My Sinful Longing (Sinful Men Book 3)

by Lauren Blakely

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  I tapped my chest, a tangle of emotions swirling inside. “What about me? What does that say about me?”

  She sighed, tightening her hold on my shoulder. “You’re here for murder, Dora. You’re here for life.”

  Life.

  She said it heavily, like a stone, and it was. It was the weight of all my choices.

  “But they came to see me,” I said, clinging to that fact.

  Facts mattered.

  “Take solace in that. As you seek your redemption, take solace in that.”

  “Isn’t it too late for that?” I asked.

  We reached my cell. She met my eyes. Talked to me like I was a person. Not an animal. “I pray every night for you, for all the women here, that you find your redemption behind these bars. That you become a better person in this place. Let your kids help you do that.”

  My throat squeezed, like hands were gripping it. Tight and cruel.

  But true.

  It was all too true.

  Then she handed me a book. “For the next book club. Keep reading, Prince. Keep going.”

  I took it, clutched it.

  Read it that night.

  71

  Lee Stefano

  Business was good. Business was damn good today. This was a stellar kind of afternoon.

  I’d already netted a cool G and then made sure I had plenty to pay my guys too. They deserved it. TJ and Kenny taught me everything, and I was damn grateful for them. My brothers in arms. My brothers in sin.

  As I pocketed the last wad of cash and started packing up, my phone buzzed. I grabbed it, slid my thumb across the screen, and answered. Kenny. He was like the father I didn’t know.

  “Yo, what’s up man?”

  He wasted no time, diving right into it. “You better get out of there. Word on the street is that they’re onto you.”

  I tensed, flicking my gaze from left to right on the street corner I was working today. I saw no boys in blue, but Kenny’s warning could only mean one thing. “Thanks, brother. It means the world to me that you look out for me.”

  “Always.”

  He always had—ever since my dad was tossed into the joint, we’d looked out for each other. My dad had protected him, swallowed his name and TJ’s, kept their secrets locked up tight.

  As it should be. Protect our own. I patted my ink as I shouldered my bag.

  I’d protect mine too.

  Take care of my guys. That meant I needed to jet.

  I turned around, coming face to face with a guy with dark-blond hair, blue eyes, and a satisfied smile on his face.

  My eyes widened, and a wave of fear crashed over me.

  He could only be a cop.

  “Lee Stefano, it’s great to see you. You’re under arrest for stalking, harassment, and grand larceny.”

  I spun, ready to take off, to run like hell, but he had me.

  The cop fucking had me.

  Then a thrilling realization hit me as he read me my rights. A rush of satisfaction burst inside.

  He was going to toss me in jail. And once I was there, I would earn my Sinner stripes. Time behind bars. It would show everyone how tough I was, how strong I was, and that I was just like my father.

  He’d done much worse. But still, I was following in the footsteps of the family business.

  This would prove to the Sinners that I was one of them.

  72

  Elle

  My heart still raced furiously. That had been a hell of a game of laser tag. It was made all the better by Colin’s news.

  I hung up and turned to my son as we walked toward the rental counter to return the laser tag equipment. “My text message stalker was arrested this morning.”

  Alex punched the air. “Yes! That is awesome.”

  “The cops got him on grand larceny too. He stole tons of electronics. Laptops, iPhones, tablets.”

  Alex scoffed. “Androids are way better than iPhones. Better games on them,” he said, and I smiled because we were doing this. We were living life.

  We were talking and playing and being strong. I’d found the internal resources to deal with the highs and lows of life, without turning off my heart.

  “Anyway, he’s in jail now. Colin just talked to the detective who’s been working on his father’s case,” I said, before we reached the counter.

  Alex stopped in his tracks. “I have a question. You said in the car the other day when you were talking about the messages that Colin was ‘working on it.’ I was freaked out at the time, but now I’m curious. What did you mean?” he asked, his voice softer now. He hadn’t let me explain the other day; he hadn’t wanted to listen. He wanted to now.

  “He took it upon himself to find out who the guy was. He studied the texts, and he researched a number of possibilities as to who was sending them, and he used every tool at his disposal. Instagram, Facebook, and then good old-fashioned elbow grease. He pulled together clues from things people had said, from pictures he had seen, and when Lee Stefano posted again, Colin was ready, and he was able to track him down and give the information to the police.”

  Alex whistled in admiration. “That’s impressive. That’s some serious detective work.”

  “It is,” I said, a burst of pride surging inside me over what Colin had done and for my son’s understanding.

  “That’s pretty cool too,” Alex said, like an admission.

  I furrowed my brow. “What’s cool?”

  “That Colin did that for you. That he didn’t stop until he’d solved the problem. Dad was never like that. He didn’t solve problems. He only caused them.”

  I looped an arm around him, my heart lighting up. “Colin didn’t just do it for me. Or for us. He did it because it was the right thing to do. He’s that kind of a guy.”

  “He is. He’s good to me. I’m good to him. He’s good to us.”

  That was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of my heart.

