I should have felt like an asshole for pushing Jeanette, but I didn’t. I know what she thought of me, that I was a skirt-chasing derelict who did whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. That I worked for the highest bidder and had no morals. That was okay, I allowed her to think that. I’ve played so many different parts for so many different jobs I really don’t remember what I’m like anymore. But it’s okay. One thing she is right about, though. I do what I want.

It’s why I left my job with the FBI. I don’t like to be bossed around, and some shit back home needed my attention. Try to tell me I can't ‘get involved’ and have to play by the rules? Fuck those guys and their rules. They didn’t expect me to walk, but I have too much information stored in my brain for them to fight too hard to keep me under wraps. I gave them a lot of good years and gave my higher-ups a shit ton of accolades, but there is always another eager rookie looking to play at being undercover. Let them train a new guy to take my place, I have family business to take care of.

I know Jeanette looks down on me for working for Chaz Malone. I’m also aware that she has her own sordid past she is trying to hide. What kind of past? I don’t know. Gabe knows, but that asshole wouldn’t say shit to me when I asked except to tell me to stay away from her. That was over six years ago. I know it was never romantic with them. Gabe treats her extremely gently, more like a brother than anything. Whatever it was that happened to her, Gabe was fiercely protective, so I let it go. For a while.

But then they moved to Toledo, Ohio. I never knew that was where Gabe was from too. I didn’t grow up there, but I spent a lot of time in the Glass City when I was younger. Family reasons. Toledo was once called the glass capital of the world due to the boom in the glass manufacturing industry and is still called the Glass City. I always thought things made of glass were weak, but Toledo was a city that was tough as nails. When Gabe moved back to T-Town after the death of his father, Jeanette went with him without question. That seemed kind of weird to me, but if he was some kind of protector then it made a little sense. Little Jeanette who hid behind her glasses and ugly pantsuits had something to hide. A lot of people had things to hide and I shouldn’t pick. Normally I had no problem minding my own business, so why couldn’t I leave her alone?

I’d thought I would pick her up for the auction and she would try to spite me with another frumpy outfit. She loved getting under my skin almost as much as I liked picking at her, so I was prepared for her to try to make me as miserable as possible. I didn’t mind. I really did need a date that wouldn’t fight for my attention and let me work.

I was not fucking prepared at all.

When the GPS guided me to her condo and I parked the car, she came out of her front door without waiting for me to knock and for a moment I considered calling the entire evening off. There was no way I was going to be able to concentrate on work tonight. She was a goddamn sparkling vision and I was going to have to spend my evening threatening everyone that even tried to look at her.

She didn’t say a word as I walked up the short sidewalk that led to her front door, just stood there eyeing me warily, waiting for some shitty comment to come out of my mouth, I was sure.

“You win,” I said to her, noticing that my voice was much lower than I meant it to be.

“Win what?” Her eyes widened slightly, a slight flaring of her nostrils the only indication that I affected her at all. She knew what I meant.

“Whatever game we are playing right now. You win.” I didn’t say anything else. I didn’t have the words to express what the sight of her was doing to me.

“I’m not playing any games with you, Dino.” She sniffed, and just like that, the small window of vulnerability was gone, and I was on the outside again, holding my arm out for her stupidly as she brushed past me and started walking to the car.

“Damn, Jeanette, will you let me be a gentleman?” I had to jog to catch up to her. She walked entirely too fast in what had to be almost five-inch heels.

“I wouldn’t want you to strain yourself, Dino,” she said smartly, but she did at least wait at the passenger door so I could open it for her. Oh, she was as feisty as ever. I would have to be on my toes tonight or she was going to have me eating out of her hand. Any other time I might have been happy to oblige, but I really did need to work tonight. I slid into the driver’s seat of my black BMW and paused to look at her before turning the key in the ignition.

“Can you work with me here, Jeanette? I really need you to act like you like me for the evening. I really am trying to work, I wasn’t kidding when I told you that.”

“I don’t dislike you, Dino,” she said, but the quirking of her lips belied that statement.

“Yeah all right, Fancy. You don’t necessarily like me either. But you said you would be my date tonight, so I need to you to pretend you do.” I grinned at her in the fading light of the interior of the car. “Let’s practice. Can you give me a compliment? Come on, say something nice.” I could see her gears turning and I held my breath, waiting for her scalding comeback.

