Salvation
Authors: Alexa Land
Salvation
by Alexa Land
a M/M erotic
romance
Book Five in the
Firsts and Forever Series
Copyright
2014 by Alexa Land. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
in whole or in part of this publication is permitted without express written
consent from the author.
This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either used
fictitiously or are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments or locales is
purely coincidental.
This book contains sexually explicit material
and is only intended for adult readers.
Books by Alexa
Land Include:
Feral
Tinder (The
Tinder Chronicles, Book One)
Hunted (The
Tinder Chronicles, Book Two)
And the Firsts
and Forever Series:
Way Off Plan
All In
In Pieces
Gathering Storm
Salvation
Dedicated to
Joe and Jonathan
Your Love Inspires Me
Table
of Contents
Focus, Trevor.
Okay, that’d be a lot easier if the
insanely gorgeous guy in the corner stopped staring at me. Who was he, and what
was he doing at this party? He certainly wasn’t here to have fun. He was more
like a sentry, expressionless in his dark, expensive suit, every black hair in
place. And there was an air of danger about him, like maybe he was in the FBI,
or a hit man or something. Silent but deadly.
I had to fight back a laugh at that. Oh
man, I was totally losing it. What was I saying about focusing? I dragged my
eyes away from SBD and gathered a few empty cans and glasses from the
furniture, lining them up on the heavy tray I was awkwardly balancing on my
left hand.
About ten seconds later, I snuck
another look at him. He was still watching me. It actually would have been
slightly unnerving, if I didn’t find him incredibly sexy.
Aside from his silver, wire-framed
glasses, SBD kind of looked like a younger version of an actor whose name
escaped me, a tall, hunky Italian that had played a part in a movie I’d seen
recently. The movie was Magic Mike…what was the character’s name again?
Oh, right. Big Dick Ritchie. At that, my
gaze flickered involuntarily to the stranger’s…area. When I realized what I’d
just done, a blush crept into my cheeks. God, what a spaz. I turned my back to
the guy in the corner and pulled a dish cloth from the black apron tied around
my hips, busily wiping up a water mark to hide my embarrassment.
I swung around to head back to the
kitchen, and tripped over a stair I not only knew was there, but that I’d
reminded myself earlier not to trip on. The tray swung precariously to the
left, then the right as I flailed wildly. It was like some sort of comedy
juggling act, only I wasn’t laughing. This was my second catering job ever, and
I was about to smash all of my host’s glassware to bits. That was so not good.
A big hand clamped down on the edge of
the tray, stabilizing it instantly.
Don’t be the hottie, don’t be the
hottie, don’t be the hottie,
I thought to myself as I straightened up and
pushed my overgrown bangs out of my eyes.
It was the hottie.
SBD’s gaze was even more intense close
up, his dark eyes beautiful and piercing at the same time. I felt another blush
warming my cheeks. God I hated that about myself, the fact that I blushed like
a southern belle at a cotillion every time I got embarrassed, and I got
embarrassed
a lot.
Right now, for example.
Don’t start rambling, don’t start
rambling, don’t start rambling
. “Wow, you got over
here really fast,” I rambled. “Kind of like that scene in Twilight where he
stops the van.”
Oh my God, I’m talking about Twilight! Someone kill me!
“I mean, not that I’ve seen it, or anything. Well, okay, I’m lying. Obviously
I’ve seen it. Otherwise, how would I know about the van scene? I just didn’t
want to admit that I’d seen it. Actually, I saw it three times. I was totally
team Edward.” For the love of God,
shut up!
“And you did get over here
really fast. But instead of saving me from a van, you saved me from the cans.”
I picked up an empty soda can from my tray and rattled it, then set it back
down. Then I almost dropped the tray again. SBD’s hand shot out and steadied
it. Was I imagining it, or was there the faintest trace of a smile on those
full lips?
“Okay. So, I’m just going to go to the
kitchen and die now,” I said. “Enjoy the party. Which, you know, you’ll stand a
better chance of if you don’t go back to that corner.” I turned and fled, my
face most certainly Santa suit red.
“Dude, what happened to you?” River
asked when I returned to the kitchen.