  73

  John

  I removed my shades when I spotted the young man waiting at a picnic table in the park. Though it was a Monday morning, the park was quiet, and the picnic tables were far enough away from the playground for a private conversation. Marcus had said he didn’t want to meet at his apartment or at the store where he worked, and not anyplace where someone might see him. I’d chosen a park thirty minutes outside of Vegas.

  The teen sat on the table itself, head down, tapping away on his phone. When I reached him, I saw he was swiping pages in an e-book app.

  “Thanks for meeting me,” I said.

  “Thanks for meeting me here.”

  I took a seat next to him on top of the green slatted wood of the table.

  “So you arrested Lee Stefano yesterday?”

  I nodded. “We found him at one of his regular blocks. Part of his territory for selling stolen goods. Same place that was tagged in the photos,” I said. It was almost as if the thief wanted to be taken in. Or, more likely, that he wanted his “Sinner Stripes,” as they were called. Stefano’s son wanted to be able to say he’d served time, like his dad. Now that I had him in custody, I was hoping Lee would talk. Would tell me more about TJ and Kenny. Where to find them. I wanted nothing more than to see those two men behind bars for the rest of their lives, and Stefano’s son could be the linchpin to making that happen. Lee’s mother, Bianca, was the one who’d tipped us off in the first place that there might have been others who’d played a part in the murder of Thomas Paige nearly two decades ago.

  That was TJ and Kenny’s first conspiracy to commit murder.

  Didn’t seem to have been their last.

  My blood boiled over the evidence I’d amassed linking those two men to other crimes, and more unsolved murders. By all accounts, TJ Nelson had embraced his job as the broker of Stefano’s hits, working with other gunmen over the years that followed, taking his role as the planner and plotter to a new level. He was the man pulling the strings on hits for the Sinners,
and Kenny was his right-hand guy. I was determined to find them, especially since I’d learned that TJ had had words with Thomas Paige several weeks before the man was killed. I was talking to other witnesses later today who knew more about that encounter, and I hoped to hell I’d be able to link all the details together and track down the Nelson cousins.

  They were tough to nab. Harder to find. They’d earned some kind of protection from their brothers in the gang. Some of that protection had come in the form of Lee Stefano trying to keep Marcus quiet by intimidating the social worker he’d been confiding in. I wasn’t 100 percent sure why those men wanted Marcus’s mouth zipped, but I had a few good leads. Marcus was untouchable; they’d never hurt him. But they needed him to keep their secrets quiet, so they’d tried to shut him down.

  But I needed Marcus to talk. Because I was damn sure Marcus knew more than he’d told me when we met a week ago. And I was determined too to understand why Marcus was an untouchable.

  “Is Lee going to leave Elle alone now?” Marcus asked.

  Maybe the threat to someone he cared about would push him into talking finally. “Yes, we’ve got him. And I think we can get him to give up some info on Kenny and TJ.”

  “What about my stepmom though? Will they leave Angie alone?”

  I arched an eyebrow. This was news to me. “Someone’s sending her harassing messages too?”

  Marcus nodded, his young eyes etched with worry. “I saw her and my little sisters a few days ago, at Baskin Robbins. I overheard her talking on the phone. I think she’s worried that those guys are coming after her.”

  “To make sure your dad stays quiet about all that he knows about the murder of Thomas Paige?” I asked, hoping Marcus would finally give me an answer.

  Ever since I had uncovered the details of Dora Prince’s drug trade—that the woman was a dealer, Stefano was her supplier, and she sold to the Nelson cousins and many, many others—I was sure that her ex-lover had intel about the business she’d been in. Luke claimed he met Dora at Narcotics Anonymous, but I wasn’t convinced that’s how the affair began. Nor did I buy that Luke’s hands were clean. Because as I saw it, Dora Prince planned the murder of her husband to get his life insurance money so she could run away with her kids and her lover.

  Luke had to know something about the murder. Especially given the leads I was chasing down about him.

  If someone was trying to shake down Marcus’s stepmom now, well, that only bolstered my belief that Luke was involved.

  And Marcus might know.

  He was here. He was trying. He just needed to feel safe.

  “I can protect you,” I said calmly. “I can protect her. That’s what I do.”

  Marcus hung his head, exhaled, then lifted his face and met my eyes. He started talking, and holy hell-of-a-secret, this was the mother lode. This was the golden goose of information.

  74

  Colin

  Rex rappelled down the rock, landing gently on his feet.

  He raised his arms in the air. “Just call me Spidey Investor Intern.”

  “That’s your official new name,” I said, high-fiving him.

  After I showed him the basics, he climbed about ten feet, his first time ever.

  “When can we go again?” he asked.

  I beamed. “I knew you’d love it.”

  As we loaded the climbing gear into the trunk of my car, we made plans to go again. Rex had started interning with me, doing basic tasks at the office while he went to community college. He was dee-lighted, as he put it, to earn some cash.

  And he was damn good and reliable. No surprise there. Looking out for his little brother made him a stand-up guy who showed up for his commitments.

  We got in the car to head back to town.

