by Kaylee, Katy
Luca shrugged, “I think you should prepare for the worst, Aiden.”
“I always do.”
It was Luca’s turn to snort at my answer, “Don’t do that overly cocky thing, Aiden. It’ll get you killed. The man wiped out twenty people a decade ago, and some of them were armed, trained fighters. Security. Your dad…”
“I know, Luca. I know.” I drew in a deep breath, and let it out on another curst, “Shit.”
“Yep. That about sums it up.” Luca suddenly grinned, all seriousness fading, “At least it’s not all bad.”
I gave him a questioning look and his grin widened.
“Are you going to tell me who she is?”
“What?” I choked out in surprise.
“The girl.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Your…friend? That gave you the photo’s? I know you, Aiden. I’m your only friend.”
I had to fight back the urge to roll my eyes at him again, not saying a word. Not that my silence discouraged Luca in the slightest.
“Are you going to tell me about her?”
“No. Do you have anything else for me?”
“Not yet, but I’ll keep digging,” Luca turned a pleading puppy dog look in my direction, “Come on, man. Give me the juicy details!”
“Absolutely not. I’m not telling you about her.” I turned to leave, hoping to distract him but that didn’t work either.
“Ahah! I knew there was a girl. I’ll find out! You know I’m good at digging.”
I had to fight the urge to pummel him and laugh at the same time. A reaction that was all too common when it came to dealing with Luca.
“Dig this!” I threw over my shoulder as I left, raising my hand, and one finger in particular as I slammed the door behind me.
I fumed the rest of the way home. Not because of Luca and his threat to dig into finding the truth about Elizabeth, but because he’d confirmed my worst fear. Ian Redman really was back.
I’d suspected from the photo, but I knew, as ridiculous as Luca could be, he wouldn’t tell me something unless he was absolutely certain. And that meant I was absolutely fucked.
What was I going to do? And more importantly, how was I going to keep Elizabeth safe? If Redman already got to Leah it was only a matter of time before he discovered that her sister was trying to track him down. That was if the man didn’t know already.
My thoughts were still tangled up in the puzzle of her when I parked my car out front and walked inside. Matteo would park the car.
But as soon as I walked into the living room and saw Elizabeth’s face, I froze. One look at her tear stained face was all it took to know that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
* * *
Beth
All I wanted to do was collapse into his arms. I had meant to be strong. I had meant to confront him and demand the answers that I so desperately needed.
But seeing him, watching Aiden walk through that door, look at me and stop as if his whole world was suddenly standing in front of him, took my breath away. Well, what little I had left after sobbing myself hoarse the last half of an hour.
Seeing him also made me realize how brittle I had become, not trusting any one, not even myself. Not having anyone to rely on.
It’s not like I can rely on Aiden Diorno, a soft voice in the back of my mind whispers. He’d already proven that once, and it had been a painful lesson. I would be a fool to ignore the evidence. And I had already made more of a fool over this man than I could ever wish.
I paced back and forth along the plush white rug that covered the marble floors in the living room, full of a restless energy that wouldn’t let me stop. That wouldn’t let my thoughts stop.
They just whirled and spun, chaotically, nonsensically, my vaunted logic slipping away like greased string every time I tried to hold it together.
Finally, there was only one thing I could decide on, only one thing that I knew for certain. I forced my feet to stop moving and turned to face him. He still hadn’t moved. He was still standing there, just inside the doorway, staring at me like I had a gun pointed to his head and he was afraid to take a step closer.
“I need to know the truth, Aiden.”
It was just that. Only that. The truth. It was what I was missing, what I needed so that I could find the absent pieces of this puzzle and make it all make sense. Because right now, nothing did.
I drew in another deep breath, using it to steady myself.
“Who is Redman.”
Aiden flinched at the name as if I really had just shot him, a physical reaction that he couldn’t hide from me.
“Look, you don’t have to worry about that–.”
“Yes, I do.” I stuttered, “I overheard your…men talking about it. My sister was investigating a hitman, Aiden. A killer! What if she was…What if he…” My breath was coming so fast that I couldn’t hardly form the words. They all got clogged up and stuck in my throat, choking me with the awful possibilities. All the terrible things that might have happened to her.
I was hyperventilating. Possible panic attack. My rational mind knew what was happening but all my body could do was react.
Suddenly, Aiden was there. He led me to the edge of the couch.
His hand was cool and gentle on the back of my neck as he pressed me to sit down, pressed my head even further until it was hanging between my knees as his soft voice washed over me like rain.
“That’s it. Just breathe. Nice and gentle. Breathe in and let it all go. You’re okay. You can breathe just fine. There you go. That’s it cara mia. Just like that. Bene, Elizabeth. Molto Bene.”
Slowly, my lungs relaxed, the vice around them loosening inch by inch, helped along by Aiden’s deep, gruff voice in my ear.
After a moment I forced myself to sit back up, wiping the tears from my eyes and patting cheeks that had gone red from trying desperately, fighting for oxygen.
“I’m okay now.” I told him, putting myself back into place, “Thank you, Aiden.”
