I realized something then. Lucien—a man I’d seen interrogate and then kill men who’d tried to undermine his power, a man who stood down my attacker with no sign of fear—was afraid of horses. Yet, he was buying two of them for me.
Cathy’s gaze bounced between us. “If you’d like, I can bring him out and ride him around the corral so you can see him in action. I can put the Shetland on a lead line too.”
“Clover is perfect,” I said, and Cathy smiled.
“I’m so glad you like her. I’m excited to see her go to someone who will really love her.”
I would love her, but was it right for me to have her? She deserved an owner who would be there for her, and I didn’t know when Lucien might tire of our arrangement. I would have no way to keep her if he wasn’t paying for boarding. If he decided to send me away, I would lose my job, and I wouldn’t even be able to pay my rent, much less take care of a horse.
But if he were arranging for lessons and considering building a stable, he must think he wanted me around long term. Surely he wasn’t just thinking with his dick. He could get all the men he wanted with no problem, and he already had me. He didn’t need to do this to secure my interest in him. Was he truly doing this because he wanted to make me happy?
“Can we talk privately first?”
Lucien nodded. “Cathy, would you excuse us for a moment.”
“Of course. I have a class in about an hour, so any demonstrations with the horses will need to be done before then.”
“I only need a few minutes,” I said.
“No problem.” She smiled and walked away.
I didn’t want to piss Lucien off, but I needed to ask some questions. “I know you want to give me things, but this is too much.”
“You told me you wanted a pony.”
“I do, and having Clover would be incredible. So would another pony and riding lessons. But I could never afford the horses on my own, so I’m not sure it’s right to accept them when you… When we’re… What happens when you’re ready to move on?”
Lucien’s gaze hardened. He stalked toward me, and I moved back until I hit the barn wall. He slapped his hands down on either side of my head, caging me in. I glanced both directions down the barn aisle, hoping Cathy or someone else wasn’t watching. Thankfully, I didn’t see anyone around.
“I’m buying these horses for you,” Lucien snarled. “And if I want to build a fucking stable, that’s exactly what I’ll do. You’re mine, Peter. There’s no moving on from that, so take the goddamn ponies and the riding lessons and enjoy yourself.”
I shivered as I stared into his dark eyes. He was angry, but just for a moment, I thought I saw pain there, maybe even fear. Had I hurt him?
“Thank you, Lucien. For doing all of this for me.”
He nodded. I expected him to step back, but he didn’t. “You’re beautiful all the time, but when you’re happy… No one could resist you then. I like to keep you happy.”
I had no idea how to respond to him, but I didn’t have to. He kissed me, pressing me into the barn wall and grinding his hips against me. I felt the hard length of his cock slide along mine, and fuck, it felt good. He licked the outer edge of my ear, making me shudder. “I want to take you right here against the wall and not worry about who the fuck sees us. I’d buy this whole goddamn barn just to have that pleasure.”
I almost told him to do it. It took all the strength I had to lay my hands on his shoulders and push him away. “We can’t. Not here.”
“We could. I can do any fucking thing to you I want.”
I sucked in a breath.
My cock was so hard I thought it might rip through my pants, but Lucien stepped back. After giving me a slow once-over, he smiled. “Let’s go find Cathy, have her give us a demonstration, and then get the fuck out of here.”
I noticed he walked down the very center of the aisle and didn’t look at any of the stalls. Of course, I didn’t either. I was too busy watching his ass. Until we got to Clover’s stall. I stopped there long enough to tell her we’d be back.
“You’re already in love with her,” Lucien said. Was that jealousy in his voice? No. I was obviously addled from too much blood rushing to my cock.
We found Cathy, and she brought Prince out of his stall. She rode him around the corral as Lucien and I watched. He was as obedient to her as I was to Lucien. He seemed content to keep to a slower pace, and he knew exactly what Cathy wanted with only the slightest guidance. I wasn’t sure if that was her skill with horses or a sign that he would be easy to control. I didn’t know enough about horses to do anything but trust her judgment.
I realized Lucien was watching me rather than Cathy and Prince. “You like him, don’t you?”
“I really do.” He was going to buy me two ponies no matter what, so I might as well enjoy it.
Cathy dismounted and led Prince back to the corral gate where we stood.
“We’ll take him,” Lucien said. “And Clover.”
“That’s excellent. I can have the papers drawn up for you later today and then—”
“I want to settle this now. I can pay cash.”
Her eyes widened. “You want to pay for them straight out right now?”
“Yes. I’m not sure when I’ll have time to drive back out here, so I want this settled.”
“All right then. Once I find someone else to brush down Prince, I’ll meet you in my office at the far end of the barn.”
Lucien insisted I stay by Clover’s stall while he took care of the payment. He was treating me like a princess, and that should bother me, but in truth, it felt really fucking good to have someone shower me with affection.
When Lucien came out of the office, he handed me some treats Cathy had given him so we could feed Clover.
“Do you want to give her one?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, they’re for you. She’s for you.”
“She’s really gentle. I know horses aren’t your thing, but you might like her if you gave her a chance.”
“I… No thank you.”
