“I’ll give you two weeks to figure out a way to hurt the Lionettis with that dossier,” Evgeni continued. “I want a real plan from you, not some bullshit. I want to hit them and hit them as hard as we can, do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “I’ll make it happen.”
“And this girl better not cost me.” He shook his head. “Now get the fuck out of here before you ruin my breakfast completely.”
I stepped away from the table. Cara stood, looked like she wanted to say something, but turned away. I grabbed her hand and tugged her along, and German came up behind us.
We were lucky to walk out of that deli alive.
“I’ve never seen the Pakhan give in like that before,” German commented as we got into the car.
“Yeah, well, he’s not a stupid man.” I stared straight ahead as I drove back to the house.
Cara said nothing. What could she say? Thanks for saving my life? She didn’t ask me to do this for her, and she didn’t owe me a goddamn thing.
But as we walked toward my place, and German stalked off to tell the other guys what had happened, she grabbed my wrist before we went inside.
“You didn’t have to do that.” She looked at me with those big, gorgeous eyes.
“I know I didn’t, but I wanted to.”
“I’m not going to—” She stopped and took a breath. “You don’t own me now, Luke. I’m not going to just do whatever you want.”
I let out a sharp laugh then grabbed her and pulled her against me. She let out a surprised yelp as I held her hips hard and moved down to whisper into her ear.
“I don’t need you to give me a goddamn thing. When you’re good and ready, you’ll come to me. You know what I want.”
“What do you want?” she asked, sounding almost desperate. “Seriously, Luke. What do you want?”
“I want you.” I pulled back then kissed her.
She seemed too surprised to kiss me back at first until I bit her lower lip—then she pressed herself tighter against my body and melted against me. It was heaven, like electric sparks ran between our lips in zinging arcs. She tasted like candy canes and mint chocolate chip, and I wanted to strip her down then and there, to take her on the stoop, to make her taste me, to make her moan and come, her back arching, her body sweating, but I slowly broke away, barely controlling myself.
She blinked up at me and stepped back. “We shouldn’t do that.”
“Give me a reason why not.”
She threw her hands up. “Because this whole thing’s fucked up. You do realize that, right?”
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”
She shook her head and turned away, walking up to the house. “I just need to think, okay?”
I watched her disappear inside before following.
If she needed to think, she could think, but I knew what I wanted already. Her lips were only a temptation, and her body was the main course. I had to strip her down and take her, and if it didn’t happen now, then it would happen soon enough.
10
Cara
I couldn’t sleep that night. I stared at the ceiling thinking about everything Luke was going through to keep me safe and I kept seeing the way Evgeni looked at me like I was some kind of trash that was only getting in the way. It was cold and terrifying, and I couldn’t imagine that man caring about anything but himself, let alone an entire family of soldiers.
Luke couldn’t see it. Maybe he was in too deep to realize that his Pakhan didn’t give a damn about him and only cared about his own success. I wished I could make him see the monster that lurked beneath that man’s surface, but I knew it would come off petty and stupid.
I tossed and turned for a couple hours before getting up out of bed. I walked softly out into the hallway then down into the living room. The house was dead silent, all the lights turned off, and I stood in front of the refrigerator staring inside for way too long before I took out a beer, cracked it open, and drank it half down before I walked back out to the front door.
The locks opened easily, and I sat outside on the front stoop, beer held loosely in my hands. The street was silent and the street lamps shone a weak yellow across the dead parked cars. A biker sped past with red lights blinking, and I leaned back against the cold stone and stared up at the blank, dark sky.
For the first time since this all started, I felt alone. Maybe it was because my dad was dead and now I truly had nobody else in the world, or maybe it was the way Evgeni was willing to throw me away for not being useful enough. Either way, the only man that halfway gave a damn about me was inside this house, and he couldn’t quite see the danger from his own people, and I knew I’d never convince him.