Xander
Why did Gataki men fall fast and hard? I’d been on my cousin’s cases when they tripped over their feet, stumbling face-first into love. First, Leo, which was sketchy as hell, because he’d acquired his wife as payment for a debt. Now, he and Valentina were all lovey-dovey, as if they hadn’t met in dark and ruthless ways. Next was baby boy Theo, who’d kill anyone who called him that. He’d become a hothead, working overtime to prove his toughness. It only took his curvy little bride a few weeks to break him down. Leo had ordered us to hold him captive when he wouldn’t stay away from Valentina’s best friend. Luckily for us, she hadn’t left the island. A fate that saved our lives and the lives of everyone we knew.
Matthias surprised me the most. He’d sworn he’d never, ever marry. I just barely convinced him to not throw his new wife overboard after their forced marriage and honeymoon. Which was good because his surprise-twins needed their mother. And since that was the reason they’d married…
I’d always been different from my cousins. I wanted to fall in love and marry. This life was dangerous and cruel. Lives were lost in instances because situations could flip real quick. If God gave me a short life, I wanted to fill it with love and happiness. I wanted to come home from a day of work, that I could never share, to a woman who didn’t ask but still understood. That shit was brutal. Hard on a woman, who never knew if or when her husband was coming home. Hard on a man, who couldn’t sit on the couch and share what went wrong at work. Even harder on a relationship. But my parents made it work, and I’d seen other examples from Uncle Cosmo and Aunt Evangelina. Even Yaya had been happy with my grandfather.
When Cora and Lyra pulled their dumbass prank on me—signing me up to be some chick’s mafia book boyfriend—I’d nearly strangled them. They were my cousins, and we all goofed off, but they’d gone too far. A book boyfriend was ridiculous—mafia, even more so. But then they showed me my agency match.
Adorra.
I looked at her photo and nearly spilled my morning brew all over my keyboard. I’d taken more than one blow to the solar plexus, and this was another one. She was a librarian from a small town in Iowa, just a few hours from where I lived in Chicago. Her favorite movies were Goodfellas, fucking rat bastard, and The Godfather; okay, I liked that one too. She read Mafia romance books and wanted to experience the real thing. Mafia romance books? What the actual fuck? If she’d been anyone else, I would have told her that there was not one damn thing romantic about this organization. Without love, it stripped your soul like turpentine on fresh paint.
We talked on the phone a few times. And each conversation was like taking that first breath after drowning. A gasp, a cough, then a surprise that you were still alive. A surprise that your heart still worked.
When she stepped off the small plane that had transferred them from Athens to Kouris, I turned my head to hide another gasp—to breathe again. Ava was stunning—much more beautiful in person. Her nutmeg-colored skin highlighted her high cheekbones and the elegant line of her jaw. The sweep of her long lashes over the graceful arc of her eyes gave her face an exotic appeal. Full lips curved into an intriguing mix of shyness and confidence.
Her dark hair was pulled back, revealing the graceful curve of her neck. She walked with a model’s stride and grace, even in casual travel clothes—every movement fluid and effortless. But more than physical beauty struck me—intelligence and curiosity lit up her face as she swept her surroundings.
“Hi,” she said huskily.
“Hi,” I returned. My conversation skills skipped out when they saw her face.
I cleared my throat, trying to regain some semblance of composure. “Welcome to Kouris. How was your flight?”
“It was… entertaining,” Adorra said, her eyes darting to Yaya, who was busy instructing the staff about her luggage. “Your grandmother is quite the storyteller.”
I groaned inwardly. “I can only imagine. I hope she didn’t scare you off with stories—I raised my voice—she shouldn’t be telling about me.”
“Why did you send me if you wanted me to keep quiet? You know I love to talk about my grandchildren.”
Adorra laughed. “It was fine. I enjoyed hearing them. Although, we’ll have to talk about the paint the dog thing. As an animal lover, what you all did, that was just… wrong.”
“Uh, well,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck, “I’ve grown up a bit since then. And if it makes you feel any better later that summer, he bit me.”
She laughed, and Yaya joined her as if they’d become old friends. I groaned again but couldn’t help the smile tugging at my lips. This woman was dangerous and not in the way I was used to.
“I’m glad you guys are enjoying yourselves,” I said, using my fingertips to guide Adorra towards the waiting car. “For now, let’s get you settled in.”
