SHIT.
Liliana was losing it.
Panicking—again.
Gasping breaths, heaving shoulders, and fists clenched so tightly he thought her manicured nails might be cutting her skin. She had to be seeing tunnel vision because she sure as hell wasn’t seeing him even when he stepped in front of her, and called her name. Even tipping her head back, and speaking softly didn’t help.
Yeah, shit was right.
Carefully, Joe pulled the little card from Liliana’s clenched hand. He didn’t need to look over the words—he’d already read them when he yanked it off her door. At the time, he’d been more focused on the fact someone else, who wasn’t him, had been sending her flowers. He felt a little fucking stupid for that, now.
“Hey, hey,” Joe said, keeping one arm tight around Liliana’s trembling shoulders. “Remember that thing we did on the street?”
Subtly, he saw her nod.
“You try that, and I’m going to grab your keys.”
Another nod.
She wasn’t speaking, but at least she was giving him something. Nods were better than fucking nothing. And he really needed to get her breathing under control, or she was going to black out from the way she was huffing.
Tears streaked lines down her face, and Joe took a quick second to wipe them away. It didn’t do very much good, though. Not a blink later, and more of her tears fell. A never-ending stream, really.
Jesus.
“Touch, see, feel, smell, and hear,” he told her. “Say them out loud, or in your head, but focus on that for a minute.”
Joe slipped the messenger bag Liliana had been carrying up from the floor, and dug through it. It was just his luck that he had to search through to the bottom of the bag to find the goddamn keys.
Once he had them, though, all was good. He unlocked her apartment, and practically kicked the door open as he turned the knob. Her dark studio apartment smelled like that cinnamon and cupcake candle he’d seen on her table once.
With the door at least opened, Liliana calmed a bit.
Not a lot.
Just a little.
Good enough for me.
Comforting, familiar places did wonders to sometimes help soothe anxiety. It could shorten the time of a panic attack for some people, too. He figured that was probably Liliana’s biggest thing—something, or someone familiar could help pull her out.
“Let’s go,” Joe said.
He didn’t wait for Liliana to respond, or move. No, he just slung an arm around her waist, pulled her into his side, and easily hoisted her up over his shoulder. He grabbed the other shit on the floor, and picked it up, too.
Inside the apartment, Joe kicked the door shut behind him, and looked for the closest—and most comfortable—place for Liliana. The couch near the windows seemed like a good place. Even when he moved to set her down on the cushions, her small hands grasped firmly onto him, and her fingers all but dug into his shoulders.
Nope.
He could practically hear her screaming the word inside her head.
Nope.
She was not letting him go.
“All right,” Joe muttered.
He turned, and sat his ass down on the couch. The very second he was settled, Liliana slid down into his lap, and buried her face in her hands. No matter what he tried to do, or how he spoke, or what he said, she just wouldn’t look at him.
It kind of killed him.
Joe figured it wasn’t about him right then, though. And he wasn’t about to make it into something for him, either.
Still, Liliana seemed comfortable to stay right where she was on top of Joe. That didn’t bother him. Hell, she didn’t weigh more than one-twenty soaking wet.
Tall, and willowy.
Thin, and delicate.
In moments like those, he thought fragile, too.
Yet, he knew better. He knew this woman only looked fragile, and sometimes, the cracks in her beautiful porcelain mind started to show. Everybody had cracks, though. Some just weren’t as visible as others.
“Why won’t he leave me alone?”
Her low, keening words made Joe’s fucking heart clench. And his rage soared at the same time. It was a strange mixture of emotions—sadness and fury. The two fed off one another at the same time they warred against each other.
Joe didn’t have any reason to believe she was talking about Rich Earl—as she didn’t offer a name, or details to say it one way or the other—but he just knew. Somehow, he knew given everything that was going on. Two and two always made four, after all.
“Who—Rich?” he asked.
He figured it was better to let her tell him, than to blurt out what he knew. Who fucking knew—maybe getting her to talk about it would help her a little bit?
