Lucca didn’t remember much about how he got here, wherever ‘here’ was. He had been chained to a wall and now he was in a bed. That was about all he knew so far.

It was taking every shred of his mental focus to stay still and endure the flames that were scorching the skin off his back. He shifted his weight slightly before he could stop himself. Fuck, that hurt. He had no idea where he was or how long he had been drifting in and out of consciousness.

If this was Antonio Wayne’s merciful side, Lucca didn’t want to think about what the man was capable of if he were really pissed off. Staying absolutely still was the only way Lucca could endure the, so he cleared his mind and devoted every passing second to absolute stillness. Breathe in, breathe out. Rinse and repeat.

He didn’t bother to look when he heard the door open and close. Hell, he couldn’t have turned his head enough to look even if he had cared enough to try. If anything, he resented the intrusion because it had brought his mind hurtling back to reality.

Alma tiptoed closer to the bed, unable to stifle a horrified gasp at the grotesque, bloody mosaic that covered the stranger’s back. “Dear God in heaven,” she whispered, her breath hitching in her throat as her trembling fingertips hovered over her lips. She had never seen anything like it.

For one thing, Antonio Wayne had let him live. For another, he had been placed in an immaculate bedroom in the main part of the house, rather than left to languish in a cell in the dungeon. Perhaps most importantly, the slashes on his back didn’t overlap. That meticulous approach was a signature of Antonio Wayne’s efforts, signifying that the whipping had been a matter of discipline and not revenge.

Her natural shyness was quickly overruled by her intuition and the clinical expertise she had honed in nursing school. She decided then and there that there was something special about this man. “I’m here to help you,” she whispered and knelt by the side of the bed. She reached into her pocket, took out two Oxycontin, and held them up. “Open.” His lips barely parted and even that small movement elicited a weak groan of pain. She placed the pills on his tongue and used her fingertips to lightly press his lips closed. She smiled sadly when his lips instinctively pressed against her fingers. Poor man, he obviously had no awareness of what was going on around him.

Next, she opened a bottle of water. She slid a straw into the bottle before lifting it to his lips. He didn’t respond at first, exhausted from the Herculean effort required to accept the pills, and now too weak to even purse his lips around the straw. She pulled the bottle back and frowned. She gently pushed a wayward lock of hair off his forehead and let her hand linger there in a compassionate caress. He turned his head toward the touch, so she repeated the gesture. “Come on, now, you must try. You need pain medication and I know you must be thirsty. Let me help you.”

She tried again and he was able to take what she offered, getting the pills down and even managing a few sips of water. She put the bottle on the nightstand and rested her hand on his hair again, letting her thumb slide back and forth along his temple. She needed him to stay awake for at least a little while as she tended to him.

Lucca wanted to weep as the woman touched him. How long had it been since he’d been touched that way? Her touch was gentle and she sounded…so sweet. He wondered what she looked like. He opened his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to focus on the blurry figure in front of him. He squeezed his eyes closed then blinked, and blinked again.

There she was. She was lovely. Not a trace of makeup. Long hair the color of mahogany that fell in glossy waves down to her waist. A heart-shaped face and luminous, concerned brown eyes.

“There’s…no way…Ramirez would send me such…a beauty. You’ll be in trouble if you get caught,” he rasped, his voice barely audible. Her cheeks flushed. For him. He shook his head at the thought, then grimaced and tried to remain still.

“Shh, I won’t get caught,” she assured him. “What did you do?”

“Tried to smuggle cocaine on the Ramirez brothers’ dime.”

“That was foolish, but then you know that by now. So, how is it that you’re still alive? They must need you for something.”

“Glazov…mercy. His daughter-in-law insisted.”

She could tell by the fluttering of his eyes that the pills were kicking in. She didn’t have much time left before he drifted off to sleep. “Why would his daughter-in-law do that? They’re not a very compassionate bunch either. What, is she in love with you?”

He almost laughed at that and then launched into a series of weak coughs. “Hell, no. Didn’t know each other really.” He grinned but knew better than to laugh. “Her husband was busy shooting at me at the time. I watched over a little girl…” His voice trailed off and single tear escaped before he cleared his throat hurriedly, silently cursing his weakened condition. “They adopted her. I helped set it up. Sweet girl. Her mom was a junkie. Best thing for her. A miracle, really.” His eyes began to droop until they closed.

“See, there? You’re worth getting in trouble for. You’re a hero.”