The huge apartment was an open floor
plan, so I was still within sight of…okay, I had to stop calling him SBD. The
Italian Secret Service, that was better. I was still in sight of ISS, but kept
my back to him and the rest of the party as I asked, “What do you mean?”
“I was watching you out there. You were
having some kind of conniption.”
“What’s a conniption?”
“You know, like a conniption fit? Some
kind of spazzy little breakdown?” River was originally from Louisiana, but he’d
lived in San Francisco the last few years. His speech was now a weird mash-up
of southern slacker and California surfer.
“I thought a conniption fit was when
someone got really angry and started waving their hands around.”
He considered that for a moment, then
said, “Okay, maybe. I thought it also meant, like, a spaz attack, but I could
be wrong. Anyway, what were you doing out there? And please tell me that
Italian mobster stereotype was not hitting on you.”
“No. But funnily enough, apparently
Nana’s family really is in the mob. I just found that out.”
River’s brown eyes went wide. “No shit.
And here she’s offering to help us with our catering business. Next thing you
know, we’ll be money laundering and running numbers on the side.”
I grinned at him and asked, “Do you
actually know what either of those things involve?”
“No clue.” River turned to the stove and
pulled a pan off the heat, then said, “Seriously though, that guy looks like
trouble with a capital W.T.F. If I could make a suggestion as your new friend
and business partner, it would be this: stay the hell away from men that look
like Tony Soprano’s much hotter younger cousin.”
“I wonder who he is.” I snuck a glance
over my shoulder. He was back in his corner, those dark eyes still on me.
Embarrassingly, certain parts of my anatomy liked the fact that he was watching
me, and I surreptitiously adjusted the front of my apron.
“He arrived with Nana, that’s all I
know.” River raised an eyebrow at me and exclaimed, “Oh mah gawd. Has he gotten
your lady parts all hot and bothered?”
“River, I’m a dude. No lady parts.”
“I know. I’m teasin’ ya. But if you did
have lady parts, tell me this. Would they be wet now?”
I laughed at that and threw a dish towel
at his head. “There’s really something wrong with you.”
“I know, and you were dumb enough to go
into business with me. Speaking of which, how long do you think it’ll be before
everyone discovers we’re not real caterers?”
“We
are
real caterers, and we’ve
got the huge bill from the restaurant supply store to prove it.”
“Yeah, gawd, don’t remind me. This gig
will almost pay for half of it.”
“The next job will pay for the rest and
then some, if we manage to keep costs down.”
“Check you out, with your natural-born
business sense and all. This is why it’s good that we’ve teamed up. I hate
thinkin’ about stuff like money and expenses. I just want to make food that
tastes awesome.”
“You’re great at that.” I’d been loading
glasses into the dishwasher as we were talking, my back still to the party, and
I asked River, “Is he still looking over here?”
“No.”
“He isn’t?”
“And you’re all disappointed! Yes, of
course he’s still lookin’ over here. That is one smitten Soprano. By the way,
how totally fifth grade was that question? Do you want me to pass him a note?
‘Do you like Trevor? Check the box, yes or no.’ For fuck’s sake, T!”
“I’m just not used to scorchingly hot
guys noticing me. Hell, I’m not used to
any
guys noticing me.”
“What’re you talkin’ about? You’re
cute.”
“I’m not. I’m shy and awkward. Oh and
also, kind of a spaz. That guy’s probably staring at me because he can’t
believe how dorky I am. Do you know what I did when I had a chance to talk to
him? I started rattling off about Twilight.”
River looked stricken. “Please tell me
you’re joking.”
“I told him I’d seen it three times, and
that I used to be team Edward.”
River tried to hand me a huge chef’s
knife. “There’s just no coming back from humiliation like that. Ritualistic
suicide is the only option left to you.”
“Don’t I know it.” I added detergent to
the dishwasher and shut it, then pushed the on-button. “It’s really no wonder
that I’m a twenty-year-old virgin.”
“Okay, so that’s what your problem is.”
“The fact that I need to get laid?”
“No, the fact that you have a chronic
case of TMI. People don’t need to know that about you, Trev! And the Man in
Black over there certainly didn’t need to know you have the cinematic taste of
a fourteen-year-old girl.”
“
Nobody
needs to know that.”
