hat it would make a wonderful soccer ball. We even had a net and everything.
At first, I’d thought the red stain on the fly of his jeans was lipstick. My body had filled with the fire of rage and indignation, given that he locked me away, claimed to own me, touched me, and then went out and got his rocks off with another woman when he couldn’t slap his meatballs against my ass earlier that morning. Then I’d gotten even more pissed off when I realized it pissed me off, and that I was jealous. I shouldn’t care if he got his rocks off elsewhere, since I had zero intention of riding his monster dick.
When I realized it might be blood, that pissed off had melted into full-blown fury. He’d touched my daughter. Let her hug him when he had blood on his hands.
Pants.
It didn’t matter.
I didn’t know if I’d rather it was blood or lipstick and that bothered me. I should have wanted it to be lipstick, because that meant he hadn’t been out murdering people or doing whatever the hell it was Ryker did for the Bellandis.
He stepped outside, going to the grill where he had a piece of salmon cooking for me, kindly separated from the cheeseburgers he’d grilled for him and the kids. They desperately wanted them, even though Ines had never even had a cheeseburger.
Ines pointed at the cheeseburgers on the tray when he came inside, “Meat?”
“Yeah, baby girl. Cheeseburgers are meat,” Ryker answered when I stood off to the side, chopping vegetables for a salad to go with them.
“So you aren’t a Pescatarian like mom then?” Axel asked, stirring macaroni with dressing.
“Hell no. Do I look like a Pescatarian? I eat meat. Next you’ll tell me your Mom thinks rock music is just noise.”
He faked an exaggerated, wounded expression as he held his hand to his chest and put buns on the table. I hated to admit it, but my salmon looked perfect with a teriyaki glaze that made my mouth water.
Somehow, I doubted he’d coincidentally made one of my favorites.
How the man knew so much about us was beyond me, but he knew I loved rock music judging by his arrogant smirk when he met my eyes.
I did not believe in violence.
“That’s Mommy’s favorite!” Axel said helpfully as he sat down at the table and grabbed a bun to squirt ketchup on.
“Well, at least she has good taste in one thing,” Ryker returned, ignoring the glare I settled on him. It was like he was immune to the very glare that had often sent Chad retreating from the room.
He used the spatula to place my salmon on my plate next to his, pulling out my chair like he was a gentleman and not a brute who’d come home with a questionable red stain on his dick.
Super classy.
Blood or lipstick, there was nothing gentlemanly about that.
“Tell me if it’s good, Tesoro. I’ve never made salmon before,” he said, patting my seat for me to drop into. I did as expected, perching my ass on the very edge of the chair as I considered the conspicuous lack of knives on the table. It was like he knew his days were numbered.
“I need a knife to cut Ines cheeseburger into bites,” I said through clenched teeth. He raised his eyebrows at me, handing Ines her own cheeseburger that she promptly picked up like her brother and devoured.
“You were saying?” Ryker said, making me turn back to him at the amused sound in his voice.
“Hm. I always thought meat was more satisfying when it was chopped to bits.” Where I might have expected him to squirm, like most men did when faced with the even casual prospect of meatball mutilation, he just grinned at me in that dark way of his.
Like my threats were adorable.
There was something wrong with the man.
He settled in to talk to my kids about their day, talking about all the things they’d done with Dante and asking if they would like a playdate with his kids.
It was just what I needed, to meet another mob wife.
The way he stared at me told me he knew that as soon as the kids were in bed, all bets would be off. It was just a shame that his eyes seemed to light in excitement, like the coming confrontation would be entertaining.
Heaven help me.