Page 21 of Ruthless Sinner
“You’ve been calling me a lot lately,” I noted. “Ol’ Vincent too busy picking out flower arrangements for the big day?”
“Miss Preston is perfectly capable of picking out her own flower arrangements,” Toby replied. Toby was always placid, he never let anything get too him. That was why Vincent liked him.
Well, that, and Toby’s insanely unwavering loyalty. If Toby had to pick between my father or the Russo family as a whole and Vincent specifically, he’d pick Vincent every time. True trust was rare in our world. I had to respect Toby for it—even if it pissed me off sometimes. Like tonight.
“Just give me the job,” I growled.
“Of course,” Toby said calmly. I knew he was filing this information away to report to my brother later.Hey, boss, your little bro was real touchy on the phone earlier, I think you should check up on him.“We’re going to need you to deliver a package from one of our shipments to a local shop. No biggie.”
“No biggie?” I snapped irritably. “What do I look like, an errand boy? Give me someone to pop or an actual important shipment—”
Toby sighed. “Mr. Marco, when has your brother ever had you do something that wasn’t important?”
Damn, he did have a point there. Although what delivering a package could possibly mean for our family’s plans, I didn’t know. “All right. Fine. I’ll be there.”
I got the details from him and hung up. Fuck, this whole thing with Kennedy was putting me in a sour mood. I couldn’t afford that. I couldn’t afford distractions on my job, or more friction with my brothers. Something had to be done.
I had to make Kennedy mine.
CHAPTER10
Kennedy
When I walked down the alley the next evening to get into work through the back entrance, Marco was standing there.
He leaned against the brick wall, looking the picture of danger in his black leather jacket and sunglasses.
My heart skipped a beat. Had he found me out? Was he going to kill me here in the alley, just as someone had killed that other stripper?
When Marco saw me, he took off the sunglasses, his eyes slowly taking in my attire. “Hey, baby, you look good.”
That was… probably not what he would’ve opened with if he was planning to kill me. “Thanks.” I was just wearing jeans and a sparkly pink tank top, nothing too special.
Marco hooked his sunglasses into the collar of his shirt. “I heard you had another customer last night.”
“Yeah, some floater businessman.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Nothing special.”
“Hmm.” His eyes flashed with some kind of emotion—jealousy?—then it was gone. “I have to admit, I wasn’t pleased to come in and find you already occupied.”
I shrugged, trying to keep things casual. “Them’s the breaks. It’s my job, the guy paid for the whole night, a girl’s gotta eat.”
The corner of his sensual lips twitched with a semblance of a smile. “What if you didn’t, though? Have to eat?”
I stared at him in confusion. He couldn’t possibly be saying what I thought he was. “What do you mean?”
“You can strip, I don’t mind. But I realized that I very much… do mind you sleeping with someone else.” His gaze held mine intently. “So I’m asking, if I set up an arrangement with you… if you’ll be exclusive. Just for me.”
I blinked at him in surprise. That had been the last thing I’d expected to hear. “So I’ll just be like one of the strippers that works here, but doesn’t go into the backrooms, doesn’t offer any off-the-menu extras.”
He nodded succinctly. “Exactly.”
Well, to be honest, I would be glad that I wouldn’t have to ward off anyone else offering to pay for me—not that anyone had since Marco had staked a claim the first day I’d started working at Cozy Bunny. And my supervisor’s visit, and purchase of my evening, had just been an anomaly.
But… “Why are you offering me this?” I tilted my head at him and put my hands on my hips. “Marco Russo, playboy extraordinaire, mad that a woman is with someone else? Doesn’t seem very fair.”
“Y’know, I told myself that, too.” Marco stepped closer to me and I was again reminded of how damn big and strong he was, how he was basically a wall of muscle. “I told myself that I couldn’t expect you to give up your job, or be exclusively mine if I was with other women. And that’s when I realized I wanted this to be mutual. I haven’t been with anyone else since you and I don’t think I want to.”
“Careful,” I said, my voice coming out softer than I wanted it to, even while my heart was racing. “You sound like you actually want to date me, Marco, and everyone knows that Marco Russo doesn’t do that.”
