She's fighting it, but the pull between us is becoming impossible to deny.
It’s fascinating how the tough FBI agent who's been hunting me for years now looks so deliciously conflicted.
"You know, in another life, we might have made quite the team," I say. "Your investigative skills, my creative problem-solving."
Olivia snorts, but there's a reluctant smile tugging at her lips. "Creative problem-solving? Is that what we're calling racketeering these days?"
"Alleged racketeering," I correct, raising a finger. "You’ve yet to prove a single charge."
"Yet being the operative word." She cocks her head, giving me that flirty confidence that makes my dick twitch. “I'm very patient, Vitale."
"Four years of patience." I lean in, decision made. I’m going to have this woman. "Most people would have given up by now."
"Most people haven't seen your financial records."
I laugh, genuinely amused. "So, it's my spreadsheets that keep you up at night? Not my charm? I'm wounded."
"Your ego seems intact to me." She doesn't back away, challenging me with those fierce eyes that first caught my attention last year when she confronted me in the basement of her building.
"Tell me something, Agent Ricci." My gaze drifts to her lips for a moment before returning to her eyes. "If I weren't who I am, and you weren't who you are, would you have said yes to that date?"
"We'll never know, will we?"
"We could find out." I reach out, settling my hand on her waist, testing the waters. She doesn’t move away. "No shop talk. Just two people getting to know each other."
"And then what? I ignore what I know about you?"
"Maybe you discover what you don't know about me." With my other hand, I draw my thumb over her cheekbone. "Maybe you find out I'm not the monster you think I am."
She steps back, but it feels more like self-preservation than rejection. "This is a dangerous game, Dom."
It's the first time she's used my nickname.
The sound of it in her voice does something unexpected to my chest.
"Life's a dangerous game, Olivia." I smile, slow and deliberate. "But the real question is, are you more afraid of the danger, or of discovering you might actually like me?"
OLIVIA
I’m definitely more afraid of discovering that I like him. He represents all I should despise.
The air between us crackles with electricity as Dom stands too close. This is wrong on every professional level imaginable.
"Do you understand what could happen if anyone knew you were here?"
"Do you?" His question hits harder than mine.
My career flashes before my eyes.
Years of work, sacrifice, and dedication all potentially destroyed by this one reckless moment.
Blackwood's suggestion of a honey trap resurface, so maybe my job isn’t in jeopardy, but I’d shut down the idea immediately.
There are limits to how low I’ll go to put criminals in jail.
"I'm an FBI agent and you're the subject of an active investigation."
"And yet, here we are." Dom gestures to the space between us, which feels both too vast and not nearly wide enough.
