Chapter 21
Franklin gaveMarco permission to touch his own daughter.
That was the most vile, disgusting thing I’d ever heard. It ranked up there, with Marco forcing himself on his niece. It made me sick to even think about it.
The way she was sitting with her body pressed against mine made it difficult to maintain my composure, and I wanted to. She’d just trusted me with some of the deepest, darkest things she’d experienced. I wasn’t touching her like that right now. That didn’t mean it wasn’t incredibly difficult, especially when she was saying things like I was hers.
“I’m yours, huh?”
Her breath hit my neck. “Yes. You’re mine.” It was almost a growl. Possessiveness was a potent aphrodisiac.
“You’re doing things to me that I’m not sure you’re aware of, and I’m trying to maintain my willpower.”
She leaned back, and her wide eyes confirmed my theory. “I’m sorry.”
Man, she was hot. How could she think she was a cheap imitation of her beauty queen mom? “You’re beautiful.”
An eyebrow reached her hairline. “I’m a mess. I know my eyes are puffy, and my nose is red. Your shirt…” She groaned and covered her face with her hands.
I pulled her hands from her face and forced her to look at me. “You’re beautiful.”
“I think you’re required to say that now that you’re married to me.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “Then explain why I thought that the moment I saw you.”
Her little mouth dropped open. “You did?”
My fingers found her hair and began combing through it. “I did. You were different. You were fine china in a dollar store.”
Pink bloomed on her cheeks and spread out over her face. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do.”
I brought my hand to her face, brushed my thumb across her rosy cheek, and kissed her nose. “I’m sorry you went through all that alone. Thank you for telling me. I know it was probably hard since I didn’t make it easy.”
Her hand slid over the top of mine. “I thought if I never talked about it, it’d go away one day, but it never did. It just sat there like a horrible tumor, but I feel lighter than I have since it happened.”
“Did you ever see a counselor?”
“No.” Her eyes got this faraway look. “Marco got done with me, left the room, and I laid there on the floor with a blindfold on until one of the maintenance workers found me. I was too afraid to move.”
Sliding my arms around her, I crushed her to me. Oh yeah, I was killing Franklin. I would have killed Marco, too, but I didn’t think Gabriele would let me.
Once I had Franklin, I was killing him slowly, one body part at a time. I would have asked Claire if she wanted a shot, but she’d been through enough with that man. I also didn’t want that on her soul or her conscience. I wouldn’t allow her light to be dimmed.
We sat in silence for a while. I had enough rage to fuel Tokyo, and she was remembering things that a woman shouldn’t have to remember.
“I felt so dirty,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “That night, when I got home, Mom didn’t understand what was wrong. Franklin told me if I uttered a word to her, he’d kill her.” She inhaled, and her body trembled as she exhaled. “He told her the same thing. He said he wanted us to both suffer. We did. Silently and alone.”
The rage built further. Claire was innocent. How could he punish her for things her mom did?
“Baby, I’m so sorry.” I rubbed her back as my shirt grew damp. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m ruining your shirt even more.”
“I’ve recently come into a boatload of money; I’ll buy another one.”
That got a tiny laugh out of her. “Lucas?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“Come on,” I said and kissed the side of her face. “I’m going to run you a bath and you’re going to soak for a bit. While you’re doing that, I’m going to order us some food and then put you to bed.”
She quickly leaned back, and her eyes were wide. “A bath?”
“Do you trust me?”
It felt like an eternity that she just stared at me. “Yes.”
“That took a minute.” I smiled, teasing her. “You sure?”
“Sometimes my thoughts are chaotic. It started with me answering your question and then went to my husband is hot.”
I laughed. “Yeah, babe, that was a winding road, but I like where it went.”
Together, we stood, and I stretched out my back. Thirty-three sounds pretty young until you spend a few hours sitting on a hard floor. I should have moved us somewhere more comfortable, but I couldn’t. I wanted her to be in the same place when she woke up as she was when she went to sleep.
Tangling my fingers in hers, I led her to the bathroom and began running the water while she found pajamas to wear when she got out. The tub was almost full when she returned and set her clothes on the counter. I suspected she had taken a little longer than she needed, but that was okay. She could take however long was necessary.
She crossed the room and looked over my shoulder. “You put bubble bath in it?”
“I thought you might like that.”
Her arms circled me from behind. “I do.”
I twisted to look at her and found a huge smile on those perfectly kissable lips, and the reward for the bubbles was a kiss that rivaled the steam coming off the water.
“I’m going to get you a towel. That should be enough bubbles to give you coverage. Okay?”
She nodded.
I lingered in the closet until the water cut off and returned with towels and a washcloth. I placed them on the bench near the tub and sat on the edge, dipping the cloth in the water.
Cupping the back of her head, I held her still while I wiped her face.
“That feels really nice.” Her eyes slid closed as she sighed. “So does the water. Thank you for running it.”
When I finished washing her face, I hung the cloth on the side of the tub and stood. “I’m going to order dinner. Is there anything that sounds good to you?”
There was that stare, and now that I knew how windy her mind was, I wondered where she was traveling. “I’m okay with whatever you choose. Nothing French.”
“I will make it so,” I said and winked.
In the living room, I finally turned on my phone, waited for all the notifications to ring through, and then took care of the food before I made a call to Ari. He knew I was following Claire, and I was sure he was furious with me for not calling before now.
He answered on the first ring. “Where the hell have you been?” He was nearly screaming at me.
“Hey, who are you talking to?”
