your throat cut."
"He is not." She jerked back, her eyes wide.
"I'm telling you that he is. My father is the DA of New York City, Grace. He's bad news." I glanced back over at him, taking in his profile and understanding completely why Grace would be head over heels for the man. He was beyond fine. "There were pictures of him all over my father's desk when I went for dinner on Monday night."
"Really?" Her voice lowered. "Can you get me one of them? I just want one."
"You don't need my help with that. Go get the latest paper. I'm sure he's in it. The Post is always running an ad on the Bertinellis. It's gotta be part of the scheme they have going."
"All right, look, I don't want to get wrapped up in anything deadly. I just want an afternoon of worshiping his body. You think I could get him to take me home and I live to tell about it?"
"It's sex." I glanced back toward her. "It's not worth that."
"It might be." She stood up and straightened her skirt. "I'm going to walk by. Tell me if he looks my way?"
"No way. Stay here." I reached out to grab her, but she'd already taken off in Erik's general direction. I stood as
she moved down the aisles toward him.
Sure enough, he glanced up and his eyes followed her as she moved toward the heart of the library. The smile on my face fell quickly as he turned and his sapphire eyes locked dead onto me.
Fuck. Did he know we were talking about him? Not possible. But he knew who I was... there was no way he wouldn't.
***
I hadn't been at the coffee shop for twenty minutes when Thomas, Grace's older brother, walked in. The smile on his freckled face was contagious. He was cute but far too much of a jock for my liking. Preppy was his middle name back in high school, and from the look of things, that hadn't changed much.
"Jenna Webb. My favorite barista." He smiled and stopped in front of the counter. "Don't you look beautiful today?"
"Just today?" I scrunched my eyebrows and gave him a pouty look. I shouldn't have egged him on. It was evil, but fun.
"Every day." He pressed his hands to the counter and leaned in a little. "Did Grace tell you that some of us are getting together this weekend at Kadia? Just an old reunion of sorts. Some of the guys are coming into town for a football game."
"She did." I wiped my hands on my apron and glanced over to see Nathaniel walk in the door. His leather jacket and black jeans made him look as dark and sexy as I had no doubt he was.
"So... that mean you're coming with us?"
"I'm not sure." I turned my attention back to Thomas, not wanting to be rude nor draw attention to my latest obsession.
Latest? It'd been a year. Something had to give soon.
"Well, it wouldn't be the same without you."
I smirked. "That so? When is the last time you and I hung out?"
"I honestly can't remember."
"It was spring break, my senior year."
"Four years ago? Shit. Time flies, right?"
"It sure does. I'll think about this weekend. You want a cup of coffee or did you just come by to bother me?" I smiled and Nate stepped up beside Thomas, his expression grim.
"Is he bothering you?" Nate's voice was ominous, the tone of it low and unbelievably sexy.
"What? No. Not at all." I tried to backtrack as Thomas turned to face the much bigger guy.
"And who the fuck are you if I was bothering her?" Thomas’ shoulders stiffened and he puffed out his chest.
"I'm the guy that would stop you dead in your tracks, mother fucker." Nate seemed quite comfortable in the middle of the confrontation.
I jogged around the corner and squeezed in between them, putting my back to Nate. I didn't know him well enough to know if he would back off thanks to me pleading with him, but I knew Thomas would.
"Hey." I put my hands on Thomas' chest and tapped until he glanced down at me. "Stop, okay? I'll be there this weekend, just get out of here and stop causing shit."
He glanced down at me and back up at Nate, his brown eyes filled with challenge. "Yeah. All right, but tell this asshole to back up. I don't like him on top of you."
"He will. Okay. Thanks for coming by." I slipped my arm into Thomas' and walked him to the door, giving him a quick hug before half-shoving him out. I turned back to Nate and gave him a stern look. "Really? What was that? You don't even know me."
"Do I have to know you to want to protect you?" He slipped his hands into the front of his jeans and gave me a smile that made me want to purr and rub against him.
"No, but jeez." I walked back around the counter and grabbed a cup. "Black coffee? No cream or sugar."
He tilted his head and watched me, not saying a word.
"Who was he?"
"Who? Thomas? He's my best friend's older brother."
"Old boyfriend?" He had no inflection to his voice at all. I couldn't tell if he was pissed or happy as a lark.
"Yes, but it was a long time ago." I crossed my arms over my chest as if to protect myself. What did Nate care who I dated? He was way the fuck out of my league.
"Hey, buddy!" A chunky guy with thick brown hair and a lopsided smile moved up beside Nate and patted him on the back. "You said we were meeting at your place, not the coffee shop."
"Hey, Mikey." Nate glanced down at the smaller man and back up to me. "I don't like it."
"And I'm not sure why you think I would care." I shook the cup back and forth slowly. "Coffee or not?"
"Yes. And whatever he's having." He moved down toward the pickup counter and Mikey moved up.
