Sunny sits beside me and gently nudges my knee with hers.
“Hey,” she says softly, “don’t talk about our friend like that.”
I blink at her. “Your… what?”
“Our friend,” she repeats, smiling.
“Eli, look at the screen,” Abby rushes to say.
She’s pointing at one of the many rooms on the screen.
And there he is…Skip. He’s looking right at the camera…right at me…and winks.
“It’s like he knows you’re watching,” Sunny smiles. “He’s telling you that everything is okay.”
“That is so romantic,” Abby sighs. “Alright, let’s make lunch and distract ourselves.”
So, that’s what we do. These beautiful women didn’t make me feel less because I was freaking out. I know I’m not the type of man they’re used to having around, but they don’t make me feel bad because of it.
Chapter Thirteen
Skip
“This is so fucking fun,” I grin, looking around the room at all the men loaded down with enough weaponry to start a war.
Which, I guess… is the plan.
“This is a nightmare,” Bones mutters. “And you’re a lunatic.”
“Hey,” I shrug. “Don’t yuck my yum, brother.”
Before Bones can fire back, someone near the door straightens.
“The Don’s here.”
I turn and damn near whistle.
Maverick…at least, Ithinkit’s Maverick…walks in like he owns the oxygen in the air, and we’re all just borrowing it. The suit is custom-cut, hugging his massive frame. His chin is lifted in that effortless, terrifying way that saysI do not negotiate…I fucking command.
This isn’t the same man who sits in our kitchen inhaling pancakes and bitching about bad coffee.
This is Don Moretti.
Straight-up mafia royalty.
“You’re fucking hot,” I smirk when he stops next to Bones and me. “If I didn’t already have my perfect man in my life… I’d totally fuck you. Hell, I might’ve even let you fuck me, and that’s not even my kink.”
For just a second…blink, and you’d miss it…the stone-cold expression cracks. Maverick’s mouth twitches.
“You’re too fucking much even for a man as powerful as myself,” he says.
“Oh,” I nod. “Cocky, are we?”
“I am a Don, Skip," he says flatly. “Cocky is in the job description.”
The man before me isn’t the Maverick we’ve grown to love…he’s a God amongst his men. I know he has an image to uphold, but I just can’t seem to help myself.
“Yeah, but you’reextracocky,” I counter. “Like, walk-into-a-room-and-it-gets-pregnant cocky.”
