Chapter 23
MICHAEL
“Remember when Uncle Gio threw Uncle Raph in this pool?” Sophia giggles as she splashes my face.
My eyes stay glued on the woman lying on the lounger, listening to us with a glint in her smile.
That white bikini she’s wearing has been driving me insane for a good hour, and all I can think about is ripping it off her tanned body.
I’m not even ashamed that I’m only half-listening to my daughter.
Blood rushes to my cock as my wife stands, holding on to the rail while descending into the pool to join us.
“And then Uncle Raph dunked him really hard,” Sophia continues.
“Yeah, I remember, princess,” I mutter, a lazy smirk crawling up my mouth as Elsie approaches, kissing Sophia on the top of her head while her eyes connect to mine.
Sophia’s arms lock around Elsie and squeeze tight. “Is Uncle Raph ever coming back, Daddy? I really miss him.” She peeks up at me, her expression crestfallen. “When is his work trip going to be over?”
“I don’t know. Soon, I hope. But he misses you a lot.”
“Are you sure? He never calls me.” She frowns.
“Of course. You are still his favorite girl. He has no phone where he is, baby, or he would’ve.”
Her little sad face wrecks me, and Elsie rubs her arm, gently consoling her.
“Sophia!” Mabel calls from the other lounger, placing the book she is reading down on her lap as she sits up. “Come, you need more sunscreen.”
“Coming.” She begrudgingly separates from Elsie and climbs out.
“Is Raph the brother you won’t talk about?” Elsie asks, flowing toward me.
“He’s the oldest one.” I nod.
“I'm glad he’s alive.” She threads our fingers, and I can see it through the water, loving the simple feel of just holding her hand. “I actually thought he was dead, but was nervous to ask.”
“No, but he might as well be.” I pull her body flush to mine, a hand planted on her ass.
Her lips part in that way they do when I touch her, and I gaze down into her eyes and wonder what kissing her would feel like.
Why do I want to find out so badly when it’s never mattered before?
“What happened?” she whispers.
From the corner of my eye, I find Mabel and Sophia by the swing set.
“About a year ago, his wife was murdered. He went after the Irish as payback, and now they want him dead.”
She gasps, her eyes growing round. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me too. But I will get him out of this.”
“Daddy!” Sophia yells over from the edge of the pool. “Come swing me! Mabel doesn’t do it as high as you.”
“Oh, you…” Mabel shakes her head as we both look over at them.
“Come on, Daddy.” Elsie pulls my hand with a bubble of laughter. “Duty calls.”
How the hell is she this perfect?
The following evening, the sun long gone, we sit on a blanket lying across the cool sand, Sophia in my lap, Elsie right beside me, while Mabel rocks in the hammock.
It’s been a while since I’ve been back to this hotel. Not since Bianca died. The last time we were here was exactly the day Sophia remembered.
I came with my brothers, when things were still good. It was only a week before Bianca was killed. Who could’ve predicted that it’d be the last time we were all happy?
Torches flicker around us while one of the staff members plays his guitar.
Whenever we’d come here as a family, I’d play the guitar for everyone.
Fuck, I don’t even know when the last time I picked it up was.
If it wasn’t for Mabel constantly taking it out of the closet and wiping the dust off of it, I’d never have looked at it again.
A few of the hotel guests gather on the beach, swaying to Johnny playing a melody I have never heard him play before. Sophia bobs her head, and when I dart a gaze to Elsie, I find her lips moving in silence with the words she clearly knows.
The more I stare at this woman—brave, beautiful—the more I want to ask if a man like me could ever get a chance with a woman like her.
Because I can take, and I can claim, but a woman can be the one to give, and I want that. I want her acceptance. I want a chance. Everything I fear be damned, because this moment with my girls…it’s everything I could want.
Before I can change my mind, I kiss my daughter on the cheek and whisper to her before she giggles. Taking my spot, she huddles close to Elsie, who gapes at me as I make my way to Johnny, asking him for the guitar.
“Of course, boss,” he says, clapping me on the shoulder. “It would be an honor. We’ve missed you here.”
He stands off to the side as I settle down with the guitar in hand. I stare down at it, my fingers stroking the strings as though memorizing them, asking for their permission.
And with a song in mind, the one I hear in my thoughts every time I gaze at her, my fingers start to play.
Eyes closed, the melody rushes into my veins, the words tortured and haunting, about finding and losing love, about the wicked games of falling for someone when you never expected it. Never wanted it. Yet all you can do is dream of her, fall even harder as the world burns at your feet.
When I let my eyes wander to hers, I find the awestruck look within them. I sing my damn heart out, capturing her gaze and refusing to let it go. Because this song, it’s everything I feel.
Her lips begin to move silently, as though she’s afraid to sing out loud. But all I want is to hear her.
I stop playing, hushed whispers erupting when I jut a hand out for hers. “Sing with me, little dove.”
Everyone stares. At her. But she’s only got eyes for me.
I can tell she’s nervous as hell. But gradually she starts to rise, the hem of her long yellow strapless dress dancing around her ankles.
