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His eyes darkened, swirling with something I couldn’t quite place. Secrets. That was what it was. He was holding on to secrets.
“No.” His voice was deeper now. “I may as well be though.” He said it so low I almost didn’t hear him. But I did. His words floated to my ears whether he meant them to or not.
“Right,” I whispered. I was caught in a bubble with this man, one that I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t even know his name, yet I found myself utterly captivated by him. “So erm…you go here?”
His head snapped back, his stare meeting mine once again. “What?”
I bit down on my bottom lip. “I asked if you went here?”
“Me?” He pointed one of his long tan fingers at his chest. “Hell no.” He chuckled, probably trying to sound easy, but I saw through it. He was covering up whatever he was really feeling.
I wanted to know what it was. What was he trying to put a front up about? What was he trying to hide? I was a master at putting on my mask, but it seemed like so was he.
“Oh.” I stood taller, trying not to focus on the fact that I was in a threadbare pair of jeans and an oversized T-shirt. “So you’re here because…” His nostrils flared at my question, his lips down-turning into a straight line. I’d gone too far with the questions, and now the goose bumps on my skin were there for a different reason. “Sorry.” I shook my head and pulled my bag higher on my shoulder. “I tend to ask too many questions.”
“Yeah, you do,” he whipped back. I swallowed, widening my eyes at him. What was I doing? What was I thinking? “Whoa.” He chuckled again, this time sounding totally different. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He stepped forward, leaving just inches between us. “I was joking, Luna.”
The way he said my name felt like sunshine warming my skin on a hot day. He was so close I could feel the heat from his body.
I wanted to get closer. I wanted his hands on my arms again. I wanted to feel what I did when he’d first touched me: like nothing else mattered. Because right now all I could think about was everything happening in my life. But for those few seconds when his fingers were wrapped around my arms, my brain was blissfully empty. And I needed more of that.
“I…” My chest heaved on a breath and his gaze dipped down at the movement. “I erm…” I’d lost my words. I didn’t know what to say, what to do, how to act.
“Why are you here, Luna?” he whispered, his deep baritone nearly causing me to moan.
“I go here,” I answered, keeping my voice low.
“No.” He glanced at my lips and tracked his tongue over his own in response. “What are you doing here? In this town?”
“I…I don’t know what you mean.” His eyes flashed again and I frowned. “I moved for college.”
“With your parents?”
I blinked rapidly, the spell broken, and stepped back. I hadn’t told him I’d moved here with my parents. All I’d said was that I’d moved here. “I erm…better head to class.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder. I had no intention of going there, but I had to get away from him. I was flung in every direction with my emotions, not one of them sticking for long. “I’ll…see you around?”
“Maybe.” He winked and I swore I felt it all the way between my legs. Fuck. “Name’s Mateo, by the way.” He smirked, knowing exactly what he was doing, and I thought I liked that even more than the wink. He was confident, the opposite to me. Opposites attracted though, right?
I took several steps back, but he didn’t make a single movement. His feet were planted firmly to the ground as he watched me with hawklike eyes.
“Mateo,” I whispered, loving the way his name sounded coming out of my mouth. I was crushing on him—hard. “See you around, Mateo.” I stared at him for a final few seconds, committing him to my memory, then spun around, walking away from him and feeling the burn of his eyes on my back.
Maybe moving here wasn’t a bad idea after all.
* * *
MATEO
Lorenzo leaned back in his chair at the head of the table, his gaze not focusing on a single person in the room. “The security system is fully updated.” He held a tumbler of whiskey in his hand and swirled it in the crystal glass. “Things are gonna be different from now on.” He stared at each of us in turn. “I’m re-evaluating every person in the…” He pau
sed, trying to find the right word. “Business.”
He left that hanging in the air as we all stayed silent. When Lorenzo took over after his father’s death, he’d made changes, but it was nothing compared to what he was doing now. He was clearing house, getting rid of the dead weight, and creating his own legacy. It was a new era, one that we were all on board with.
Christian—Lorenzo’s best friend and current underboss—stepped forward. “What do you mean you’re re-evaluating?” He ran his hand through his short black hair, his usual stern face in place. I’d worked with Christian for eight years, but I still had trouble reading what he was thinking. It was a good thing as long as you weren’t on his bad side.
Lorenzo leaned forward, dropping his glass on the wooden table with a clink. “I mean…” He narrowed his eyes at Christian. “I’m looking at every member and deciding what their place will be here.” He tilted his head at him, and it was obvious this wasn’t something that they’d discussed. This was clearly the first time Christian had heard any of this. “You’ve been my best friend since before I can remember, Christian,” he ground out. “But don’t question the way I run things.”
Christian took a step back, silently submitting to the boss. “I wasn’t.”