“You’re welcome.” He whispered, “I’m going to kill Matteo. He should know better than to talk about business in front of strangers.”
I raised one eyebrow, angling it at him in disbelief.
“I have a right to know, Aiden. And I’m not a stranger. And Matteo didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t even know I was there so just stop it with your macho man act.”
“Act?” He mouthed, his eyes widening with every word as I confronted him.
“Tell me the truth, Aiden. Now.”
He looked at me, concern in his pale blue eyes and I let out a frustrated huff.
“I told you. I’m fine now, Aiden. I’m not some delicate little flower that’s going to just wilt at the first little bit of rain. Hell, it’s been pouring for weeks now and I’m still standing.”
I smiled a small, wry smile at the image of me with my curvy form as a tiny flower, but Aiden’s expression never changed, remaining stoic and serious.
“You just had a panic attack, Elizabeth.”
“And now I am not having a panic attack, Aiden.” I said, mimicking his stiff tone. “Look, I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and obvious my body needs some sort of release. It’s over now. I’m perfectly fine. Tell me. Now.”
He looked at me for a long moment, tracing the lines of my face as if to make sure I was telling him the truth, to make sure that I really was all right.
“You’re not going to give up, are you.” It wasn’t a question and I didn’t answer him. He already knew what the answer would be anyway. Still, he hesitated before rising to his feet and holding out his hand for me to follow him before turning. “Come with me.”
I walked alongside him in silence, not because of the panic attack. I’d told him the truth, it was in the past and I felt find now, if a little shaky. But because the feel of his hand in mine settled me like nothing ever had. It grounded me. It made me want to never let go and my body reminded me, quite loudly, that there was another, mu
ch more fun way of relieving that buildup of pressure.
Moisture pooled heavy between my thighs and I could feel it as we walked to his study. The same on that I had been snooping around in when I had overheard all those awful things. We walked inside and he shut the door behind us.
“This room and bedroom suites are the only places in the house that don’t have security camera.”
“Good to know,” I said faintly, Suddenly, those screens and men earlier made sense. But something else didn’t. “Aiden, why do you need security cameras inside your house? And those men, I’m assuming they are more security?”
“There are cameras outside too. A one hundred yard perimeter in every direction.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know, it’s just…” Aiden paused, trailing off as he paced restlessly around the room. It felt much smaller with his big frame eating up the remaining space. “I don’t know how to tell you.”
“Just say it, Aiden. It’s not that hard. Tell me the truth for once.” The words shot out, sharper than I had intended but in the back of my mind I could hear my sister’s words, her screams.
“There are some things that I can’t tell you. It’s too dangerous. For me, and for you.” Aiden said softly, finally looking over at me through heavily furrowed brows, “But I can tell you one thing that I know for certain. It’s not safe for you out there. You will stay here until I deal with this.”
Sudden fury ignited in my chest, setting of a red haze of temper. I stopped towards him, jabbing my finger into his rock hard chest.
“And I can tell you one thing,” I poked him again. It hurt my finger but I didn’t back down, “I am never, never, going to let you or any man make my decisions for me or tell me what to do. We’ve been over this Aiden. Breathing, thinking human here. Fully capable of making my own choices here!”
“God you are infuriating woman! You don’t know what you’re asking!”
“Because you won’t tell me!”
“Because I can’t tell you for fuck’s sake!”
I could tell that he was pissed off. I couldn’t care less. I was even angrier and it pushed me on, fueling my words.
“Tell me or I’m leaving. I’ll walk out right now and find out the truth for myself.”
Aiden flinched in shock at my ultimatum. And in the blink of an eye he went from pissed off and shouting to all soft and razor sharp. Somehow, I knew this was far more dangerous than the shouting but I was too angry to worry about self-preservation.
He stalked closer towards me, every step moving me backwards until the back of my hips hit the massive desk.
When he spoke his voice was like a sword sliding from a scabbard. Quiet, and deadly.
“Your life is in danger,” Every word sounded like it was pulled from someplace deep inside him, “Don’t you get that?”
“The only danger I see here is you, Aiden. You and the lies you keep trying to feed me.” I press my face even closer to his until we’re nearly nose to nose. “Well, I’m not buying it. I don’t believe you.”
“When will you believe it, Elizabeth? When you get shot? Bleeding out in some god forsaken alley all by yourself? Will you fucking believe it then?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“Not going to fucking happen. Not if I have to hand cuff you to my bed to keep you from killing yourself. Because that’s what it is. A fucking suicide mission.”
“It doesn’t have to be. If you just told me the–.”
His mouth landed hard on mine, eating up the rest of my words, drowning what I was going to say in a thick, delicious syrup that slid down my throat and wiped out anything but a need that burned so bright inside me, it was like a forest fire next to a candle. Nothing else could exist when Aiden kissed me.
All that was left between us was me, and him, and way too many clothes.
Chapter 10
Aiden
Need. That was my whole world. I could feel Elizabeth tremble beneath me and it fed the beast inside me, made it roar out for more. It clawed me, trying to tear me apart from the inside out.
