It Happened at Cafe Nix

Under His Persuasion

Under His Persuasion

Juanita Kees

Detective Mark Johnson wants nothing more than to bring the men behind the Tag Raiders street gang to their knees...until meeting Lily Bennetti makes it personal.

Not the normal setup in which to propose to the woman he loved, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Detective Mark Johnson sat back and studied the motley crew at his breakfast table at Cafe Nix. Who would have guessed they'd scrub up so well? Despite the horrors the boys had experienced at the hands of the Tag Raiders street gang, Marty and Luke had embraced the apprenticeship program and committed to rehabilitation at TJ Devin's centre. He couldn't be prouder if he'd fathered them himself.

But he couldn't take all the credit. Without Scott and TJ Devin, the Tiny Watts Rehabilitation centre would never have existed, and Lily-his beautiful angel-and her son, Luke, would be dead.

He turned his head to where she sat next to him, her face glowing with pride as she chatted to TJ. Gone were the bruises her late husband Gino Bennetti had put on her body with his cruel hands. Mark reached out to wrap a blonde curl around his finger, brushing the tiny white scar on her cheekbone. He gave the curl a gentle tug.

Lily's gaze slammed into his. God, he loved the impact of that look. The love and trust in her eyes, the naughty twinkle he'd put there earlier this morning when he'd worshipped her body with his.

She leaned toward him, her head tilted to the side. He met her halfway and dropped a kiss on her warm, welcoming lips. Heat and an overwhelming love embraced him. Oh how he'd like to take it further, but the catcalls and whistles from the table had him smiling against her mouth instead.

"Later," he promised.

"You're on," she agreed then turned back to TJ.

"Horny bastard," muttered Harold from his right.

Mark chuckled. "You betcha. Jealous?"

His partner snorted. "Not a damn. Jeannie might be though." He jerked his thumb at his wife. "I swear that woman loves you more than me."

"Only because I compliment her cooking skills while you inhale the food without tasting it. What the hell are you reading?"

Harold flicked over the page of the dog-eared magazine. "A trashy mag. Check it out. Nudie shots of your favourite racing car driver and his fling with a chick he picked up while on tour here."

"That was ages ago. You're seriously reading that shit?"

"What else is a man supposed to do when his buddy is too busy mooning over his soon-to-be-wife to talk to him?" He flicked over another page. "Well, well, look at what we have here."

Mark knew that terse tone well. His gut tightened and his instincts switched to high alert. "Spill it."

Harold spread the magazine on the table between them and ran his thumb down the spine to flatten it out. "An article on our men, Gino Bennetti and Nic Albero."

At the sound of their names, Lily turned toward them, placing a hand on Mark's leg. He felt the tension in her grip as she squeezed. Two names that still haunted her sleep, turning dreams into nightmares. While comforting her after those night terrors led to more pleasant things like love and the reassurance no one would ever hurt her again, he really wished their names wouldn't keep popping up. He covered her hand with his, turned it over and entwined their fingers.

As her fingers curled tightly around his, he leaned closer to look at the photograph on the page and asked, "What's it about?"

"Guess we always knew those two were skanky lawyers with dangerous connections, but look at who they partied with." He stabbed his index finger at the bearded man between Albero and Bennetti in the photograph. "George Kavac, aka Kasun, president of Beyond Hell's Reach."