Free Lust for Danger: A Mafia Romance -- Book One: The Family [Erotic Mafia Romance Book] by Angela Jordan

his voice – pleasingly low, with a bit of gruffness to it that gave it the slightest edge. It was strong, smooth and sexy, all at the same time.
     
    “Listen, Jessica,” he continued, “I can’t talk much right now. I’ve got someone waiting to speak to me outside my office. Please do come back to the club sometime – I meant what I said in that card, you know. Get some rest, and feel better.”
     
    “Sure…” she trailed off. Somehow, she wasn’t ready for the conversation to end – but she didn’t know what to say to keep it going. On an impulse, she blurted out something without thinking about it.  “…How about tonight?” she said.
     
    There was a pause on the other end of the line. She could picture Dom smiling to himself. “Tonight?” he said, with a hint of amusement in his voice. “You’re really up for another night out after last night?”
     
    “Uh… sure!” she chirped, grimacing and kicking herself for being so hasty to speak. The truth was, she didn’t feel at all like she was up to another night of dancing and drinking – not in her current condition. But from his reply, it seemed Dominic somehow understood this.
     
    “I’ve got a better idea,” he said. “Why don’t you come down to the restaurant next door to the club – say, 8pm? We can talk over dinner, away from all the music.”
     
    She breathed a sigh of relief. “Dinner sounds perfect,” she said. “What’s the name of the restaurant?”
     
    “Don’t worry,” he said, laughing softly. “It’s right next to my club. You won’t miss it. I’ll see you tonight, Jessica. Take care.”
     
    “Take care…” she repeated, and kept holding the phone to her ear long after he hung up. She stared off into space like that for a while, her confused mind trying to understand just what she was doing – and just what she might be getting herself into.
     
    But it was impossible. She couldn’t predict the future – much less figure out exactly why she was drawn to Dominic the way she was. But one thing was for sure, she knew. She’d made her choice, and now it remained to be seen what would happen next.
     
    She’d chosen her path, thrown the dice – and now there was no going back.
     
     

Chapter Thirteen
     
     
    Carlo hated coming to Fiumicino.
     
    It was no secret within the organization, either – he’d put in his time at the docks as a newbie, just like everyone else, but as soon as that time was up he’d told Dominic in no uncertain terms that he wanted as little to do with Fiumicino as possible.
     
    There was no good in this place. It wasn’t the filth that got to him, not the smell of fish and blood that seemed to linger in the air and fill your pores so deeply you still smelled it the next day. It wasn’t even the dangerous work that went on there, with young guys getting hurt or arrested – or worse – what seemed like every other day.
     
    No, the thing about Fiumicino that made Carlo’s stomach turn more than anything else was the grim sense of resignation, of melancholy, that he saw on people’s faces who worked there. It was like the whole dockyard was full of ghosts. This work ate you up from the inside, and you could see the toll it took on a human soul just by looking into the face of a man who’d been working there a few years.
     
    Carlo understood that the work was necessary. An organization like the Pirelli family needed diverse streams of income, number one, and the dockwork was extremely profitable even when other avenues of moneymaking temporarily tried up. Number two, the import/export business kept the family well-stocked with anything they might need: illegal shipments of booze, cartons of cigarettes, even fur coats for the wives of politicians Dom wanted to bribe. It was helpful to have a steady supply of “whatever was needed” right at the family’s fingertips.
     
    Little did Carlo realize, it was this second aspect of the docks that was responsible for his visit to