Page 177 of Always: A Legacy Novel

“In a second. So, she’s from a crime family, they eloped, and then took off?”

Catherine shrugged. “Yep.”

“That’s why it’s bad,” he told her, “and you think she’s Irish?”

“Yep, definitely is.”

Cross whistled low, and then his hands were back up under her skirt again as he tipped the chair onto two legs once more. “Michel’s got some fucking stones on him, I guess.”

Catherine grinned, sighing as his fingers skimmed under her panties, his thumb circling her clit while his others teased at her entrance. Slow and steady, sure and knowing. “Is it really that bad?”

“Yeah, it’s not great, Catty. You don’t marry a girl from another family without permission, which is probably why they took off back here. Michel’s got protection here, and nobody’s dumb enough to march onto Marcello territory and start making demands. That’s how people die.”

“Okay, let’s just move on from people dying while your hands are between my thighs.”

“You’re no fun.”

“Or maybe your type of fun is just wrong.”

Cross shook his head. “Never. My kind of fun is what gets you off, babe.”

He was right.

She kind of loved him for it.

Cross’s thumb circled harder and faster on her clit. His fingers slid in and curled roughly in just the right spot, and Catherine caught his sinful gaze with her own. His tongue peeked out to tease her as he winked, and … fuck.

“Quiet,” he murmured, “or my ass is out of this place, along with yours.”

Catherine buried her face in her hands to keep quiet as she shook her way through an orgasm that was pure, blissful torture.

“I hate you,” she mumbled.

Lies.

“You love me,” he challenged.

Truth.

She flicked her hair back over her shoulder, and batted his hands out from under her skirt. Cross laughed, reaching up to sweep his thumb over her bottom lip and let her have a taste of what he’d just been touching.

Tart.

Hot.

Sweet.

“I don’t think my brother is the bad one at all,” Catherine said.

“Oh?”

“But we definitely are.”

Cross let the chair fall to the floor and made her stand up with him. “We definitely are. Get out there and dance for me, before Andino gets here and I have to disappear for a while.”

Catherine sulked. “You could stay, you know. Out of sight, and don’t get involved when I’m dealing. That’s all.”

“Catty, I wanna kill every guy that fucking smiles at you, so I don’t think you understand how hard it is to watch you work. It’s rough; everyone is lucky I don’t burn the goddamn building down. I will be back, and then we will head to my place, okay?”