Chapter Thirteen

Jillian

“It’s too soon for you to go back to work, Damon.”

“I’m fine, doll. I’ve had two weeks of nothing but rest since Benny’s funeral. I love my parents, but I’m ready to get back to my place. But this time, you’re not staying with my sister instead of me.”

“Are you sure about that?” I couldn’t help but tease him. With his cocky attitude, he deserved it.

His chocolate brown eyes slowly lifted to meet mine. The mischievous gleam I saw was both a warning and a dare. “I’m fucking positive about it. You want to see how much of my energy I have back? I’ll show you…when I tie you to my bed and keep you there all to myself.”

“Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you turn full-tilt alpha on me? It’s so hot.”

“Fuck. We’ll never get out of their house if you don’t quit talking to me like that. I can’t even finish packing my clothes.”

“You get Luigi to take our suitcases downstairs, and I’ll finish packing for you. But for the record, you didn’t just rest for two weeks. You worked the entire time, setting up the arrangement with your sister and searching for Geno. You haven’t fooled me one bit, Mr. Marchetti.”

The smile he flashed me was the same one that reeled me back in, every time. The charm of a little boy combined with the confidence of a gorgeous man. As usual, I was complete putty in his hands.

“If you don’t mind putting the rest of my clothes in here, I’ll go find Luigi. You’ll be faster at it with two good hands anyway.”

“I don’t mind at all. It’ll only take a minute.”

Within minutes of Damon going downstairs, I had the rest of his clothes packed and both of our small suitcases sitting by the door. Carrie had brought items for both Damon and me from his apartment since her overprotective brother thought it was too dangerous for me to go alone. But I understood I could be collateral damage in Geno’s lone war, or he could even use me against Damon, so I didn’t press the issue. Carrie traveled with an entourage of armed muscle who were more than ready for an encounter.

But there hadn’t been a sighting or rumor of Geno since that terrible day more than two weeks ago.

Speaking of that day, the nightmares had started almost right away and hadn’t slowed down. I didn’t want to change my actions, but I wasn’t sure how to live with them either. I fought off panic attacks in the dark, scared that I’d be found out and arrested. I’d wake up and reach for Damon, clinging to him until the fears subsided. I’d started to dread falling asleep.

“You all right, doll?” Damon stood in the doorway watching me.

“I’m okay.”

He narrowed his eyes, his keen instincts seeing right through me. “You were lost deep in thought. You left me. Where’d you go?”

“We both know I’ll never leave you, Damon. I’m right here with you. Are we ready to leave?”

He nodded. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

“Let’s say goodbye to your parents. Your mom will probably be upset. I think she has enjoyed having you back home again.”

“She’ll be okay. It’s not like we’ll be far away. We’ll still be here every Sunday for dinner. But I’ll enjoy having you all to myself again.”

“You’ll be gone most of the time. It’s more like I’ll have me all to myself.”

I should’ve kept my mouth shut because my knee-jerk response only raised his suspicions even more. His assessing stare intensified, and I felt my skin heating under the weight of his scrutiny. He had an uncanny ability to read my thoughts and feelings, sometimes before I’d even worked out what they meant. But being out of commission the past couple of weeks had only given him more time to perfect his skills, regardless of how hard I tried to deflect.

“Is there anything left for Luigi to put in the trunk?” Damon’s question was innocent enough, but I knew better than to think he wouldn’t press the issue later.

“No, we’re all set.”

In the back seat on the way to Damon’s apartment in the city after saying our goodbyes, Damon and I were both quiet. Once we arrived at his place, he wrapped his hand around my arm and turned me to face him directly. The empathy and perception in his eyes were palpable, instantly reassuring me that I could trust him.

“When are you going to let me help you, doll?”

“Help me with what?”

“With all those bad dreams and restless nights. With the anxiety you try to fight off alone instead of talking to me about it.”

“You’ve always been able to see straight through me. It’s a little maddening sometimes.” I slid my fingertips along his jaw.

“What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours? Let me help.”

“Damon, just the thought of being found out and going to prison nearly steals my breath away. Maria has to know by now. She has to wonder where he is. She’ll eventually go to the police and file a missing person’s report.”

“First, going to prison isn’t even a remote possibility for you. You’ll never take the rap for Leo’s death. If he somehow rose from the grave and fingered you for his death, I’d give a full confession and do the time before I’d let you serve one day. Second, he’ll never be found, and arrangements have been made to explain his absence. Aunt Maria will be taken care of for the rest of her life, and she knows better than to go to the police. She knows what he did and the penalty he faced. Lastly, no matter what we come up against in the future, I’ll be here to protect you.”

“The other problem is I don’t know how to deal with these feelings. It’s not that I want to change it, but I don’t know how to live with myself either.”

“You saved my life, Jillian, and you saved Marco’s life. You found the courage to stand up for your mom, and you saved two lives because of it. How do you live with yourself after that? With pride, knowing when most anyone else would’ve frozen in place, you had the guts to do what had to be done. When you look in the mirror, the reflection shows a beautiful, brave woman. I wouldn’t even be here right now if it weren’t for her. That’s how you live with it, knowing the alternative would’ve been harder to accept.”

After a heavy sigh to release all the tension I’d carried for far too long, I stepped into his embrace and wrapped my arms around his waist. “You put everything into perspective for me just now. With a simple explanation. Only a few words. But I already feel better and can breathe easier. Thank you, Damon. I know none of this has been easy for you, either, but you’ve taken such good care of me.”

