Minka fights laughter. “Tell me your parents didn't really name you Frank and Dino.”
I give her a dark frown, and she laughs. Right in my damn face too. With anyone else, I’d want blood. With Minka, I fucking laugh along with her. The woman has too much power, and I just keep handing her more.
“What would they have named girls?”
“Francesca and Dina.”
“Of course.”
Playing with her wet hair, I sigh. “You know, if I’d had a little sister to protect, I might have never gotten my start in the mob.”
Minka studies me with her dark eyes, and I know she’s considering pushing the topic of my brother. Now I’ve given her another possible line of interrogation. Will she take it or make me squirm?
“Why a sister?” she asks, giving me a break.
“I always wanted a little sister to protect. It was just Frankie and me, though. So I was protective of the younger girls in the neighborhood. One day when I was fifteen, I saw some local guys I knew. They weren’t friends, but it’s the type of neighborhood where you know everyone. While I was riding my bike, I noticed them teasing a girl named Shannon. They were crowding her and corralling her towards the backyard belonging to one of the guys.”
“Sounds like a nice place to grow up,” she says, tapping my chest with her long fingers.
“It was picturesque. You’d like it.”
“Of course I would,” she whispers against my lips. “Now, why can’t you lie like that for me?”
Kissing her softly, I wrap my hands possessively around her waist. “I promise I’ll lie my ass off next time you ask about your shitty music.” Minka smiles and relaxes back into the water. After dipping her hair into the pool, she glances at the hot tub.
“Let’s relax while you tell me the rest of your story.”
I watch her slide through the water towards the steps. She’s temptation personified. When she smiles at me over her shoulder, I feel weak and desperate. Is she the devil?
I join her in the bubbling hot tub. She leans back and lets her sexy body slide under the water until only her head remains afloat.
“Those boys were trying to get Shannon into a backyard. What happened next?”
Under the water, my fingers find hers. Minka’s dark eyes warm, but she only waits for me to tell the rest of my story.
“I wasn’t the powerhouse I am now. Some might even say I was scrawny, but Mom told me I was scrappy. When Frankie and I fought, he always won but only after I hurt him.”
As a smile lingers on her face, Minka slides closer.
“I had to challenge those guys, but I knew I was gonna bleed too. There were four of them, and they were seniors.”
“But you had to do it.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
Still smiling, Minka nods. I study her expression for too long, but she’s fucking ravishing when wet.
“They had Shannon backed against a gate, so they never saw me coming. I got the drop on one of them. The leader, I guess. I kicked him into the fence, and he hit his head. I grabbed some rocks from the house’s garden and threw them at the other guys. They were coming at me by then, and Shannon was smart enough to make a run for it. I only needed to get away myself at that point. I figured they’d chase me home where Mom would yell at them for bothering her boy. Sounded easy, but one of them was a tackle on the high school football team, and he crushed me.”
Minka’s fingers wrap around mine under the bubbles. She’s consoling the kid in me who played hero and got his ass kicked for the trouble.
“I don’t know what might have happened if I hadn’t been a scrappy fucker. I was pissed about them messing with Shannon. I was even pissed that they were causing Missus Waller’s yard to get torn up. I started kicking and hitting anything around me. Frankie claimed I looked like I was having a conniption fit when he showed up. I know I bit one guy and grabbed another guy’s balls. I was twisting those balls when my brother got there. Frankie didn’t have to do much. Those fuckers were already hurting and thought I was crazy. Once they saw I had backup from my big brother, they bailed on the fight.”
“How did that lead you to your line of work?”
“Got me noticed by the Morelli mob. I was still young, but I got a rep for being willing to go ugly to get shit done.”
“Yeah, the biting definitely makes you stand out,” she teases, kissing my shoulder. “Who was your first target?”
“A nobody used car salesman banging the wrong guy’s wife.”
“How did you do it?”
“Made it look like a break-in. Did it with a bat.”
“How did you feel afterward?”
“Numb, I guess. Not really guilty. Just strange that a person was part of this world and then he wasn’t.”
Minka studies me. “Did it make you feel powerful?”
“Not really. The way people respected me gave me power.”
“I always feel more powerful by getting away with stuff than from the actual stuff I do.”