  “So, how’s your lady? When are you going to ask her to marry you?”

  A laugh burst from me. “We just became official and now you want me to get down on one knee?”

  “You love her, man, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  “Then what’s the holdup?’

  “Listen, there’s no doubt I want to be with her.”

  “Aren’t you the guy who takes risks all the time?”

  I laughed at his persistence, at his big personality. At all his Rex-ness. “I do believe in risks. And here’s the thing. When I ask Elle, because I will ask her, I want it to be the right time.” I checked the time as we slowed at a light. “Right now, I just want to be in her life, and I am. And that makes me happy.”

  He punched my shoulder. “You’re the man. But when you do ask her, you better invite me to the wedding because I want to wear a tux.”

  “I promise.”

  I had all the faith in the world that I’d be able to keep that promise, in all its shapes and colors.

  For now, though, I dropped off Rex and headed to the skating rink to see my woman.

  She was mine. We were together. That was all that mattered.

  75

  Elle

  I longed to be the one sending Janine racing around the curve. I craved the rush of the wheels, the speed of the chase, the vibrations of the music in my bones. Instead, I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted my encouragement from the half-wall at the edge of the rink.

  “C’mon!”

  “Block her!”

  “Go, Cool Hand Bette!”

  I screamed and cheered the loudest from the sidelines, rooting on the Fishnet Brigade. The league championship was underway, and victory was in our grasp. Just a few more points. Just a few more minutes.

  “Bet you twenty bucks they win, even without their best player.”

  That voice. It sent goosebumps over my skin. It lit up my chest. It warmed my soul.

  I turned around. My heart skipped, and my skin sizzled. And I beamed as I patted the seat next to mine. “Join me,” I said.

  “Don’t mind if I do.”

  He sat next to me, dropped a kiss to my cheek, and took my hand. Everything felt so right. So true. The two of us together, in the open, living life.

  “I bet they win too,” I said, and my heart beat fiercely against my ribs just from being near him.

  “You know,” he said, taking his time with the words as he inched closer, “if they do, we should celebrate.”

  Celebrate.

  That’s what we said the night we almost kissed at The Venetian. That night had been our start. It had sent us hurtling down this twisting, turning path to deeper friendship, to lust, to love.

  “We should. But no almost kisses this time,” I said playfully as I slid an arm around his waist. “Because I’m ready for everything.”

  He leaned in, dipped his face to mine, and pressed a kiss to my lips.

  A few seconds later, someone groaned. “Am I going to have to see that all the time?”

  I snapped open my eyes to see Alex. “Um. Not all the time?”

  He waved a hand. “Don’t worry. I’ve battled zombies. I can handle this. But maybe some more money for games, please.”

  I smiled, happy to give him that, happy he was doing just fine.

  After I handed Alex the money, Colin and I watched the rest of the match together, cheering loudest when my team won.

  Then he dipped his hand into the pocket of his shorts. “A gift for you.” He dangled a long pair of socks in front of me. They were red with Vs of illustrated birds on them.

  “They’re perfect,” I said, and grabbed them. “Where did you get them?”

  “My soon-to-be sister-in-law knows how to find anything on the Strip. And she found a store for me that sells all kinds of socks.”

  I clutched them to my chest. “I love socks, and I love you.”

  He quirked up his lips. “And I love you in your sexy socks.”

  As I looked around, I saw I had everything in one place. I wasn’t two Elles. I wasn’t separating my heart from my head. I was living my whole life—a woman, a social worker, a sister, a daughter, a lover, a mother.

  A person, whol
e and happy and completely fulfilled.

  76

  Colin

  The disco lights swirled in crazy-eight circles, and Elle raced in a circle around the rink, sexy as always, wearing her tight T-shirt, short skirt, and red socks. Bon Jovi blasted out of the sound system.

  “Catch me if you can.”

  There was no way I was backing down from that challenge. I pushed harder and faster on my wheels, and soon enough I caught up with her, grabbing her waist and pulling her to the side of the rink.

  Breathless, she laughed in my arms as “You Give Love a Bad Name” echoed around us.

  “Hey, you’re not even supposed to be skating for another week,” I admonished her.

  “No,” she said, correcting me as she shook her head. “The doctor said no contact sports. Skating itself is fine.”

  “Contact sports,” I said. “We’ve violated that doctor’s order already.”

  She laughed. We had the rink to ourselves. Alex had gone home with Camille, and Camille had given Elle the key, so we were all alone, the game over and everyone cleared out.

  After a few more circles, we slowed to a stop at the side, and I brought her close. I threaded my fingers through her hair and kissed her—a hot, wet kiss that had her shuddering in my arm. She moaned as I deepened the kiss until our mouths tangled together and became nothing but a fevered, hungry prelude to hard sex.

  She looped her arms around my neck, pulling back to look at me with love in her eyes. “I always hoped,” she whispered.

  “Always hoped what?”

  “That we’d find a way,” she said, and exhilaration tore through me. It sped through my body in a mad rush of longing. Longing that had been fulfilled with her. I wanted to be her home.