Page 90 of Ruled By Wizard

The tow truck’s arrival had Natalia opening the garage. She placed her purse on the roof of the car parked inside then took a broom from the wall. Leaving her to clean up the shattered wine bottle, Wizard went to speak with the driver. He removed a card from his wallet and handed it over.

“Take it there. The owner is expecting it.” Wizard eyed the driver’s bare hands. “You have any gloves?”

“Yeah.”

“Put them on, and don’t touch anything unless you have to.”

“Sure thing.”

Leaving the driver to hook up the van, he returned to Natalia. “Give me that. I’ll take care of the mess. Go to work.”

She continued sweeping the glass into a pile. “I can—”

“Go. I’ve got this.” Looking at her face, he noticed her watery eyes. “Hey, it’s only a van. I’ll make sure it’s fixed as good as new.”

“I’m not upset about the van. Well, I am, but I’m more upset about the wine. One of my older customers is coming in to celebrate their anniversary. The wine was made the year they married, and I was going to give it to them as a gift.”

The sniffle in her voice made him want to beat the vandal to a pulp.

“Can you find another bottle in time?”

“No.”

Her soft sob had his hands tightening around the broom.

“There’s no use crying over spilled wine. I have an extra case of Michelob, if you want it. I can give it to you at cost.”

Her teary gaze turned glacial. “You have enough sentimentality to fill a bottle cap.”

Natalia was so angry she didn’t notice his twitching lips. He could handle his Italian queen when she was angry. When she cried? Not so much.

“Why should I be sentimental about someone else’s anniversary? It’s not mine.”

A pointed fingernail stabbed his chest, making him step back. “You’ll never have the opportunity to celebrate an anniversary! You know why? There isn’t a woman crazy enough to marry you!”

Wizard let her storm away instead of carrying her fine ass inside and fucking that feisty mouth until she begged him to stop. Fuck, acting nice was crimping his fun. As a penalty, he restored the full hour she would have to beg before he fucked her again.

After backing her car out of the garage, she stopped only long enough to give him the code for the garage door.

He watched her taillights until the car turned the corner then finished sweeping up the glass. He disposed of it in a trash can inside the garage and found a hose to wash the wine from the pavement. After returning the hose to its place, he closed the garage door.

On his way back to the clubhouse, he made a mental note of which homes were smart enough to have surveillance cameras.

When he arrived, the recruit guarding the entrance took one look at his face and opened the door.

The brothers were all waiting for him. None looked happy about being ordered there so early in the morning. Doom was the only one brave enough to make his feelings known.

“How long do you think it’ll be before you get bored with Natalia?”

Wizard strode through the club and stopped in front of the pool table. After taking in the brothers’ annoyance, he fixed his gaze on Doom. “Why does it matter?”

Doom ran a tired hand over his eyes. “So I know when I’ll get a good night’s sleep again. Can’t you tire her out enough that she doesn’t leave her house at the crack of dawn?”

Wizard’s jaw tightened at the brothers’ snickers. Mentally, he added Doom’s name to his shit list.

“I tired her out,” he lied. “I called you after I left her house and saw that her van had been trashed. If you prefer sleep to following my orders, I can give them to another brother who won’t complain his beauty sleep’s being interrupted.”

The men stared at each other. Doom was the one who lowered his gaze when he realized Wizard wasn’t in a joking mood.