Page 5 of Beastly Boss

“Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that.”

I’m about to argue with her when I hear a knock on my front door. Strange. I’m not expecting anyone. “As much as I’d love to disprove your point, there’s someone at the door. I’ll text you later, okay?”

We say our goodbyes, and I walk to the door, surprised to see a scrawny teenager holding out a large bouquet of flowers.

“Kimbra Olsen?” he asks, his voice cracking slightly. Poor kid.

“Uh, yeah, that’s me. Who are these from?” I ask as he hands me the vase.

“Read the card,” he says with a shrug.

I thank him and close the door, setting the bouquet on my kitchen table. The fragrant dahlias are absolutely gorgeous, with a variety of deep red, fuschia, powder pink, and even purple blossoms. Surely this can’t be from…

I find a small envelope addressed to me and open it. Inside, there’s one simple sentence:Thanks for the dance.

They really are from Aurelio. What does this mean? Has he been thinking about me, too? Did he stay up way too late last night replaying every word, every touch, every glance from our evening together?

I’m getting carried away again. I blame Sadie for filling my head with crazy ideas of kissing and romance. Aurelio didn’t leave his number or even sign the card. But he remembered what I said about dahlias. If not about their eight chromosomes, at least about how I’m using them in my final project. That counts for something, right?

I don’t know. I don’t know anything about this stuff.

Another thought occurs. Aurelio somehow found my address. That alone should be a red flag, but for some reason, I feel… safe. As crazy as it sounds, I know he’d never hurt me. Plus, turnabout is fair play. I spent some time digging around in my father’s office last night before returning to my apartment, and I happened to find the official address of the Caparelli compound.

I tuck the note back into its envelope and shove it in a kitchen drawer. My dad doesn’t come over often, but if he happened to stop by and see evidence that someone danced with me… I’m not sure he’d take it so well. And if he knew the note was from Aurelio? He might just do something stupid, like punch him in the face. My father has always been protective of me, even going so far as to isolate me from friends he deemed “bad influences.” Sadie was the only one who stuck around long enough to wear down my dad’s defenses.

Besides, there’s nothing to tell my dad. Aurelio and I will never have a moment like that again. It was just one night. We were both bored, but we shared a moment. That’s all. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. No good can come from pursuing anything, but a girl can dream.

3

AURELIO

“Did Lieutenant Olsen say what his plan is to eradicate the shitheads who have been giving us so much trouble?” Enrico asks.

“Hmm?” I peel my eyes away from my phone screen and refocus on the Underboss of the Family. “Oh, right. Yes. I talked to Officer Olsen.”I also danced with his daughter and stupidly sent her flowers the next day like a lovesick puppy.

“Boss? What’s going on?” Enrico straightens up in his chair and narrows his eyes at me. I stare him down from the other side of my desk and cross my arms over my chest. “You’re… distracted.” I don’t say anything. He’s not wrong. “Did something happen with the Lieutenant? Do we need to remind him what a good friend the Caparelli’s have been to him and the LVPD over the years?”

“No, no, he’s fine. He’s working on it.” I check my phone again, pleased to see the package I ordered last night has arrived.

“That’s it? He’s working on it?” His tone is laced with annoyance, which I understand. I’m not exactly in the headspace to discuss the things he’s asking me about. “What’s really going on, Aurelio? You can talk to me.”

I put my phone down and focus on Enrico. He’s right. If anyone would understand my predicament, it’s him. My family basically adopted Enrico when we were both kids, and we’ve grown up more like brothers than friends. Father trained us both to take over the family business, though there was never a question as to who would be the Boss.

The man rests his elbows on his knees, then leans forward and trains his gaze on mine. I sigh and run a hand through my hair before saying the three words I know he’s been dying to hear ever since he found a woman of his own. “I met someone.”

Enrico’s eyebrows nearly disappear into his hairline, and his jaw all but drops open. “At the ball?” he asks in shock. “I thought you weren’t going to bring a date.”

“I didn’t.”

It takes him a moment to realize what that means. When he does, Enrico furrows his brow and struggles to find a response. “So… you met someonethere?” He looks over his shoulder and then leans closer. “A cop?”

“No,” I say harshly. “Worse.” Enrico looks even more confused at this statement. “The daughter of good ol’ Lieutenant Olsen.”

Enrico is momentarily frozen, and then a low chuckle rumbles up from his chest. Soon, the man is full-on laughing at me, which makes me clench my hands into fists. If it were anyone else, I’d strangle the sound from their throat and toss them to my top enforcer, Lorenzo. As it is, I lean back and wait for the bastard’s laughter to subside.

“You just had to one-up me, didn’t you? I go and fall in love with the sister of a rebel cop, and now here you are, pining for the daughter of the Las Vegas Police Lieutenant.”

“I’m not pining,” I grunt.

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