Sorry for investigating your criminal father for the bulk of my detective career.
I never thought I’d end up fucking you while I was stalking you and taking all those pictures without you knowing it.
Forgive me for only doing my motherfucking job, and then having the best sex of my life with you.
I’m such a fucking asshole, and my cock hasn’t stopped hating me ever since you left.
Fuck!
In the end, I didn’t send any messages. What good would it have done? I was still a cop, and she was still the daughter of Lorenzo Valenti. No matter how we looked at it, this thing between us had “complicated” written all over it from the start.
So, I guessed it was only natural that my heart was currently pounding like a jackhammer against my ribs. I was sitting in the car right outside of Paradiso with my gun and badge, about to walk into the restaurant and start questioning the Valenti brothers regarding Gio’s murder.
And, naturally, my friend Murphy’s Law also decided to join us, since Karina’s silver Mercedes was parked right outside the damn restaurant. Now, wasn’t that just my fucking luck? For the last two years, she’d only been at this place three times that I knew of. But of course she would be here…now…today…right this minute…when I was about to flash my badge around. Suddenly, the gold detective badge felt like it weighed a damn ton. And as for Lucy? Well, for the first time in my career, I hated having her tucked so damn tightly against my side.
“Something doesn’t add up,” Anderson muttered next to me. “It doesn’t make sense the Valentis would execute the guy and then leave such a huge chunk of evidence on his chest.”
“Yeah, I feel ya.” I rubbed the back of my neck, frustration causing the muscles in my arms to twitch. “But like I said, the Valentis knew Gio. At Vertigo, I distinctly remember Antonio addressing him like he knew him.”
“Oh, come on. Everyone fucking knew Gio.” Anderson was as frustrated as I was. “I’d be surprised if they didn’t know him.”
I eyed the sleek Mercedes, thinking about that night at Vertigo, the night everything changed. I should have let her walk away. I should never have pursued her, but I did—hence the giant fuck-up my personal life was currently in. I just couldn’t let her go. My mind refused not to think of her, not to remember what it felt like to be skin on skin with her. If it were any other woman, I would have been able to walk away without fucking blinking. But I couldn’t, not with her.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Anderson got out of the car, and I remained seated for a few seconds longer. I’d faced hardcore criminals, stared death in the face a few times, yet I’d never been this fucking nervous. There was a huge chunk of me that didn’t want to do this because I knew it was going to hurt her. She might not like being a Valenti, but she loved her family—especially her brothers. How the hell was I going to walk in there, stare into those dark brown eyes, and not feel anything other than motherfucking regret?
Anderson tapped against the window. “You coming, or are you planning on jerking off the rest of the day?”
“Fuck you.” I opened the door and got out, straightening my leather jacket and trying to hide the gun on my side as much as possible. There was no warm blood flowing through my veins, only ice. My stomach felt like it had been caught in a goddamn bear trap, the sharp teeth puncturing every nerve in my body.
“You know,” I stopped about three steps from the restaurant door, and Anderson turned to me, “I can’t help wondering why the commander had such a quick change of heart.”
“You and me both,” Anderson admitted. “I couldn’t believe it when he told me your suspension had been lifted and he wants you on the case with me.”
I frowned. “Real smooth, jackass.”
Anderson shrugged. “What? I mean, I was shocked because everyone knows he was looking for a reason to get rid of your ass, and then all of a sudden, he wants you on one of the biggest cases of the fucking year. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I know. I’m telling you, man, my spidey senses are tingling.”
“Your spidey senses? What the fuck, are you twelve?”
“Funny enough, you are not the first person to say that.”
Anderson shook his head. “Let’s just get this over with before I develop a migraine.”
I went first. Even though I was nervous, I was also eager to see her again. When I opened the door, my heart went apeshit, beating so damn fast it felt like it was about to explode into tiny pieces of muscle.
I walked in, and right away my gaze found her. It was as if every instinct I had zeroed in on her, revolved around her. She was standing over at the bar next to Dante, and the moment our eyes met, my chest constricted, forcing all the damn air out of my lungs. God, was it possible she had gotten even more beautiful during the last few days?
Her dark, captivating eyes seemed like they were beaming, her long curls framing her face perfectly, making her look like a goddamn angel. My angel of sin and temptation.
She was wearing a sleeveless buttercream-colored mini dress that hugged her flawless curves like a second damn skin. And those legs? My God, those motherfucking legs would surely mean the end of me, especially when she was wearing those damn sexy black heels.
Images of me on my knees in front of her, eating her pussy like I’d been starved for it my entire life, bombarded my mind. Her moans, her taste, and the way she fucked my mouth, desperate to find her release against my tongue was downright euphoric, and I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to experience that again.
“Karina.” Her name rolled off my lips like it belonged there, like her name was only mine to say, to speak, to whisper…to scream. There was no use denying it; this woman had captivated me, demanding all my attention without even trying.
Dante walked up to us, and I was instantly annoyed, since it meant I had to break eye contact with the woman who currently had my balls in the palms of her hands.