10

Eros
I drink the good, strong coffee and cross my legs. The diner is quiet at mid-morning after the breakfast rush and I’m only half listening to Lycus as he goes over the day’s schedule.
My mind’s on the girl behind the counter with her hair pulled up in a messy bun, looking lost and overwhelmed and so fucking beautiful it’s like a railroad spike in my chest.
Cara glances over and smiles uncertainly at me. I don’t smile back, which makes her roll her eyes as she gets back to refilling salt shakers.
It’s been a week since I paid off that predatory rental place and that asshole tow truck driver and used my connections to make the cops go away. Since then, I got her hired here, a diner run by a client of the Khazan family, a nice older Greek man named Demetrios. He manages the place along with his wife and daughter, two of the strongest and most intense Greek women I’ve ever met in my life, and that’s saying something. I got her an apartment in a house owned by a Greek woman named Hermia, another client of the family. I filled Cara’s pantry and refrigerator, paid for a new wardrobe, and offered to furnish the place, to which she said, and owe you more money? Yeah, go fuck yourself.
Cara is quiet when she’s at work, a little overwhelmed, definitely overshadowed by Demetrios’s loudmouth daughter, but she seems happy. I have Demetrios and Hermia keeping an eye out for the man that nearly chased Cara from Chicago, and although she still hasn’t told me anything about him, I’m making sure nobody gets anywhere near her without me finding out about it.
I should forget her now. I’ve done more for Cara than I ever should have, and now it’s time to focus on my business. She’s safe and comfortable, and I can be proud of that.
The loss of the dockworkers’ union is going to hurt my organization, and already the captains are making angry noise.
If my control was tenuous before, now everything hangs by a string. The family’s a powder keg, and Cara is the fucking match.
And I still can’t stop staring at her as she fills the stupid salt shakers.
“Eros,” Lycus says sharply. “You’re staring at her again.”
“I’m listening,” I say, turning my gaze to him. “Can you blame me for wanting to look at a pretty girl instead of watching your ugly face make noise?”
“I’m handsome as fuck and you know it.” His eyes narrow. “What was I just saying?”
“Kosmos is working on a new deal with an overland shipping company and we’re hoping to use them to cover some of our losses with the dockworkers. Stavros has been making noise about my leadership qualifications, and the Italians are rattling their sabers. What else?”
“I also mentioned that you’re a pompous little prick.” Lycus crosses his arms, smirking at me. Nobody in the Khazan family would dare speak to me that way, their boss and their lord, but I’ve known Lycus all my life. He gets away with things nobody else ever would.
“Duly noted.” I lean back and glance at Cara again. “Contact more amenable shipping companies. I want to make sure our flow of product isn’t adversely affected for long.”
“You really can’t help yourself, can you?” Lycus laughs to himself and drinks his coffee. “Seriously, I’ve never seen you like this before. You’re fucking pining for her.”
“I do not pine.” I narrow my eyes at him.
“You’re like one step away from writing her a poem.”
“I’ve never written a poem in my life, and I don’t plan on starting now.” I jab a finger at him. “Don’t start with me.”
“Why don’t you just-” He gestures in the air and sighs. “You know, take her out. Like normal shit?”
“Because I am not normal.” I tear my gaze from her and stare at Lycus. “You know how bad things are in the family right now. What would they say if I brought around a strange girl, someone from outside of the community?”
“Wouldn’t be great,” he admits. “But everyone wants you to get married, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad?”
I take a deep, calming breath. Lycus is clever and strong, but he can be an optimist sometimes. As the lord, I don’t have that luxury. “When you look at her, what do you see?”
He clears his throat. “She does look distinctly, uh-”
“Italian.”
“Right.”
“Her last name is Hellington. How would the captains react if I started seeing an Italian girl?”
He considers for a moment. “Does she have connections to the Pavones?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.” I keep telling myself I’m not getting more involved with Cara, and that if I refuse to do my usual due diligence and run some background checks, that might actually be true.
