Page 78 of Privilege

His lips came up to graze her ear as the noise level picked up a bit in the warehouse. “Most times, they’re just boosting whatever they know is going to be easy to resell on the market without it coming up as stolen after they remove all the identifiers and change paperwork. But sometimes … they get a request. Someone knows they’re not going to get their next few payments in, or whatever. They’re paying insurance, so if it gets stolen …”

Lucia blinked. “It’s all paid for.”

“Exactly.”

She heard what he was saying, then. The Phantom was a request by someone.

Huh.

She hadn’t even thought to ask Renzo what they were doing here—did he do this sometimes, too? Not that it mattered, really. A couple of the guys working stopped their business to glance up, and watch the two pass. Renzo nodded at one, but Lucia didn’t bother. She didn’t know them at all.

Once they were just beyond the guys working, Renzo directed Lucia to a row of crates with soda cans tossed into a box in front of them. Wordlessly, his hands grabbed her waist, and she let out a laugh as he picked her up like she weighed nothing at all before sitting her down on the crates. All at once, the noise of the warehouse and guys drifted away as Renzo inched closer to her, and his hands grabbed her thighs tightly. A gentle squeeze of his palms was all it took for her to be entirely distracted, and a little too hot.

What was it about this man that did it for her?

She wasn’t sure.

She just liked it.

Renzo’s gaze held hers as he leaned close, and pressed a fast kiss to her lips. His thumbs stroked her thighs as he murmured, “Stay put, and don’t wander. I’ll only be a few minutes. Got it?”

She pursed her lips. “I’ll think about it.”

His laughter came out dark, and heady. She loved the way he looked when he laughed—so carefree, and unbothered. It was the only time—except maybe during sex—when he seemed truly free. Especially in his happiness.

“You stay put,” he murmured, kissing her once more.

Lucia nodded.

Where was she going to go, anyway?

Renzo patted her cheek with the palm of his hand, and then turned away. Lucia watched his back disappear deeper into the warehouse where she could see a couple of guys waiting for him. Who they were, she didn’t know. Renzo was already shrugging off the messenger bag that was a constant companion on his shoulder whenever she was around. She never thought to peek inside the bag, and frankly, he never left it alone where someone could get a look at the contents, anyway.

Not that she wanted to.

That was his business.

The exchange was so quick that she almost missed it, really. Renzo pulled something from his bag to hand to the taller of the two. She couldn’t quite see what it was he handed over, though. Then, the shorter of the two passed over an envelope that was sizeable in its thickness. Renzo was quick to shove it in the bag, close it up, and shrug it back over his shoulder. Widening his arms, he got a nod from the two guys, and he replied in kind.

It didn’t exactly seem like the conversation was over, though, because the three continued standing in their semi-circle even after they exchanged their stuff. Sure, she couldn’t hear their conversation at all, but Lucia didn’t need to, either. Not to recognize what she was seeing, anyway.

Maybe it was the way Renzo stood …

Or how he directed their conversation …

She’d grown up around men who led—she recognized one when she saw one. Renzo was absolutely the leader of his … crew. Was that even what he called it?

Lucia was so caught up in watching the exchange at the back of the warehouse that she didn’t even notice the guy coming up to her until he was sitting beside her on the crates. He shoved the welder’s mask high on his face, exposing handsome features. A few streaks of ash had been smudged along his jaw, and cheek. His eyes—a bright blue—looked her over with interest, but she wasn’t.

Interested, that was.

Not at all.

“And who are you?” he asked. “Haven’t seen you around before.”

She doubted these guys had women in here very often, if at all, to be honest. Unless they had a woman working on the cars, this just wasn’t a girl’s scene.

“Lucia,” she said simply, “I came with Renzo.”