Page 32 of Vicious Temptation

I haven’t even had time to process what happened between us. Dinner was supposed to be another opportunity to get closer to her, but I spent half the night laughing, sharing food, and forgetting why I was there in the first place. Then I kissed her, and everything got a whole lot more complicated.

Nothing about that kiss felt like part of an assignment. I wanted it, and when she pulled me back for another, I stopped thinking about Helios altogether. Now I’m standing here wondering when getting close to Remi stopped feeling like a job.

“You have really big muscles like my daddy. Is that why you were carrying Remi?”

“That’s enough, Zara. Eat your lollipop while I walk Thiago outside.”

The little girl grins around the candy.

“It was nice to meet you, Zara,” I say, offering her a genuine smile, then turn toward Remi. “And before you kick me out, I still owe you for the shirt.”

“You’re seriously going to pay me for that thing? The seams are barley holding together.”

“You charged me $24.99 plus tax, remember?”

“I was joking.”

“I’m a man of principle.”

She looks pointedly at my exposed stomach. “It’s about to become part of your DNA.”

“That still doesn’t make it free.”

She laughs as I reach for my wallet. “Fine. Give me twenty bucks, and we’ll call it even.”

Remi leans forward, and the glimpse down her shirt distracts me enough that my wallet slips from my fingers and hits the floor. Zara is off the counter in a flash, snatching it up before I can reach it. The wallet falls open in her hands.

“Thiago Braga,” she reads from the card inside, then her eyes light up when she notices the badge beside it. “You’re a police officer like my Auntie Eva!”

Remi goes completely still behind the counter. Her gaze drops to the wallet in Zara’s hands before slowly lifting to mine, and I watch every trace of warmth disappear from her expression.

Fuck.

Behind me, Matteo shifts. When I glance back, he’s already watching me differently. Whatever questions he had about me before, Zara just answered one of them.

Completely oblivious, she swings the wallet in her hand. “My Auntie Eva has one just like this. But she’s not a police officer anymore.”

I step forward and gently take it from her. “That’s pretty cool,” I say, keeping my voice steady as I tuck it away.

When I look at Remi again, she’s already moving toward the door.

“Remi.”

She cuts her eyes toward me, and I know better than to make her say it, so I follow.

“Rem,” Matteo says from behind us, his voice low.

She stops and looks back at him. “Stay with Zara.”

Then she keeps walking.

Nine

Remi

The door slams behind us, the sound rattling through the space as I pace a few steps before turning back to him.

“You’re a fucking cop?”