Stay with Me (The WITSEC series Book 1) Read online

  He had been planning on staying home and cooking. He loved to cook and when his tiny West Hollywood apartment filled up with the smell of lasagna and homemade garlic rolls, it made him feel close to his mom. He missed living with her. He suddenly had second thoughts about giving in to his friend’s plea. He began to take off his coat but Corey rushed forward, grabbing both arms and giving him the puppy dog eyes again. Luca stopped what he was doing, sighing dramatically.

  He glanced longingly at the small kitchen with the pristine white marble countertops the landlord had installed just before he moved in. The kitchen was the main reason he’d agreed to pay the higher than average rent for West Hollywood. That and the fact that the single bedroom in the place had the space for his bedroom set. It was the first furniture he bought when he went into management and saved enough money to get this small place. With his mom living with his sister now, it made him feel grounded to have things he bought with his own money around him. Having his own place at twenty-two in a city like LA where so many people were transient and just plain flaky, gave him a sense of pride he couldn’t really quantify.

  Luca sighed one last time before grabbing his keys and opening the front door. Only one thing was certain.

  No way was he shaking his bootie tonight, for Corey or anyone else.

  ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

  “Come on, Kane. Please just get up there and sing. I really want to see you sing,” Lacy whined. She did that a lot.

  Kane shook his head, looking down at the bottle blonde clinging to his elbow. “For the last time, I don’t sing.” He really had no idea why he’d let the girl steer him to Marty’s after he’d taken her to an expensive restaurant where he’d watched her pick at a salad—again. Why had he bothered to take her to a steak joint when all she ever ordered was salad? This was their third date and he’d wanted to make sure she had enough carbs in her for the activities he’d planned for later that evening.

  Once again, he’d watched her put one lettuce leaf at a time into her mouth and chew while he’d stuffed himself on a thick rare half pound slab of meat and a massive baked potato with all the trimmings. The steamed artichoke with a creamy dipping sauce had started out his meal and the warm triple-layer chocolate cake with raspberry filling and fresh whipped cream on top had finished it off. Lacy had passed on the appetizer and the dessert. No surprise there.

  Lacy had a smokin’ hot body—what he’d seen of it—and Kane had every intention of stripping her out of the clingy purple dress she was wearing. He’d noticed how good she looked in it the moment she sashayed into lobby of her apartment building when he’d gone to pick her up. He hadn’t been invited upstairs but that was no surprise either. For some reason, Kane was having a hard time getting laid recently. Maybe his heart wasn’t in it. It was no wonder. The way his current date was pushing out her bottom lip and begging him to get up and grab the microphone was inexplicably pissing him off. In fact, everything about the woman was bugging him. The whole night had been a mistake from the get-go.

  His attention was drawn back to the current singer as he finished butchering some country song. The guy took off the cowboy hat he wore and took a deep bow before blowing kisses to someone in the crowd and running off the stage.

  “Come on! It’s your turn, Kane. Pleeeeease,” Lacy whined.

  He stared down at her. “No. I’m…” His words cut off when someone rammed into his other arm as they rushed by. Kane felt his face screw up in anger as he momentarily lost his balance, but when he recovered, a man was standing there staring at him. Their eyes met and held. The most beautiful light eyes Kane had ever seen were looking at him and for just a second, he couldn’t breathe.

  “Sorry,” the man called out and then turned, disappearing into the crowd as his friend yanked on his hand and tugged him away.

  Kane blinked, shaking himself as the man vanished in the crush of bodies.

  “There he is! Corey, is that who I think it is?” the drag queen—Madame… Whatthefuckever—trilled into the microphone, returning Kane’s attention to the stage.

  “Bring him up here! Everybody, put your hands together for Luca. It’s been a lifetime since he’s been here.” She began to clap and Kane was shocked when everyone in the place began to scream and applaud.

  “Dammit! I told you to hurry. Now someone else is gonna sing,” Lacy moaned from beside him. She sounded just like a petulant child. Kane waited for her to stomp her feet but he figured the heels she was wearing wouldn’t put up with that kind of abuse. He glanced down at her and then back up at—Luca—climbing onto the stage as everyone in the place roared. He was the same man who’d run into Kane seconds before, and he realized the split second he’d taken his eyes away from the stage felt like the longest of his life; he had absolutely no idea why.