I decided right then it would be my goal to get him to at least pet and feed Clover. Maybe I would never get him on a horse, but I wanted him to be comfortable with them. If I could be brave enough to be a mob boss’s boyfriend, he could pet a pony.
As Clover snatched up the last of the treats from my hand, Lucien’s phone rang.
“It’s Angelo. We’ve been here longer than I expected, so I better take it.”
“We can go. I don’t—”
He shook his head and answered the call. A few seconds later, he shouted, “He did what?”
I couldn’t be sure if he was angry or just shocked.
“All right. No, don’t tell him. What about Stefan?… What do you mean he didn’t show up… Fine, I’ll deal with that later… I don’t care what Devil said… No. Jesus Mary and Joseph. What the fuck was he thinking?… Where’s he taking them?… Fine. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“We’ve got to go.”
I gave Clover’s ears a final scratch and told her I’d be back to visit her as soon as I could. Then I ran to catch up to Lucien.
“Back to the office?” the driver asked.
“No, to the Weston house.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lucien’s expression remained grim as the car headed down the long driveway. I reached for his hand, lacing our fingers together. He’d taken time away with me when he shouldn’t have, and he was being so generous and treating me with such kindness. The least I could do was try to comfort him.
He didn’t pull away, but he also didn’t look at me. He stared out the window, but I doubted he was seeing any of the beautiful scenery passing by. On the way there, after we’d left the highway, I’d been intrigued by all the signs of spring, the new leaves, baby cows, birds flitting around in the trees by the roadside. Now I only noticed how much the sunny day contrasted with Lucien’s mood.
“Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Devil has taken some prisoners. It would be better if you didn’t know any more than that.”
His voice was cold, and he still didn’t look at me. Just like that, the hope I’d felt as we stood by the corral evaporated. I knew Lucien cared for me, but I needed more. I needed him to see this as more than hot sex and showering me with gifts. Jimmy was right. I had a sugar daddy, one who cared about me, but this wasn’t a fairytale. Lucien wasn’t in love with me, and I wasn’t going to change him.
He was probably right; I was better off not knowing what was happening. It would probably scare the fuck out of me, but my desire for him had survived watching him kill a man. I believed him when he said the man would’ve killed him first if he’d had the chance, but Lucien had also said he’d done far worse. What might I see that would be worse?
No matter what Lucien said, our relationship would have a natural end, and when it was over, I would have to walk away. So maybe this was for the best. I needed to forget my fantasies about capturing Lucien’s heart.
24
Lucien
Not only had Angelo let me know Devil had gone off the rails again, but my father returned early from the Bahamas and liberated Sabrina from the safehouse where I’d sent her. Now I was going to have to confront my fucked-in-the head cousin in front of my father. Fucking perfect.
I’d known things were close to blowing up, but I’d had a plan even after the fucking disaster a few nights ago, now it was blown to shit. If Peter found out what Devil had done, it wouldn’t matter if I bought him so many horses he could ride a different one every day of the year. He would never look at me the same again.
I thought Peter was the one, the way my mother had been for my dad. I thought he might be able to unfreeze my heart so I could love him openly, but now the chances of that were worse than ever. If Devil made Peter hate me, I was done ignoring his inability to follow orders. He was going to get the fuck out of my house and the family business.
As we pulled up at the house, Peter’s mouth dropped open. At least he was fucking impressed, but my last fucking hope of hiding things from him was gone. Devil stood by a black SUV he’d parked right in front of the house. He had a gun stuck in the waistband of his pants, and instead of the suit I expected him to wear when he came into the office, he had on a tank top, revealing the tattoos covering his arms and showing that he didn’t give a fuck how cold it was outside. Dressed like that, he looked even scarier than usual.
As we watched, he pulled the handle of the rear passenger door and yanked it open. We couldn’t hear what he said, but I saw him jerk his head toward the house. Seconds later, a woman stepped out of the car. I heard Peter’s sharp intake of breath, but I didn’t dare look at him. It was Damian Ricci’s wife, Elena. She was at least twenty if not thirty years younger than him, and while it was bad enough Devil had taken her, she turned back to the car and motioned for her two children to climb out. They stood beside her, clinging to her skirt. I wasn’t sure of their exact ages, but my best guess was four and six.
“Lucien?” Peter’s voice trembled.
“We need to go into the house.” I didn’t bother trying to explain. Nothing was going to make Peter think this was okay, because it wasn’t, but it was done, and I had to deal with it now.
When we entered the foyer, Lola was escorting the woman and her children to a room somewhere down the hall, followed by two of our guards. Whenever we spent time here, Lola always joined us. I was glad she was here today. Devil grinned at me, looking very pleased with himself. I refused to acknowledge what he’d done. “Are Dad and Sabrina here?”
“They’re probably in your dad’s office with Angelo, but I don’t know. I haven’t been here.”
“I noticed, and it’s my office now.”
Devil just smiled. I wanted to drive my fist into his smug face, but he was trying to wind me up, and I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.