“Yeah, right.” The pain was a dull ache now. “The pain…better. Thank you.” He opened one eye, smiling slightly as he locked onto his pretty target. “’You an angel?” he asked, his words slightly slurred.

“Enough with the flirting, I need to clean your wounds. Okay,” she said on a deep breath. “I think you’re ready for me. I promise I’ll be gentle.” She blushed at his naughty chuckle and wondered how many times he had said those very words to a woman under more intimate circumstances.

“Be nice,” she said as she did her best to glare at him. “You’re at my mercy right now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a lazy smile, “that I am, and happy to be so.” Then more softly, as if talking to himself, “Well, would you look at that. I think there’s some fire behind all that tempting innocence. Ouch!” he gasped, jerking away from her only to hiss on a fresh wave of pain. “Fuck, that hurts!”

“I’m sorry. Do you need another pain pill?”

“Baby, I’m high as hell right now as it is. Can you leave me some for later? Just in case you don’t come back.” Before she could respond, he reached for her hand, wincing at the effort even as his thumb stroked along the racing pulse in her wrist. “Mmm. Yes, definitely some fire.” His sleepy gaze traveled randomly over her features to her torso and back again. “Want to see you. Will you come to me again? So lonely.” His eyes glinted with the mischievous mirth she’d seen only moments before.

“I’ll try. But only if you’re a good boy,” she said, blushing furiously when he arched his eyebrow wickedly at her words. It wasn’t like Alma to flirt and she wasn’t sure why she was doing it now. Based on the weak smile that curved his lips, her racing pulse had given her innocence away.

“Oh, I can assure you, I’m very good when I put my mind to it.” This time there was no amusement when he opened his eyes, only a grim look that hinted at a much darker side to this man. “But I’m a man, not a boy. A very bad man.”

She already knew that none of the men who worked for the cartel could be considered good men. Not in the conventional sense, anyway. How could they be? The best you could hope for was a man who was good to his woman and not a manwhore who fucked anything in a skirt.

“Does that hurt?” she asked, gently applying antibiotic cream on each of his wounds.

“Do you want it to?” he growled in response.

“Well, of course not. I would never hurt you.” Getting to know this man would be challenging, probably maddening at times, but she wanted to. “What’s your name?” she asked, in a blatant effort to distract him.

“Lucca,” he said with some effort. “Name’s Lucca. What’s yours, beautiful?”

“Alma.”

“Mmmm,” he said sleepily. “Alma…sweet …Alma.”

When she was finished, she knelt by the bed again. “Lucca, it’s important that you keep these visits between us a secret. You can’t tell anyone.”

“Ah, so I’ll see you again.” He looked up at her from beneath sleepy, hooded eyelids.

“If you want me to, I will.” She tried to sound indifferent and hoped she was pulling it off.

He reached out and took her wrist once more, groaning from the pain that sliced across his back at the slight movement. He stroked his thumb over her pulse, reassured to feel her heartbeat flutter like hummingbird wings. It pleased him to know that, even in his current pitiful condition, she was affected by him.

He hummed in approval as his thumb moved over her velvety soft skin. “There’s something about you I like, lovely Alma. Innocent, and so brave to tend to what’s left of me. Never known anyone like you…such a big heart.” His voice was groggy as he drifted off. “’Don’t wanna lose it. Feels good to touch something so pure…sweet.”

Her heart twisted in pain for the handsome stranger. She couldn’t imagine the kind of life he’d lived in Colombia. Somehow, he had ended up here in Louisville. She laid her hand over the hand that was still wrapped around her wrist. “Yes, Lucca, I’ll come to you again. Now, I’m leaving you two pain pills in the nightstand drawer here. Try to get some rest.”

She brushed the wayward strand of hair from his forehead again. Her hand rested briefly on his forehead as she checked for fever, then her fingertips moved through his hair until she was cupping his head. He seemed to lean toward her as his eyelids fluttered slightly at her touch.

“Hmm…‘bout a kiss?” The slurred words were little more than a low rumble, but his heavy-lidded gaze was unexpectedly steady. Alma leaned down and kissed his forehead. By the time she straightened, his breathing had shifted to the easy, slow rhythm of sleep. She smiled softly down at him, then gathered her medical supplies and left, quietly closing the door.

