The Hitman's Dancer: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Snake Eyes Book 2) (21 page)

I smile. “Point taken.”

“It’s the same principle. You don’t want the first real punch you throw to be the first time you really need it to land. If you hesitate at all, they’ll take advantage of it. Action beats reaction every time.”

“Okay.” I reach down for my own water stashed by the chair leg. “I’ll do it.”

Dante wipes the sweat from his brow and walks over to kneel down in front of me, planting himself in my eye line. “Your size already puts you at a disadvantage,” he says. “Generally speaking, you never want to pick a fight with someone bigger than you but there aren’t a whole lot of ninety-pound, five-foot-tall gangsters out there.”

I chuckle and take a sip of water. “I’m five-
six
, thank you very much…”

“But you can still keep the upper hand,” he continues, smiling. “Your reflexes can take you pretty far but you have to work on your speed.”

I nod, listening carefully. He’s mentioned variations of this to me since the first day we started. I’m small, damaged, and weaker than most men. I may never be large, undamaged, or stronger but that doesn’t mean I have to lose.

“Winning requires control,” he says. “Control over your opponent as well as yourself. The second you lose either one, the fight is over.”

I set my bottle on the floor again. “Got it.”

“And if you do, there’s no shame in running away.”

“Have
you
ever run away from a fight?”

“No,” he says, “but I can think of plenty of times when I should have.” I think of the scars on his body and I can tell he’s thinking about them, too. His eyes fall and he reaches for my calf, wrapping both hands around it to massage the muscle beneath. “How’s it feel in there?”

“Okay,” I answer, focusing on my knee. The dull pain has subsided and I feel nothing but the satisfying rub of his fingers.

“Ready to go again?”

I nod and he lets go of me. “As long as I get more of that massage later.”

“You disarm me, Lucy, and I’ll do so much more than massage that body of yours.”

“Noted.” I stand in front of him and he grabs his gun again.

“Here we go—”

He raises it and points it at me. Before he can even take a breath, I reach out and snatch it, yanking him off balance and throwing a firm punch to his jaw. I grab the gun with both hands, twist it from his grip, and spin away before he can react.

His eyes grow wide and he raises his hands in surrender as I point the gun at his face. “Okay…” he smiles and rubs the side of his jaw. “That wasn’t bad.”

I laugh at the adrenaline rush tingling my nerves. “Yeah,” I breathe. “Not bad.”

***

I’d almost forgotten how satisfying it felt to train my body. I’ve missed that harsh muscle burn; the one that lingers inside days after exercise. A gentle reminder of how far I’ve come and how much further I have to go. It feels amazing to be in-between those worlds again rather than lagging behind them.

But not as amazing as Dante’s hands gliding across my wet skin.

Steam rises off the bathwater around us. I hum softly, relaxing even more against his chest, lying my head back on his hard shoulder. “That’s nice…”

Dante digs his thumbs a little deeper into my back, just an inch or two above the shoulder blades. “Here?” he asks.

“Mmm hmmm…”

He chuckles and continues to rub the knot beneath the surface. His lips fall to my neck and he leaves a trail of kisses up to my earlobe. I fall even deeper into my relaxed state, closing my eyes and listening to the soft thumping of my heart beating in my chest.

“Lucy?”

I try to respond but I can’t will myself out of the deep, blissful coma.

“Lucy?”

His hands dip into the water, sliding down my body to cup my breasts and give them a squeeze. I chuckle softly, enjoying the groping, letting him do as he wants with me. He nibbles at the flesh of my neck and draws me even closer to his body as his hand reaches between my thighs.

My sigh becomes a moan as his fingertip touches my clit. “What are you doing?” I ask, lifting my head and gazing back at him.

“I thought it was obvious,” he jokes, crushing his lips against mine while his fingers tap a little more.

I laugh, kissing him back. Pleasure burns inside of me, taking me over until he suddenly stops and his hands glide back up to my shoulders. “You
tease
…”

He presses his lips against my shoulder and laughs with me. “You’ve called me worse things.”

“Can’t argue that…” I latch onto the sides of the bathtub and pull myself away from him, pivoting around to the opposite side to face him. “What’s your favorite so far?”

He searches his memory. “Let’s see…” I extend my foot to his lap and he takes it in his hands. His lips curl.
“Two-bit Chicago thug with a gun to replace his balls
definitely stands out.”

I laugh, blood rushing to my cheeks. “That feels like so long ago now.”

“It was,” he says, pressing a line up the arch of my foot. “Time moves quite differently in my line of work.”

“Yeah, I understand why you just wanted to get laid that night,” I joke. “I doubt you would have bothered with me if you knew how much trouble I’d be.”

His eyes stay soft on me. “It was never just about getting laid with you, Luce.”

“Bullshit.”

He shakes his head. “It really wasn’t.” His chest rises and falls. “I mean, sure… you were hot and I
desperately
wanted to fuck you, but…” I kick my heel against his tattooed chest, laughing at him. He takes my foot again and his smile fades. “But I saw that portrait of you in your father’s office and… it reminded me of a simpler time. A life gone cold.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, studying his warm, blue eyes.

Dante pauses and reaches below the water for my other foot. “My mother was a dancer, like you.”

“Really?”

He nods. “We were on our way home from one of her performances when we crashed.”

My heart bleeds for him. I open my mouth to say something but I can’t find the right words.

His thumbs roll over my the ball of my foot, gently pressing in as his gaze lingers on the water between us. “Eli and Lilah don’t remember much about her dancing but I used to watch her practice.” He smiles at the memory. “She had to do it late at night because she had no time during the day between taking care of us and other responsibilities and I could never sleep even back then, so…” He pauses to look at me and I can’t stop the smile from touching my lips.

“So, I reminded you of her?” I ask.

