7. Romeo
7
ROMEO
D ammit.
I stood just close enough to reach her. Wrapping my arms around her felt natural, like she belonged in my embrace. I kept my hold loose, just in case she’d regret what she blurted out in that broken tone.
Last night, she flinched from my touch. Now, she clung to me. Her fingers twisted the front of my shirt, and with a heaving, desperate inhale that almost sounded like a sob, she pressed her face against me.
I gave in to the lean and gathered her in my arms. She probably wasn’t aware of how she made space for me on the bed, but I pushed closer until I sat next to her.
“I’ve got you,” I said, rubbing my hand over her back as she curled and slanted into me. This wasn’t a hug. It was a full-body hold that she seemed to need.
I wasn’t so serious and cold that I lacked physical touch. I wasn’t impervious to the need for human contact. Over the years, I got that need met from dalliances with whores and one-night stands. When I was a young boy, my father was always ready to envelop me in a hug just as often as he was prepared to teach me about the hardness of the Mafia life.
How fucking long has it been since you had anyone?
I rubbed Tessa’s back and let her cling to me as she steadied her breath. Hugging me seemed to help. She didn’t suck in air like she was on the verge of hyperventilating or crying. As I held her and offered her wordless comfort, I replayed the sad admission she’d shared. “No one ever helps me.”
I grew more and more irritated at the fact that this woman might not have anyone. No help. No support. No one and nothing? She didn’t deserve that.
“I will help you,” I repeated. I’d lost count of how many times I’d told her that. And I would echo it many more times, as much as I had to until she knew that she was no longer alone.
She snuggled closer, pressing her cheek against my chest, and I rested my chin on the top of her head. This was a simple, fundamental hug, but it opened the gates to my feeling so much more.
I’d only met her a day ago, not even. For hours, Tessa had been in my life, and already, she'd prompted me to go to such extremes for her. To fight for her. To save her. To avenge what was done. And now, to just be with her. Sitting and calming down from the high anxiety of the conversation we’d had so far.
Her warm, slender body fit so well against mine, and when I sighed several moments later, she did the same, breathing deeply and settling against me.
I told Franco that I wanted a project. That I needed something of a new purpose in my life to distract me from the guilt about the three soldiers dying. Tessa, whoever she was, seemed to be the missing piece I needed.
I was smitten without even knowing much about her, and I hoped that now might be the time to learn a thing or two. She hadn’t recoiled from learning I killed those three men. Maybe it was a sign of her grittier conscience, that she wanted revenge and was happy—not appalled—that I’d taken their lives. Her acceptance of my being a killer was a huge first step to count on in connecting with her.
“Would I be a horrible person to want to say thank you?” she asked softly, tracing her finger back and forth on my shirt. It seemed like an abstract movement, not a deliberate caress, but it felt so good. “For… for removing them?”
“No. And you’re welcome.”
“Are you a hitman?”
Sometimes. “I’m a man who wants to take care of you,” I reminded her, avoiding giving her more information about myself. Asking her questions about herself would probably turn into sounding like an interrogation, and I wanted to avoid that. Shifting her so she could lean on me but also face me, I rubbed her arm and gazed into her dark-blue eyes.
No glossiness of tears shone now, and I wanted to keep it that way. “Who are you, Tessa?”
She shrugged. “Just a waitress from that sports bar—” Her brows dipped and she scoffed. “Oh, God.” When she lifted her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear but failed in keeping her blonde tresses back, I took over and did it for her.
I was already so damn smitten that I’d take any excuse to touch her. To comfort her. “What’s wrong?”
“My car.” She shook her head, using the action to nestle in against me. “Well, it’s not mine. I could never save up for one. It’s my dad’s.”
Your dad that you want to avoid going home to , I recalled. She’d been so adamant about not going home.
“He expected me to bring it home last night. Well, I guess this morning. He wanted to go somewhere.” Her frown deepened. “He called me just before I was allowed to be done with my shift, actually. He’ll be so damn mad that I didn’t bring the car back.”
“Is he always controlling like that?” I asked. I hoped that rubbing her arm would serve as a physical cue to relax even though I was pushing for answers. This moment felt a lot like aftercare, when I would make sure my lover could handle how hard I’d been during sex.
“Yes. Him and my mom both.”
“Is that why you don’t want to go home?” I asked.
“No. Yes.” She blew out such a hard breath that the short, golden strands of her bob lifted from her face. “They have strict expectations for me.”
“Including bringing a car home on time?” I almost said it mockingly. “Tessa, what happened to you is not your fault.”
She swallowed and nodded. “I know. Logically, that makes sense, but I can’t imagine telling them about it. They expected me to marry the son of their friends, and now that this happened…” She shrugged.
