Dangerous Flames (Mafia Hearts) (19 page)

The
door swung open. A young, bouncy nurse, with a name tag that read
Macy, scrunched up her cute face as her eyes focused on the cup Leon
held in his hand. “Mr. Russo, hospital food and drink only.
Coffee is on the taboo list.” She made a beeline for his
coffee.

He
quickly brought it to his lips, flinching at the pain as he drained
the cup. Putting the empty cup into her outstretched hand, he said,
“Drank it all. Sorry. I’ll remember your rule for next
time.”

Enrico
let out a rumbling laugh.

“
How
do you expect to get better?” She tossed the paper cup into the
trash.

“
My
stomach isn’t the broken part.” Leon tried to laugh again
but coughed instead. His face froze with pain as he laid his head
against the pillow. His eyes drifted shut.

Nurse
Macy took a digital thermometer out of her pocket and stuck the
rubber end into his ear. Her foot tapped the tile as she waited. When
the thermometer beeped, she scribbled the numbers on a paper attached
to the clipboard. Leon kept his eyes closed as the nurse took his
blood pressure and pulse on a machine. She scribbled more notes
before turning toward the door.

“
Macy?”
Leon opened his eyes a slit.

She
stopped at the door, a flicker of annoyance swam in her eyes. “Yes?”
Her mouth turned up in a smile sweet smile, showing perfect teeth and
deep dimples. Not Enrico’s type of girl at all.

“
I
need something for the pain.” His face scrunched up again, his
head dropping back against the pillow.

“
Not
for another two hours. Sorry,” she said with a shrug of her
petite shoulders.

“
Just
shoot me!” The words came out in one big breath.

“
I
don’t make the rules, Mr. Russo.” She spun on her heel
and pulled the door until it softly clicked shut behind her.

Enrico
rubbed his hand over his head where hair should’ve been. He
frowned. “A set up, eh?” The words were more for himself
than Leon.

Leon
nodded but kept his eyes closed. “It’s one of our men but
not Rif.” His hand gripped the bedrail. “Probably not
anyone present.”

“
They
snuck in, killed Wil, and then loosened the bolts. We’ve been
using the warehouse for a while now and this is the first incident.”
He finished off his coffee, throwing the empty cup into the
wastebasket while wishing for more. He’d need all of the
caffeine he could get. This was going to be a very long day.

“
Sorry,
but you’re the target, Rico.” He opened his pain-clouded
eyes. “Have you heard from my son yet?”

Enrico
shook his head. “Have you?”

“
No.
My cell doesn’t work in here. Can you try to call him again?”

“
Sure.
I’ll stop by his house if I don’t get a hold of him on
the phone. If he’s not there, I think we should be concerned.”
Enrico shifted his body, trying to get comfortable in the hard chair.
He hated hospitals and was surprised he had been there as long as he
had. “I need to get moving. Do you want me to send anything
over to you?”

“
Send
over my goumada.”

“
What?
You’re half dead and you want to have your mistress over?”
Enrico laughed as he walked around the bed, heading to the door, so
he was closer to the door. If the old guy requested pussy, he’d
make it through this.

“
Come
on. Send one over for me.”

Enrico
laughed again. He’d do whatever Leon wanted. “Who?”

“
Zara.
She’ll be really good at taking care of me while I’m in
this condition.”

Enrico
poured Leon a glass of water and set it on the bed table. “I’ll
tell her to come over here before I leave for the vault today.”

Leon’s
hand holding the cup of water froze half way to his mouth. “You
don’t want to wait for me to get out of this place?”

“
We
need to go before the storm gets too bad.”

Leon
tried to shift his weight around on the bed but really couldn’t
with his leg in the sling. He fiddled with the buttons on the bed
controls, raising the top part of his bed. “I’ll be out
soon.”

“
When
you are, you’ll need to take it easy. We haven’t been up
there for a while, Leon. I need to make sure nobody has snooped
around.”

Leon
was one of the few guys who knew where the vault had been set up and
both men agreed that very few should have that knowledge. He’d
have to replace Leon’s help with one of another one of the
captains. Waiting for Leon could eliminate one more person knowing
the location. Maybe he would wait.

Chapter Eleven

Mik
rushed over the threshold cradling something bundled under his
t-shirt and the gun in his free hand. “I want you to learn
something from this, okay?”

Her
heart drummed in her chest with fear as she looked at the spot where
the object remained hidden under his shirt. It took a minute to
process his words. When she finally did, she instinctively widened
her eyes, asking, “Yeah?”

“
If
you hear something, check it out. If it’s a person out to get
you and you don’t kill them first, they’ll kill you.”
The thing in his shirt moved.

“
Okay.”
She took a step backward. Had Mikolas just murdered someone?

“
I’m
sure you’re a big target since your father runs a crime family
so
always
try to remember that.” The thing moved around more.

“
Thanks
for scaring the shit out of me, Mik. Much appreciated.” She
looked back at the round thing he was hiding. “What did you
find out there? I didn’t hear any fighting.”

He
laughed. “You’ll like it, I’m sure.” He
reached under his shirt and took out a white kitten. “She’s
freezing.”

The
kitten blinked up at her as she let out a soft meow. Gabrielle took
it out Mik’s hands and held the wet kitten against her chest.
The precious little thing made the tension roll off Gabrielle. “But
we are in the middle of no-where. Where did it come from?”

