“We need to tell Rory and Bastian.”
“They won’t get involved with another syndicate if it doesn’t directly affect them,” I remind him.
“They’ll get involved in this, and you know it. If for no other reason, than for you.”
“Rossi, I don’t know or want to know what he was planning, but he roughed up Tori a little tonight.”
“He’s here?”
“He was waiting in her hotel room for her.”
“Fuck!”
“That’s becoming the goddamned word of the day.”
“Where is Tori now?”
“Where do you think, asshole?”
“Good. We’ll talk to Rory and Bastian in the morning. Go take care of Tori.” I grunt my agreement and end the call.
I watch as Tori rubs circlesover my torso with her fingers. She’s curled into my side like she is trying to bury herself in me. She’s still afraid and I fucking hate it.
“I wish you had told me when it happened,” I whisper into her hair.
“I didn’t know what to do. I just knew these guys seemed dangerous and very likely to follow through on their threats. And I didn’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Don’t keep things from me again,” I say without acknowledging anything she just said.
“You keep things from me,” she counters, but there is absolutely no conviction to her tone.
“Do I keep them from you? Or have you just never asked? Because you really don’t want to know?”
She turns and props herself on my chest. In her eyes is guilt and doubt but it doesn’t detract from the things I first noticed about her. That her eyes are full fire and spark and life. Even with everything going on in her world – the fear that was there earlier – that light never leaves.
“I don’t ask because I don’t care,” she says, and I can see the truth in her eyes. “I don’t ask because when you tell me horrible things, I still won’t care, and that makes me a horrible person doesn’t it?”
I brush a piece of the long blond hair from away from her face. “Does it make me a horrible person?”
“Zane, I can’t think of one instance where you could possibly be a horrible person,” she says as she presses a kiss to my chest.
“The DeLucas are part of the Chicago syndicate, the Chicago Mafia. Their father was the boss,” I tell her as I run my hand absently up and down her back. “Rory and Bastian are the bosses of the River City Mafia.”
“I had a feeling it was something like that,” she whispers softly.
I sit up, pulling her with me. I take her face in my hands making sure she is looking at me. She says she won’t care, but it’s different when you know. “I am too, Tori.”
Her eyes soften as she turns her head into my palm, placing a kiss there. “I guessed that too,” she tells me with a smile. “But I didn’t ask.”
I smile, then with quick movement, flip her to her back. She squeals loudly then winces. “Fuck,” I panic a little as I remember the broken ribs, “I’m sorry Darlin’.”
She draws in a shallow breath with a smile. “Totally worth it.”
“Was it now?” I grin as I move to her lips.
“Mmm-hmm.”
I kiss her long and slow, swallowing her little moans and gasps. My hands trace the curves of her body leaving a trail of gooseflesh everywhere I touch. Electricity sparks with every breath. I feel her heart pound as I move farther down her body, worshipping every inch with my mouth.
