Eternal Temptations (The Tempted Series Book 6) by Janine Infante Bosco

Anthony is a man who always makes sure he’s aware of his surroundings, a force of habit for someone who has spent most of his life looking over his shoulder. Yet, he didn’t know I was there watching him, completely in the zone which confirmed he was off.
    Stepping around the bag, I make my presence known as he goes for a right cross. His blue eyes peer up at me and his face glistens with a fresh sheen of sweat as he reaches for the chain used to suspend the bag and stops it from swinging toward me.
    “Let’s go, Bianci,” I urge, holding my hands up as I step to the side.
    He takes a deep breath, pinning his eyes to mine as he contemplates my offer, giving a slight shake of the head.
    The leather makes a slapping noise as I smack the pads together, holding them up to him again.
    “I said, let’s go, Bianci. Now, let’s go. Give me your best shot,” I taunt.
    His eyes narrow into tiny slits as he taps my pads lightly with his gloves.
    “You call that a jab?” I hiss, rolling my eyes.
    “Adrianna,” he grits.
    “And here I thought you knew how to work a pair of gloves,” I bait, holding my hands higher as the jab finally comes.
    Right cross, uppercut, hook.
    He releases a series of short breaths as he works those jabs against the pads before switching the combo.
    Uppercut, cross, jab .
    “That’s it, give me your aggression, babe,” I demand, moving my hands just as he taught me.
    “Goddamn it, A,” he hisses, before holding his stance and stilling his hands.
    Lifting one hand to his mouth, I watch him bow his head and tear the glove from his hand with his teeth. He takes a deep breath before removing the other one, using his free hand this time. I drop my hands to my sides and follow him to the bench. He unravels the tape from his hands as he straddles the bench.
    “What’re you doing here?” He says.
    “Looking for you,” I admit. I started to remove the pads from my hands but he stops me, grabbing my hands he pries them off himself.
    “I’m sorry I didn’t call,” he rasps.
    “Yeah, you want to tell me what’s got you twisted?” I ask, cocking my head to the side as he examines my hands. “Did something happen with my father?”
    “It’s nothing,” he insists, bringing one of my hands to his lips then the other.
    “Bullshit, Bianci.” I call, pulling my hands back. I lift them to his face, forcing his eyes to mine as I straddle the bench and inch closer to him.
    “When I went to visit your old man, I figured he was just giving me another message to deliver to Jack, but he had another visitor, your cousin, Rocco,” he explains.
    I squint in confusion. Rocco and Gina are my first cousins on my mother’s side, and to be honest we don’t have much of a relationship with them. We did when we were younger but then their father was deported and they moved back to Italy. Gina is off killing it as some big shot investment banker and the last I heard, Rocco was living in Florida.
    “Apparently, your father’s been grooming him for a long time to take his place within the organization,” Anthony mutters.
    “What? Wait a minute, you’re telling me Rocco is going to be taking my father’s place?” I shake my head in confusion, I drop my hands from his face and place them over my knees, processing what my husband was telling me. I lift my head and look at him as I piece it together.
    “Yeah,” he confirms.
    “And that bothers you,” I state, sliding back an inch to better assess him. “Because a part of you wishes it was you taking over, am I right?”
    He reaches behind me, grabbing a towel and wiping his face.
    “I don’t know,” he admits, wrapping the towel around his shoulders. “I spent most of my life doing all sorts of fucked up shit, thinking one day I’d be the one Victor handed his empire over to. I sold my fucking soul to the devil and have to live every day with the sins I’ve committed. This guy comes out of nowhere, spends a year or so under Vic’s thumb and