“I always will, doll.” He leaned down and kissed me, soft and sweet but not lacking in the sweep-me-off-my-feet factor.

Since I moved from Louisiana to Carrie’s to Mama Lina’s to Damon’s, everything I owned was in complete disarray. After a long day of unpacking all my belongings, I was more than ready to fall into the bed and stay for a week by the time night fell. Damon climbed into bed behind me, draped his arm over my waist, and nuzzled against the back of my neck.

Then his hand slid down to my stomach and protectively cradled our babies in his palm. I covered his hand with mine and guided it to the spot where one of them was extra active. “Before long, they’ll both be using my bladder as a trampoline.”

He chuckled, his lips brushing against the nape of my neck. “You have no idea how fucking sexy this is—your being pregnant with my babies. Your baby bump is still small, but I can’t wait for that to change. I’ve done some reading up on it. They say one day, no one can really tell you’re pregnant, but the next day you’ll show all of a sudden.”

“Every woman is different, Damon. Just because that happened to one doesn’t mean it’ll happen to me too.”

“Twins, doll. Very good possibility of it. Could be tomorrow. Could be next week. Or even next month. But it’ll happen.”

“Remember when I said you take such good care of me?”

“Sure do.”

“I take it back.”

The silence only lasted for a couple of seconds before I burst out laughing uncontrollably.

“I’ll have to think of creative and imaginative punishments as payback for that slight against me.” Even the teasing tone in his voice was sexy.

“Think about them tomorrow. I need sleep tonight.”

He pressed his front against my back, and we fell asleep, our arms and legs entwined and hands covering our babies. For the first time in two weeks, the nightmares didn’t come when I closed my eyes. Memories didn’t flood my senses. I slept soundly in Damon’s arms without waking even once until morning.

When I rolled over, Damon’s side of the bed was empty and cold. I padded into the bathroom but didn’t find him, the scent of his cologne barely lingering in the air. He’d already showered and dressed, so I followed his lead before venturing toward the kitchen. I found him at the table, fully dressed in his suit and tie, drinking a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper. He looked like the quintessential tame businessman, only he was anything and everything except that.

“Good morning, beautiful. I was wondering when you’d finally get out of bed. The thought of waking you up with a special surprise crossed my mind more than a couple of times.” He lifted his eyes over his coffee cup and winked. “But since you hadn’t slept all night in weeks, I behaved and let you rest instead.”

“I’ll let you make up for depriving me later tonight.”

“It’ll be my pleasure.” He lowered the cup to the table, keeping his eyes trained on mine. “And it’ll definitely be your pleasure.”

His innate confidence was an automatic aphrodisiac, but those bedroom eyes coupled with the seductive timbre of his deep voice were the real lady-killer. Not that I was complaining.

“Why are you all spiffy today?” I walked toward the coffee carafe, but he beat me to it and poured a cup for me.

“I’ve been out of commission far too long. I have a few loose ends to wrap up today before we’re ready to go full throttle with Carrie. Not that I don’t love my mom’s cooking, but I’m ready to go out to eat at a nice restaurant. How does a seven o’clock reservation at The Fire sound?”

“That place has a yearlong waiting list, Damon. How can you get reservations for tonight?”

“You wound me, Jillian. How can you have so little faith in me?” He slowly lifted one eyebrow, waiting for my reply.

“How silly of me. I should’ve known better than to ask. That sounds perfect. I can’t wait.”

“What do you have planned today while I’m gone?”

“I plan to wander around your enormous apartment, snooping through all your things, claiming one of the rooms as my personal office space, and some light online shopping for the babies.”

The smirk in response was just as sexy as his full-on smile. “Snoop all you want. What’s mine is yours. I’ll leave my credit card so you can buy all you want for the babies. If you decide to go out shopping somewhere, call Luigi so he can drive you. I don’t want you going out alone yet.”

I took the business card from Damon with Luigi’s contact information. “All right. I’ll be so glad when this is over.”

“You and me both, doll.”

About an hour after Damon left, he called to say the security guard was on the way up to deliver a package for me. Whatever I imagined it could be, I was wrong. When I opened the door and found the guard there with a utility cart full of boxes, I was speechless. When I realized those boxes contained an iMac and all the possible peripherals, I squealed and showed him to the room I’d claimed as my office.

The top floor of Damon’s penthouse was actually two, two-bedroom apartments connected. I’d decided one of those two apartments would serve as both my office and a nursery for the babies while I worked. The main floor was a huge three-bedroom apartment with over five thousand square feet in it alone, giving us enough room to have a permanent nursery close to our bedroom. The penthouse was gorgeous and the city views were to die for, but I found my thoughts drifting to that family home in the suburbs he’d talked about.

Someday.

While setting up my new computer network, I realized I didn’t have the Wi-Fi password, so I set out on a snooping mission to find it. After checking all the usual places and not finding the modem, I started looking in the less likely spots. At my wit’s end, I jerked open the closet door in the master bedroom…and spotted my old briefcase inside.

The hunt for the internet connection became an urgent demand when I pulled my bag off the shelf and looked inside. The flash drive that contained all the data on the accounts tied to the Sanfratello embezzlement scheme was still hidden in an interior compartment.