I managed the winding roads of Kouris despite stealing glances at Adorra. Yaya caught me and said, “If you weren’t going to keep your eyes on the road, you should have sent a driver.” Her reproach was stern, but I saw the laughter in her eyes. I narrowed my eyes at her in the rearview mirror. She only smiled at my warning. She often complained that we were the pranksters but she was the one we’d inherited it from.
“It’s beautiful here,” she murmured, her face pressed close to the window.
“It is,” I agreed, though I wasn’t looking at the landscape.
We pulled up to the villa, and Adorra’s eyes widened. “This is where we’re staying?”
I nodded, trying not to puff up my chest at her reaction. “Welcome to your home for the next two weeks.”
I helped her out of the car and saw two familiar figures on the terrace. Dammit.
“Xander,” Cora and Lyra called out, waving their hands like a checkered flag at the end of a race.
Adorra looked at me, eyebrow raised. “Friends of yours?”
I sighed. “Family. My cousins. The ones responsible for… well, this.”
Understanding dawned on her face, followed quickly by a grin. “Are they the ones who signed you up for Book Boyfriends? I wondered how you joined.”
“Yep, they thought it’d be hilarious.”
She frowned. An expression that should never mar her face. “You sound like… Do you regret it?”
I took her hand and squeezed it with mine. “Not. At. All.”
We stared at each other until Cora and Lyra descended upon us in a cloud of designer perfume and excitement.
“You must be Adorra,” Cora said, taking her shoulder and tugging her away. “I’m Cora, and this is Lyre.” She turned Adorra toward her sister. “We couldn’t wait to meet you. We know Xander will try to tie you to the villa, but we wanted to put it out there that we’d like to spend some time with you, too.”
“Absolutely,” Lyre added. “We want to know all about your experience with the Book Boyfriend Agency. Should we try it? What were the guys like? How many did you meet?”
Cora added, “Yes, how far down to the bottom of the barrel did you have to scrape before you met Xander?”
“Okay, that’s enough,” I said, shaking my head. “Don’t you two have somewhere else to be?”
“But we just got here,” Lyra protested.
“And we brought groceries,” Cora added, gesturing to the bags at their feet.
“You two? Groceries? When was the last time either of you set foot in a supermarket.”
“We’re trying to be helpful,” Lyra said.
“Noted. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Adorra’s had a long flight and…” I waved to Cora’s car.
Fine, they grumbled before I finally managed to shoo them out away.
“Sorry about that,” I said, turning back to Adorra. “They can be a bit… much.”
But Adorra smiled, making my heart skip. “They seem lovely. It must be nice having such a close family.”
Something, perhaps a hint of longing, in her tone made me wonder about her family. I’d never asked her if she had siblings. I’d have to fix that. Looking at her and Yaya’s faces, I remembered their twelve-hour flight—and set my questions aside.
“They have their moments. Now, let’s get you settled.”
As I led Adorra through the villa, I vacuumed up her reactions as she left a trail of them in her wake. The soft gasp when she viewed the sea from the terrace patio, the way her fingers trailed along the book spines in the library—each response was a revelation. I hesitated when we reached her door. “I hope this will be comfortable for you,” I said, pushing it open.
Adorra’s mouth rounded into an enticing ‘o’ when she entered the spacious bedroom with its private seaside balcony. “This is… wow. Thank you, Xander. You’re going to make it hard for a girl to leave.”
I swallowed down; she wouldn’t ever have to. She wasn’t ready to hear that. Hell, it was too early for me to feel it. But it was what it was…
Our eyes locked, and the world halted. Waiting to see if we would act on the attraction pressing between us before it started again.
Yaya cleared her throat, reminding us of her presence. “I think I’ll go unpack,” she said, a knowing smile. “Adorra, dear, why don’t you rest a bit? I know I could use a nap.”
I shot her a look. But as much as I wanted to spend every moment with Adorra, I knew my grandmother was right.
“Dinner’s at seven,” I said, reluctantly stepping away from her bedroom door. “I’ll see you then?”
Adorra nodded. “I’m looking forward to it.”
When I closed the door behind me, I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. I still wasn’t sure, other than her love of mafia books and movies, why she’d joined the agency. I’d dated other women fascinated with the mafia persona they’d imagined—dates who never looked any deeper. I hoped Adorra wasn’t the same. I’d know in two weeks. I had two weeks to show Adorra the real Xander. Two weeks to prove I would be enough to star in her fantasies.
I straightened up and rolled my shoulders back. Whatever happened, these two weeks would change everything.