“Is that the Elliot you mentioned last night?”
“Yes. Jeez. What else did I blurt? I don’t remember all that I said last night.”
“Just that you were worried about someone named Elliot not wanting you anymore.”
“Yeah. Because I’m damaged goods now.”
I gripped her chin with enough force that she lost the sadness lurking in her eyes. She narrowed them, frowning up at me.
“You are not damaged goods.”
“I’ll agree to disagree on that.”
Stubborn. But she wasn’t annoying me. I liked that she had some grit.
“Who is Elliot?” I asked instead.
“Elliot Hines. My parents are old friends with his parents, and they got it into their heads that Elliot and I should get married. They thought of it when we were just kids, but now that I’m an adult, it seems like it’s gone from being a silly comment and idea to an actual obligation.”
“Hines?” I asked. Something nagged me about the guy’s surname.
“Yeah.” She studied me. “Why?”
“Sounds familiar.”
“He’s been in the news every now and then.”
“Why?”
“He’s a prominent lawyer in the city, for the J.R.G. law firm.”
I nodded. “I’ve heard of them.” When the Domino Family fought the Devil’s Brothers, that legal firm was mentioned by the spies and soldiers gathering intel for us.
“My parents have been pushing me more and more to marry him. They think Elliot equals wealth, that if I marry him, they wouldn’t have to worry about money again.”
“But you don’t want to?”
She shook her head, keeping her gorgeous, wide-open gaze on me. I knew she was telling the truth. I saw the sincerity in her eyes. “No. I never have. Not for a single second. That’s why I want to work as much as I can. To have my own life. My own money. I don’t want to settle for anyone, despite how much my parents try to tell me I should.”
After she yawned widely, I released her and got off the bed. “I’ll bring in a tray of food,” I said as she watched me go toward the door.
As wonderful as it was to hold her, I felt eager to look into this Elliot Hines. Tessa’s parents too. I wasn’t sure if she understood how badly I felt this need to take care of her. Killing her rapists was only the start. I wanted to fix everything in her life. She’d become my purpose, and I was impatient to start taking care of her troubles.
When I came back from the kitchen, I found her napping. Instead of lingering to watch over her, I set the tray down on a table and added a simple note:
I’ll be back. I wanted her to read it and simply know that I wasn’t leaving her.
The guard I positioned at the door would patrol and keep an eye on her. I wasn’t worried about her leaving, but I couldn’t head off without knowing some security would be here on the lookout.
I went to the mansion to speak with both my father and Franco about this supposed fiancé Tessa didn’t want. Or an almost fiancé. Whoever he was, I wanted more information. It made sense to update my father about the fact that I had a woman with me. Not like that… but after holding Tessa on the bed, I knew she wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. And not just because she was avoiding going home.
“Did this guy propose to her?” Franco asked after I gave them the basics.
I’d caught them at a convenient time. Nina was inside, sorting out things for the baby’s arrival. Franco and my father were sitting out by the pool at the table we used for meetings.
“No. I don’t think so.” I rubbed the back of my neck and paced. They’d listened to all that I’d explained already, but Franco wanted to follow up. “She made it sound like Elliot is just someone her parents have always known, and they’re trying to persuade her to marry him.”
“And she’s not interested?” my father asked.
“No. Not at all.”
“What firm did you say this guy worked at?” Franco asked again, scrolling on his phone. He was probably already looking him up.
“Elliot Hines. He’s a lawyer at J.R.G. firm.” I grimaced. “Fuck. His name sounds so damn familiar.”
“I agree.” Nina walked over the patio, her face pinched with worry.
My father frowned and held his arm out for her to sit in his lap. He never excluded her, even from conversations about business, but she never inserted herself into our serious talks, either.
The fact that she was now, clearly overhearing some of what I said, was suspicious. The windows were all open, so it wasn’t as though I’d tried to hide what I was saying. But her expression…
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“Elliot Hines does sound familiar.” She glanced at my father. “It sounds like the creepy asshole my best friend, Tessa West, has been avoiding for years.”
Tessa West. I had her full name now. As Nina lowered to sit on my father’s thigh, she peered at me. “How did you find her?”
I sighed, hating that I’d need to break the news to her that her friend had been raped. It wasn’t my story to tell her. But Tessa could. I wondered why she would tell me that she had no one, and that no one ever helped her, if Nina claimed they were best friends.
“I’ll take you to her now, and she can explain.”
And she can explain to me how she’s friends with my father’s fiancée.
It was a small world, but I wanted to make sure that Tessa simply stayed in mine, however she might already be connected. Because now that I’d found her, I couldn’t imagine letting her go.