My cell jerked to life with a text and I thumbed the message open, breathing a little easier when Rick’s update told me no one had been hurt cleaning out the north dock. Mickey would have to be dealt with and fast, before he got too full of himself and thought he was doing something other than being a pain in my ass.
He made Dino bleed. He’d ignored the lesson I’d tried to teach him. This shit was personal now.
I wasn’t a don. I didn’t have a syndicate, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t above handling shit when I needed to. I reminded myself there was more than business I needed to protect now.
This was what I wanted to avoid.
Entanglements.
Complications.
Shit that could get hurt because of me.
Mateo snored, his low, soft breathing evening out as his body relaxed. He’d fallen asleep with his fingers locked around my crucifix, something that had become a habit for the kid.
Something, I was surprised to admit, I started to like.
It felt…good.
Maggie, and this kid, they were everything to me.
“Fuck,” I said to the empty room, wincing when my voice made the kid jerk in his sleep. I eased down onto the cushions, pressing a kiss to his head before I got up, going to the bar in my kitchen, needing a drink.
The television in front of me played a repeat of an old Mayweather fight, but I wasn’t paying attention. Then, the door creaked, the metal hinges whining open. The worry over Maggie I’d felt since she told me about this Reynolds asshole vanished when I spotted her smile and those bright, wide eyes as she looked up at me.
“He said my name?” That smile broad and fucking beautiful. “I…knew it was coming, but…oh, Smoke…” She stepped inside, touching my chest as she passed me, her voice dipping when she spotted Mateo asleep on the sofa. “My mijo…” She was on her knees, hand stretched toward him, fingers in his hair before I had the door shut.
“Yeah. It was wild.”
Maggie turned toward me, her smile not lowering.
It did something to me I couldn’t ignore, seeing her like that. All that pride, how beautiful she looked when she watched her kid beaming the way she did.
I tried like hell not to sound like a mooning asshole when I spoke. “He just pointed right at your picture and out it came. ‘Mama’ over and over like he’d been saying that shit forever.”
She stood, straightening her skirt, her mouth curved as she laughed. She flipped all that thick hair from her shoulder and I caught the sweet scent of her perfume, and I touched her neck, reaching down to kiss her.
“You want a drink?” I didn’t wait for her to answer and moved to my kitchen, being quiet as I pulled out a bottle of wine and poured two glasses.
“Sure, this is worth celebrating.” She nodded a thanks, taking the glass as she leaned against my island.
“This kid, I swear, bella, he’s good for a laugh.”
I inhaled, taking in her scent again, a low grunting noise moving from my throat. “I missed you. I always miss you when you’re gone.”
“I was at the dentist.”
I shook my head, feeling pathetic but still kissed my girl anyway, just a small brush of our lips, then took a drink, watching her. Maggie’s pink tongue slipped past her open mouth, and she moved it along her bottom lip. It was a small tease, the hint of wetness left behind on that full bottom lip, filling my head with shit I wanted to do to her that would probably make her blush. Couldn’t help it. She had that effect on me.
I moved forward, crowding her, forcing her back until she was against the wall. I had her caged with my hands around her, my mouth hovering over hers, just inches away, ready to take everything I wanted.
When I reached for her, my gaze soaking up the twitch moving her lips and Maggie pushed on my chest.
“What are you doing …” she started, eyes closing when I touched her face.
“Look at me,” I told her, awed by how deep my voice sounded, by what she could do to me.
She opened her eyes, swallowing, moving her fingers to my hand. “You…you want me right here?”
Maggie went quiet when I nodded, closing her mouth as though that one gesture and whatever she saw in my face said enough to keep her silent.
I moved her chin up, holding her still, readying to take her lips, to take everything she’d let me have. I kissed her, teeth grazing her lips like I nibbled at fine, decadent chocolate. “Get this straight, bella. I always want you. Every second of every day.”
She made a small noise, half-gasp, half-moan when I kissed her again, then Maggie gripped my collar, like she needed to hang on to me or she’d float away completely. “Smoke…you’re… you’re killing me.”
I took her face in both hands now, my forehead to hers as I inhaled her sweet, rich scent. “I love you, bella and I promise…I’ll make it good for you. Always.”
We moved together, mouth and tongue, teeth and touches, coming at each other in a flash. The noises she made were sweet. I picked her up, sliding her skirt up her thighs, gripping her, groaning when she untucked my shirt, when she pressed against me and I felt all that heat, all that wetness ready and waiting for me.
And then…just like that, someone hammered their fists against my door. I jerked a glare at the intrusion, moving her away from me, pushing down her skirt, nodding her toward the kid without a single word.
“Smoke…” she tried.
I moved my head, ignoring the low curses she whispered when I pulled my nine from my ankle holster and gripped the door handle, looking out of the peep hole.
“Relax,” I told her, as she grabbed a sleeping Mateo, and I pulled the door open, my gun gripped in my hand to let Ricky inside.
My gut knotted when I spotted the blood on the front of his shirt and over the towel he used to clean his hand.
“Boss,” he said, out of breath with his face bruised and bloody. “They got Vin and…” He went quiet when Maggie moved to my side, rocking her boy when the kid started to cry.
“Go clean up,” I told Ricky, nodding him toward the back of my apartment as Maggie’s gaze landed on his shirt and the blood from whatever injury the man had underneath it dripping on my wood floors. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
He moved down the hallway, out of sight, and I stuffed my gun in my waistband, grabbing the door when Maggie reached for it. “Bella…”
“It’s…okay…” she said, still rocking the baby. She glanced at the floor, to the small puddle Rick made, her eyebrows up and complexion pale. “I’ll put him to bed.”
“This isn’t…this is part of keeping everyone safe…” When she only nodded, not looking at my face, I stopped her, pulling her against my chest, my mouth against her ear. “This won’t touch you. I promise. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I…hope you’re right,” she said, pulling away from me. There were tears wetting her eyes, making them shine against the overhead light. I hated that I’d put that fear in her beautiful eyes.
“I promise…I’ll keep you safe. Even if it’s for the best…”
“For the best?” She moved away, curling an arm around the kid, like she wanted to keep him as far away from me as possible. “Toni told me about you and your ‘it’s for the best’ scenarios. What you did to her and Luca…God…”