Dangerous Flames (Mafia Hearts) (3 page)

No
matter how hard she had tried to fight it, she’d always been
drawn to him. She couldn’t hide her feelings any longer. She
had to tell him. Taking a step toward him, her hand found the bulge
of his bicep.

“
Mik?”
She’d never called him by anything other than the nickname
she’d given him as kids.

He
turned away long enough to let another car through the gate. “Yeah?”
His gaze locked onto hers again.

Her
heart sped up in her chest as she realized he wasn’t pushing
her away. Maybe she’d been wrong about this entire situation.
Her lips formed a nervous smile. “I—”

Heavy
footsteps approached from behind the booth. “You in there,
Mikolas?” Marcello called.

Frowning,
Mik answered, “Yeah?”

She
dropped her hand. “See you at dinner,” she mumbled, each
word dripping with disappointment.

“
Yeah,
see you at dinner,” he called out to her quickly as she walked
away.

She
made her way around to the side door of the house leading to her
father’s office. Might as well get it all done while she still
had some time left before dinner was scheduled to be served in the
dining room. Even if she changed her mind about a job for her father,
she still needed answers.

The
silence, clicking of her heels against the marble floor being the
only sound, in the house on a Friday night came as a surprise. Lights
streamed out of the partially opened door of her father’s
office, alerting her to the probability of his presence. Another few
steps closer and she heard his voice. Forbidden to interrupt a
meeting in progress, she stopped in her tracks. Should she knock on
the door anyway? After all, this was important.

“
One
of our guys has been hired to pop me,” her father said. “If
I’m killed, make sure you take care of Gabrielle and Maura.”

Gabrielle’s
knees grew weak, sending her against the wall to stable herself. She
bit back tears as his words settled over her. Her father acted as the
lifeline to her family, she couldn’t lose him.

“
Do
you know who it is?” She didn’t have to see the husky
voice to know who spoke the words. Family friend? Yeah right.
Mikolas’ father served not only as her father’s best
friend but his business partner as well.

“
No,
but I’m going to find out.”

Gabrielle
wanted to cry out for her father, to stomp into his office, and
demand to help. Or
anything
to stop this from happening. But she couldn’t yet. Instead, she
wiped away the tears as she pressed her ear to the wall to get every
detail possible.

“
What’re
we going to do?” Leon’s voice had gotten quieter while
some more shuffling went on around the room.

“
Start
with our own in-house investigation.” Her father laughed. How
could he think his life being in danger was funny?

The
hairs on her neck prickled. Gabrielle could only guess what an
in-house investigation meant and it probably wasn’t pretty
either. She didn’t need to be an active participant to know at
least one person would die in the search to find the traitor. Fear
ripped through her stomach. Maybe being involved with this wasn’t
such a good idea after all. Her father had been right with the
decision to send her away all those years ago.

“
Sounds
good. Start tonight at dinner?” Leon suggested.

Footsteps
approached the door, sending Gabrielle spinning on her heels. She
quickly turned the corner to the kitchen. She had already struck out
with one of her night’s goal but didn’t feel an ounce of
defeat with the other. Her father had opened up the door for her to
prove her loyalty and trustworthiness to the family. Did she want to
step through the threshold he provided?

Gabrielle
rounded the corner to the formal dining room, and found a few people
already seated. “Hey,” she said, offering a small wave.
All of the men there looked the same as they had the week before, but
she knew them differently now.

“
How
are you, Gabrielle?” Bo asked.

She
took the seat next to him at the table and wondered what role the
middle-aged man served in all of this. With his politeness and
charming smile, she couldn’t picture him committing any sort of
crime. The possibility of him hurting another person bogged her mind.
“I’m fine, Bo. You?”

He
nodded his head. “Pretty well, thanks. Clarice has been meaning
to stop by your shop. Morgana needs a dress for the prom.”

Gabrielle
laughed, knowing just particular how his wife and daughter were.
“It’s not prom season yet, but they can come in and
special order Morgana’s dress.”

He
beamed a gleaming white smile, pleased with her suggestion. “I’ll
let them know.”

Gabrielle
continued with small talk to the people sitting around the table.
Michael told her about a recent trip while Lenard wanted to share
stories with her. He owned a convenience store off Freemont Street
and enjoyed comparing his horrible customers to hers which often
earned them plenty of laughs from others.

As
she visited with the men, the table quickly filled up, and nobody
spoke either to her or within earshot of the plan to murder her
father.

She
scanned everyone sitting at the table, lingering for a spell on each
face, trying to figure out who had enough balls to be a traitor to
the Medini Family. Wil took the seat next to the three vacant places
reserved for her father, Leon, and her mother. The last seat was for
Mik, placing him across from her. Her heart raced as she wiped her
sweaty palms on her napkin. For the entire year she’d been back
in Las Vegas, neither she nor Mik had missed a Friday night dinner
and this would be the first time he would be sitting so close to her.

Relax,
Gabrielle! You’ll get through this one way or another.

The
door opened and Mikolas sauntered into the room. He paused at the
door before his lips formed into a sexy grin as he approached his
place setting.

Chapter
Three

Mikolas
couldn’t leave the security booth until either Enrico or his
father summoned him. Relief had finally the moment he’d been
called to dinner. Finding the only available seat across the table
from Gabrielle, he stopped in the doorway, afraid to walk any closer
to her.

