Page 61 of His Tesoro

“How was it?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

I leaned back, chewing thoughtfully. “Disgusting.” I took a long sip of Coke, and Matteo snorted a laugh. I joined him, and it might have been the best moment of my life.

We ate quietly, and I pretended not to notice as my husband fed small bites of food to Noodle.

We finished our lunch and Matteo threw out our trash. “Did you want to explore more?”

For a minute, my mind imagined what it would be like to peel his clothes off and explore every inch of his body, allowing him to do the same with me. I cleared my throat. “Yes, please.”

I signaled for Noodle to get up from his spot by my chair, and he gave a cute little stretch as he came to my side. I had only had him a few days, and I couldn’t imagine my life without him. Without both of my guys.

Matteo’s hands hovered over my chair handles, but he didn’t grab them, didn’t take over and push me, and my heart warmed. He was listening to me, even though I knew he wanted to take over.

“Do you think…” I started before trailing off, suddenly nervous.

His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb caressing my jaw. “What is it, tesoro?”

“Could we try holding hands while we walk?” I hadn’t had a chance to really test out my motorized assist outside, but I only had to steer with one hand when I used it, leaving my other one free.

Matteo’s hold on my face tightened a fraction as some emotion flashed over his eyes so quickly I almost wasn’t sure it was real. He leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. Then he straightened, took my hand in his, and we made our way through the park.

34

MATTEO

I’d spent all night trying to make up my mind.

My hand had been on her doorknob twice before I turned back.

Even though Sofiya and I had been together all day, it somehow wasn’t enough. I wanted to be beside her in bed, our naked bodies pressed together. I wanted the taste of her sweetness on my lips, the feel of her skin against mine. I wanted to push inside her, to feel her pussy squeeze my cock as she moaned in pleasure.

It had been too long since I’d fucked someone. That had to be the reason for my current mental state. But even as that thought raced through my head, I knew it wasn’t right. The truth was slowly making itself known.

I liked Sofiya. She was fun to be around. Her quick sense of humor, sassy mutterings under her breath, and brilliant smile did something to me.

It made me feel out of control, and I didn’t like it.

So when Romeo called me before sunrise, I was already awake. And now I was staring at a burning truck, courtesy of the Albanians. Each lick of the flames fueled my rage.

“How the fuck did they learn about this transport?” I asked Romeo.

“Bianchi is missing,” he said. “The only ones who knew about this were the inner circle, the driver, Bruno, and Bianchi. The driver and Bruno are dead.”

“How would they even get to him?” I hissed. It didn’t make sense that Bianchi was an informant for the Albanians. He was a young kid, loyal to the Family. When his father died of a heart attack a few years back, I had made sure his mother and sister were provided for. How could I have missed that he was a traitor?

“I don’t know,” Romeo said, exhaustion heavy in his voice. “But now Arben has half a million in weapons.”

The first of the sun’s rays broke over the horizon, bathing the world in red.

“They know Bianchi can’t continue being an informant after this, which means they either made a misstep in exposing him, or we have a rat infestation,” I said.

Romeo nodded. “You want to set up decoy trails?”

“With next week’s drug run. And”—My jaw clenched, unwilling to speak the words—“I’ll ask Rustik to provide us men as well. We’ll have more eyes on the decoy transits that way.” The Albanians had proven to be more cunning than I’d anticipated, and I wouldn’t make the mistake again. But the idea of asking the Pakhan for help, particularly after knowing how he treated Sofiya, was like ash in my mouth.

The alliance was doing what I needed it to do—keeping us from having to fight a war on two fronts. Now that we had peace with the Russians, we could focus our energy on the Albanians.

But I was still tempted to tell Rustik to go fuck himself. He didn’t deserve to breathe air after how he’d treated his daughter.

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