I glanced at Peter and inclined my head, indicating that he should follow me. He did. At least he wasn’t scared enough to insist I let him go. When we reached my office, I was surprised to see my father hadn’t taken his old place behind the desk but had left it for me. My aunt was there too along with Angelo. I focused on Sabrina. “Would you keep Peter company while we have our meeting?”
She looked ready to protest, but when she looked at Peter, she must have seen something on his face that made her change her mind. She rose from her seat and smoothed the wrinkles from her skirt. “Of course. Peter, why don’t we see what Lola has for us in the kitchen.”
I forced myself to look at Peter. The disappointment in his eyes cut right through me, but I kept my expression neutral. “Stay with Sabrina. I’ll find you later when our business is concluded.”
Peter gave me a small nod before turning away. I wanted to follow him, to tell him this wasn’t my choice, but begging someone for understanding wasn’t something men like me did. I gave orders, I made decisions, and I expected people to accept that.
“I needed a snack,” Devil said when he finally stepped into the office, holding a large cookie in his hand.
I grabbed it, threw it in the trash, and pointed at a chair. “Sit the fuck down.”
Fortunately for him, he did. I felt his eyes on me as I turned away and began to pace the room. I didn’t feel like sitting down. What I wanted to do was take Peter’s hand and walk out of the room, out of the house, away from my life. But I would never do that. I had to fix this fucking mess.
When I thought I could speak calmly, I looked at Angelo. I wasn’t about to give Devil the privilege of speaking first. He wanted to brag about what he’d done, and I had no interest in hearing it from him. “Explain to me what the fuck went on today.”
“No,” my father said first. “You explain why he was left to deal with it while you ran around with your new boy. I expect better of you Lucien. You don’t usually get led around by the dick.”
My father had made me angry many times before, but I’d never felt the rage toward him that I did at that moment.
“Never speak about Peter like that again. He had nothing to do with my decision to leave today. That was on me. I thought Angelo could handle himself. He’s wanted more responsibility, so I tried to let him take some.”
Angelo glared at me. “Don’t fucking pin this on me. You’re the one that walked out without giving me any instructions except to do exactly what you would. Guess what? I’m not you.”
“Right. You’re the one who lets Devil get away with whatever the fuck he wants.”
Devil slammed his hand down on the desk. “No. This isn’t Angel’s fault. It’s not Lucien’s either. I had an opportunity, and I took it. I made a decision, and I maintain it was a fucking good one.”
“A good decision? To take Damian’s wife and kids? To bring them here to our fucking house?”
“Where else did you want me to take them? The office?”
“Fuck no.”
“Maybe I should have tied them up at the warehouse.”
I was going to kill him. “You could have left them the fuck alone. We have plenty of other tactics to use against Ricci.”
“None of them are this effective.”
“They’re also not as likely to escalate this war, alienate our allies, and bring the enemy to our turf,” my father said.
Thank fuck he didn’t agree with Devil. Not that I’d thought he would. I’d learned my methods from him, including the fact that the only way we involve women and children is questioning them.
“Does he not even know?” Devil asked, scowling at me.
“Know what?” my father asked.
“Why did you think Sabrina was at the safe house?”
“She told me you were worried she was a target.”
“Because she wanted to be back in the middle of things.” When was he going to learn how good our aunt was at manipulating him? “Do you honestly think she would’ve agreed to leave if there was nothing but a theoretical threat?”
“If you told her to, then…” My father paused and rolled his eyes. “Fuck no.”
“Exactly. A few days ago, thanks to Peter, we got word an attack was planned for the restaurant opening. What none of us expected was an attack on our house in town.”
My father’s face turned red. He started to rise from his seat, but Angelo stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. We handled it.”
“Devil and Sabrina were there, and they took care of things.”
“So I can do something right after all?” Devil said.
“You can,” I said grudgingly. “Today, you fucking didn’t.”
He huffed. “We’ve got great leverage, and he doesn’t know we’re not going to hurt them.”
“Do they know that?”
Devil shrugged. “I didn’t try to make them piss themselves or anything. Jesus. What kind of asshole do you think I am? Those kids are little and shit.”
“Exactly, and you kidnapped them and brought them to our house. Now the Riccis, and all their allies, are going to come at us harder.”
Devil snorted. “They were already gunning for us, and now they’ve got a reason to pause and listen.”
“I had a plan, Devil. If we take out Damian, most of their allies will see the wisdom of begging my forgiveness.”
“So now he’ll be even easier to lure in because he’s going to want his wife and kids back.”
I shook my head.
“They’re here,” my father said. “You can’t change that. Go talk to them and see if we can get some information out of them.”
“I’m not talking to her in front of her fucking kids. They’re practically babies.”
“Talk to Elena. Have Sabrina watch the kids.”
I stared at him. He couldn’t be serious. “Sabrina? First, I told her to stay with Peter. Second, I know more about kids than Sabrina does.”
Angelo snickered. “That’s true. Don’t you remember her with cousin Nina’s kids?”
My father frowned, then burst out laughing. “She treated them like she thought they might explode at any moment.”
“Mother of God, she was a fucking mess,” Devil said. “Lola can stay with them, and I’ll talk to Elena.”
Lucien Page 15
