“No!” I blurted out. “I mean, yes… no… fuck.” I could feel the heat suffusing my cheeks as all three men stared at me with open humor. I shook my head and blew out my breath. “Yes, they’re from Assassin’s Creed, but no, we didn’t plan this. We just met,” I said lamely as I looked at the dark-haired man whose eyes held mine.
“It was a happy coincidence,” he said softly, right before he sent me a sexy little wink.
Oh God, the things that wink inspired. “Yeah,” I agreed, though I wasn’t sure what I was even agreeing to.
I really needed to get a grip. “You guys look great,” I managed to say as I forced my attention back to Logan. It was always a weird thing to be around the other man. As much as I liked him and for as long as we’d been working together, there was always the elephantin the room that neither of us ever addressed. It was just one of those things that hadbeenas soon as I’d forced myself to overlook the connection between the Sylvie Barretti Hope for Life Foundation director and a certain police officer who’d been playing a part in my life from almost the moment I’d been born.
Thoughts of Declan Barretti threatened to sour my mood, so I forced myself to reach out and shake hands with Dom. In my line of work, I spent more time interacting with Logan than I did his husband, but I’d managed to also forge a relationship with Declan’s brother-in-law that was based on mutual respect. Barretti Security Group had been protecting the information of my dad’s and my investment firm clients for a long time now, and I had no doubt that Dom Barretti had been tempted at some point to end that relationship in deference to siding with his brother-in-law. But for whatever reason, he hadn’t done it and like with Logan, my dad and I had managed to navigate the murky waters of the relationship, though admittedly, it was hard to sidestep the minefield of family relations when it came to such a huge family like the Barrettis and their ties to the community.
“I lost a bet,” Dom murmured before he tucked his husband up against his side and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Not that I’m complaining,” he added, his voice going husky. A heated look flared between the two men and I had to work really hard to temper the envy that went through me. What would it be like to have someone look at me like that? To have them say something to me and mean something else entirely – something that only he and I would understand?
Logan’s hand settled on his husband’s stomach as they stared at each other for a moment, then he shifted his attention back to me. “We, ah, heard about what happened last night,” Logan said softly as his eyes landed on my face. “Do you need anything?”
I knew what he was really asking and I’d been expecting it. The foundation had been targeted with random acts of vandalism a few times and each time Logan had found out, he’d offered to talk to Dom about beefing up the security for the office.
“Cost of doing business,” I said. “You know that.”
Logan nodded sadly.
“I could have someone watch the place for a bit till things settle down,” Dom offered. “No charge,” he added hopefully.
Although part of me was scared enough to actually want to consider the offer, my attacker the night before had made it pretty clear what would happen if they got even a hint that someone was poking around in their business.
No, I was on my own.
“Thank you, but that will just give them what they want,” I lied. “They want me to be running scared.”
It was a true enough statement since plenty of homophobes had tried to shut me down by scaring me into submission; it just didn’t happen to be the case this time around.
Dom frowned, but didn’t comment.
Logan let his fingers twine through his husband’s as he said, “Well, we wanted to wish you luck on your speech – you’re going to do great.”
Logan was one of the few people who’d figured out what a fraud I was when it came to public speaking. I put on a good show, but he knew how wrecked I got standing in front of so many people, their undivided attention on me. Even the thought of it had my breathing ticking up again.
“Thanks,” I managed to get out.
“Okay, we’ll let you get back to it,” Logan said. “It was nice to meet you,” he added, his eyes on the man standing silently across from me.
At Logan’s unspoken question, the man reached out his hand and said, “Cruz. Cruz de la Vega.”
“Nice to meet you, Cruz,” Logan said with a nod, then Dom was shaking his hand. I barely noticed the couple wandering off to mingle with others because Cruz’s eyes were back on me.
“Well, I should go say my hellos to the other guests,” I said. “It was really nice to meet you.”
I took a step back, but before I could turn away, Cruz was stepping into my space. “We didn’t. Not really.”
“Didn’t what?” I managed to ask, though having the man onceagain just inches from me was making it so damn hard to breathe again.
“Meet.”
“Oh,” I said dumbly. “I’m, uh, Elliot. Elliot Wittier.” I put out my hand and it was immediately engulfed in a strong, warm grip that I felt all over my body. I’d been attracted to my fair share of guys over the years, but even the best sex I’d ever had couldn’t compare to what this man was able to do to me with the simplest of touches. I both wanted to investigate it further and run as far from it as I could.
“Elliot,” Cruz murmured.
That was it. Just my name. No “Nice to meet you.” No “Pleasure’s mine.”
No formalities whatsoever.