“I thought he was gone,” Liliana mumbled into her hands. “He hasn’t bothered me for almost a year, and now …”
Joe cleared his throat, and pulled his girl into his embrace again. Liliana said nothing, and didn’t fight him, either. She just settled into his hold and chest like that was the safest place for her to be, and she didn’t want to go anywhere else.
Frankly, he didn’t want to let her go.
Here, she was safe.
Here, she didn’t hurt.
Here, he could take care of her.
“Now he’s showing up a lot more, huh?” Joe asked.
Liliana said nothing.
Joe decided he kind of needed her to talk, or that festering rage of his was going to boil over. The last thing he needed right now was to go off half-cocked, and make a fucking show of himself. Or worse, a mess he couldn’t clean up.
Pulling her hands away from her face, Joe said, “Look at me, sweetheart.”
Nope.
Nothing.
“Liliana,” he murmured, nuzzling his face against her temple. His lips grazed her hairline, and then over her cheekbone. He was sure he felt her smile just a little, but he couldn’t be sure. “Talk to me—look at me.”
Finally, she did.
Tipping her head back, he found wide, watery eyes staring back at him. And fear, too. He saw her fear.
“I had someone ask me once,” she whispered, “how I fell for a guy that ended up almost killing me.”
Joe frowned. “Why would someone ask that?”
Liliana shook her head. “I don’t know—I don’t think they knew, either.”
“Humans do suck that way.”
Her tiny smile made him grin, but it quickly faded away.
“It’s like people expect you to know who the monster is even though they blend in really well, and they don’t show you the bad until it’s too late. I didn’t fall for a guy who beat the hell out of me—I fell for the guy who approached me after one of my shows, and couldn’t keep his eyes off me. I was drawn to the man who took me to one amazing thing after the other, and made me laugh.”
Liliana glanced down at her clenched hands. “And then one night, he got jealous over a friend of mine—another dancer at the company. I went to dinner with him after rehearsal. We were just friends, and it was dinner.”
Joe cleared his throat. “And what happened after that?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t even know how he knew I was out with the guy. It was the first time I learned he was having me tailed.”
Jesus.
“First red flag,” Joe said quietly.
“It was waving high and I missed it,” Liliana replied.
“That’s hindsight, babe. Everybody misses shit, and can find it a hell of a lot easier when we look at it from a different perspective.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybes about it, Liliana.”
Her sigh came out shaky, and unsure. “Things moved really fast—I dated him for almost three and a half months, but it just went fast. Intense, too. The jealousy thing got worse, and one night he ripped a dress I was wearing because I wouldn’t change before we went to a gala.”
Joe scowled, but Liliana didn’t see it. She was still too busy staring at her hands. He wished she would at least look at him when she talked, but he wasn’t going to push anything.
Not yet, anyway.
“Maybe it was because everything had gone so fast, or maybe it was the way he made sure to take up all of my time and attention, but I’d stopped coming around my family and stuff. So, I didn’t really have someone seeing these things going on. I didn’t have someone to look at me, and say it wasn’t right … it’s not their fault, either. They didn’t know.”
Joe pulled her closer to him again, and kissed the top of her head. “Not your fault, either.”
He said that because he could hear the guilt. He could hear the way she placed blame on her own shoulders, and did it without even thinking about it.
That killed him, too.
“And then one night we were, uh … going to a party for something.” Liliana barked out a bitter laugh, adding, “I can’t even remember what it was for. I don’t know if that’s from the concussion, or because I blocked out things. Anyway, we had gone to dinner before that, and the waiter was a little too nice to me, I guess.”
“So, Rich was already pissed off.”
Liliana nodded, saying, “So, when I started getting texts from my cousin, Andino, that only made it worse. I told him it was family—I was trying to calm him down, but it just spiraled out of control.”
Joe grunted.
It was the best he could do because in that moment, anything else was going to send him flying over the very sharp edge where he balanced. His control was tipping one way, and his rage was following right behind it.
How fucking easy it would be to end that man.
How simple …
And fast.
Shit, Joe could be back by morning. It would only take a couple of phone calls to get the man’s whereabouts—Joe didn’t even give a shit if the hit was clean, or not.
