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“You love it when I give you a little bit of trouble, babe,” Gino said as if reading his mind.
“You’re right, I do,” Bruno agreed. “I also love you, Gino, so I’ll take the trouble you give me any day, as long as you stick around and put up with me.”
“You’re never getting rid of me, Bruno,” Gino breathed. He pulled him in for a kiss and Bruno felt all the day’s tension release from his body. Being with Gino was the one thing in his life that he had learned that he could count on being real. All the other stuff—work, dealing with the other syndicate families in learning how to get along, all of it didn’t matter unless Gino was by his side. And now, they were going to be a family. Bruno felt as though he was the luckiest man on the planet and maybe he was. He had looked for so long for his perfect match, and he had found it in Gino. His search was over and now, he was finally going to sit back and enjoy his peacefully quiet life—at least until their daughter was born. Then, he’d learn to embrace the havoc that having a newborn brings, and he wouldn’t change one damn thing about his new life.
The End
I hope you enjoyed Bruno and Gino’s story. Now, take a look at the story that began K.L. Ramsey’s Deadly Sins Syndicate! Pride is available now!
Damion
Damion Pride wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to fit his next two appointments in as scheduled, but he had no choice. His very bossy business partner, Finnegan Envy, was riding his ass and giving him more shit than he wanted to deal with. His friend usually knew where and when to draw the line but lately, he was a pushy bastard who didn’t know when to quit.
They knew that starting their own business right out of college could turn into a shit storm, but if he knew that it was going to be this much work, he would have taken his Uncle Rock up on his offer to join his syndicate. Rock Greed was his mother’s brother, and when he made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, Damion foolishly declined. He knew that branching out and starting his own venture was going to take work, but this was above and beyond what he expected. If it wasn’t for Finn, Damion would have quit a long time ago—well, Finn and the money that they were pulling in. For two kids who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, they were doing all right for themselves.
Damion’s father worked for his Uncle Rock his whole life. He did the dirty grunt work that no one else wanted to do. If Rock had something messy to do and he didn’t want to get his hands dirty, he sent in Dominick Pride. His uncle used to say, “Get Dom—he’ll clean up just about anything for me.” Rock was right, his father would have bent over backward if it meant he could prove his loyalty to his brother-in-law and make a name for himself in the syndicate, but that was easier said than done. The Deadly Sins Syndicate wasn’t an organization where one could just climb their way to the top. No, they had to be born into the syndicate, and having the last name, Pride wasn’t enough to ensure one’s place.
If Damion would have gone to work for his uncle, he would have ended up just like his old man—a grunt, doing the dirty work that no one else wanted to do. He was better than that, whether Rock accepted that fact or not, he didn’t give a fuck. Damion was determined to make something of himself and prove to the rest of the syndicate that he was worthy of the Pride name. He’d live up to his last name and prove them all wrong, especially his Uncle Rock.
“You’re coming in awfully late this morning. You have a rough night, man?” Finn asked. His best friend looked him over and Damion laughed. Finn was checking to see if he was hungover. There was no possibility of that since the last time Damion had gone out and had any fun was almost a month ago. Their latest project was huge for them and fucking it up by going out and partying wasn’t a luxury that either of them could afford.
“I know you’re trying to tell if I’m hungover, Finn,” he assessed.
“Well, are you?” his friend asked.
Damion barked out his laugh, “God, I wish,” he said. “I could use a night out and a good bottle of vodka. I was up half the night working on the acquisition. This is going to be huge for us and I’d never blow it. I can drink and blow off steam once this project is over.”
“You don’t have to remind me how important this project is, man. It’s our one chance at building something legit with this company,” Finn reminded. They had started out trying to follow in the syndicate’s footsteps but those proved to be big shoes to fill. Instead, Finn wanted to take their company in a new direction. He wanted to do business the old-fashioned way—on the up and up. They specialized in lending people money, much like his uncle Rock did, but they didn’t go around breaking guys’ kneecaps if they didn’t pay up on time. They weren’t loan sharks and that seemed to work for them. They had people tracking them down, begging to do business with them, even with their steep interest fees and shorter-than-normal payback terms. Not everyone could walk into a bank and get a loan and that was where their company came into play. They lent money to people who needed it—people who wanted to make something with their lives, just like he and Finn had. It felt good to be helping people and now, if this merger went through, they were going to be doing it on a much larger scale, helping corporations make a fresh start.
“Your two o’clock meeting is waiting for you in the boardroom,” Finn said. “And she’s a looker, too.”
“She?” Damion asked. “My meeting is with a Mr. Nixon Ryker.”
“Well, Ms. Nixon Ryker is waiting for you in the conference room and as I said, she’s hot,” Finn teased. His best friend was constantly trying to fix him up with various women. Damion was sure that his need to do so stemmed from not having a love life of his own, but things were a little more complicated for Finn. He was bisexual and finding one “right” person was hard enough, but Damion had a feeling that Finn was looking for two. Finn liked to get mixed up in relationships with couples looking for a third. Damion knew his friend was taking the coward’s way out, not getting emotionally involved in a relationship. The couples usually just wanted to play and explore, and that seemed to be fine with his friend. But Damion was looking for something more. He wanted a woman to share his life with, but most couldn’t look past his mafia family’s last name and their involvement with the syndicate that controlled most of the city of New York.
“Lucky me,” Damion grumbled, as if spending the better part of an afternoon with a sexy woman, locked away in a boardroom, was a problem for him.
“Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll pop in,” Finn offered his smirk firmly in place.
“I think I can handle Ms. Ryker,” Damion defended.
“Suit yourself,” Finn said. He walked back into his office and shut the door.
Damion took a deep breath and let it back out. “Well, here goes nothing,” he said. He pulled the door open to the conference room and stepped in, finding a striking blond sitting at the far corner, at the table that took up most of the space in the boardroom.
“Ms. Ryker?” he asked, already knowing who she was. Finn was right—she was hot. Hell, she was his walking wet dream.
“Yes,” she said, standing and crossing the room. She held out her hand to him and he took it into his own. “But please call me Nix.”
“Ah—” he breathed. “Short for Nixon?” he asked.
“Yes, my father was heavily involved in politics and well, he had a wicked sense of humor. Everyone thinks I’m a man when they just see my name and well, in this business, that works for me. Gets me in the door, at least.” He smiled but didn’t give away that he had believed her to be a man up until about four minutes ago. Looking at her now, he’d feel like a fool for believing that.
He realized that he was still holding her hand in his own and released it. “Please call me Damion. How about we have a seat and get down to business?” Damion asked.
“Sure,” she agreed. He pulled out her chair for her and she took her seat. He rounded the table and sat on the opposite side of her, putting some much-needed space between the two of them.
“What can I do for you, Ms. Ry—” She held up her hand, effectively stopping him mid-sentence.
