Page 4 of Daddies of the Underworld

I finished my work, changed out of my uniform in the room Rosa directed me to, then slipped out the side door onto a smaller terrace overlooking the dark sea below.

I sat on the edge of the ledge and tipped my head back, once again allowing myself to fall into the fantasy of a real life here.

“Can’t sleep either?”

I didn’t have to turn to know who stood behind me.

Luca settled onto the ledge beside me, close enough the warmth radiating off him warmed my arm but far enough away it didn’t feel like an invasion. He’d changed shirts and rolled the sleeves of this one up to his elbows. He looked younger in the moonlight.

“It’s strange being back here.” I sighed and kept talking. “I worked here two years ago, and it was so different back then. No security gates or men with earpieces. Just sunburned tourists and bad Wi-Fi.”

“And now?”

“Now I feel like I wandered onto a film set and no one has told me to leave.”

Luca laughed, the sound rich and easy. “None of us were supposed to be here, if you go back far enough. Matteo inherited his world. Dante was born into the kind of life that doesn’t let you leave.” He shrugged. “And me. I grew up in Naples. A place where kids like me never ended anywhere good. I learned to want things people thought were out of my reach, then I figured out how to take them.”

I noted the word choice without commenting. “That sounds lonely.”

“It was.” He glanced over, his expression going soft. “Still is, some nights.”

I didn’t have an answer for that, so I kept quiet.

For a while, we simply sat together, this powerful man with the world at his fingertips and a lowly woman who spent her life serving others.

We had nothing in common, yet I felt more comfortable with him than I had anyone else in years.

“What did you want? Before all this, when you were a kid in Naples dreaming about something better. Was this it? Parties with champagne?”

He tapped his heels against the smooth stone twice before answering. “I wanted a home. Someone who would be there in the morning, and the morning after that.” He kissed me before I had a chance to understand the look in his eyes.

And there was nothing careful about the way his lips slanted over mine or the way he cupped my jaw, tipping my head into a better position.

I thought about pulling back, but the assured way he kissed me had me leaning into him instead.

I’d never been kissed like this–like he had no doubt that I wanted his kiss and no intention of apologizing for not asking.

He tasted like champagne and something bitter, dark chocolate, maybe.

When he finally pulled back, his thumb brushed along my cheekbone, but the grin held firm. “Goodnight, Nina.” He stood, unhurried, and strolled toward the door. “Sleep well.”

Sleep? How in god’s name was I supposed to sleep after that kiss? I sat there long after he’d gone, my fingers pressed lightly to my lips and my heart dancing in my chest.

I finally stood and backtracked toward my room, replaying the kiss in my mind.

“De Santis is harmless compared to the other two.” The low, hissed voice came from behind a wooden door marked as a linen closet.

I stopped, not meaning to listen in but incapable of moving my feet. They were talking about Luca.

“Out of all of the Demons of the Underworld, he’s the one you actually want flirting with you.”

“Don’t let Moretti hear you talking like that. Or Romano. God help whatever ends up on the wrong side of either of them.”

My foot slipped across the polished floor, making a hissing sound.

Both women fell silent, and I hurried past the closed door with my head down, rounding the corner before they managed to open the door and peer out.

Demons of the Underworld. I’d heard that title before. What kind of man had I kissed?