Really, Rich didn’t deserve easy or clean.
“He just started hitting me,” Liliana mumbled. “And not like a slap, but closed fist punches. One after the other. I didn’t even understand what was happening. I said sorry, Joe. I told him I was the one who was sorry.”
Those tears came again.
Joe just held her close again.
What else could he do?
“I’m sorry,” he told her.
Liliana shook her head. “Anything I said pissed him off even more, anyway. He just hit me harder. And I couldn’t even hear what he was saying at that point—everything sounded like I was under water, and I couldn’t see. The limo driver had pulled over, but I don’t think Rich even noticed. He was trying to get on top of me—I don’t really know what he planned to do, but he’d ripped my dress. It all went black for a minute.”
“You remember what happened afterward?”
“Not really. I was told the driver opened the back door, and I got out. I don’t really remember how I got to the hospital … just my dad coming in, and he was crying. That’s the only time I ever saw my dad cry. My sister didn’t recognize me. The bruising and swelling was that bad—he’d fractured my orbital socket in two places.”
Liliana’s hand came up to touch her eyebrow, and her fingers drifted along the line. “You can’t see it because the plastic surgeon is one of the best in the country, but there’s a scar that runs through my eyebrow. I have a metal plate here now.”
Now that’d she started talking, she didn’t seem to want to stop. Joe didn’t want her to keep hurting, though. And it was so fucking clear that she was hurting.
“You don’t have to—”
Liliana shook her head. “A lot of stuff happened afterward. His father’s a senator, and he’s trying to get into politics, too. All of the charges that were filed disappeared. It was swept away—reporters were paid off, and stories never even got the chance to run. I didn’t even get to talk to the detective who came to the hospital that night after that. The next time I went in, the Chief of Police was the one there. Martin Abraham, or something. He interrogated me. He made it feel like I was the abuser, and not the victim.”
Joe now understood why that name was on his list.
“I found out after from my dad—or because I overhead him talking with my uncle, Dante—that the Chief of Police was who the Earl family had been using as protection. I guess. He was helping clean shit up, and sweeping it all away. He was threatening my dad, too.”
Joe’s brow lifted. “Your father? Lucian Marcello.”
Liliana nodded.
“What kind of balls—”
“It doesn’t take very much for a mafioso to get arrested in this city, and the charges almost always stick when it’s something petty. I was scared they were going to take my dad away, so I asked him to stop trying to fight them. It was okay, I told him, because Rich was gone, and he was going to leave me alone.”
“So, he did stop,” Joe murmured.
Liliana shrugged. “Yeah. I moved out of my other place and into here. I saw a therapist for a little while. I got back to dancing once my face was healed, and the doctor said it was good. I just … wanted to get back to my life. I didn’t tell people. We kept it quiet. I didn’t want everyone to look at me and be like, oh, there’s the girl whose boyfriend beat the hell out of her.”
“Liliana—”
“Please don’t see me like that, Joe.”
He stilled.
“What?”
She glanced up at him—all water gone from her eyes, and only a firm resolve staring back. “I know I’m kind of a flight risk, and I run when something seems like it’s going to hurt me. I’m sorry I’m not perfect, but please don’t see me as that victim. I don’t want to be her.”
Didn’t she know?
Didn’t she fucking know?
Joe grabbed Liliana’s face in his hands, and drew her close enough for him to press three quick kisses one right after the other to her lips. “You’re just Liliana to me, Tesoro. You’re always going to be my Liliana.”
She nodded with a shaky exhale.
Joe smiled. “It’s going to be fine—we’ll figure this out. Whatever stupid shit the guy is trying to play, it’s not going to work.”
He got it now, too.
Got why they called him in.
Why they waited.
Why they didn’t tell him.
Frankly, Joe was stunned the Marcellos had tried to handle this situation on the up and up, anyway. Shit like this couldn’t be handled on the level—on the right side of the law, in a goddamn courtroom.
Or maybe, they had done that for Liliana.
It didn’t matter.
Now, they were going to handle it like it should have been from the start.
On the fucking streets.
