Athena
“It was a fucking mistake!” I snapped, feeling irritated at his tone of voice.
Luciano’s eyes narrowed in an icy glare. “Do not talk to me in that tone, Raven.”
Hilarious. He had ignored my presence, walked into his room, and locked himself up like some self-condemned prisoner. And now he thought he could tell me what to do?! I scoffed and rolled my eyes, clearing the mess I had made.
I was tired. I had a damned headache looming in my head, hanging over me like a fucking guillotine. The last thing I needed was a half-tempered man yelling at me.
Luciano watched from the kitchen doors. I could feel his hard gaze on me as I tossed what was supposed to be our dinner- my dinner- into the trash can. My stomach grumbled, but hell it was just a little hunger and I had survived worse.
No thanks to the brute behind me. I marched past him, tired of his looks. He could go to hell for I cared. I was so damn tired of it all.
“Raven,” he called when I was a few steps away. I stilled, refusing to look back at him.
“What?”
“I’ll order dinner,” he grumbled.
Well if that wasn’t such a nice surprise. I whipped my head back to look at him. His eyes held a funny look in them, our eyes held briefly before he looked away.
“I’m not hungry-”
“Don’t make things so fucking hard, Raven. I’ll order dinner, we’ll eat and you’ll get your ass back into my bed.” He ordered.
My brows almost flew off my face to the damned room. He wanted me back in his bed?
“Last I checked, you threw me out didn’t you?”
“I didn’t, I merely gave you your own room.” He muttered.
My eyes ran down his body. The man I had come to know never wore shirts when he was home. Yet he was wrapped in a tank top and sweaty pants, most likely trying to hide all his bruises from me. He could be a master planner and shit like that but there was no way he escaped the shoot-out unscathed.
“I didn’t want my own room,” I retorted.
Luciano sighed and walked towards me gingerly. There was a haunting look in his eyes as he approached. His hands reached out to pat my hair, stroking them lightly with his fingers.
Ah fuck, that felt so good. I leaned into his touch, leaning closer until I could feel the heat radiating off him, I allowed him to tilt my head up so I could look up at him.
“Can you be less prickly tonight, Gonzalez? Please?” He said in a low husky tone that shocked the crap out of me.
Who was this before me and what had they done to the ruthless Mafia Lord I had always known? Where was the bastard who made me work my ass off at a charity ball until I looked like a fucking drenched hobo?
A retort built deep in my throat but I swallowed it down at the look on his face. Something pulled in my chest. Uncomfortable. Sad. I could feel so much all at once and it was overwhelming as fuck.
Sniffing, I humphed and looked away. “Order dinner and I’ll consider it.”
He chuckled and nodded. Whipping out his phone, I watched him call a restaurant ordering steak. My mouth watered in anticipation. A steak didn’t sound so bad.
“Red wine,” I mouthed to him.
His dark eyes winked at me and he nodded. Wow, had I hit my head and was transported to another dimension? One where Luciano was a kind-hearted man and possibly not the murderer of my father.
Snap the hell out of it Athena! My mind screamed, trying to break free from fog or sheer stupidity that dulled my senses. I had to be on alert. I couldn’t, not for one moment, believe that Luciano was an angel.
The man had taken out almost ten people in a firefight a few hours ago. And that was without counting those who were injured. The last thing he was, was a saint. He was the devil. A cold-hearted, ruthless devil!
“Relax,” his deep husky voice reached my ears and I felt a warm large hand close around mine. “It’ll be here soon.”
Bah! As if I was mad about the food. Schooling my features into a false smile, I walked to the living room. He followed closely. A little too close. I wasn’t sure what to make of this new development. I had expected a crazy outburst when he arrived, instead, I was getting mellow looks and puppy gazes.
Eww.
I loved it, but Eww.
“Do you…want to watch something together?” He asked, turning on the TV.
Okay, that was it. “You’re being weird!”
“What does that mean?” Luciano mumbled, turning on the TV and tuning to some station that I simply couldn’t care about.
“That you’re…different. You want to watch a movie with me?” I asked.
“Yes Raven,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “Is that such a bad thing?”
“It is considering you spent the past few days avoiding my ass,” I replied.
His eyes dropped to my waist, burning holes into my skin. A wide grin split his lips widely and I knew he was going to taunt the crap out of me. “I like your ass.”
“That’s not the point, you brute!” I yelled.
“I was busy Raven,” He explained, settling on the couch beside me. “I have a business to run. And I cannot concentrate with you around. You are far too enticing to ignore.”
I arched a brow in disbelief. “It’ll be really funny if you expect me to believe that.”
He sighed and shrugged, leaning his head against the armchair and closing his eyes. The tired lines on his face became quite visible and I felt a pang- only a pang, nothing more- at seeing the vulnerability on his face.
The doorbell rang, alerting us that our dinner had arrived. Luciano tried to get it but I rose quickly.
“You’re tired,” I grumbled, not willing to admit that I was doing anything out of consideration for him. “I’ll get it.”
“Thank you, Gonzalez. What a fine assistant you are-”
“Oh for fuck sake, stop. You’re making me nauseous,” I fake gagged.
The bastard laughed gleefully then winced as if he pulled a sore muscle. I stuck my tongue at him before waltzing to the door with a spring to my step.
“Delivery!” The young guy at the door announced, a wide grin on his face.
“Wow, it’s not every day we get a chirpy delivery dude,” I teased, retrieving the package from him. He was quite good-looking. His shaggy blonde hair and pretty blue eyes made him look quite stunning. “Or a hot one either.”
“All to get that five-star recommendation, my good lady!” The delivery man replied brightly, throwing a wink my way.
“Oh, you’ve got it definitely. Keep going around and you’ll have the hearts of half the women in New York I’m sure.”
He chuckled, leaning closer until I got a whiff of a rather spicy perfume. “Do I have your heart then?”
I licked my lips as I contemplated my response. Should I flirt back? I needed to be touched so badly and while of course there was Luciano to consider, I couldn’t allow myself to get swayed by his horrid charms.
“Raven, quit flirting with the delivery boy and get your ass in here!” Luciano thundered.
I glared at him over my shoulder, unimpressed by the anger scribbled all over his face. He was acting like a petulant child!
“Ah,…possessive boyfriend you got there,” the delivery man said with a good-natured smile. “He’s a keeper.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” I said in reply, giving him a thankful smile before closing the door. “What’s your problem?”
“What’s my problem?!” He thundered, eyes flashing in anger. “How about the fact that you tend to flirt with every dick you come across?!”
“I do not!” I snapped. ” And did you just call me a whore?”
“Oh, I don’t know Raven!” He roared. “Did you just flirt with the fucking delivery kid?”
“He’s not even a kid!”
“That doesn’t make it any better Raven! Fuck! I feel like you do this shit on purpose!” He sighed. Holding out his hands, “Just give me the damned food!”
Angry, I stomped towards him and tossed the package at him. “Take your fucking food! I don’t understand why you’re screaming at me, and I do not fucking like it!”
“Then please Cara, what on earth do you like?!” He bellowed, rising to his feet.
“I treat you like an angel, you get suspicious! I show you how much I fucking want you and you pull away from me. You are like the ocean, constantly pushing and pulling away from me! What the hell do you want Raven Gonzalez?!”