Once she comes toward me, I play again. But this time, I don’t sing a word, because she does. And when I hear the power of her voice…goddamn. She sounds like an angel.
The crowd gazes at her as she comes to sit next to me, her body swaying side to side. And I swear, I’ve never heard anything this beautiful.
ELSIE
I can’t believe I managed to sing again.
And it was beautiful. He was beautiful. The way he looked at me the entire time he sang, as though the words were meant for me, as though his heart was opening to let me in the way mine is beginning to.
He gets ready for bed, both of us showered and changed. His black sweats hang low on his hips, exposing that deep V, his well-defined abs flexing when he finds my eyes on him.
“Like what you see, do you?” He bows a single brow, his smirk cocky.
Yes. Yes, I very much do, especially when I recall how you had me pinned over your lap while you spanked the holy hell out of me yesterday…and didn’t let me come, you bastard.
It’s all new to me, these feelings. This attraction to a man. But I’m not ashamed to admit that he can set me off no matter what he wears—one of his suits or barely dressed, I find myself scorching up like a wildfire.
“Not at all.” I glance away, fighting a smile. “I was just examining you for, uh…possible mosquito bites. They can sometimes get infected, I’ll have you know.”
“You’re a very thoughtful wife.” His voice oozes with masculine rasp as he saunters toward me. He circles an arm around my lower back, wrapping me into his body, his nose in my hair, inhaling deep. “You smell damn good, like dinner and dessert.”
“Michael…” I groan, that familiar ache building.
“Yes, baby?” His lips fall to my neck, soft lips caressing across the erratic thunder of my pulse.
My head falls back as he continues to assault me with his mouth, teeth raking up to my throat, sucking on my lobe as he groans.
A hand skirts up my inner thigh, fingering the hem of my shirt—his shirt, the one he insisted I wear.
He didn’t get any arguments from me. I like wearing his clothes, and he likes seeing me in them.
He fits a hand under the shirt, tracing the waistband of my panties, playing me as well as he played the guitar.
The sounds coming out of me create their own melody, but I seem to have lost the courage of the woman who had asked him to hold her down and make her come.
I can’t seem to ask him for anything now.
Desire pummels inside me while his lips suck and kiss down my neck, nipping at my shoulder.
When he drags up my shirt, brushing his fingers over my panties, my toes curl and his name slips from my lips on a moan. My palms land on his bulging biceps, liking how powerful they are.
“You have an incredible voice,” his deep-chested tone rasps. “Everyone should get to hear it.”
“You gave me the courage,” I groan when he grabs the back of my neck, snaking his fingers through my hair, tugging my head back.
He kisses me hard on the jaw, rubbing my pussy through my panties, and my clit throbs, my body sparking with desire.
“Michael….”
“Ask me,” he demands. “Tell me what you want.”
“Uh…I…I’m tired.” I swallow the nerves.
What the hell are you doing?
But it’s too late. The damage is done; the words are out there.
He kisses me once against my shoulder, broad hands rubbing up and down my hips. “Then let’s go to bed. We fly back tomorrow evening.”
I turn to him. “Already?”
“We can come back whenever you want,” he says, the back of his hand brushing down the side of my face.
“I shouldn’t be here. I should be fighting to get my friend back.”
The guilt, it eats at me whenever I think about Kayla, and what I should be doing for her.
“Baby…” I feel his heated gaze soaking up my skin.
And God, whenever he calls me that, my entire body shivers. I want to hear it again and again on a loop.
“I’m trying like hell to find her. I swear. All I’m asking for is time.”
My brows knit and an ache settles behind my eyes. “She may not have that.”
I settle my cheek on his chest, and his arms come around me, molding me to his body. It’s kinda sad how beautifully we fit together—two people who couldn’t be more wrong for one another.
“My mother texted earlier,” he cuts in. “The wedding date is in a week from today.”
“I can’t believe she can plan a wedding this fast.”
“Easy when you know the right people.”
I gaze up at him. “So once the wedding takes place, you’ll take over for your father?”
“Yes. The marriage license was to protect you from the Bianchis. They’re not supposed to come after you once you’re my wife.”
“But they still can…” Fear stamps my gut.
“They can try.” He cups my cheek as he stares into my eyes with conviction. “But anyone they send will only end up dead, little dove. I’d kill every single one of them. For you. This city will rain with their blood before they ever get a drop of yours.”
My heart trips in my chest at the sincerity in his tone, those eyes overshadowed with darkness, and there’s no fear within me. There’s awe and relief there instead. The man who had wanted to kill me will now kill for me. It’s the safest I’ve felt in forever.
“Come…”
His large hand swallows mine as he leads me to the bed, flinging the comforter over, allowing me to climb in, with him close behind. He leans over me, his gaze roaming my face before he lowers and kisses the corner of my mouth.
I drag in an unsteady breath, and with a sigh, he settles on his side of the bed and turns off the lamp.
“Good night, little dove.” The deep timbre of his voice slithers up my thighs as though memorizing the path his hands just took.