In the shadows.
Liliana peered up at Joe from her bubble bath, and gave him a small smile. “You don’t have to stay, Joe. I’m sure you have better things to do tonight than take care of me.”
He scoffed, and leaned down to rest his arms along the edge of the tub. “No, actually. There’s no other place I would rather be than right here with you.”
“So, you didn’t have plans?”
“Just to come here, apologize for being an asshole, maybe grovel a little bit if I needed to, and then I was hoping you’d either let me in, or let me take you to dinner. I figure I got what I wanted in the end.”
Liliana didn’t even try to hide her grin. “Mmhmm.”
“That was the plan. Now, do you want music, or something? A book?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing?” he asked again, raising a brow.
“You, maybe.”
Joe flashed his smile. “You’ve got me—I’m right here.”
“Not in here, though.”
Ah.
“I could do that,” he said.
Liliana’s teeth abused her bottom lip in the sexiest way. “You should probably do that, then. Now.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her laughter colored up the bathroom as Joe stood, and quickly discarded what remained of his clothes. It never failed to amaze him how whenever he took off his clothes, Liliana couldn’t seem to drag her gaze away from him. Like she was seeing him for the first time all over again.
Maybe he liked it.
A lot.
“Why the sleeve?” she asked, reaching up to stroke bubble-covered fingers over the tattoos on his arm. “And only a few on the other side—the heart is my favorite.”
Joe glanced at the black outline of a simple heart on the inside of his left elbow. “I went and had my first tattoo done with my brother when I was seventeen, and he was sixteen.” He pointed at the eagle on the top of his left shoulder. “That one, actually. Cory has a slightly different version. Our mom kind of had a fit—too young, she said. Dad just shrugged it off like he does. And that was how it started for me, I guess. One tattoo led to another, and then another.”
“People do say it’s addicting.”
He shrugged. “I just don’t put them in visible locations. No need to be caught on camera with something recognizable, you know what I mean?”
Liliana said nothing; Joe figured she didn’t have to.
Stepping over the edge of the large bath, Joe sunk into the other side of the water. Across from him, Liliana lowered deep enough into the bubbles that only her head was sticking out. The water was so hot, steam had already fogged up the mirror. She had so many bubbles that with him inside the tub, they were starting to spill over. The heady scent of strawberries and cream clung in the air.
“I guess that’s what my father meant, huh?”
Joe glanced over at her. “Pardon?”
“When people call you in, they don’t want you to be seen. That’s what you do, isn’t it? A job where no one can see you.”
“Yeah, babe, that’s what I do.”
Liliana was quiet for a long while.
Joe couldn’t help but ask, “Does that bother you? You did say you couldn’t see the monster coming before—I’m just another breed.”
“Not even close to the same, Joe.”
“How do you figure that?”
Liliana smiled softly, and tipped her head back to rest along the edge of the tub. “Because I know.”
“Gonna have to give me more to go on.”
“I know you wouldn’t hurt me—couldn’t, maybe. Something about you … I don’t ever feel unsafe with you, Joe. You don’t scare me.”
“I should hope not.”
Liliana picked her head back up, and met his gaze again. “What about the heart tattoo—my favorite one. What’s that for?”
“My parents.”
“Oh?”
“My first understanding of love, yeah,” he murmured. “Of two people loving each other, and how they love us. Felt right to memorialize it.”
“How could they not love you, Joe? You’re a beautiful soul.”
Her words came out barely above a whisper, and yet, he still heard them. Just the way she stared at him was enough to make him hook a wet finger at her—a silent demand for her to come closer.
She did just that.
His sweet girl.
His good girl.
Liliana climbed into Joe’s lap, and her arms snaked around his neck. This time, it was him who tipped his head back to rest along the edge while Liliana stared down at him.
“Thank you, Joe.”
“For what, sweetheart?”
“You know what.”
He did, but he also didn’t need her to say it. Not even the thank you, either. He didn’t need recognition for doing what was right, or giving a shit about her. He just … didn’t.
She knew.
That’s what mattered.