  Kane never reacted to guys like that, even if the man had the prettiest damned eyes he’d ever seen in his life. He watched Luca lean into the drag queen, whispering to her as she handed him the microphone. She nodded, patted his cheek, and walked over to the DJ and said something to him. Moments later, a Dolly Parton song was queued up and the track began to play. When the gorgeous young man on stage began to sing “Here You Come Again”, Kane was riveted.

  He felt a small hand slip into his and he looked down to find Lacy staring up at him with a question in her pretty eyes. He smiled down at her and curled his fingers until her hand was fully engulfed in his. Then, suddenly, he was pulling her closer to the stage. She clipped along behind him as he parted the crowd with little effort. At six four with broad shoulders, Kane towered over most people in the club and when they turned to see who was pushing through them, they lost their annoyed expressions and quickly stepped out of the way. Very few people wanted to mess with a guy as big and intimidating as Kane Delancey. Tonight, it worked to his advantage because they stopped only ten feet from the stage.

  Luca had begun to sing and unlike most others who’d been up there tonight, his voice was pleasing, on pitch, and amazing. Kane noted how incredibly well-built Luca was under the fashionable clothes he wore. He had tanned skin that glowed under the harsh lights but the blond highlights in the longish hair that fell in messy strands over his eyes, glowed. As he sang, he reached up and grabbed his bangs with one hand, pushing them back so that his astonishing eyes were noticeable. A black corded bracelet with a single silver bead strung onto it hung loosely from his wrist. It was sexy as hell.

  As Kane looked closer, the light eyes he thought were blue were actually an icy-gray in color, made to look even brighter by some sort of black eye liner that had a messy smudged look to it. Coupled with the way his olive-green T-shirt clung to his chest showing off tight muscles and the way his stonewashed jeans clung to his long legs, Luca was a sight to behold. Kane was unused to checking out guys—suspects, yes—but guys in clubs, no. Because the thought was ludicrous, he dragged his gaze away from the man, forcing himself to look down at his date.

  Lacy was looking up at him through sea-green eyes framed by unusually long eyelashes. She had perfect pouty red lips he could imagine stretched around his cock and it sent a little thrill through him. He told himself he was holding the hand of the prettiest person in the club. He dropped his gaze to her cleavage, telling himself that if he couldn’t find inspiration in her pert C-cup, he’d have to resign from the human race entirely. When he made the mistake of tearing his eyes away from her boobs and looked back up at Luca, the singer was looking right at him, almost like he was singing right to him.

  As their eyes met, Luca smiled, popping dimples into both stubbled cheeks and he held out a hand, still singing that stupid Dolly Parton song Kane had always thought was cheesy. The more Luca sang and smiled at him, the harder it was to tear his gaze away and look down at Lacy. When Kane realized she was tugging on his hand, he shook himself out of his trancelike state and glanced down. Her expression was murderous and almost too late, he realized she was furious.

  He leaned down to say something and as
he did, her hand quickly flashed up and almost before he knew what had happened, his cheek was stinging from the slap she’d landed with surprising force to the left side of his face. A roar went up from the crowd as people who’d witnessed her obvious displeasure began to laugh and hoot, calling out taunts and nearly drowning out Luca who was winding down. Kane realized he must have been staring at the man for a very long time to elicit that kind of anger, even from a girl as vapid as Lacy.

  Before he could regroup, Lacy yanked her hand out of his and was stomping away, her beautiful ass swaying dangerously as she headed for the exit of the club as fast as her little stilettos would take her. He turned back to cast one more glance at Luca and realized the song was over and he was no longer standing on the stage. Kane barely caught a glimpse of Luca from behind. He was running down the steps leading up to the stage and by the time Kane registered it, he was gone. He turned and jogged through the crowd of people who were still clapping, and now—embarrassingly—reaching out to pat him on the back in sympathy as he hurried after his date.

  His apology was really gonna suck.

  ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

  “Oh my God, Luca! Did you see that gorgeous guy staring at you?” Corey shouted just as he stepped off the stage. “You must have. You were singing to him.”

  Of course Luca had seen him and yes, just for fun, he’d been singing right to him. The minute Corey made him crash into the guy and he spun around to apologize, Luca couldn’t get over the way the man looked. He was big and one of the most gorgeous men Luca had ever seen. He had a dark broody quality to him even though he had lighter brown hair. The color was interwoven with natural highlights that glimmered under the harsh club lighting. Luca had been impressed by the big guy which is why he’d camped it up on stage and directed Dolly Parton’s lyrics to him.

  Luca had always appreciated a handsome man but there was something about this one. The almost surprised way he appeared after they’d collided—he’d been clearly annoyed when their eyes first met but that had changed almost instantly afterward. In fact, it had been right about the time Luca apologized; the man’s whole demeanor changed. He’d gone from pissed one second to surprised the next. Luca had seen a lot of gay guys give him that look, but never a straight one. Judging by the pretty blonde on his arm, that guy was as straight as they came. She had quite the store-bought bustline. Luca didn’t go out with straight guys, though he’d had more offers than he ever wanted—not that the big man had been offering, not even in the way he’d looked at him.

  It wasn’t until he’d turned and followed Corey up to the stage and begun his song that he’d spotted the man pulling his girl through the crowd. As soon as he saw the expression on the man’s face, he couldn’t help but sing to him. The big guy’s eyes were stunning, some sort of a light color that went nicely with hair the same shade as the thick scruff that covered his square jaw. He was quite a bit older than Luca, somewhere in his early thirties, if he were to make an educated guess.

  “Luca… Luca!”

  Luca snapped out of his musings and glanced over at Corey as the throb of techno music pounded through the club. Only then did he realize he must have been the closing act for karaoke night since Madame Wilma was no longer on stage. Man, he had been out of it if he missed all that.

  “Luca!” Corey reached out, framing both of his cheeks as he turned Luca’s face to his own. His friend looked somewhat upset. Luca guessed Corey must have called his name several times to earn the expression of utter exasperation. He reached up and curled the fingers of both hands around Corey’s wrists, bringing his hands away from his cheeks. He just felt stupid when Corey held him like that.

  “I’m sorry. Was I zoned out again?”

  “Zoned out? Is that a joke?”

  He didn’t really expect an answer. His best friend was just prone to freak-outs.

  “Are you going to answer? Is that a joke?”

  And apparently he did require an answer. Luca shook his head. “I’m sorry, Corey.” He hooked an arm around his neck and kissed the side of his head. “Let’s get you laid.”

  “Luca! I’ve been looking everywhere for you, darling!”

  “Oh my God, don’t look now, but Patrick’s at three o’clock,” Corey said. “He’s going to introduce you to his new lay. While you were singing, he was making the passes around the room.”

  Luca looked up to see Patrick running across the club, shoving his way through the crowd. He was definitely going to trip if he didn’t slow down. Luca grinned, noting the brightly flowered knit shirt that clung to Patrick’s tall form. The blazing pink stretchy jeans that strangely matched one of the giant peonies in the shirt, screamed “look at my fashion sense”. Patrick wore a scarf of the same fabric as the shirt and Luca was almost certain he did it just so he could pick up one end and flick it at people when he talked to them. It had pink tassels—well, of course it did.

  Luca braced for impact as Patrick threw himself against his body. He hugged him tightly, kissing him on both cheeks before grinning down at him. Patrick was a couple inches taller than Luca and his smile was contagious. Luca had to smile back.

  “I was singing,” Luca explained.

  “I saw you while I was introducing Juan to everyone,” Patrick said, almost distracted as he craned his neck and looked around the room. “Where did he go?”

  “I thought you said he was just with you,” Luca said as Patrick continued to look for his new boyfriend. Patrick looked down at him suddenly.

  “He was but I lost him about fifteen minutes ago.” He looked away again, frowning this time. “Where the fuck is he?”

  “Is Juan your new guy?” Luca asked. Patrick swung back to look at him, nodding furiously. He had a dreamy look in his eyes as he clutched the end of his scarf and swung it.

