Never Love a Hitman (The Carlotta Family Book 1) Read online

  Walking into the water, I let out the breath I’m holding. The water is warm, crystal clear and all together perfect. This would be a fantastic place for a honeymoon but I shot that horse in the face. I’m the reason why I’m alone and my pussy being soaked… Not from the water, either.

  I dive into the water hoping the water will settle my nerves but it does the opposite. As always, I love how the water hugs my body. Holds me close but allows me to move freely. It’s the most invigorating experience. Freeing yet comforting.

  Pushing through the water, I emerge to the sun beating down on the crystal blue waters and I turn my body around to see if the guy were still there. Damn it. He left! How could he just leave? Didn’t he want to know my name?

  Well, I wanted to know his.

  I’m so fucking stupid! How could I just blurt the fact I was supposed to be here on my honeymoon to some stranger? Who does that? A psycho!

  No wonder he left.

  *

  “So, how is your trip, sweetie?” My mom’s voice soothes me from the other end of the phone.

  Fresh out of the shower I just took, I’m rubbing some soothing lotion on my skin from too much sun at the beach. “I’m supporting a nice almost burn, mom.”

  She giggles. “Well, you should have worn sunscreen.”

  I roll my eyes. “Does everyone hate me?” I whisper. I’m worried that Josh’s parents hate me and everyone else that came to the rehearsal dinner but… It’s just bound to happen. They all probably think I’m just this finicky girl who can’t make up her mind.

  Never mind the fact that I’m one of the youngest practicing surgeons at our local hospital in Arizona.

  Josh and I were high school sweethearts. Each other’s firsts. Everyone thought we would get married and have perfect babies but our life wasn’t perfect. Something was missing from the beginning and it took me until the day before we got married to realize that.

  “No, Calista. Of course they don’t hate you,” my mom replies eagerly to stop my warring thoughts of being hated. “A lot of people thought you were too young, anyway.”

  “I wasn’t as young as you were when you got married the first time!” I retort referring to my mom’s first husband, Joel. I never met him because he died before I came to live with my parents- but I can tell you I’m glad I didn’t. No one has said anything nice about him.

  “Just because you’re in a different country doesn’t mean I can’t come wash that mouth out with soap!”

  “Vixen, are you talking to Calista?” My dad’s velvety smooth voice rings into the line.

  “Hi, daddy! Love you!” I yell out louder for him to hear me.

  “Love you more, princess. Have a good vacation.”

  “Thanks! I’m going to finish getting ready and go down for dinner at the clubhouse. Talk to you guys later!” I reply and hang up the phone.

  While I get dressed in my sexy bra and panties, I can’t help but think about that dark eyed man at the beach. I wonder if he’s going to be at dinner. The lace feels erotic on my skin and I rub my hip bones as I settle it against my body. Each swipe of my fingers reminds me how much I want that man from the beach. I want him to be touching me. I want him to kiss every inch of my skin like I have never wanted anything.

  He wouldn’t be here on his honeymoon, right? Holy shit! How embarrassing. Was he not flirting with me?

  Stop!

  *

  I’m seated at a table closest to the bar with a drink when I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Suddenly, I’m hyper-aware of someone in my presence and my insides spin. I can feel someone behind me and then I smell the yummy cologne they are wearing.

  Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mr. Beach Guy!

  If he’s with his wife, I will die. I will clearly die. For the love of all that is holy, please don’t let him be here with his wife!

  “Good evening, pussycat. Is this seat taken?”

  I would know that voice anywhere! Hell, it played in my head as I rubbed lotion all over my body. “No,” I reply.

  The delicious man sits in front of me wearing a silk shirt with a couple of buttons undone. His olive skin is tan and his smile is bright. The man is gorgeous.

  He smiles largely at me and reaches across the table for my hand which is cupping my wine glass. “You look stunning,” he tells me.

  Smiling back at him, I enjoy the electric current jolting through my body at his touch. The man turns me into joo. “You look pretty dapper yourself,” I compliment him back. “What is your name?”

  He reaches his other hand out to get the attention of the waitress who’s all too eager to help. “I would like a glass of Scotch please and bring the lady a fresh wine.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  My eyes don’t even leave his. I’m completely entranced by the man of a name I don’t even know. A powerful force takes over me tethering me to him. While the feeling should scare me, it actually calms me and I worry this feeling could become addictive.

  “Why do you want to know my name?” He asks me with an eyebrow raised.

  “Doesn’t a gentleman always provide the lady with what she wants?” I retort with sass. I’m totally making it up, but I think he’s buying it.

  Victor

  Of course I already know the woman’s name. She’s Calista Inzo from Arizona. A doctor, too.

  You don’t get far in my world without knowing who you’re talking to.