It was so much more than desire. So much more than lust. Lust was nothing compared to the monster that flayed and howled through my body. She called to everything inside me. The way she pressed her lips against mine, melting without the least bit of resistance.
She’d always been like that. For all her logic, all her rational thinking, once she made a choice she flung her whole self into it, not holding anything back. And I couldn’t either. I couldn’t hold back a damned thing, not with her shaking in my arms, making that gasping little sound in the back of her throat that made me instantly hard for her.
Anger and fear fueled my desire, adding more kindling to a fire that was already burning out of control. I was wild. Completely out of control. So unlike myself. And I didn’t give a fuck.
It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but this. Being here, with here. Holding her in my arms.
Just the thought of Elizabeth hurt, the thought of her in Redman’s hands, drove me out of my mind and I knew a part of me was being honest when I had spoken those words. I really would chain her to my bed and never let her leave, not if it was the only way to keep her safe.
Because, ever since the moment on the docks when she had rocketed back into my life, she was all I could think about.
For the last ten years, I’d sacrificed everything. All I would let myself care about was the family, the business. Never myself. But now Elizabeth was there, soft and warm and back in my arms and I knew if anything happened to her, it would shatter me.
All the feelings that I had for her years ago were still there, dormant, buried deep and locked away after so long, but no less potent.
God, I still wanted her so bad that it made my hand shake and my body tighten painfully at just the thought of sinking deep into the heaven between her soft thighs.
Once, I had been willing to give up everything, my family, my duty, my whole world, just to stay by her side. And now she was back. I had another chance, if I was brave enough take it.
I sure as fuck wasn’t about to let Redman take her away from me. Not this time. Not again.
I speared my fingers into the silken locks of her pale blond hair and pulled her even closer, deepening our kiss until we shared the same oxygen from our lungs and her taste was forever imbedded in my memory.
She was like a drug, and I was addicted. I would always want more. Always need more.
I wrestled with myself, with the need to control her, to dominate her. I wanted to strip her bare and take her every way a man could take a woman. I wanted to tie her up and have her at my mercy until she pleaded with me to give her what she needed. What we both needed.
I was dominant, aggressive. It was just who I am. And just as much as I needed to sink inside her, I needed her to accept that side of me. I didn’t know why it was so important to me. It never mattered with anyone else.
But Elizabeth wasn’t anyone else. She was something different.
I didn’t want to look too closely at the reasons, but the need still spurred me on and I pulled her close, pressing her body back against the desk as I caged her in with my arms.
“I need you, Elizabeth.” I breathed the words against her lips, “I don’t think I can hold back.”
She stared up at me, her gray eyes full of challenge.
“I don’t want you to hold back, Aiden,” Suddenly that challenge in her eyes shifted, growing darker as she nipped my lower lip. “And my name is Beth. Say it. Say it, Aiden.”
I gasped at the pleasure pain that shot agony through my body. My cock was so hard it felt like I could drive nails. But damn it, there was only one thing I wasn’t to drive.
“Beth.” The single word was little more than a growl, torn from someplace deep inside my chest.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” She grinned sinfully up at me and I lost what little control I had been clinging to.
“Oh, you have no ide
a, tesoro.” The words were ripped from my throat but I was barely aware of them. My hands tore at her clothes. I needed her naked and stripped as bare before me as I felt.
I took off my belt, sliding it teasing across her skin before pulling her arms above her head and tying them with the soft leather strap. I told myself to take it slow this time, but I couldn’t. I needed her too bad. It was too painful, my body on fire and my mind in chaos. I needed to prove to myself that she was okay, that she was there and real and whole in front of me.
My entire body was shaking as I stripped away the last of her clothing, shredding the thin lace that held together her panties and then the bra went flying.
Impatient rode me as I swiped everything off of my desk and laid her across it like an offering. When I stood back, a breath caught in my throat at the sight of her.
“Damn, I am never going to be able to look at this desk the same again.” I whispered, staring at the way her skin gleamed against the polished wood of the desk, “I may never get any work done in here ever again.”
“Aiden, if you don’t hurry I’m going to start arguing with you again.”
She surprised a laugh out me and my gaze flicked up to her face. She was staring at me with those big, serious gray eyes, her face flushed and lips swollen with my kisses. Fuck, she was so beautiful it took my breath away.
I loved this side of her. Something I’d never seen before. She had always been strong and so fucking smart that she made my head ache. She was gorgeous, with a sarcastic streak a mile wide, but this boldness was new. She’d been quieter before, less confident.
But I loved how brave she was now, staring me down without looking away, without flinching. Not even my own men would dare that.
It made me even harder.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to make you wait, cara mia.”
But spread out on my desk like that, she was a temptation that I just couldn’t resist.
I watched her, drinking in every expression, every gasp, every flutter of her eyelashes as I let my hands skim down either side of her lush curves. I loved her body, the way her nipples tightened into diamond like peaks at the slightest touch and her breath shuddered out of her lungs.