“Dino, you don’t need me to tell you that you are devastatingly good looking because it is quite clear that you already know that. If I were to say anything to the contrary you would know I was lying, and what would be the point in that? What I can say is this, I always thought your eyes were brown, a caramel color even, but somehow with the light of the setting sun streaming in through the windshield they have turned an amazing shade of gold. It’s quite striking really.”

She looked embarrassed that the words had come out of her mouth and immediately turned her head to look at something imaginary out of the passenger window. What was that fucking honest compliment that just came out of her mouth? It made my heart hammer in my chest and my hand shake as I reached for the gear shift to pull out of the parking spot. I hadn’t had that kind of surprise physical reaction to a woman since I was a teenager and I resisted the urge to cross my legs and hide just how I felt about her comment. I was a grown ass man who was getting a boner because Jeanette Clary said something nice about my eyes.

Jesus. Fuck.

She was the first to break the silence as I pulled onto the road and towards the highway that would take us downtown. “So what’s the auction tonight? A few things are going on tonight, but I wasn’t aware of any charity event.”

"Yeah, well okay. I maybe was intentionally vague about that. It isn't a charity auction per say."

"Dino." It was only my name, but I caught the accusation all the same.

"Oh, it is still an auction, Jeanette, I didn't straight up lie to you or anything. It's just not necessarily a charity event. It's an event where people who are desperate to make some quick cash auction off their prized possessions. It may be polished and dressed up nice, but we'll call it what it is. High-class pawn."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see her twisting her hands in her lap. Dammit, I didn't want to stress her out. Weird that it never occurred to me that she wouldn't want to go to a sketchy auction with a bunch of strangers.

"Are you a good guy or a bad guy tonight, Dino?" she asked softly, but I heard her words as if they were spoken directly into my ears.

"Let's just say I'm doing double duty tonight, babe. Don't worry though," I told her as I maneuvered through downtown traffic and pulled up in front of the Levis Hotel. "It's totally legal." Mostly.

I hurried to get out of the car and get to Jeanette's door before the over-eager valet attendant could snatch at the door handle. I wasn't giving her the chance to stomp into this event ahead of me, like she had stomped to the car when I had picked her up. She was walking into the event center on my arm. If I didn’t make a claim on her fast and in a hurry, she was going to be getting eye-fucked by the rabble all night. I was going to be eye stabbing those ogling motherfuckers all night as it was. I half-wished she was still wearing one of her ugly as sin work outfits. For reasons I didn't particularly want to dissect I just didn't want anyone knowing her charms, like maybe she dressed like that just for me. I was vaguely aware that it was a caveman thing to think, but I was inside my own head so it was okay. Outwardly I could pretend to be much more of a gentleman.

"I don't know what I am supposed to do about you tonight," I murmured, mostly to myself. "Walking into this place with a bunch of hungry wealthy men and you looking like a five-course dinner." Her gasp was quick and angry, I could tell she couldn't decide whether to be flattered or insulted.

"To be honest, Dino, I hadn't given a thought about what anyone was going to think about how I looked besides you." She hadn't meant to say that, I could tell by the red stain cascading down the side of her neck in my peripheral vision.

We paused in the doorway so I could hand my invitation to the door attendant, and I took the opportunity to lean down and whisper in her ear, "I knew it. I knew you were messing with me. Well, I told you before, you win. Holy shit do you win."

She froze for a second, probably because I was so close to her face that my breath tickled her ear, but then she gained her composure again.

"Angel helped."

"I bet she did," I said with a laugh.

"Gabe paid for it. Said it was an executive order."

I don't know why Gabe paying for her dress rubbed me the wrong way, but it did.

"So, everyone was in on the joke then?" I tried not to sound pissed and I think I almost succeeded.

"You deserve it, Dino. You talked to me like I was some poor little church mouse that you were doing a huge favor for by extending such a gracious invitation. It was bad enough that you talked down to me, but you said that stuff in front of my boss. What do you think of me, Dino? That you would be so disrespectful? Do you think you are better than me? You really hurt my feelings."

