Vengeance Aside (Wanted Men 0.5)(22)

He gave her left thigh a pinch. Punishment for the disrespectful gesture? “When I said ‘our,’ I meant my family.”

She pushed his hand away and rubbed the hurt. He moved hers aside and did it for her. “Samuel and Farah live here?”

“Yes.”

Allies.

“It is quieter than usual because many of our men are at the hospital watching over my father.”

His demeanor changed when he said that, but he distracted her from it when he bent and rubbed his closed lips across the top of her knee. “Why?” she asked breathlessly. “Is he sick?” I know I am.

A dark fury edged with concern changed his eyes to a stormy gray. “He was shot in the head last night.”

All thoughts of his wet tongue burrowing deep inside her flew out of her head as her hands tented over her mouth. “Oh my God.” That must have been why Samuel had seemed off tonight. And why Farah had looked as if she’d been crying. Because she had been. The elder Zavrazin had been…shot in the head.

“Those responsible for the attack are hopefully being named at the meeting I’m missing,” Lukas added.

Dale dropped her hands and leaned into him, her eyes glancing off the gun he was still wearing. “The meeting I’m making you miss? Go back! Why are you here with me when you could be there…” she waved a hand around, careful not to let her fingers make the shape of a gun, “doing whatever it is you people do?”

Then she could go home. To her father’s house. To sleep on the sofa for a couple of hours before she got up to go apartment hunting with no extra money because she’d missed her shift tonight.

“Everyone seems to think getting to know you is more important than listening to something my brother can reiterate when he gets home.” He brushed the backs of his knuckles down the front of her stomach. “I didn’t at first, but now I find myself in agreement.”

That affected her to the point where she couldn’t speak for a second. When she did, she didn’t even address what had just gotten past her defenses and so touched her…

And now that she thought about it, where were her defenses? She was picking up vibes from this man like nothing she’d ever felt. Yet she wasn’t panicking and struggling to deflect. She was uncomfortable, sure, but…this was strange.

“Will your father recover?”

It was at that moment, after what she’d asked as a natural follow-up question, that everything changed. Gone went the arrogant, untouchable gangster, and left in his place was a worried man terrified of losing a father he obviously adored.

“His surgeon says he will make a full recovery, but it’s hard to believe when the incident is still so fresh in my mind. Samuel and I were there. We saw it happen.” His face screwed up. “Holding him in our arms…seeing the damage done by the bullet…I…I don’t know. Yuri says it wasn’t as bad as other head injuries he’s seen, but, to me, it looked like the worst there ever was.”

Before she knew what she was doing, Dale slid forward and wrapped him in her arms. Her legs she sent around so she could hook her toes together behind his thighs. She gave him a full body hug and kissed the top of his dark head as she held him to her breast. His warmth seeped into her, making her applaud her instincts.

“I’m so sorry, Lukas,” she breathed on a whisper as tears burned behind her lids. “I’m so, so sorry. I can feel how much you love him. It…hurts.” God, it hurt. She didn’t want to share this with him, but, more than that, she didn’t want to leave him alone in it. She kissed his soft hair again and rubbed her cheek on it. “A counselor once told me, if you don’t deny them, traumatic memories start to fade within days.” She couldn’t say if it was true or not because she never allowed her memories out of the vault to find out.

Her breath caught when his hands cupped her ass and pulled her in tighter. The kiss he delivered was soft and gentle, and it landed in the indent at the base of her throat. “Then you will remember the very moment that glass impaled Nero’s brain. Because I want you to get over it so we can move on from here.”

And wasn’t that just like a man? To ruin a special moment by opening his big, beautiful, murdery mouth.





SEVEN


Lukas was disappointed, but not the least bit surprised when Dale withdrew her affectionate brand of comfort by pulling away and moving to the middle of his bed again. He’d expected it but had been honest with her anyway.

The connection he felt developing between them had allowed for it. The connection he needed to develop faster, he thought as he remembered the flare of hope and excitement he’d seen in his father’s eyes after Samuel had taken it upon himself to verbally introduce Dale into their world.

Thank God for his brother.

Watching Dale now, Lukas saw something interesting. He’d just reminded her she was supposed to fear him, yet he could still see her need to ease him in the way she was holding herself. She was fisting her hands as though she wanted to touch, and she was emanating such sympathy he could almost see it. Her focus darted around his face, lingering on his eyes, and then, mmm, his mouth. Snatches of her emotions continued to flit across her face. Pain, compassion, confusion…desire. The fear was there, too, but barely.

“Your mother must be going crazy,” she muttered, glancing at the door she wouldn’t be using anytime soon.