Sleight of Hand (The Kings Wild Cards #3) - Charlie Cochet Page 0,2

He forced his gaze back to Fitz, who blinked at him.

“You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Gio was the one who discovered Nia. Every few years he travels to Greece to visit the village his mother was from.” Fitz waved a hand. “Anyway, he was in a little village in Greece a few years ago. I can’t remember its name, only how heartbreaking it was to hear Gio describe the poverty there. It’s an amazing story. You’ll have to ask him to tell you one day.”

Not likely. Joker didn’t say as much, but Fitz rolled his eyes like he knew what Joker was thinking. They’d gotten to know each other pretty well since Fitz started dating Jack. If it concerned Gio, Joker didn’t want to know. Everyone might have fallen for the guy’s charms, but not Joker. If it was too good to be true, it always was. No one was perfect. No man could be beautiful on the outside and inside, be a billionaire and a saint. Gio was hiding something.

As if sensing Joker, Gio turned in his direction, his smile widening and reaching his dark eyes, forming little lines at the corners because the guy was always fucking smiling. Who the fuck smiled all the time? A curl of Gio’s pitch-black hair fell roguishly over one side of his brow, the rest of his hair untamed. It happened whenever his hair got a bit too long. Not that Joker paid attention to that sort of thing.

Like every other time Joker had seen him, Gio looked impeccable, from his designer shoes to his charcoal-gray dress slacks and slim-fitting black button-down shirt. His naturally tanned skin—thanks to his Greek roots—wasn’t flawless like so many of the hot young models Joker had fucked over the last few months. Not that Joker had given any thought at all to Gio’s subtle freckles and tiny nicks, or that his top lip was fuller than the bottom. He must have made a sound because Fitz poked him in his side.

“What?” Joker growled.

“Behave,” Fitz told him.

Joker arched an eyebrow at him, making him laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m a fucking paragon of politeness.”

Mason and Leo arrived in time to hear his remark, and Mason threw his head back, letting out a booming laugh.

“What’s so funny, cowboy?”

“Nothin’,” Mason replied in his thick Texan drawl. “Just where Gio is concerned, you have a habit of squattin’ on your spurs.”

Mason and his damn cowboyisms.

“I don’t know what that means, but I’m gonna respond with this.” Joker flipped Mason off, making him laugh again. “What the hell are you doing here, anyway? I thought you listened to shit country music.”

“Fuck off. I listen to good country music.” Mason scratched his stubbled jaw. “And I’m here because certain individuals insisted I come along.” He tilted his head toward Colton, who stood a couple of yards away talking to Laz and Gio.

“Still haven’t figured out how to say no to him, have you?” Joker snorted at Mason’s wide eyes.

“That man is terrifying.”

Leo tilted his head in thought. “Really?”

Oh, sweet Leo. So oblivious. But that was part of what made him Leo. He was like a tiny fluffy bunny—a fluffy bunny who happened to be the most dangerous man in the room because of his brain. The guy had been kept a secret from the government by his Army general dad out of fear of what they—and any other government—would do to get their hands on Leo, and they would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for King.

Gio might be Chip’s favorite human, but Chip guarded Leo like no one else, especially from strangers. Like he knew Leo was a precious snowflake who needed to be protected at all costs. Speaking of…

Joker turned to Leo. “I didn’t think this was your kind of scene.” Outside of their family, people in general were not Leo’s scene, much less a loud arena packed with thousands of people. It was the opposite of Leo in every way.

Leo snapped his attention away from the guys moving computer equipment. He pointed up and behind them to the owner’s skybox.

“I’ll be watching from up there. As for being here, are you kidding?” His eyes went all huge and sparkly. Uh-oh. Leo was about to have one of his nerdgasms. “Do you know the kind of coding and tech that goes into a Nia show? She’s got her own dream team who make her ideas a reality through coding and engineering. All of it perfectly in sync with