“My big fat-headed brother, that’s who. I was worried something had happened to you. I didn’t know if Claire was leading you into an ambush?—”
“Never say that again. Ever. She’s not working with Franklin. She’s innocent. We had a long talk. That’s all you need to know, and we’re married. She’s my wife, and you will respect her.”
There was a long pause. “Okay. So, what was the lawyer about?”
“The trust. She signed it over to me.” I quickly looked at my phone. I had missed a call from a bank, and I assumed that was where the trust was. “The whole thing. Apparently, it was hers the moment she said I do. I’m certain Franklin was going to double-cross me. I mean, we knew that, just not how quickly.”
“Wait. She what?”
“She signed it all over to me. She called it restitution for what Franklin did. She even threw some Aunt Helen’s way for her soup kitchen.”
“Wow.”
“There’s more. She’s got proof Franklin had a hand in Gianna and Dad’s death.” No, I haven’t seen the photos, but I knew she was telling the truth. If she said she had it, she had it.
Ari cursed. “Enough for us.”
“We need that meeting with Jason and Gabriele. We need to end this. No more little girls hurt by Franklin and Marco.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Ari exhaled. “How’s married life?”
“It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be.”
Ari cursed again. “Anna is a pain in my…She’s annoying and infuriating and?—”
“I think someone has a crush.”
“Shut up. This isn’t a crush. She’s a spoiled, entitled little girl who just drives me crazy.”
I heard him. I also saw it from her side. “Man, she didn’t want this. It was pushed on her. One minute she’s single, and the next, she’s getting married. Give her a break.”
He scoffed. “It’s not like I wanted this either.”
“No, and I’m sorry it has to be this way, but it does. Try to make it work so you aren’t miserable. Okay?”
“Yeah.” He paused. “I’ll get the meeting set up. Be careful. Once Franklin and Marco get word, it’s going to get really dangerous.”
“I know.” I turned, and Claire walked into the living room, smelling like honey and vanilla with wet hair and the sexiest pajamas ever created for a woman. “I’ll talk to you later.” I clicked end and smiled.
She drifted over to me and threw her arms around my waist. “That was wonderful.” She set her chin on my chest as she looked up at me. “Thank you.”
How many times was this woman going to test my character tonight? “You’re welcome.”
“I can run you a bath if you’d like.”
“I think I’ll have a quick shower. Food should be here pretty quickly.”
She lifted on her toes and kissed me. “Okay. I can wait for it while you do that.”
I didn’t know what it was, but that sweet little gesture tested me even more. I lifted her by the waist and sat on her on the counter. “You’re the sexiest librarian I’ve ever met.”
Rolling her eyes, she giggled. “Whatever. And I’m not a librarian. I stole stuff from the office of the French mafia boss. Now, would a librarian do that?”
“Maybe.” I touched my lips to hers. “Could be undercover.” I kissed her again, this time letting my lips linger on hers.
“Like double-o reading stacks.”
I white-knuckled the counter and dropped my forehead on her shoulder. “I’m struggling here, Claire. Now that I know what happened, I don’t want to push?—”
Her cheek pressed against mine. “You’re not taking anything from me. I’m giving it to you. That’s the difference. I wasn’t thinking very nice thoughts about you when you stalked toward me in the restaurant.”
I jerked back. “What?”
Claire brought her fingers to my face, running them over my eyebrows, along my jaw, and tracing my lips. “You were the most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on. I wanted you to want me. I’d never thought that about anyone.” She smiled. “You rescued me from that house. Marco would have had me. You’ve held me while I cried, twice. You ran me a bath and took a generous amount of time finding towels that were in plain sight. You washed my face.” Nuzzling my neck with her nose, she took a deep breath as she brought her gaze to mine. “I want to kiss you, and I want you to want to kiss me.” The last word was barely out of her mouth before her teeth bit down on my bottom lip. Her arms wrapped around my neck, her legs around my waist, and she pulled me flush against her body.
Every ounce of blood in my brain drained into the lower half of my body, and there was zero left to manage my actions. I sank my hands in her hair and crushed my lips to hers. I wanted her. I wanted her mind, body, and soul. I wanted all of her. All the time.
Somewhere in the deep recess of my consciousness, I realized that I shouldn’t heft her off the counter and take her into the bedroom for way more than kissing, but I sure wanted to. There was a point in my life I would have said to hell with a woman’s history. I was her present.
I didn’t know when that switch flipped for me, but I wanted more than that with Claire. I wanted her past, her present, and most of all, I wanted her future. I wanted it all.
I skimmed the tip of my tongue down her neck. Her hands found my hair, and her fingers curled in it, and the moan rolling from the back of her throat tickled my lips. Then another soft moan.
“You probably should go take your shower or bath or…”
I pulled her earlobe into my mouth, sucked on it, and the sentence ended in a gasp. If this was just kissing, what sort of songs would she sing when it was more?
“I probably should get that shower.” I leaned back and smiled at the desire reflected in her eyes.
Those lips puckered in a pout. “That was mean.”
Before I lost the willpower to leave, I pushed away from the counter. “So is pouting, especially when you’re telling me to go take a shower.”
When I glanced back, she gave me this over-the-shoulder, sultry look with mischief in her eyes.
She slowly raked her gaze from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, and I swear this woman had stripped me naked. I was half tempted to cover myself with my hands.
Damn. That was sexy as hell. If I walked back to her, I wasn’t going to be dining on cheeseburgers. “I’ll be back before dinner gets here.” I stalked down the hall.
I had never wanted a woman so bad in my life. Once this thing with Franklin and Marco was over. I was going to show her just how mean I could be.