"I'll have a frozen chocolate coffee thing." His eyes moved from the board above my head down to my face. "I'm Mikey. Nice to meet you."
I extended my hand and shook his. "I'm Jenna."
"I'm aware." He chuckled and glanced down at Nate, who was wrapped up in a conversation with Cynthia. Surprise, surprise. "He needs to just get over himself and ask you out, but I'm not sure he's going to do it. You should do you both a favor and just ask him."
"What?" I snorted and shook my head. "No fucking way. I'm not that kind of girl."
"It's the twenty-first century. You guys would be great together." He glanced down toward Nate and visibly paled. "And that's my cue to shut the fuck up."
I turned my attention toward Nate as his eyes narrowed a little more. God, he was beautiful. Our eyes met, and I held his stare and pursed my lips tightly. I wasn't giving into whatever the fuck he was up to. Bringing in his friend to push me to ask him out?
No fucking way. He might turn me on in ways that would make a whore blush, but he wasn't the right guy for me.
Then who is?
Thomas? No way. Too pretty.
Erik? Hell no. Too damn deadly.
"Don't let him fool you, princess. I'm not the movie and popcorn kinda guy." Nate had moved back in front of me. The scent of his cologne wafted by my nose, driving lust deep inside my stomach. My nipples budded.
"And what kind of guy are you?"
"A dangerous one. Remember that." He turned and walked toward his regular table, sitting down and staring out the window like he always did.
His comment made me wanna whimper and crawl over the counter toward him. What the hell was wrong with me?
Bored. I was bored as fuck. I needed some action in my life before I made a real mistake. Going to Kadia with Thomas and Grace didn't seem like such a bad idea all of a sudden.
At least it was a start.
Chapter 7
Nate
Fuck.
I dropped down in my chair and glanced out toward the street. The sun sat perfectly in the sky, creating a slight glare on the windowpane, and allowing me to stare at Jenna without her knowing it.
Anger burned through me, which I quickly reassessed as possessiveness. Whoever the preppy cock that had the nerve to get in my damn face was, he'd better keep his pocket-protecting ass away from my woman.
"Hey. What the fuck about meeting me at your place?"
"Hey." I glanced over at Mikey and tried to force myself to chill the fuck out. "Sorry. I thought we said here."
I stole a peek at her and ignored the thick swelling of my dick in my jeans. She could glance my way and I'd be hard as a rock and ready to fuck for hours. Why though? She couldn't be nearly as innocent as I'd made her out to be in my head, and in all honesty, I didn't enjoy innocent. I wanted a woman who knew her way around the bed and was ballsy enough to demand what she needed from me.
Maybe it wasn't innocent or virginal that I wanted. Maybe it was just whole, unbroken, tight, relatively pure. Not half-shattered and loose as a vacuum hose, like Ash had become over the years.
"Earth to Nate." Mikey waved his hand in front of my face.
I reached out and grabbed it tightly. "Stop, dude. I'm in a mood. Seriously."
"No shit. What happened?" He jerked his hand from mine and rubbed it. "Why you gotta be violent? Damn. I didn't even do anything."
I glanced down at my coffee and forced myself to calm down. Nothing had happened and everyone was fine. Jenna didn't belong to me - yet. "Sorry. Some prick was in here hitting on her when I got here. It just got me riled up and shit."
&nb
sp; "It's the stuff with Ash, right? Tell me what the plan is. It'll make you feel better to get it off your chest. You can't carry all this stuff around by yourself, Nate. It's going to eat you alive."
I glanced up into the warm eyes of my best friend. He was likely the only person on the planet who would weep at my funeral. Ashley would have at one time, but me refusing her more than a friendship with a few benefits over the years had closed that door - hopefully. I needed it closed.
"I don't want you getting involved in this shit. It's my darkness to carry around. The less you know, the better." I turned as Jenna walked from around the counter and toward the back of the shop. Their storage closet was down by the bathrooms, and it was small, but it would work.
"I want to know. I'm here for you."
"Stop trying to tell me you're in love with me and just say it already." I winked at him and stood up.
"Where are you going?" He glanced up.
"To make one more mistake in my life." I walked toward the hallway, not sure of what the hell I was going to say to her. I'd just told her that I was dangerous and she needed to back the fuck up. I needed to be tested for a mental illness. I obviously had one.
The door to the storage closet was open, and Jenna was on her toes, reaching for something that she was never going to get.
"Need help?" I walked in as she yelped and spun around.
"From you, Johnny Danger? No. I've got it." She turned and lifted back up.
The thick curve of her ass in her jeans made my heart skip a beat. Wonder if she'd let me press my face against her soft flesh and spend time memorizing her smell.
"It's Nate, but I think you knew that." I moved toward her and pressed myself against her back as I lifted up and grabbed the box of coffee she seemed to be after. The softness of her ass pressed against my cock, and fuck if I didn't wanna thrust forward.
She stiffened and dropped down, only to turn around and give me an accusatory stare. "I could have gotten it."