“
Probably
from another vacation home out here. She got out and couldn’t
find her way home before the snow began. This can’t be the only
one on the mountain. What do you want to name her?”

“
Icy”

“
Nice
name.”

Gabrielle
looked over at Mik in time to see him peel his wet t-shirt off of his
skin and lift it over his head, revealing the perfect mixture of tan,
toned muscle. He toed off his shoes and perched them against the
bricks of the fire place even though the fire had gone out long ago.
She let her gaze travel down the length of his body, settled on the
round shape of his butt. She gulped back desire and reminded herself
that they were just friends.

“
Can
I take the candle in the other room, so you can undress in privacy?”
She snuggled the kitten but kept her gaze on him.

Motioning
toward the bedroom, he said, “Go back to bed. I’ll be in
there in a minute.” His muscles tightened as he bent into the
fireplace to restart the fire. “Make sure the kitten stays
under the quilt so she’ll dry.”

“
But
I need the candle.” How could she tell him? The truth stayed
glued to the tip of her tongue.

“
I
need extra light for a minute. Wait in here until I’m changed
and have the fire started,” he said.

“
But
I don’t want to be out here when you undress.” Only
because she didn’t think she’d be able to keep her hands
off of him. She found it hard enough to do with him being shirtless.
Leaning her hip against the chair, she sighed.

With
the fire slowly started to burn, sending a glow in the living room,
he stood up and flicked the button of his wet pants. Her thighs grew
warm as she watched him push the pants over his hips and then his
thighs. Her nipples puckered against the thin tank top as the pants
dropped down to the floor, landing in a bunch around his bare feet.
The kitten she held against her chest helped hide her obvious arousal
brought on by the white boxer briefs contouring around every curve of
his lean thighs and butt.

As
he grabbed the clean pair of pants, his eyebrows furrowed as he
glanced up at her. “You confuse me.”

Her
breath caught in her throat. “What-what do you mean?” She
wanted to snap her gaze from the bulge in his underwear but couldn’t
take her eyes off him. Her cheeks flushed as she moved her stare from
his package, up over his chest, and let it settle on his face.

“
You
make me come here, ask if I am attracted to you but would rather
freeze in order to sleep alone. Now you don’t want to be alone
at night but don’t want to be in the same room as me while we
are awake.” His hands clasped his hands around his hips as he
stared at her.

Even
though he didn’t seem mad, shame heated her cheeks. Gabrielle
looked down at the floor and then at Mik. “You’re right.
I have been acting a bit weird.” She was sorry, but it was the
only way to fight off the craving she had gnawing at her every second
she was around him. If she could just touch him, love him then the
ache would go away, and she’d be fine. He clouded her brain,
messed up her judgment, and made her pulse race.

“
Then
stop fucking around with me, Gabi. You’re a woman and I’m
a man. Why is it so hard to see me in my underwear?” His hand
shot up in the air in frustration. “It’s not like it’s
the first time you’ve ever seen a man.”

She
flushed and turned away for a minute. Her gaze turned icy as she
stared at him again. “You said we should only be friends. Why
should I gawk at you in your tighty-whities when nothing can ever
happen with us?”

He
rubbed his hands over his eyes and then down his cheeks. The creases
in his forehead disappeared as he straightened his face out. He
actually looked shocked with his mouth hanging open. “I said we
should start off as friends. You came to the decision of only friends
all on your own, sweetheart.”

“
I’m
going to bed.” She snatched the candle from where he had set it
on the mantle and spun on her heel. The kitten snuggled closer to her
chest as she longed for the electricity to come back on.

“
I’m
sleeping in my tighty-whities whether you like it or not.” The
words he called out to her followed her into the bedroom and if the
dark didn’t bother her so much, she would’ve shut the
door behind her to put a stronger barrier between them. At the
moment, it would only take one touch from him to break through the
last of her resolve.

****

Mikolas
didn’t even knock and wait for the person to answer as all good
visitors would. He quickly twisted the knob and pushed the front door
of the apartment open with his black leather boot then stepped inside
with his Glock loaded, cocked, and ready to snuff out a life. It was
the first hit he’d been assigned and he had a hell of a lot to
prove not only to his crew, to the rival Family, but most of all, to
himself.

The
Mark sat on the couch in the living room with a 40 ounce bottle of
Old English beer in one hand and an overflowing sub-sandwich in the
other. A glob of mayo looked like jiz against the black fabric of his
t-shirt. Mikolas didn’t know the man’s name nor did he
care. Wide, surprised eyes with the skin in between the Mark’s
eyebrows wrinkling as he stared at Mikolas. He jaw flexed as he
chewed the bite he’d taken right when Mikolas had entered
unannounced. “Who the fuck’er you?” the man asked
around the chunk of sandwich in his mouth before swallowing.

“
The
bad guy your mother warned you about when you were two.” As
soon as he pulled the trigger everything went into slow motion. The
bullet whizzed out of the barrel and straight to the guy. It tore at
his chest as if it was an animal, hungry for his flesh. Blood sprayed
while Mikolas smiled with triumph. He’d done it. The Family
would be proud.

He
turned toward the door just as the little girl walked into the living
room. She stared up at him with the bluest eyes he’d ever seen
and knew he had washed all of the innocence from them in one second.

“
What’s
wrong with my daddy?”

Mikolas
jumped up from the bed, his heart pounding in his chest. Sweat
dripped off his forehead even though the temperature had dropped in
the room. He ran his fingers through his damp hair.