She meant every word she said and each one sank into me like a knife wound. I hadn't thought of it at the time, I was just messing around with her like I normally did but having the words repeated to me made me feel like a complete dick. Man, I was a real asshole.

"I apologize, Jeanette, that wasn’t my intention. I am sorry I made you feel that way, but if it rectifies the situation at all, please know that I am eating my fucking words right now. Woman, you are stunning, and I am humbled to be able to walk through these doors with you." The last part ended with a growl as I made angry eyes at someone to Jeanette's right that was blatantly looking her up and down like she was food.

She dared to look pleased by my admission. "As long as you understand."

Oh, Jeanette, I do understand. We are going to have so much fun tonight.

* * *

What a miserable fucking evening.

We hadn't made it to a table before I found a familiar pair of eyes looking at me from across the room. An angry pair of eyes that narrowed when they locked on me. I gritted my teeth as the woman they belonged to made a beeline towards Jeanette and me, and I braced myself for the acidic words that were about to fly out of her mouth.

I didn't even have time to warn Jeanette, and I don't even know what warning I could have given had I had the time anyway.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the brunette hissed under her breath but the hand she grabbed me with was firm, fingernails digging into my arm through the fabric of my suit jacket. I couldn't shake her off without causing a scene. To her credit, aside from a stiffening of her shoulders, Jeanette showed no outward reaction to the hellcat that has just come upon us.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here, Dino," she continued, and even though I wanted to shake the woman off and continue on like I hadn't seen her I had no choice but to let her keep going. Take it like a man or cause a scene and blow my cover. It wasn't even a choice.

"You look lovely tonight, Vanessa," I said smoothly, warning with my eyes to calm herself before she made things difficult.

"Shut up, stupid. What on earth made you think you could show your face tonight?"

"I'm working." Please let it go, I pleaded silently, even though I knew she wouldn't. I have known Vanessa Affini for the entirety of her twenty-seven years on this earth. If there is one thing I know about her, it is that she will not, under any circumstances, let it go. No matter what it happened to be.

"Some of us harder than others," she murmured under her breath, but I heard her. Her words stung but I couldn't say a thing back to her. I couldn't defend myself. I couldn't plead my case. She was right. I could have let it go, but then she turned her sights on Jeanette, who had been standing silently by my side for the entire interaction with a look of bored disinterest on her face.

"Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?" The emphasis she placed on the word friend was not lost on me, nor was it lost on Jeanette by the way one slim eyebrow arched up in question. Vanessa was a couple of different flavors of bitchy on her best day, but I could tell from the look on her face that she was really getting ready to lay into Jeanette. I couldn't let that happen. Vanessa could be mad at me, and she should be, by all accounts, but Jeanette didn't deserve her spite and I wasn't going to allow it.

"Or does it even matter?" she continued, mouth twisted in a cruel bastardization of a smile. "The faces and the names change so frequently, how do you keep them straight, Dino?"

This time I knew the minute the insult registered by the sharp intake of breath and the tightening of the corners of Jeanette's mouth.

Goddamnit.

"That's enough, Vanessa. You are angry at me, you don't get to be a bitch to Jeanette. She is much too good to put up with your bullshit." Dumbstruck that I even said such a thing, because when would I have ever, Vanessa was silent for a moment. Jeanette, however, was not placated by my chivalrous words.

"Why don't I just leave you two alone? I can see you have some...issues to address. I'll be at the bar, D," she said, and whether or not she used Gabe's nickname for me on purpose or accident I wouldn't know, but it made me feel slightly closer to her at that moment. "Let me know when you are done with your domestic dispute." I flinched inwardly but could only let my face remain impassive as she looked Vanessa up and down, then turned and sauntered away. Smooth Dino was unaffected. The Dino inside my head was clawing at my skull, desperate to get out and explain to Jeanette that it wasn't what she thought. Whatever she thought, it wasn't true.

"Do you feel good about that, Vanessa?" I couldn't even think of the proper words to say, I could only bite back the angry ones that wanted to come out. To lash out at Vanessa for giving Jeanette the wrong idea about us.

