Valerio de Feo had noticed the woman the second he walked into the market to get lunch.

   Teodoro had told him this was the best place for a good fast meal within walking distance and since Teo lived in the city, Rio figured he’d take his older brother’s word for it.

   He’d have to thank Teo for the suggestion when he got back to the apartment. He’d found way more than decent food.

   He’d been struck first by the woman’s eyes as their gazes caught for just a second at the food bar in the back of the market. He’d noticed how pale a purple they were. They stood out like a beacon in her pale cream complexion.

   She’d glanced away fast but it’d given him time to assess her features—and he’d found himself falling for her just a little harder.

   She wasn’t beautiful. She was too soft for that, with her button nose, high cheekbones and pointed chin. But those eyes were gorgeous, huge and so unusual in color. Her mouth was such a perfect bow he couldn’t help but wonder how her lips would feel wrapped around his cock.

   She was tiny—no more than five-two, he guessed—which made him feel like a giant at five-ten. Still, she wasn’t lacking in curves. Her breasts would fill his palms. Her hips were slim, with just enough flesh to hold on to and her sleek ass begged to be petted.

   Rio liked women, all kinds of women. Blondes, brunettes, redheads. Bold women who liked to laugh. Who weren’t afraid to tell him what they wanted and how they wanted it.

   This woman was different. Even his gaze seemed to make her nervous. But he couldn’t help staring at her. Hell, he got hard just looking at her.

   When she tripped, he’d reached for her instinctively. Anyone else would have done the same. He hadn’t had any secondary motives… Well, at least none he felt guilty about. And then, as his hands touched her skin— He hadn’t been able to read her.

   Rio was a linchetto of the Fata. As one of the Etruscan magical races, linchetti had abilities an etera, a regular human, would think fantastical.

   For one thing, the Fata aged differently than humans. Rio might look like he was in his early twenties but he was nearly forty, almost one hundred years younger than his oldest brother Cam. Not that his youthful looks had ever gotten in the way with women. On the contrary…

   All linchetti could dissolve their bodies into shadow. A hell of a tool for the job he and his brothers performed.

   But Rio had been born with a little something extra. A goddess gift.

   He could read a person’s mind through skin-to-skin contact.

   So far the only people he couldn’t read were his parents, which frosted him to no end. Still, he figured it was just as well. As the youngest of four brothers, he probably didn’t want to know what his parents thought most of the time. His three older brothers were tough to read too, but he could if he really wanted to.