She tiptoed down the hall and back to her room, still smiling. Touching her fingertips to her lips, she swore she could still feel the warmth of his skin there. She knew it was crazy for her to secretly visit a man who had done something to earn a whipping by Antonio Wayne. That room and that man were off limits from now on.

Normally she wasn’t one to break rules but when she heard about the stranger who had arrived the previous night, she’d been curious. When she found out he had been brought to the residence that morning after surviving a particularly brutal whipping during the night, she hadn’t been able to resist checking on him. She hadn’t counted on feeling such a visceral connection. And there was no way she could have known that she had just sealed her fate by piquing the mysterious stranger’s interest.

“You are such a fucking voyeur,” Ricardo said as he walked into the security office to find his younger brother staring fixedly at the computer monitor.

“Why is it voyeurism when I do it but it’s surveillance when you do it?” Antonio Wayne asked with a smirk.

“Depends on what I’m looking at. If I’m watching my troublemaking wife then it’s definitely voyeurism, and if she knows about it then you can call it exhibitionism.”

“Well, in answer to your question, I’m keeping an eye on Lucca. He took one hell of a flogging, if I do say so myself. He’s had a most interesting day. He had a visitor.”

“A visitor? Who?”

“Despite our making that wing of the house off-limits for the duration of his recovery, he seems to have acquired his own private nurse. A pretty one, too.”

Ricardo smiled. He knew exactly who his brother was referring to. Interesting. “Has he now? Well, that didn’t take long. I’m not surprised, with Alma going to nursing school and all. It gives her a live person to work on. She’s a sweet girl. I worry sometimes that she’s too innocent for the cartel life.”

“Oh, I don’t know, this looked a bit friendlier than just bandages, antiseptic, and a live patient to practice on.”

“Why aren’t you angry about it, then?” Ricardo asked. “Didn’t you want him to suffer for a day or two, to give him something to think about?”

“Because, my brother, this fits in perfectly with our plans for him. Pussy has a way of keeping a man in line. Even the stubborn ones. If he wants her, he won’t be so apt to take off or attempt another stunt like he did in Colombia. When a man becomes addicted to pussy, his dick is upgraded with a homing mechanism; hell, pussy’s better than an ankle monitor. I have plans for Lucca. If Alma’s light appeals to his darkness and keeps him here without me having to bust his ass again, then so be it.”

“So, you have no intention of reprimanding the girl?” Ricardo asked.

“Hell, no, why would I?”

“Because you’re an asshole?”

Antonio Wayne smiled smugly. “Well, I can’t argue with that. But, no, she doesn’t need to ever know that we know, and neither does he. What they don’t know won’t hurt them, but could very well help us.”

“Diabolical,” Ricardo said and shook his head. His little brother had done well enduring the difficult years of their childhood. He knew Antonio Wayne still drew on those years and the experiences he’d had, experiences that continued to define him after all this time. The love of a good woman had changed Antonio Wayne, but he still had the heart of a lion and the soul of a warrior. “Well, if this is going to be a regular thing, I want you to turn the fucking cameras off when she’s in there. She’s a good girl, and he’s not going anywhere. No camera.”

“Okay, agreed. Hey, how did you know it was Alma? I didn’t tell you that.”

Ricardo shrugged as he crossed the room to the door. “Just a hunch.”

“Wait, wait,” Antonio Wayne said as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his ankle over his knee, tapping his finger idly on the desktop. “You son of a bitch,” he said admiringly. “You knew she’d go to him.” He tilted his head as his eyes narrowed. “…and that he’d take to her right away. I didn’t have the audio turned up, but like I said, there was more going on there than simple nurse/patient stuff. There was flirting and shit. He was barely conscious, and he had her blushing.”

Ricardo opened the door and grinning as he glanced over his shoulder at his brother before he went on his way. Another shrug, then, “Like I said, just a hunch.”

Ricardo still grappled with the guilt he felt for having to send his brother to the States at such a young age. Of course, he would have felt far worse if his brother had died on the streets of Colombia. There were times in life when you had to put your emotions aside and do the hard thing for the greater good. So that was what he had done then, and it had broken his heart.

In his own way, Lucca had done the same thing for Romina. Ricardo had recognized a kindred spirit there; Lucca’s selflessness when it came to the little girl was what had tipped the scales in his favor.

All these years later, Ricardo remained convinced he made the right decision all those years ago. Business was good and they had each found love along the way. And yet, in the deepest recesses of their souls were deep wounds that would surely bleed for the rest of their lives.