Self-control
became harder with each second. He could barely keep his hands off of
her whenever she was around. And tonight when she’d grabbed his
arm? That had been the first time they’d had physical contact
with each other since her going away party ten years ago. Both times
made his chest tighten, making him lose his breath by merely a touch
of her hand.

Then
idiot Marcello had shown up, causing her to break the connection with
them. If that hadn’t happened he might’ve kissed her. The
urge to run his fingers through her windblown hair, or kiss her pink
lips he’d been fantasizing about for so long became difficult
to contain. She was the only woman he knew who could work all day
long and still look like she’d just stepped out of a salon.
Each time he looked at her, his heart beat a little faster.

No
matter how much Mikolas wanted her, Enrico Medini had declared his
daughter off limits.
Get
control, Mikolas ordered himself
.
Enrico
will kill you if you touch Gabi.
As he approached his spot at the table, he couldn’t hold back
the smile. Had she saved him the seat?

He
looked at her through the candlelight. Her dark eyes always danced
with mischief, but the naughtiness seemed more pronounced in
tonight’s low light. She swirled a piece of bread into the
fondue pot, blew it, and then plucked the gooey mess in her mouth.
Her tongue slid over her bottom lip to catch a drip of cheese. He
wished his mouth could be against her’s… licking the
cheese… tasting her flavor.

Mikolas
fought the urge to reach out and touch her. Maybe smooth her black
hair away from the pale face. Or maybe let his teeth gently nibble
against her pink lips. He shifted uncomfortably as his slacks grew
tight across his crotch. The smell of her perfume didn’t do
much for the matter either.

“
Mikolas?”
Enrico calling his name tore his attention from the beauty across the
table. Hopefully a distraction would make his erection to shrink.

He
looked over at Enrico who took his designated place at the head of
the table. “I’m sorry, Enrico. What did you say?”

Enrico
glared down the table at Mikolas. “I asked where Stefano is.
Have you heard from him?”

“
No.”
Mikolas shook his head. To smooth things over with his boss, he said.
“Want me to call him?”

“
It’s
not necessary. Maura out did herself tonight, eh?” Enrico waved
his hand toward the table, eyeing all of the guests.

A
chorus of ‘thank yous’ floated across the table to Maura.
She smiled graciously and turned back to her food. Maura rarely
talked at the dinner table, tonight being no exception.

“
Stefano
called me a little while ago,” Clayton offered.

Mikolas
glanced to the guy next to him.

“
Where
is he?” Enrico boomed from the head of the table.

“
He
isn’t coming tonight. He’s out doing a side job you
wouldn’t approve of.” Clayton took a large fork full of
spaghetti.

“
Let’s
discuss this later,” said Enrico, lowering his volume to a tone
more accepting to the people around him. Not that any of their
opinions matter though. Enrico did everything he desired.

“
Are
we still on for a swim?” Gabrielle asked softly, drawing
Mikolas’ attention to the glint in her eye.

“
Sure,
unless your father needs me for something.” He glanced over to
Enrico hoping for a job to do. Mikolas needed something, anything to
prevent going for a swim with her.

“
Eat
and enjoy the pool,” Enrico said.

“
Thanks,”
Mikolas croaked, earning a giant grin from Gabi.

Enjoy
himself?
He could barely handle sitting across from her at the crowded dinner
table. Why had he agreed to a swim? Because he wanted her so bad and
couldn’t have her. She was off limits, first set by Mikolas’
boss and then by distance. Alone with her in a bikini? Oh man, he was
in for it now. Too late to back out though.

It
would be in his best interest to make up an excuse, to tell her no,
or even pretend to be sick since there would be no way he’d
keep his hands to himself. He took a sip of wine to stall time and
let his gaze lock with hers. She leaned back, expecting an answer to
her invitation.

“
I
guess we’ll be swimming,” he said, letting the words out
of his mouth with a rush of air.

“
Great.
I’ll meet you at the pool in an hour?” she asked as she
eased her chair away from the table and stood up.

He
nodded, keeping his gaze on her as she walked around the table to
place a kiss on her father’s forehead then turned toward the
door. Her hips shook slightly as if to tease the growing tension in
his lap. Boy, she had the nicest ass he’d ever seen, falling
between the categories of too-thin and too-plump. Each of her cheeks
would probably fit against each of his palms. He watched her black
skirt ride up her long legs until she disappeared through the door,
her perfume staying for an extended visit. Pure torture
.

To
distract himself, he swirled the fork in the center of his plate and
took a big bite of the spaghetti.

Enrico’s
fist slammed onto the table, causing the dishes to rattle over the
hardwood top and Mikolas reaching for his Glock. “Damn it. He
knows we don’t deal with the drug trade.” Enrico’s
icy glare moved from one man’s face to the next. “Does
anyone here not understand?”

“
We
all know, Enrico. Stefano isn’t planning on being around too
much longer.” Mikolas’ father took a sip of his wine,
acting as though Enrico’s outrage didn’t bother him a
bit.

Mikolas
caught the glances exchanged between Enrico and his father.
I’ll
be visiting Stefano soon, and it won’t be friendly. Might even
be the final hit that’ll make me a permanent fixture of this
Family.

Conversation
buzzed around the table, but since he hadn’t been made into the
Family yet, they kept him generally out of anything significant. As
the table talk leaned more toward various tasks within the family,
Mikolas continued to eat his spaghetti and garlic bread in silence.
After his plate was empty, he washed it all down with a glass of
Lagier Meredith wine.