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“Yeah,” I nod. I wasn’t apologizing for that, but I also don’t want to open that can of worms again.
“Everything is fine,” she adds as she looks at me, telling me that she’s thinking of it too. “Now where are we headed?”
“Downtown. We need to negotiate some new transport contracts.”
“Sounds fun.” She smiles at me.
I have a feeling she would think anything sounds fun—she’s so excited to be starting work. I’ve chosen some of the more straightforward aspects of our business for our first week. I’m not sure Alejandro would appreciate me introducing his daughter to the darker side of what we do on her first day.
An hour later, we pull into the haulage yard and I kill the engine. I gave Lucia all of the information she needed to know about this contract on the drive here.
“How do you feel about handling the negotiations?” I ask as we climb out of my truck.
“Me? You think I’m ready?”
“Sure. And I’m right here if you need me.”
“Then yes,” She beams at me and I can’t help but smile back.
We walk into Mason Michaelson’s office. Three of his goons are in there with him but they sit around on sofas. There is no reason to think they’ll be needed today. Still, having these assholes around Lucia makes me twitchy. I see their gazes roam over her body and settle on her ass as she walks past. I glare at them and they avert their eyes.
“Jackson.” Mason stands when he sees me and holds out his hand.
“Mason.” I shake his hand and place my other on the small of Lucia’s back. “This is Lucia. She’ll be handling your contracts from now on.”
“Lucia.” Mason smiles and I watch for his reaction to her. If there is even a hint of disrespect or disdain for her then he will regret it, but he’s a professional businessman and he knows exactly who she is. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He offers us a seat and we take it. Then I watch with a mixture of awe and pride as Lucia hammers out a new contract with him. She certainly has her father’s negotiation skills and it makes me so fucking proud to see her in action.
Mason mops his brow when they finally settle on a price and I smile to myself knowing the usually cool and collected businessman is hot under the collar.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Mason,” she says as she stands.
“The pleasure was all mine, Lucia,” he replies with a smile. “I look forward to working with you in the future.”
Did he just fucking wink at her? No. I mean I was looking at her so I wasn’t giving him my full attention. Surely he didn’t, though? Not right in front of me.
She doesn’t give any indication of being uncomfortable so I give him the benefit of the doubt. I mean the guy is old enough to be her father and the irony of that is not lost on me.
We say our goodbyes to Mason and start to walk out of his office. One of his asshole goons is standing by the door. He must be new because I don’t recognize him and I never forget a face.
“Excuse us,” Lucia says politely as we approach and he doesn’t move. I resist the urge to move him out of the way myself, but this is her show today.
He steps out of the way, looking her up and down as he does. “I hope we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of you around here.” He licks his lips. If that wasn’t bad enough he reaches out and brushes his fingertips through a strand of her hair.
I am just about to rip his arm out of its socket when she acts first. Grabbing him by his balls, she squeezes so hard that he squeals like a piglet. “You ever touch me again and I will roast these on a skewer and feed them to you after. Understand?” she hisses.
He nods his understanding as his face turns purple.
“Good.” She smiles at him before she releases his nuts and I laugh as the two of us walk out of the door. As soon as we’re outside, she sucks in a deep breath and reaches out for me, grabbing my forearm and squeezing.
“Are you okay?” I frown at her as she gasps for air.
She shakes her head. I put an arm around her waist and walk her to the truck. I want to help her but I don’t want any of Mason’s assholes to see her having some kind of panic attack. She just put on an epic show of power in there and I would hate for them to see her vulnerable.
“I’m going to get us in the truck and out of here. Okay? Just keep breathing, Angel.”
She nods as she walks with me, clinging onto my arm. As soon as I get her into the truck, I climb in after her and get us out of there. When we’re a few hundred yards down the road I pull over. Her breathing is less labored now and I feel relief wash over me.
