Page 65 of Love Him Like Water

“You’re going to need to get cleaned up, mouse,” he said as he turned to walk to the shower stall, reaching to turn it on.

I didn’t understand his meaning.

Until I felt a hot trickle from between my thighs.

“Come on,” he said, voice soft, but tired, and I turned to find him already naked, climbing in the shower niche himself.

I moved across the room, reaching to remove my shirt, then bra, trying not to cover myself as his gaze slid over me, then climbing inside.

Then I got to stand there as Renzo pushed me under the water… and started to wash me.

Then let me rinse as he washed himself.

Wordlessly, he shut off the water, handed me a towel, then got his own.

And we made our way to bed.

All the while, I thought things had finally, finally changed.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lore

Three days later, though, nothing had changed.

And now I had a shiny new fear of leaving the apartment to contend with, so I was just staying inside, feeling sad and anxious and disappointed that Renzo was still working his intolerably long hours.

There was a knock at the door—Elian’s little warning that he was coming in before he did—and then the door inched open.

“You have… a visitor,” he said, looking as surprised as I felt.

A visitor?

One of my brothers, maybe?

Nico?

“My brother?” I asked, hearing a hopeful squeak in my own voice.

“Right. Like one of them is going to swallow their pride, trek down here, and admit they… whoa,” the newly familiar female voice started as she pushed past Elian, only to freeze a foot inside the door as she got a look at me.

Honestly, in the long list of family members I thought might show up to see me, she was almost at the bottom.

Avery was the wife of my cousin, Emilio. Who was the Capo dei Capi’s right hand man.

She was a pretty blonde with a somewhat round face and light blue-gray eyes.

When I gave it a second of thought, though, it made sense that it was Avery.

Because Avery was a Lombardi.

Well, sort of.

Avery had been the stepdaughter of a Lombardi capo.

She’d actually met my cousin Emilio when Renzo had used her to spy on the Costa family.

So if anyone was going to feel comfortable traipsing into Lombardi territory, it was someone who’d lived in it most of her life, who knew all the people.

---