Liliana resituated on his lap with a little wiggle of her hips, and there was no hiding the way his semi-hard cock settled in just the right spot between her thighs. Joe didn’t even bother to hold back the rumbly groan that escaped his mouth.
“You’re making it difficult for me to act like a gentleman, Liliana.”
Her grin was salacious.
Daring.
Promising.
“Who asked for a gentleman?” she replied, that sexy glint in her eye. “You think me getting you in the tub was innocent?”
She pfft’d under her breath.
“Not even close,” she added. “I had plans, Joe. And now look at you—naked, and probably willing to give me whatever the fuck I want. Yeah, I had plans.”
Oh, he could see that now.
Liliana rocked back and forth on his lap. It made that pussy of hers grind against his length until it was fully hard, thick, and throbbing.
Goddamn.
This woman was something else.
Liliana laced her fingers together at the back of Joe’s neck, effectively keeping him locked in her barred embrace. Not that he minded. He certainly didn’t mind the sweet, soft kiss she dropped to his mouth, or how with nothing more than a nip of her teeth against his bottom lip, that kiss turned into something else entirely.
Like a little spark blown into a flame.
He couldn’t get her close enough when she kissed him—couldn’t get his hands on enough of her skin, and he certainly couldn’t get enough of those little tremors rocking her body. He kind of loved the way she tried to dominate their kiss, but she always let him win out in the end.
Joe’s hand slid up Liliana’s slick spine, and tangled into the damp waves of her hair. Tugging a bit to tilt her neck back, he took his time kissing down her throat, and tasting the salt on her skin. The spot beneath her ear was his favorite—she always gave these sweet, breathless moans when he sucked on that spot just hard enough to almost leave his mark behind. She couldn’t even stop herself from grinding on him the longer he loved on her throat and neck.
“So perfect,” he breathed against her ear. “Don’t you know that, Tesoro?”
“With you.”
Her response did something to him—like a kick in the fucking heart, but not one that really hurt. It felt strange, and good, and fucking terrifying. Absolutely everything about this woman kind of terrified Joe for reasons he wasn’t even sure he knew.
It was Liliana’s deft hand sneaking between her thighs to grab his cock that brought Joe back to the moment. The way she rubbed the head of his dick through her folds, and teased him with her touch, and the promise of her cunt.
“Say you want me,” Liliana teased.
Joe grinned. “You know I do.”
“Say it.”
Through her lowered lashes, he saw her gaze darken. “You’re going to bring the Italian out on me now?”
“I save it for special occasions.”
“That’s unfair.”
“What is?”
“I can’t control myself when you talk like that, Joe.”
He shrugged. “Colpa mia, principessa.”
My bad, princess.
“Joe.”
Her grip on his dick tightened, and Joe let out a low grunt.
“Badare.”
“I am being careful—you stop this game of yours,” she warned.
He smirked. “Perdonami?”
Liliana wet her lips.
Her control was slipping.
“Forgive me,” he said again in English, “and I promise to have that pretty pussy of yours purring, Liliana.”
“You are … terrible.”
“Terribly good, maybe.”
Joe bucked his hips upward, and the action made Liliana’s hand stroke his dick. She gave him another one of her fake glares, but it quickly faded away when he caught her mouth with his own again. A deeper kiss than before—hotter, too.
How it was possible, he didn’t know.
“Killing me,” he whispered against her lips. “You better get my cock in your cunt before I get us both out of this tub, and put you on your knees.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad, either.”
“I could make you wait, too.”
Liliana’s eyes widened. “For what?”
“To get my cock—to come.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Hurry up then; time’s running out.”
Joe was lying through his teeth. He was in no better spot than her. All he really wanted was to be buried nine inches deep into her pussy, and fucking them both to bliss. She didn’t call him on his bluff, though.
No, instead she simply said, “Promise to do that after?”
Yep.
Dead.
Deceased.
He was done for when it came to this woman.
“Promise,” he said.
Liliana lifted from his lap to fit his cock between her thighs, and then lowered just enough to make her pussy swallow the head of his dick. He felt her delicate inner muscles clenching—teasing him again; she had to be teasing.
