“That’s bullshit. I’ll take care of it.”
Bones and Angel were the type of men who got shit done. Their power, money, and influence could even sway Casinos. Hell, Angel’s family probably owned all the casinos. Still, I wanted to stand on my own two feet. “Thanks, but that’s not necessary. I’ll find another job.”
“No, you won’t. They fired you for taking care of your sister, and that’s bullshit. I’m not letting them get away with that.”
“So, you’re gonna march in there and demand they give me my job back? Bet I’m going to be super popular then.”
He grabbed my hand. “Ari, trust me.”
Strangely enough, I did trust Bones. I knew he worked for the mafia and probably did all sorts of shady shit, but he was the first man I’d trusted since my dad died.
“Okay,” I said.
His gaze drifted down to my lips and something flared to life in his eyes. Before I could think too much about it, he pulled back, putting distance between us as he closed the pizza box. “Good. I got you something.” He carried the rest of the pizza to the kitchen before returning with a small chocolate cake and a battery-operated tea light candle.
“We don’t have much in the way of birthday candles. This is the best I could do on short notice.”
Emotion choked me up as I looked from him, to the cake, to the candle. “It’s… It’s perfect. Thanks, Bones.”
“We’ll do something bigger and better once Markie’s recovered enough, but I couldn’t let you celebrate without a cake.”
He was apologizing for not doing more, and I was overwhelmed that he’d done this much. Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded.
Setting the cake down on the coffee table, he said, “All right, here’s what we’re gonna do. I’ll hold the candle up and when you blow on it, I’ll turn it off like you blew it out.”
It was ridiculous. And sweet. I giggled and nodded.
“Sometimes you just gotta improvise, babe.”
Life sure as hell hadn’t gone my way lately, but if this was what improvising looked like… celebrating my belated birthday with a sexy, thoughtful man… I was all in.
Maybe someday soon I’d even get Bones to take down my pants, instead of just pulling them up.
CHAPTER THREE
Bones
ARIANA HAD NO goddamn clue what she did to me. I’d kept my hands off her, because she was young and fucked up, and I wasn’t the type of man who took advantage of that. But now she was twenty-one and sprawled out on her bedroom floor with her pants open and low, showing off her flat stomach and her sexy black thong.
And, she was shit-faced.
Eyes full of lust, she stared at me, tugging up her shirt ever so slightly to reveal more soft, smooth skin. I wanted it under my fingertips. I wanted to touch and caress her. I wanted to bend her over her bed and fuck her until she was screaming out my name, begging for release.
But she came with baggage and wasn’t someone I could fuck and leave, and I didn’t need any drama in my life.
I resisted. Then, I helped her up and she started grinding on me. Grinding. Against my dick. Fucking heaven and torture all in one.
Knowing I needed to sober her ass up before I gave her what she so clearly wanted, I ordered us food and made her coffee, all while thinking about the shit I wanted to do to her. About all the ways I wanted to make her moan. I could tell she wanted it almost as much as I did, but no way was I about to screw with Markie’s drunk little sister.
So, I fed her pizza and cake and tucked her into bed with a mixing bowl beside her in case she got sick. Trying not to think about the way she grabbed my shirt and begged me to fuck her, I let myself out of her condo and locked up behind me. By the time I got back to the apartment I shared with Angel (and now Markie, too), it was almost midnight, and I needed to head out soon.
Angel sat on the sofa, hovered over his laptop working. He gave me a nod as I walked in and went back to work.
“How’s Markie?” I asked, slipping into the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water.
“Good. Sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb her, so I came out here to work. What are you up to?”
I was closer to Angel than either of my real brothers. He didn’t ask a lot of questions, because he knew I wouldn’t lie to him. And although Angel was neck-deep in the family business, his duties ran more toward technology, where mine encompassed anything one of the bosses told me to do. Work was on a need-to-know basis, and Angel rarely needed to know what I was doing. Unless, of course, it conflicted with guarding him. But since he’d been tied up between the hospital and the apartment for the past week, he was probably going out of his mind with boredom.
