Page 5 of Carlo
He smirks. “Too bad. It looks like I’m all you’ve got.”
Great, I’m forced to marry a killer. A criminal who is also an arrogant asshole. I arch my brow. “And amIall you’ve got? Or will you spend your time visiting whichever lady friends you have tucked away? The ladies who have your head so swollen, I’m surprised your shoulders can carry it.”
Something dark flashes across his eyes. I’ve hit a nerve. So, he has a lady-friend; of course, he does. They all do. “Do you care?” His question rips me from thoughts of my mother and how she and her friends suffered with their husband’s philandering ways.
“I didn’t with Ben. I don’t imagine you’re any different.”
He stalks closer to me. The tension in the room rises as if the steam expanded, and now none of us can breathe. “Never compare me to that ass again. Do you understand me?”
I lift my chin and meet his gaze. “How about you keep your hands off me, and I won’t have to worry about it. You might be my husband, but you will never be my man.”
His eyes darken. “Good,” he hisses, his voice lowered so that Cate can’t hear. “I don’t want to be your man. I am your husband. And that means something in my world. It means everything. It means you’ll respect me and obey me. It means you’ll stand by me, be loyal to me, no matter what happens.”
“And what will you give me in return? What will you do to earn my loyalty and respect?”
His lips curl into a smile, the sexy smirk curls in my stomach. For a moment, I imagine he’ll reply that he’ll give me mind-blowing sex. But no, he doesn’t go there. His answer cuts to the heart of everything I want, even though I don’t believe a word. “I’ll protect you and your daughter. I’ll keep you both safe. No one will ever hurt either of you again. Not on my watch.”
“Not even you?” I challenge as if I didn’t learn from Ben how dangerous it is to provoke a man like him.
His hand cups my face, and the softness of his callouses surprise me. “Valeria, I can’t give you much. I don’t believe in love. I’ve never been faithful in my life, but for my wife, I’ll,” he hesitates, “try. I can’t even promise not to one day take out your brother or your whole fucking family if they betray us. But you have this one promise that I’ll never break. I will always keep you safe.—from everyone, including me.”
When he finishes speaking, he takes his thumb and gently closes the mouth I didn’t know I’d dropped open. “Now hurry and get yourself and your daughter ready. Caterina was tellingme she wants pancakes. I think we have enough time before we catch our flight, and I know just the place.”
Now I’m so surprised I practically swoon. My eyes grab his and squeeze, my hands grip his shoulders and do the same. “She spoke to you?”
He nods his head. “Not with words. Not yet. But we’re getting there. Right, Caterina?”
She grins when he lifts his brow in her direction. Waggling them up and down like some kind of pirate. I’m watching the grins exchanged between them. How? When? He pushes me out of my stunned stupor with a hearty slap on my behind. “Giddyap cowgirl, we need to get moving.”
My fists ball, and before I swing at him, he adds. “Uh, uh, not in front of the children.” His eyes dance with laughter, and I huff and turn to my daughter, who is watching us as if she’s discovered her new favorite television program.
I ignore his laughter, gather our things, and head for the bathroom. “I don’t suppose you’d consider waiting outside. You know, to give us more privacy.”
He grins again. And his grin causes more flip-flops in my stomach than his abs do. “Nice try, princess. Now, get moving if you want to eat.”
I shut the bathroom door with a thud and lock it. “Princess? I’m going to kill him.”
Chapter 4
Control is like the brass knuckles I use to cover my fists. Control makes every hit harder and deadlier. I’ve survived by wrapping it around myself as tightly as a boxing glove. Valeria unwraps it every damn time. When we returned to the city I moved Valeria and Caterina into my apartment in the Sindicate Towers. The high-rise building overlooks Chicago’s famous skyline. More than an apartment, the view from the balcony alone is worth killing for. The living room windows are floor-to-ceiling. A life jacket wearer could sink into the carpet and still drown. The comfortable furniture could put you to sleep by glancing at it. My kitchen gleams from the stainless steel appliances and the sparkling granite countertops. Valeria and Caterina have twenty-four-hour access to the Falcones’ private gym and pool. This apartment is my refuge, my sanctuary. A place I rarely share with anyone other than family and close friends. Never a woman, not even Cynda, has tainted my monastery.
Yet, I share it with my bride-to-be. The only price she has to pay is her freedom. Valeria and her daughter must be accompanied by security as we prepare for our wedding. I told her a day and gave her a week. Extending the time was my first sign of the damage she’d done to the wall around my soul. It started with her daughter. If she saw past her stereotype of me she’d see that Caterina is her biggest weapon. Her heartbreakingBambi eyes, with their dark brown sparkle, slay me. When the sorrow in her eyes guts me, I wonder what happened to drive this child into her shell. When I share a joke with her she’ll grin at me with a smile full of childish mischief. Suddenly I’m a comic working my one-man show to amuse her. Anything to keep that smile on her sweet face. I’ve only known her a little while, and I’m ready to die to protect her. So will the men I’ve assigned to their security detail.
* * *
My men follow them everywhere they go. This is my only rule. It has no exceptions. I never leave them unattended. I never leave them unguarded. Until we are married I can’t take a chance on the Verazanos coming for her. She shouldn’t take the chance. However, she’s made it abundantly clear that if she has an opening to leave my gilded cage, she’s flying out.
When they first decided I would marry her, I felt the same way. If only it wasn’t for her fucking eyes. They are the darkest abyss. Hiding fathoms deep pits of the hell she’s been through—or at least she tries to hide. Maybe no one notices except me. Maybe everyone falls for the shutters she shelters behind when she slams them down. Attempting to cover whatever horrors made her want to run and keep running. Trying to mask whatever made her daughter retreat into her silent world.
I’ve never been protective of anyone who wasn’t a Falcone or working for a Falcone. But there’s something about Valeria that pulls at me. When I look into those eyes, I want to save her, protect her and… fuck her. My desire is the thorn on the rose. This deal should have been sweet. I marry her, get her pregnant, and then we go our separate ways. However when I look at her, my mind won’t make her ahit-it-and-quit-it. My mind sees her at my side, in my bed, in my life. I’m so fucking screwed.
But it’s not just her eyes. It’s her curves. The way she moves. The way her hair brushes her cheeks. The way her lips lift in a sardonic smile when she’s trying to piss me off. It’s the way her hips sway when she walks. The way her ass fills out her jeans. The way her tits fill out her tank tops. I can’t stop thinking about her. And it’s driving me crazy. I haven’t been able to take any women out to meet my needs. Instead, I’ve had to take care of myself. A problem I haven’t had since I was a fucking teenager.
I can’t have her. She doesn’t want me. And even if she did, she wouldn’t let me have her. I’ve held broken men suspended by their wrists who were less skittish. She practically somersaults in the air when I walk into the room and startle her. What the fuck did Ben Verrazano do to her? To them? I’ve taken to announcing my presence before I enter a room—in my own fucking house. And the look she gave me when I showed her to our bedroom. Her eyes sliced through me when I opened the door, but her words were even more cutting.
Valeria took one look at my king-sized bed and declared in a frost-tipped voice. “Nice room. Now where will Cate and I sleep?”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “Cate down the hall. But you’ll be sleeping here.”