“Liliana,” he growled.
“Slow,” she said, leaning in close to whisper the words along his lips. At the same time, she lowered painfully slow on his length until he was buried balls-deep, and his world felt right again. How did that even happen? When had that happened? Then, her fingertips dragged sweet, gentle lines over his skin. “And soft, Joe.”
“Is that what you want?”
Bitten-red lips.
A tight, warm pussy.
Lust in her eyes.
“For now,” she murmured.
So, that was exactly what he gave her. What she asked for—how she wanted it. None of his usual tricks. Just them, sex, sin, and perfection.
There was nothing quite like the feeling of her pussy around his cock. All tight, and dragging him deeper with every thrust. Like this, he could feel even more. Bare, and taking her slow, he felt everything.
He didn’t tell her his dirty things when he was too caught up in the sounds falling from her lips, and the way his name curled around her tongue. She sounded so damn good when she was begging him for more.
Nice and slow strokes until her low whines turned into gasping cries. Soft kisses dotting her lips and cheeks and even her fingertips until he felt her shuddering breaths and the tremors rocking her hands.
Soft and slow until she came.
Soft and slow until she asked for more.
Then, he gave her that, too.
Joe leaned against the barre, and in the corner of his eye, watched Liliana through the opened bedroom door across the room. She was still sleeping contentedly in her bed even though he had crawled out of it a good ten minutes earlier.
He didn’t want to disrupt her.
He didn’t want to bother her.
At the same time, Joe had things to do now.
Things he needed to do.
It couldn’t wait.
“Rossi,” came the voice thick with sleep on the other end of the call. “Lucky I bothered to pick up this late at night.”
Joe glanced out the window, and took in the dark, quiet street down below. “Lucian—evening.”
“What do you need?”
“You should have told me.”
Lucian cleared his throat. “Since I know where you are tonight—don’t bother to ask how—I am going to assume you mean about my daughter.”
“At the very least,” Joe continued, ignoring Lucian altogether, “you could have told me why. It would have saved me trouble.”
“I didn’t owe you an explanation that wasn’t mine to give, Joe. I think you can understand that, especially if you know now what happened. Do you know?”
Joe grunted uncommittedly. “You had to know I had affection for her.”
“You have no reason to assume that, and even if I did know, I told you once that it’s not up to me where Liliana and men are concerned. I meant that.”
“I have every reason to assume, starting with the moment I asked to take her out.”
Lucian made a sound under his breath before saying, “I knew the night you met her at the mansion, actually. I could see it—it’s not my fault if people don’t pay as much attention to me as I do to them. It’s served me well over the years.”
“So again, you did know. You didn’t think letting me know—at the very least—that she had a bad experience with a man?”
“It wasn’t my place. I hired you to do a job, Joe. I would really appreciate if you would finish that job now so that I could … finish my part of it. I assume now that you realize why I left a particular name off your marks, hmm?”
Yeah.
Rich.
The fucking bastard.
It didn’t surprise Joe a bit that Lucian wanted to go after the man himself. Joe would give the man every dollar in every single one of his bank accounts if he let him do it instead, but he doubted Lucian would go for that.
Joe’s jaw ached from clenching so hard. “Rich sent her flowers today. She didn’t react well to it.”
Lucian’s tone came out cold and sharp when he said, “I will add someone else to her watch since I assume you’re going to take care of other things. As for Rich, he’s a suspicious little rat by nature. That’s going to work to my benefit—I want him to see me coming. I made a promise, after all. I like to keep those.”
“That’s a dangerous game to play with a dangerous man, Lucian. And it kind of seems like he’s playing his own game with Liliana right now, and I don’t like that at all.”
“What do you suggest, then? Because I will be following this through, Joe. One way or the other—I owe it to my daughter.”
Joe glanced back across the studio apartment, and found Liliana still sleeping. “Let’s remove the queen from the board altogether, and keep her out of his reach while the rest of this is finished. We’ll start with that.”
Lucian hummed.
Joe waited.
“I like it. Now, do your job, Joe.”