Step Bride: A Bad Boy Mob Roman(41)
But they were beautiful animals. I walked down along the stalls, admiring them.
“Bigger than you expect.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned and saw Lucas standing near the entrance, patting the nearest horse.
“Lucas? You scared me.”
“Sorry,” he said, grinning.
I looked down at my feet. I hadn’t seen him since sending the panties, and I had no clue what he thought about it.
“Want to take one out?” he asked.
“I can’t ride.”
“You can’t ride horses at least.” He grinned and laughed. “Another time then.”
“Okay.”
“Been a busy couple of days,” he remarked, walking toward me.
“I guess so.”
“I got your present.”
He stopped close to me, smirking. I felt my heart skip a beat. “Just returning the favor,” I said softly.
“Smell really is the strongest sense for memory,” he said.
“So you’ve been thinking about me.”
“Ever since you left my room that night.”
“Good,” I said, smiling. “How’s it feel to want?”
“It feels good,” he said softly.
I took a step away and turned. “I’m not in the mood for this, Lucas.”
“For what?”
“Your dirty jokes and comments. Just not in the mood today.”
“You’re never in the mood for it, wife. But that doesn’t stop you from liking it.”
I felt angry suddenly as my mother’s words came back to me. “Don’t be such a thug, Lucas.”
He laughed, surprised. “A thug?”
“Yeah, a thug. A drug dealer. What do you want from me? Why are we still married?”
I felt my anger rising, and I wanted to push him, to shove him to the ground. But he was too big, too solid, too strong. He could easily pin me to the floor and have his way with me. Half of me wanted him to, and the other half wanted to knee him in the balls.
“Where is this coming from?” he asked, genuinely bemused.
“My mother talked about you people. She said you guys lost some drug shipment lately. What are we wrapped up in, Lucas?”
He stared at me for a beat and then burst out laughing.
“What?” I asked, frustrated. “It’s not a joke. Selling drugs isn’t a joke.”
“She told you that was a drug shipment?”
“Yes,” I said, frustrated and annoyed. He was such an asshole. He was still smiling hugely, his face clearly amused. “And I don’t want to be involved with drug dealers.”
“Natalie, there weren’t drugs in that shipment.”
I paused. “I don’t believe you.”
He raised his hands, still smiling. “I swear on my dead mother’s soul, there were no drugs.”
“So what’s the deal with this big shipment that got stolen, then? Why is it so shady?”
“Really want to know?”
“Just tell me, Lucas,” I snapped.
“Olive oil.”
That stopped me in my tracks. “What?”
“Olive oil. We were selling the Russian mob olive oil.”
“That’s crazy. Why would mobs be involved in olive oil?”
“Believe it or not, olive oil is the biggest business in Italy. It’s a huge, billion-dollar industry, and my family is a big part of that.”
“So why were you selling it to the Russians then?”
“Well,” he said, laughing slightly, “it’s complicated. But basically, most olive oil isn’t really pure olive oil. It’s cut with something like canola oil, something cheaper. In Italy, that’s a huge crime, but my family has been in the fake olive oil business for centuries.”
“Fake olive oil,” I repeated.
“Yes. We were selling a shipment to the Russians wholesale. They were gong to resell it in their shops, and we were going to make a small profit but a larger business associate.”
“So you don’t sell drugs?”
He shrugged. “Some captains do. Some of the people that work for me do. I don’t personally get involved, but it is lucrative.”
I shook my head, annoyed. “Do you or don’t you sell drugs?”
“No, Natalie, I don’t.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and looked at him. “Olive oil,” I said.
He nodded, grinning. “Yep. Olive oil. Lots of fake olive oil.”
“I guess that’s not as bad as heroin.”
“No. I don’t think so.”
I leaned up against the wall, taking a deep breath. “I feel really stupid right now.”
“Don’t,” he said, coming closer. “You’re new to the family, and we haven’t exactly been telling you anything.”