“Exactly my point!” River exclaimed as he
stirred the sauce he’d taken off the stove, then refilled a decanter on the
buffet. “Oh, bad news,” he said. “Nana just said something to MiB, and he’s
headed for the door.”
“Damn it, really?” I snuck a glance
across the apartment and confirmed that River wasn’t just yanking my chain.
“Aw. Goodbye, Big Dick Ritchie,” I murmured. The guy left without looking back.
River laughed at that. “You have x-ray
vision or something?”
“What? Oh, no. He just reminded me of a
character in a movie.”
“A porno movie?”
“No. Never mind.”
“Hey, don’t get all sulky now,” he said
as he moved to a cutting board and began chopping things to replenish the
crudité platter. “You didn’t want that guy anyway.”
“I didn’t?”
“Hell no. Innocent little virgin like
you? You’d be better off dating a great white shark than that straight-up
gangstah.”
“I’m so sorry I told you I was a
virgin.”
River shot me a big smile, his dark eyes
sparkling. “I know.”
Nana breezed into the kitchen and popped
an appetizer in her mouth. She was a petite woman of about eighty, with white
hair and a personality so big, it was surprising that tiny body could contain
it. I’d met her through my friend Hunter. Apparently she had a habit of taking
in strays, which was probably why she’d latched on to both River and me in a
big way. “How you holding up, boys?” she asked around a mouthful of stuffed
mushroom. She was currently wearing a tall, black witch hat, as were several of
her friends. I didn’t ask.
“Good,” River replied with a smile.
“This is way less stressful than the gallery grand opening, where we were
trying to feed hundreds of people. And no one’s even shot at us yet!”
That had literally happened during our
first catering job. Hunter was a former porn star, and he'd had a stalker. The
night of a launch party at an art gallery owned by Hunter's friend Christopher,
the stalker showed up and fired a gun at several people, including me. But
between Hunter grabbing the man’s arm and River dragging me upstairs to safety,
I’d lived to tell about my first catering job. The stalker was dead now and my
friend was piecing his life back together, with the help of his boyfriend
Brian. Being shot at had rattled me more than I let on, but it wasn’t going to
stop me from wanting to do this job.
“Speaking of guns, Mrs. Dombruso,” River
transitioned, “is it true your family’s in the mafia?” I gave him a look, but
he ignored me.
“We were, for eight generations. For the
past couple decades, though, the family’s been moving away from the illegal end
of things, into, you know, more law-abiding ways to make a buck,” she said. “My
grandson Dante ran the family business until recently, and he and his father
before him really tried to put the family on a new path. His cousins are
running things now, and from what I hear, they’re keeping things legit, too.
Dante set up so many legal sources of revenue for this family that there really
was no need to hang on to the old ways.”
“So, your family’s basically retired
from the mafia,” River said.
“Well, yes and no. It’s not the kind of
thing you ever really retire from. Just because you say you’re done with the
business doesn’t mean the business is done with you. Know what I’m saying?”
River shook his head. “No, not really.”
“It’s like this. We Dombrusos may not be
running illegal operations any more, but you think the Caravetti family cares
about that? Or the Silpados? Or the Costas? You can retire all you want, but
the other families don’t forget history. There are still old grudges, and some
of these go back generations. That’s why a family like mine has to stay strong,
retired or not, because you never know when one of those bastards is gonna
decide to settle a score.” She said all of that very matter-of-factly, then
popped another mushroom in her mouth.
“I get it,” River said.
“It’s good you’re asking these
questions,” she told us. “You’re a couple smart boys, and you should know who
you're doing business with.”
“It’s really nice that you want to help
us out, and that you asked us to cater this party,” River said. “I still don’t
think we’re ready to cater a wedding, though.”
Nana seemed like the kind of person who
always had a major project or two in the works. In addition to helping us
launch our catering business, she’d also been planning the wedding of
Christopher, the really cute, sweet owner of the aforementioned art gallery,
and his sexy fiancé Kieran. The wedding was in three weeks. “Oh, you can do
that, no problem,” she said. “All you gotta focus on is appetizers and a
sit-down dinner for a hundred. I got a bakery handling the cake and a bartender
for the drinks, plus I’ve already hired a wait staff. You just gotta cook,
that’s it!”