"I don't feel good about anything anymore, brother," Vanessa said tiredly, and not for the first time I noticed the dark shadows under my sister's eyes. We didn't look alike at all, mostly because we looked like our mothers and not a thing like the father we shared. Our coloring was similar though. We both had dark hair and eyes, with olive complexions, but that was where the similarities ended. Vanessa was average height and willowy, I was taller than anyone else in the family and had the tendency to hang on to bulk. It's why I worked out as much as I did, better the bulk being muscle than a spare tire. I had to work very hard to stay lean, Vanessa was just born that way I guess.

I moved a little closer to Vanessa. To onlookers it might have looked like an intimate gesture, but in reality, I just wanted to speak to her without being overheard by anyone. "I told you, I'm trying to help in my own way. I just need you to trust me, and you can start by not alienating me from one of the only two closest things to friends I am allowed to have in my line of work, okay?"

"She important to you?" Vanessa wasn't a smartass this time, she was genuinely puzzled. I guess I understood why. The only self I showed even my family was the same self I showed everyone else. Probably because the only time I ever came around was when I was on the job. It had been a few years since I had been home, and the first time my sister saw me was when I showed up at the family restaurant under the guise of a hustler, there to cause trouble in the name of Chaz. It hurt, but it was a pain of my own making. If Chaz Malone knew that Vanessa Affini was my freaking half-sister my cover would be blown wide open and I would be back at square one. Or dead. I was so close to figuring out why he was targeting the family restaurant. It had to be something bigger than hustling protection money. Until I could figure it out, I was going to continue to play the part of Dino, the part-time wise guy, no matter how I hated it. That brought me back to Vanessa's question. Was Jeanette important to me? I barely knew her, and she sure as hell didn't know me but I couldn't ignore that gnawing in my gut that started acting up at the thought of Jeanette Clary thinking poorly of me. Was she important? Who knows?

"She's useful. And she's nice," I amended, because even if every word that came out of my mouth was a lie, they still got stuck in my throat over talking shit about Jeanette. "She is Gabe Anderson's PA and we've worked together in the past. Nothing heavy, but she's pretty smart. She's good people."

Vanessa turned her gaze to Jeanette who was across the room with her back to us. The look in her eyes could almost be called respect. "She works for Gabe? What the hell is she doing with you? You aren't dating her, are you?"

"I don't date."

"Yeah, well, you know what I mean." Of course, I knew what she meant.

"I'm not sleeping with her either."

Vanessa actually cracked a smile. "She out of your league, Dino?" I'm glad she called me by my name, I would have to correct her if she accidentally called me brother again.

"Something like that." Absolutely. I leaned in closer to whisper in her ear, "I'm supposed to be putting the moves on you. Whatever Chaz's obsession with the restaurant is, he is not above getting his hands on things by any means necessary. I'm still trying to avoid the question of why I haven't slept with you yet. It's the best I can do to be one of the guys on duty when he sends boys over to the restaurant. Vanessa, I am doing the best I can right now, truly. I need you to cut me some damn slack."

I pulled back in time to see the look of sheer horror on her face at the mention of sleeping together. I totally understood. Just saying it out loud was enough to turn my stomach. I was a good actor, and I could play a lot of parts, but there weren't enough acting lessons in the world to prepare me to fake a sexual interest in my sister.

"How's Nonna?" I almost didn't get the words out. Nonna was the most important woman in the world to me, and it killed me to have to be on the outside when things were so difficult for her. I would choke Chaz Malone to death with my bare hands before I let him get his hands on my Nonna's restaurant. I may have been the illegitimate firstborn son, but a man's Nonna is his Nonna no matter what, and just because my dickhead father didn't want to marry my ma, didn't mean my grandmother treated me any different. I would paint the earth red in our enemy's blood to protect my Nonna. And fuck Chaz Malone for testing that.

"She's hanging on, but the stress is wearing her down." The heat was gone from Vanessa's words, and for a moment we were just a brother and sister, both worried about our grandmother. "You know her though, she puts on a strong front."

I did know, and it only made me more concerned for the health of my elderly grandmother as she tried to stand up against a criminal hell bent on taking something she built from the ground up with my late grandfather.

"I'm working on it, Vanessa," I said as I started walking back towards Jeanette, who seemed to be in a conversation with someone I had never seen before.

"Work faster."

I heard my sister’s mumbled words, but outwardly I gave no indication they had reached me. Inside I could be big brother Dino, but outwardly, this Dino that I was playing today didn't give a shit.