Page 6 of Daddies of the Underworld

I spent my day running to and from the kitchen, carrying trays and occasionally helping the chefs finish off a dish. My feet ached. My back protested every time I bent down.

But the laughter in the kitchen, the smiles we shared with each other, made it all easier.

A shout at the end of the hall stopped me in my tracks. I swallowed hard and squeezed my eyes shut, offering a half-hearted prayer that the shouting was not coming from the room I was supposed to serve. I stepped forward, and the sign on the door came into view. Conference four. My room.

Damn it.

I hated shouting. Always had. But I had no choice. I gritted my teeth and walked through the door after a nod from the guard.

Chairs scraped as several men in the room stood to leave.

One slammed a fist onto the table and pointed at the man I’d seen last night, the one with silver in his hair.

The tattooed one stood behind him, and the instant the man pointed, he moved.

One second he was behind the chair, and the next he stared down at the man. I’d never seen anyone move that fast, or that gracefully.

The other man stood and spoke to the disgruntled one, his lips moving over a single sentence.

The man straightened, his face going pasty. He straightened his suit with a sneer and stalked from the room.

I realized I’d stopped moving and forced myself to carry the plate to the table, setting it down as quietly as I could in hopes of not being noticed.

“Ah, Nina.” Luca’s voice caressed the back of my neck, causing shivers and goosebumps.

I kept my head down and focused on moving each item from the tray to the table.

“Have you met my associates?” Luca stopped beside her, his powerful frame no match for the dark-haired man on the other side of the table. “Matteo Moretti and Dante Romano.” His elbow brushed mine. “Matteo is the frightening one. Dante is the one with tattoos.”

Honestly, they were both frightening. I nodded at each of them, my mouth too dry to talk.

Dante had a stillness about him that unnerved me.

I had no explanation for why, only that when he looked at me, my heart pounded and every instinct I’d honed through the years told me to run.

I picked up the tray and scrambled from the room, taking a deep breath when the wall broke Dante’s stare.

What the hell was that?

I raised trembling fingers to my head and pressed them into my eyes. Get it together, Nina.

The rest of the day was easier as the menu changed to heartier fare and the conferences stretched into the night.

Luca stepped out from a doorway, hands in his pockets, and cut off my path. “Walk with me.”

“I’m working.” I lifted the tray as evidence.

Grinning, Luca took it from me and set it aside. “Rosa gave the afternoon staff a forty-minute break.” He showed me his watch. “You have thirty-two minutes left. Walk with me.”

“I guess people do not tell you no very often, do they?”

“Almost never.” His smile never wavered, and he strolled down the hallway toward the low hillside without looking back.

I caught up in a few strides and fell in step beside him.

“I saw you watching Dante and Matteo this morning.”

I had no reason to deny it, but also, what was I supposed to say? “I watch everyone.”