I could feel Luke preparing to go gonzo when I heard Shirleen say, “I would think this was f**kin’ hilarious, standin’ around chatting about f**kin’ Catholic classes, but there’s a shithead out there and we’re givin’ him plenty of time to get away after he put his hand down my girl’s pants!”

When she stopped talking, she was shouting. One thing you could count on, that was Shirleen bringing the matter to hand.

“Luke,” Lee said and he and Vance moved toward us.

Thankfully, I figured this meant the latest drama was at an end.

“Right,” Luke muttered and tore his angry gaze away from Uncle Vito and looked at me. “I came by to tell you not to do anything stupid, because I know you’re gonna do somethin’ stupid.”

“I am so sure,” I snapped, unable to stop myself.

He curled me so I was facing his body. “Whatever the day brings, babe, at the end of it, we’re together. Got me?”

That took the wind out of my sails, mainly because I liked what he said. “Well then, okay,” I still sounded kinda bitchy but my heart wasn’t in it.

“I don’t like what you’re doin’ but enough time has been wasted so there isn’t any left to argue about it,” Luke told me.

I nodded.

“You wanna stay at the hotel again?” Luke asked.

I shook my head. “I think we should stay here. I don’t want to be scared of my own house.”

It was his turn to nod, his face started to get soft and his eyes warm and I was relieved he understood. Then he bent his head and touched his mouth to mine.

“Stay close to Tex, Duke or Jules,” he said, face still close.

“Jules isn’t um… working in the field during this operation,” I mentioned, my eyes slid to Vance, I bit the uninjured part of my lip and looked back at Luke. “You… erm… know why. Jules and I decided she’s in charge of Command Central.”

The angry went out of Luke’s face and body.

“Ava Babe,” was all he said, but he said it in The Voice and my knees wobbled.

“Luke,” Lee pressed, still standing close and breaking the moment.

Luke didn’t look at Lee as he said to me, “Gotta go.”

I nodded again.

“Stay safe,” he finished.

Then he touched his mouth to mine and was gone.

Vance stopped at me before he took off. I held my breath as, blank faced but eyes intense, he reached out, took a lock of my hair and tugged it.

Then he was gone too.

I let out my breath.

Dom led Sissy to my side, his eyes on my closed front door.

“You give Stark that hickey?” Dom asked me.

Oh shit, not the hickey again.

I turned to glare at him but he just grinned at me.

“Nice,” he said, nodding slowly.

That’s when Sissy pulled out from his arm and punched him in the stomach.

“Now that’s what I call nice,” Tex boomed.

I burst out laughing.

“The family meeting is gonna be interesting,” Duke noted, a huge smile on his face as he looked at a doubled over Dom, Sissy standing beside him hands on hips, wearing the Sissy Glare.

Ren ignored this, approached and pulled me into his arms and held on tight. “Been wanting to do this since you walked in,” he said quietly in my ear.

I sighed, deep and huge, mainly because I just realized that Ren gave good hugs.

After awhile, I told his neck in a soft voice. “You know, you shouldn’t be hugging me.”

“I know and I don’t give a f**k,” Ren replied.

Oh well, Luke was gone, just this once. My arms went around him and I squeezed.

“You’re a good guy,” I whispered.

“Yeah. Too good. I wanted to give you time after Dexter. You needed it. I shouldn’t have given it. I should have moved in.”

He was right. He should have moved in. However, if he had I wouldn’t have had my chance with Luke. There was no way to tell if Ren and I would have been better or worse so there was no reason to dwell.

“Could I talk you into handing Noah over to the police if you catch him?” I asked.

Ren’s head came up. He looked me in the eyes then he shook his head.

“You’re going to hand him over to Luke?”

Still silent, Ren nodded.

“Men,” I sighed.

Ren’s hand came up and he touched the cut on my lip. His eyes got scary angry for a brief flash before he hid it.

“Be safe, Ava,” he said softly and finished. “Be happy.” Then he pulled away and nodded to Dom. “Let’s go.”

“Sissy –” Dom started.

“Save it for the family meeting,” Sissy snapped.

“Sis, baby,” Dom tried again.

“Save it!” Sissy repeated, this time on a hiss.

“Save it, Dominic. Yeesh, you give me heartburn,” Uncle Vito broke in, patting his heart with his hand. “Been givin’ me heartburn for years. Lorenzo, when you’re head of this family beware, it comes with heartburn. Now, let’s go.”

Eek.

Ren’s future included Head of the Zano Family. Thoughts of me in pressed slacks and flouncy blouses doing lunch with the ladies in between Botox injections paraded through my head. I had to admit, I was pretty glad I had dodged that bullet.

“Don’t even think about it,” Ren muttered, close and bent low to my ear. “I become head of the family, first order of business is have Dom whacked so no heartburn. Second, buy a house on St. John where we would live for half the year, drinking rum for breakfast and f**king under the stars.”

His head came up. I blinked at him. He smiled at me and it was an ultra sexy smile.

My heart started racing.

Uncle Vito led the way and then they were gone.

“Now, can we get to the business of findin’ this jerk off?” Tex asked impatiently, looking like he was about ready to come out of his skin.

“You okay?” Sissy asked, voice filled with concern.

No, I wasn’t okay. All of a sudden, my mind was filled with ha**ng s*x with Ren under a warm, balmy, tropical, starry night and they were happy thoughts.

If Luke knew, he’d have a shit fit.

“Yeah,” I lied, taking in her pale face. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she lied back.

We looked at each other a beat then, even though there was nothing funny and definitely nothing happy about our situation just because we’d survived yet again, we grinned.

Chapter Twenty-Five