  “I’m Victor.”

  “Victor,” she whispers like she’s trying to figure out how my name feels on her lips. “I’m Calista.”

  I smile. Taking her hand from her glass, I bring it to my lips. “Nice to meet you, Calista.” I kiss the back of her hand with my eyes boring into hers. “Have you eaten yet?”

  Calista shakes her head. “Not yet. I was waiting to see what the specials were.”

  I already knew she didn’t eat yet. The table is clear and I hear her stomach growling at the thought of food.

  Once our food is ordered, I decide to step up my game a little bit. There’s something about this woman which I have never seen before in anyone else that’s not in the life. She’s got this serenity to her which makes me want to hold her close.

  For once, I’m going to lay it on thick. Be the perfect gentleman. My balls might hate me later, but I’ll get over it.

  “So,” I hedge and take a drink of my Scotch. “What do you say we play a little game?” I raise my eyebrows at her and watch her giggle. Calista’s lips curl up, rewarding me with a dimple I didn’t know she had.

  Calista takes a drink of her wine, her fingers playing with the stem. “What kind of game?”

  I chuckle. “Don’t be scared, pussycat. It’s nothing bad. In fact, I think you would like it.”

  She blushes making my pants a little tighter around my dick. “All right. I’m game. What is it, Victor?”

  Watching her lips curl around my name has my dick thickening in my pants. The woman’s effortlessly sexy yet demure. She would make the perfect Italian wife.

  “For the sake of us having a good time on vacation… I think we’re only allowed to ask ten personal questions about the other.”

  My reasoning behind this is simple. The less she knows about me the less chances she would have in finding out about me. I don’t need a girl on vacation to start searching for me and asking more questions than what’s needed.

  Plus, I’m worried if I know more about her, I might not be able to let her go in a few days.

  “Uh,” she begins.

  I cut her off. “It will be fun, Calista. We’ll get to know the other in ways words can’t tell us.”

  Calista’s eyes darken.

  “Your eyes are fucking beautiful, pussycat. Absolutely beautiful. They look like black diamonds glittering in the sun.”

  She giggles and places her hand over her heart. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has said to me. All right, I’ll play.”

  I chuckle at her enthusiasm. “Starting now.”

>   Our food is delivered causing us to stop talking but I don’t forget the look on her face that told me she was turned on. I don’t forget how beautiful her eyes look when she’s smiling at me.

  “I’m stuffed,” she replies pushing the plate away from her.

  I will hand it to her. The woman knows how to eat!

  Pushing my plate away, I lean over the table and take her hand in mine. Once our skin brushes, I feel a jolt of something I can’t describe. It’s pure… I don’t even know. Pure electricity?

  I’m staring at our hands and that’s when I hear her murmur: “Wow.”

  “I felt it too.”

  Carefully, I lift her off her chair and she’s in my arms within seconds. The band that is playing soft music in the background is doing their part in blocking out all the sounds around us. It’s just me and Calista in paradise.

  Calista

  Am I in a movie?

  Am I dreaming?

  Did I secretly die and I didn’t know about it?

  If the answer to all those questions were no, please explain to me how this beautiful and romantic man is dancing with me? Me! A doctor from a boring town in Arizona. I’m nothing special.

  His left hand is on the small of my back with my left hand in his right. We’re doing a waltz of some sort. Hands down, one of the most romantic things anyone has ever done for me. I don’t even know the man but I know I’m never going to forget this.

  “Pussycat,” Victor whispers against my cheek. His warm breath heating me from the inside all the way through my body.

  “Yes,” I murmur back to him while rocking to the music. On any given day, I wouldn’t say I’m a great dancer. My parents like to dance every once in a while and I always thought it was romantic how they did it. Hold each other close. My mom used to tell me when she danced with my dad, it felt like the whole world disappeared.

  I now know what she means.

  “What are you doing tomorrow?” He asks me.

  Needing to look in his chocolate brown eyes, I move my head for us to be face to face. “I was supposed to go horseback riding in the ocean.”

  He chuckles. “Want to go still?”

  “Did you just cash in on two of your questions?” I ask him with my eyebrow raised.

  Pulling me closer to his body, he spins us. “No. Those weren’t personal questions. You will know when I ask those.”

  Giggling awkwardly, I try to think of something equally witty. “What if I had other plans?”

  His fingers grip into the small of my back but I don’t let him see how aroused he makes me feel. Or at least, I’m hoping to be discreet. “Well, judging by the blush on your face, I’m thinking you don’t.”

  I nod. “You’re right. Are you here with anyone?” I bravely ask. I have to know if this gorgeous man is with someone else… the last thing I need is to be stabbed in the back while I’m on a fake honeymoon.

