Filthy: A Mafia Romance

I rolled my eyes. “Of course not. Ethan’s an ass. He’ll always be an ass. But he’s also a fair man. And he sees us as partners. That’s more than any man has seen me as before. I know he’s not perfect, but he’s not the devil either.”

She raised an eyebrow at me, suggesting she disagreed with that last part, but she didn’t say anything about it. “What about Cody? Are you seriously going to expose him to this kind of life?”

A frown tugged at the corners of my mouth because Jessie had finally hit the nail on the head. Whether I wanted to take a walk on the wild side or not, did I really have any right to drag my son into that? And yet…“I’m not going to.”

Jessie’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “You’re not? So you’re going to end it with Ethan?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m not. But I’m going to set up some ground rules, the first and most important one being that Cody never knows. Not now, not twenty years from now.”

“You really think you can keep him out of this when you’re eyeball deep?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe. I don’t know. But I know being a good girl hasn’t done shit for me. It’s gotten me in trouble and left me struggling to pay the bills. This gives me a chance to really do something with my life and I’ve got to take it.”

Jessie still didn’t look happy, but I could tell that I’d worn her down some. She glanced towards the doorway that led to the living room. She pursed her lips together for a moment, then let out a sigh. “Is there anything I can say that will make you come to your senses?”

I smiled a little, then shook my head. “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

“Fine. But for the record, I don’t like it and he’s a creep.”

“But you’ll support me?”

“I guess. I won’t bitch about it anyway.” She paused, then gave me a half smile. “Well, not too much.”

I laughed, then went to her. I gave her a hug and after a moment, she returned it. “You’re a good friend.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

Finished with our conversation, we headed out of the hall and into the living room. Jessie gave Ethan—who was now shirtless, but otherwise in the exact position I’d left him in—a frosty glare. “I don’t like you.”

He smiled amiably. “Feeling’s mutual.”

She cursed quiet enough that I barely caught it. “Bastard.” To Ethan, she said, “Just treat her right. She deserves better than the likes of you.”

“I’ll do more for her than any other man ever will.”

Jessie rolled her eyes, not as confident in his words as he was, then turned to me. “I’m going to go and—shit, the teddy.” She winced and headed back into the hall, presumably to Cody’s room to grab the stuffed bear.

I looked towards Ethan, my gaze moving on its own down his muscled torso. He really was built like a god and I appreciated that now more than ever. I swallowed thickly and when my eyes met his again, he was watching me, grinning wickedly.

“Like what you see?” he teased.

I folded my arms across my chest, reminded that I wasn’t wearing a bra. “Maybe.”

“Good. Because I definitely do. Though I think you’re a little overdressed.”

“Oh? Should I take something off?”

He lifted a shoulder like it wasn’t important to him, but I saw his eyes darken with desire. “I took my shirt off. Fair is fair.”

I laughed at him. “I think it’s a little different for you to take your shirt off than it is for me to take mine off.”

“Not based on the way you were just devouring me with your eyes,” he pointed out.

I flushed and couldn’t help but grin a little in embarrassment. He was sexy and I had been ogling him. “So you’re saying I should let you devour me with your eyes?”

“Yes,” he said in a low, husky voice.

My eyes darted down again and this time didn’t stay on his chest. They trailed over his abs to his crotch which was straining against the zipper of his jeans. “Maybe we’re both a little overdressed.”

Instantly, his hand moved to his jeans and he undid the button. He was pulling down the zipper when Jessie came back. “Oh, god, please. I already saw way too much of you guys earlier. You’ve got great tits, Diana, but I really didn’t need to see them.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled in embarrassment, but Ethan just laughed.

“You say that, but maybe you’re just trying to hide the fact that you were turned on.” He winked at me. “Maybe you really want to stay and watch.”

Jessie’s eyes got huge like teacup saucers and she abruptly jerked away from Ethan to look at me. I resisted the urge to grin at her discomfort and tried to ignore that a part of me was turned on by Ethan’s suggestion. It wasn’t like Louis watching, however, and I wasn’t ready to jeopardize things between us any more than I already had tonight.