Page 18 of Recaptured by the Crime Lord

Lyla sniffled against his shirt. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“You don’t need to do anything. Just be with me.”

Lyla sighed and felt as if she hadn’t slept in days. “I’m so tired.”

Gavin didn’t hesitate. He picked her up in his arms and carried her into the house. He took her upstairs to the master bedroom. Lyla buried her face in the pillow and wept, great gasping sobs that racked her whole body. A warm, hard body wrapped around her.

“You’re not alone,” Gavin said into her hair. “I’m here. We’re going to get through this.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Gavin

Gavin grasped Lyla’s hand as they walked onto the gun range. Although she stiffened, she didn’t jerk her hand away. He held her while she cried her heart out last night. The sound of her sobs followed him into sleep. This morning her eyes were swollen and lifeless, but she didn’t protest when he asked if she wanted to go to the gun range. Now that she brought it up, he was eager for her to be armed and ready. It would make both of them feel better.

He had to admit that her wardrobe was lacking the necessary clothing for a visit to the gun range. She drew stares from men and women. She wore large sunglasses to cover bloodshot eyes, a sleeveless turtleneck and short shorts with thigh high gladiator sandals. It was warm out, so the turtleneck should be a last resort, but she didn’t want to show her scars. The glimpse he had of her chest and abdomen made him sick with rage. He had to resist the urge to pull her clothes aside so he could see everything. When she allowed him to touch her, he’d show her in no uncertain terms how he felt about her scars.

He stood back to watch her shoot and felt himself get hard as she braced herself and took aim. Clearly, Carmen was a better marksman than he gave her credit for. Lyla had nearly perfect form and her aim was better than he could have hoped.

“How did I do?” Lyla asked when she took off her ear protectors.

“Excellent.” He kissed her and ignored her startled expression. He wouldn’t stop pushing until she was completely his... and maybe not even then. “I’m going to have Blade bring you to the range a couple of times a week to keep you fresh. He can even teach you to spar if you feel up to it.”

Lyla nodded. He put his arm around her and stared down a guywho was gawking at her. Lyla was oblivious to the attention, which is the only reason he was able to keep his shit together. If she ever looked at another man, he wasn’t sure what he would do. Just the thought of that geeky IT guy made him want to kill. It crossed his mind when she went on the run that she might have gone back to him. If he wasn’t so pissed at Carmen, he would have thanked her for keeping Lyla away from that bastard.

Gavin helped her into the back of the SUV and didn’t apologize when he rested his hand on her thigh. Lyla tried to shift away, but he tightened his hold. When she glared at him, he held her gaze with a deadpan one. He didn’t lie or exaggerate. He needed touch to anchor him. Blade had a syringe filled with a sedative just in case he went off the rails. If he didn’t have so much respect for his second in command, he would have shot Blade the first time he used a sedative on him.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“We’re going to get you new clothes and then we’ll get you a gun.”

“I don’t need new clothes.”

He glanced down at her. “If you want to go to the gun range, I think you need jeans and sneakers, not heels.”

Lyla made a face. He resisted the urge to stroke her thigh. That would be pushing it. Him touching her at all was pushing it, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to think he made progress with her last night. Mere words wouldn’t make everything okay, but they didn’t hurt. He would do everything in his power to make Lyla happy.

When they arrived at the mall, Blade and the other men fanned out so they didn’t look so obvious. When he paused by the directory, unsure where to go, Lyla sighed and tugged him in the direction of a boutique. When a bubbly sales associate approached her, he relaxed. He wanted Lyla to feel comfortable. If her existing wardrobe didn’t work, they would throw it away and start over.

He stopped the sales associate as she bustled around. “She needs everything—shoes, underwear, jeans, skirts, dresses, the works.”

She looked him up and down and winked. “You got it, big boy.”

Gavin snorted as the sales associate walked away. Blade came up beside him.

“All good?” Blade asked.

He ran a hand through his hair. No. It wasn’t ‘all good’. It mayneverbe ‘all good’ but he could hope. “As good as can be under the circumstances.”

“You’re keeping your shit together.”

“She lets me touch her. That’s enough for now,” he said and started forward when he lost track of her. “Where is she?”

“Dressing room,” Blade said calmly.

Gavin tried to ignore the anxiety as he checked his phone and replied to Marcus, the new COO of Pyre Casinos. Marcus was a young, intelligent bastard who kept things running better than he and Vinny ever had. Gavin appointed Marcus right before he went to jail. Marcus could have taken advantage of his absence. Instead, Marcus maintained everything to perfection. Once Gavin was released, Marcus began to suggest plans to expand the Pyre Empire. Occupied with Lyla and keeping his mind off a murderous rampage, Gavin was grateful for Marcus’s eagerness to take on the bulk of his workload. Marcus had been on the periphery of Gavin’s mind since he became an intern at Pyre Casinos. Marcus didn’t have a privileged background and his hunger to prove himself honed a keen business sense that Gavin used to his advantage.

When he couldn’t stand it any longer, Gavin went into the dressing room, which had five rooms and three large mirrors against one wall. Only one door was closed.

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