  “Are you cashing in on one of your questions?”

  I raise an eyebrow. Is this question worth spending a question? I think so. “Yes.”

  He chuckles. “No, I’m here on business.”

  Feeling sassy from the alcohol flowing through my body, I dance a little closer to his body. “If I just spent a question, I need more information than that.”

  Victor’s eyes darken to a stormy color but he’s still freaking hot. “Pussycat, just because you ask a question, doesn’t mean you will get an answer.”

  I furrow my face. Why can’t he tell me what he’s here for? That’s ridiculous. It’s a couples’ resort! If he’s here, he’s probably half of a couple. And that makes me the other woman?

  Eh. I shudder to think that.

  Leaning over, his full lips brush the apple of my cheek. My body zaps with excitement. “Meet you down at breakfast by eight. Wear something comfortable.”

  And with that, he leaves me in the middle of the dance floor completely turned on and confused. What the fuck?

  Victor

  My dick will hate me and threaten to fall off but I left Calista in the middle of the dance floor because I have business to attend to. I’m not here for a vacation even though I kind of turned it into one. I’m here for a fucking job, and I plan on executing that job.

  See the pun I just made there?

  While dancing with Calista, I looked up to see my next target. The man has fled three states thinking he’s untouchable but he’s about to realize no one runs from The Carlotta Family.

  Three months ago, Adamo Buscemi, made the fateful mistake of trying to rat out our boss, Sal “Two Gun” Morelli. What Adamo didn’t realize is that he fucked with the wrong family and we don’t appreciate that. After being stopped by the police for suspicion of murder, he said he would flip on a bigger boss to get less time. These fuckers always think they will get less time for ratting out their bigger bosses.

  You might avoid prison but you don’t avoid the price tag that goes on your head. Adamo is now worth twenty-five large if dead and I intend on cashing in on that.

  Again, the feds send him to some tropical place for a new life. The feds are getting stupider and stupider. They just led him into my web.

  Reaching behind me to grab my gun, I hold the handle of my Glock as I walk towards Adamo. The dumbass thinks he’s untouchable while standing out in the open of a resort. Did he honestly think we wouldn’t catch up with him?

  What’s with the feds allowing two rats in Witsec being in the same area?

  Fucking amatures.

  “Adamo.”

  The coward jumps a little in his shoes and turns to look at me. “Oh, fuck me!”

  “You knew this day would come,” I inform him and stand off to the side of him.

  He shakes his head. “Vic, I’m sorry. They were going to implicate my family!”

  “We were your family.”

  He throws his hands up in the air. “I’m not even going to run. I knew this was going to happen.”

  I nod my head. “Walk out towards the front doors and to the left.”

  I follow behind him with my gun already to go in case he gets a bright idea of trying to run from me. He doesn’t. The minute he rounds the corner, I pop him twice in the head. He falls to the ground with a thud landing on his knees first before falling face first into the dirt.

  My phone vibrates in my pocket. I fish it out already knowing it’s going to be Sal asking if it's been taken care of. “Yeah?” I answer.

  Sal’s smoke filled voice breathes down the line. “Did you get it taken care of?”

  “Yeah. The garbage is on the left like we discussed.”

  “Wonderful.”

  “Oh, Sal!” I say before he hangs up.

  “Yeah?”

  I take a deep breath and ask the one thing I haven’t asked since I became a made man. “I need a vacation. I’m staying here for a couple of days. If you need me, you know where I am.”

  He chuckles. “Yeah, okay.”

  Hanging up the phone, I leave Adamo’s traitorous body in the sand until the clean up crew can come and take care of it.

  I can’t help but think about Calista the whole night. What kind of man would let her get away? She’s the perfect Italian woman, for fuck sake! She’s got brains, wit, charm, beauty, sass and the perfect body to match.

  Dumb ass.

  *

  “Lorna, do you have any idea what fucking time is here?” I bark into the phone with my eyes still closed. I’m not ready to get up because I’m about to undress Calista in my dream. I want to see if she’s got the rosy glow through her whole body. I also want to know if I can unleash the fire I know she has in her eyes.

  “I always forget how fucking cranky you are in the morning,” she hisses.

  “Then why are you calling me?”

  She giggles and I feel like I’m home again. Lorna has a way of making everyone around her feel comfortable and important. There’s a reason why I keep her around.

  That and the fact I can’t seem to get rid of her. No matter how hard
I try.

  “Can’t a woman call her favorite man?” Lorna asks with conviction as if I’ve questioned her faith in God or something.

  “You’re a nutcase.”

  “Actually, I’m calling to see how your vacation is going.”

  I groan and stretch out in my bed like a fat cat waking up from a nap. “Good. Business as usual.”