Page 17 of Daddies of the Underworld

“No kidding.” He almost smiled at that, and I set my fork down. “My parents died when I was seventeen. Car accident. My brother, Marco, was fifteen.” Saying his name pulled the usual thread of love tangled with worry.

They were so intertwined I had no chance of separating them. “He turned angry. I worked.” My fingers tightened into a fist around the napkin I held in my lap.

The candlelight made everything too warm, too intimate. I wanted to make a joke. Instead, I asked, “What about you?”

He leaned back slowly, his palms resting casually on the edge of the table. “My father died when I was twenty-seven. By then, I had been prepared for leadership. I inherited men who expected certain things. Enemies who expect weakness. Allies who expected me to fulfil promises I could not afford to break.”

Sounded a bit like another kind of prison.

“You said last night that you didn’t know how long the investigation would take.” I traced the rim of my glass with one finger. “That seemed to bother you.”

“It did.” He nodded. “People depend on me to know things.”

A breeze stirred the candles, causing the flames to flicker.

Matteo’s head tipped a tiny bit to one side, and he studied me with a calculating look. Whatever he thought about saying, he needed something from me first. I met and held his gaze, doing my best to breathe normally.

“I have done things you would hate. I will do more of them before this summit is over. I will not lie to you about what I am, but I will never make you pay for the ugliness of my world.”

I wanted to believe him. That was the most dangerous part that existed between us. “What do you want from me?” My voice didn’t even sound like mine.

Matteo didn’t move. “The truth.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Yes, you do.” He moved so fast I barely had time to gasp before his lips claimed mine.

His kiss was nothing like Luca, or Dante. Matteo claimed, his lips searing and his control slipping just a bit when he cupped the back of my head, angling me just so as he deepened the kiss.

My body burst into flames of desire at his touch.

What was wrong with me? Why did this keep happening?

He ended the kiss but didn’t let me go. “That is truth, Nina.”

“If you want truth, then you need to know that I’ve kissed Luca. And Dante.” I licked my lower lip, tasting him on my skin. God help me, I wanted them. All three. “I need to go.” I absolutely could not think straight with Matteo staring at me with desire in his eyes. I couldn’t let my libido overtake my common sense.

He took a step back and held out his arm. “I’ll walk you back.”

“That’s not necessary.” I almost stumbled trying to stand up. One kiss from him and my knees turned as weak as wet noodles.

“What is necessary is irrelevant. What I want is integral.” His smile was devilish. “Do not worry. I won’t even walk into your room. I simply wish to enjoy your company a bit longer.”

How could I say no to that?

He walked me back as promised, kissed my hand at the door, and said goodnight as I closed the door in his face.

What the hell was I getting myself into?

6

LUCA

Matteo returned from dinner alone. That should not have made me as happy as it did.

I was not a boy peering through curtains to see whether another man had been given a sweet while I stood empty-handed in the dark.

So why, when I had found a perfect spot to view Matteo and Nina’s dinner, did I sit my ass down and watch the whole thing play out?