He runs a hand over his hair. “I don’t know what to tell you, other than you should get over yourself and do something that makes you feel good for once.”
“Killing the Pavone Famiglia and controlling my people make me feel good. I’ll focus on that for now.”
“You’re a very deep man, Eros.” Lycus laughs to himself. “Full of complexity.”
“And you’re a pain in my ass. Get back to discussing work now, please, and stay out of my personal life.”
Lycus mock-salutes me but does as ordered. I’m half listening again, watching as Cara finishes with the salt and moves on to cleaning glasses and organizing silverware.
I can’t stop thinking about what Lycus said.
Do something that feels good for once.
Ever since I took control of the Khazan family, my entire life has been in service of the organization. The way I took power left a lot of anger and resentment, and I’ve made it my mission to smooth things over and ensure everyone within my sphere of influence thrives and is happy.
Everyone except for me.
I’ve given everything to the family, and yet the captains like Stavros still grumble. They won’t ever be happy, not until someone morerespectableis running the show, and yet they’re also very aware that I would rather cut their throats than step down from the position I took with my own bare hands.
Nothing will ever be good enough. I will never be enough.
At least the business was trending in the right direction-until the dockworkers fiasco.
And I can thank Cara for that.
I watch her talk with Ophelia, the daughter, before she takes off her apron and walks into the back. Lycus keeps talking, and I nod my head like I’m listening and even give him a few orders to get things moving, before I finish my coffee.
“I’ll be right back,” I say and stand. “Get me a refill while I’m gone.”
“I’m not your fucking assistant,” Lycus grumbles but I walk off with a wave and head toward the back. I take the long hall to the bathrooms but cut right and open a door marked Employees Only.
And find Cara sitting alone in the break room at the single lonely table with a mug of tea in front of her and a mile-long stare.
“You look tired,” I say.
She stares over and looks startled. “Just what every girl wants to hear.”
“How are you settling in?” I step into the room and close the door behind me.
“Fine.” She looks down at the mug. “It’d be easier if you weren’t coming in here every day and watching me. You put everyone on edge.”
“I told you, I have to keep you safe.” Which is only half true. I could assign a soldier to keep tabs on her, or I could simply trust Demetrios-there’s no reason for me to come eat here personally.
I do it because I can’t stop myself.
It’s like a compulsion, this need to be near her.
Even if she’s the source of all my problems.
“Thanks, but things are actually decent.” She leans back and a little smile covers her lips. “I’ve never had a job before.”
“Do you like it?” I walk over to her, my heart hammering. What am I doing back here? Why am I talking to this girl? I should forget all about her, and instead I feel myself burning for her taste again, like a yearning in my guts, like a hunger I can’t shake.
This girl, who ruined my shot with the dockworkers and who made my life that much harder.
This girl, who fucked like a goddess and tasted like syrup.
“Demetrios is really nice, and Ophelia’s really cool. It’s nice to have someone my own age right here, but yeah, she’s also very intense.”
“I’m glad you’re settling in.”
“You’ve done enough for me, you know,” she says and shifts to face me as I stop in front of her. “You’ve done too much, really. I feel like-I feel like I owe you, and I don’t like it.”
“You owe me nothing.” I kneel down and face her, and she stares at me with those beautiful lips hanging open. “You can tell me to leave you alone whenever you choose, and you know I will listen.” I reach out and run a thumb down that lovely mouth-and I think I’ve gone too far, too fast, and I’m only going to scare her away-but before I can pull myself back, her lips part and she leans forward, rolling her tongue around my thumb.
My pulse quickens and blood flows into my cock.
I let out a strangled grunt and she stares at me.
And I see my own desire mirrored in her gaze like she’s been thinking the same things as me all this time.
“I’m not paying you back with this,” she whispers. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I’d never dream of it. I learned my lesson.”
And I bury her mouth with my own.