  “Yes, sweetie, and you know how I love those Latin lovers. We just met… well not just met… I mean…” He flipped one end of the scarf at Luca, striking him on the chest with the soft material as he grinned. A second later, he looked over Luca’s shoulder at someone behind him. His mouth widened in that contagious smile again. “There he is! Oh… my… God! Just look at him! Isn’t he yumzers?”

  “Yumzers?” Luca snorted, turning and seeing a handsome tall Latin-looking guy coming toward them. He had another smaller Latin man by the hand and he was pulling him along.

  “Who’s that with Juan?” Corey asked.

  Luca turned to see Patrick put both hands on his hips and frown deeper. “Good question,” he said, sticking out his lower lip. As soon as they were close enough, Patrick tried to launch himself at Juan the way he had at Luca. Juan caught him but instantly put him down and grabbed both biceps, pushing him back to arm’s length.

  “What is it, darling?” Patrick drawled.

  “I’m so sorry, Chiquito mio,” the man said with a thick accent. “I’ve moved on.”

  Luca glanced back at Patrick, watching his friend’s expression scrunch up with agony.

  “What? Moved on? But we only met…” He glanced at his watch before looking back up at Juan. “… an hour and twenty-five minutes ago!”

  Juan let go of the other Latin boy’s hand and hugged Patrick hard before retaking the other man’s hand.

  “I’m sorry, mi amore. Let me remember us the way we were,” Juan said before turning and walking away with the other man’s hand in his.

  Luca noticed the tears in Patrick’s eyes. He reached out and hugged his friend, looking aside at Corey as he laid his head on Patrick’s chest. His best friend was rolling his eyes as Patrick sobbed all over Luca’s shoulder. He sniffed loudly and then wiped his wet nose across Luca’s T-shirt.

  “Thanks for such a fun night,” Luca silently mouthed at Corey who slapped a hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t laugh out loud.

  Chapter Two

  “Just tell me what’s happening,” Dev said. Her piercing brown eyes looked at Kane sharply. He’d somehow known she wouldn’t just let him get away with… “
I’m being lent out to the LAPD as a UC for a case but I’ll be back afterward.” Yeah, right. That had gone over like a lead balloon.

  Sunday afternoon, they sat in a booth at the back of Dupar’s restaurant, having a late lunch. His partner had been the first person he called after the meeting with Sarah, Lincoln, and Brady that morning. Sarah had promised to tell the rest of the team about his temporary change of assignment with as little detail as possible, but Kane felt he owed Dev the whole truth. He could lie to her and give her the pat line he’d rehearsed, but he felt he owed her an explanation.

  They’d worked side by side for nearly a year and she could read him almost as well as he could read her. She’d only figure it out eventually and if Kane wasn’t completely honest with her now, she might pursue the truth on her own which would just put her in the line of fire and possibly expose his cover, though the former was the greater concern. Her safety was paramount in his mind and he couldn’t imagine letting Dev get hurt. There was no way he was going to let that happen.

  He launched into the long explanation of why he was being detailed to the LAPD for an undercover assignment and as her eyes widened at his revelation that he and his family had been in witness protection for nearly twenty years, Kane had cringed, knowing the questions Sarah and Lincoln hadn’t asked in front of the marshal were about to begin. When he finished his opening salvo, she sat back, crossing her arms, the delicious food in front of her completely forgotten. Dev stared at him for some time, seeming to process everything he’d said and then began to ask questions.

  “What happened to your dad, Kane? Can you tell me? How did you end up being a witness to his murder?” She uncrossed her arms and reached across the table, taking his hand as she turned a sympathetic gaze on him. He noticed, not for the first time, how beautiful Dev was. Her large cat-like eyes, curling lashes, and slashing black brows complemented the deep shade of her mocha skin. If she hadn’t been openly lesbian and his partner, Kane would have asked her out. Then again, he’d never dated a woman as tall as Dev was, at six feet. He might have liked the feel of long legs wrapping around him as he fucked her. When she came out to him only a week into their partnership, out of respect for her, he’d pushed those feelings right out of his mind.