“You? Oh, god.
No.
” He shakes his head. “No, my mother was graceful and elegant and poised and—” I kick him again and he laughs at me. “Well-mannered, beautiful, smart—”

“I will drown you in this tub!” I warn.

“You’re willing to try.”

I lunge forward and he takes me into his arms as I wrap my hands around his thick shoulders. Water spills off the sides as I try to wrestle him downward but he doesn’t budge an inch. Finally, I fall against him and he kisses me in victory.

“Jackass…”

He grins. “Oh, that’s a new one. I like that.”

“Do you?” I quip. “How about
cocksucker
? Do you like the sound of that one?”

“You know I do,” he winks.

“Limp dick piece-of—”

His jaw drops. “
Limp dick?”

I laugh. “Oh, have I gone too far?”

“I might have to get out the handcuffs again for that one.”

“Promise?”

Dante takes my face in his hands and pulls me back in for a hard kiss. More water tumbles over the sides as I shift to straddle him and pin him to the edge. We hold each other in a wet embrace, passing sweet kisses back and forth. My stomach lurches as he cups my ass and quickly stands up, carrying me with him as he steps out of the tub.

Water drips off our bodies, gently tapping against the hardwood floor as he takes us down the hall to the bedroom.

***

Dante’s hand shoots forward, reaching for my neck.

I dodge, twisting around to land a backhanded punch to his face. It’s a glancing blow, just barely scratching his temple as he springs away. I use the short moment of imbalance to launch forward and shove him back even more, leaping vertically to kick him hard in the chest.

Dante grunts in surprise and stumbles to one knee. I stand above him, digging my feet into the floor as I pull back my hand to deliver another punch. He looks up just in time and grabs my fist, jerking me down. I grit my teeth as I fall to the floor and he moves to pin me down with a smug look on his face. I perform a quick spin, taking him by surprise as he falls to his side and I force him onto his back instead.

I slam my palms against his shoulders and lean all the way down to kiss him. He holds my face, breathing hard as he laughs between kisses.

“How did I do?” I ask, righting myself on his hard waist.

“Good. Well…” he chuckles. “Usually, you wouldn’t make-out with your opponent once they’re pinned… but, yeah. Good.”

“I guess I shouldn’t kiss you again then,” I joke. “Wouldn’t want to develop a habit for it.”

He leans up. “I think we can make an exception, just this once.”

I laugh and kiss him again, feeling the sweat on his skin.

The roar of incoming motorcycles fills our ears and Dante’s brow twitches with excitement I rarely see. We jump off the floor and walk outside onto the porch as the two bikes come speeding up the driveway and park side-by-side near the house.

Dante smiles as Elijah and Lilah dismount. “Well, this is unexpected.”

Elijah pulls off his helmet and sets it on his bike. His eyes study me as he steps closer. “Ditto,” he says. “I guess I don’t have to ask how the knee is…”

“It’s fine,” I answer, performing a quick with my heel.

Lilah joins us and Dante’s face twitches as the large, purple bruise above her right eye comes into the light. “Do I have to ask?”

She lets out a thin growl. “No.”

“Lilah got beat up by a girl,” Elijah says, not even trying to retain his grin.

She shoots him a hard glance. “Just…
don’t.
”

Dante’s cheeks twitch with delight. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” she mutters. “Not worth getting into right now.”

Elijah leans over whisper. “A girl with a
boy’s name
—”

“Elijah,”
she snaps.

Dante chuckles, shaking his head. “You’re okay, though?”

“I’ll live.” Her attention shifts to me and she looks me up and down. “What’s going on here?”

“Just doing a bit of training,” I answer, wiping a bead of sweat from my brow.

“Training for what?”

I pause to glance at Dante and he looks between his siblings. “Your timing is pretty good, actually,” he tells them. “We could use your help.”

The twins exchange a quick look before their lips curl with curiosity.

Chapter 21

Dante

“Security,” Lilah says. “And lots of it.”

I look up from my seat at the kitchen table, watching as Lilah and Elijah stand side-by-side, practically finishing each other’s sentences as they report back what they found on their impromptu trip to Chicago. When I told them about Lucy’s desire to kill Marty Zappia, they didn’t ask questions. They hopped back on their bikes and left — knowing exactly what to look for when planning a hit.

“They added more when they suspected the Lutrovas were in town,” I note. “It’s not surprising they doubled up after finding out I was undercover for months.”

Elijah shakes his head. “They didn’t just
double-up
…”

“This was full-on Fort Knox,” Lilah adds. “We couldn’t even get close to the casino.”

I pause to look at Lucy sitting beside me. She’s leaning forward with wide eyes, hanging on every word they say. “Why not?”

“They were checking everyone for tattoos,” Elijah explains. “Zappia’s casino is officially a snake-free zone.”

Lilah smirks at me. “You
really
pissed them off, big brother.”

“I can imagine.” I reach for Lucy’s hand beneath the table and her little fingers settle against mine. “What about Marty’s rebellion?”

Elijah shrugs. “We asked around, but…”

“There was nothing,” Lilah says. “Whatever Baby Zappia was planning, it seems to have been forced to the back burner for now.”

Lucy’s hand twitches. “Or he changed his mind,” she says, her voice laced with ice. “He might have mentioned a change of heart while he was
beating
me.”

“In either case, there didn’t seem to be much of a family feud going on,” Lilah says. “In fact, word is they’ve gotten awfully
cozy
inside the freshly fortified walls of their casino.”

“There are tunnels underground,” I recall. “Used to smuggle booze back in the day. They must be using them to get around without going outside.”

“They’ve run scared to the depths of them then,” Elijah says. “The oldest brother leaves every so often to do some business at his restaurant with two very large men at his back but little Marty hasn’t been seen outside for weeks. Daddy, too.”