He swore. “What the fuck, Emme? Why didn’t you say something right away?” His fingers brushed lightly over the damage.
Dario went to a pack and removed a first aid kit. “You can’t let damage like this go. You know better.”
“Are you both going to give me lectures every time I screw up?” she asked, closing her eyes, pretending she wasn’t sitting on a bed with her jacket open and two men looking at her black-and-blue naked body. At least she was spared having her brothers in the room.
“Yes,” Val and Dario said in stereo.
“That goes on the ‘con’ side of the list,” she murmured as Val spread some kind of cream over the bruising on her breasts.
“I want to go to bed, Emmanuelle,” Dario said. “But you have to give me your word of honor, no matter how mad he makes you, or how scared you get, you won’t kill him. Or even wound him. If you have to, take a little break and sleep in one of the chairs in here. But I need your word you won’t kill him yourself and you’ll stay with him and protect him while I get some sleep.”
Sometimes Val wanted to strangle Dario with his bare hands. He was the one protecting Emmanuelle, not the other way around. “Get the fuck out. I’m taking care of her. She doesn’t need to sleep in a chair and look after me. I can take care of myself.”
His phone vibrated and he looked at the screen. Keeping her in the room with you, idiot.
He looked up at Dario. Dario’s expression gave nothing away. He and Emme were in a staring match while Val smeared the cream on the bruising just below her breasts.
“Word of honor, Emme,” Dario insisted.
“You know I have a temper, Dario. It might be hard to keep. He makes me so angry sometimes.”
“I’m well aware.”
“He’s absolutely stubborn and wants everything his way.”
“Yeah. I’ve known him a long time. But I can’t let you kill him.”
“Not even a little wound? The gunshots didn’t do much to him. Stabbing him might straighten him up.”
Val tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t help the smile. She sounded so sincere.
“Not a scratch. Word of honor, Emme. And you have to stay in the room with him.”
She heaved a sigh. “Fine, Dario, but you owe me.”
Dario shoved his phone into his pocket and had been turning away from the bed, but he turned back with a shocked expression. “What?”
“Yeah, if I have to behave, no matter how outrageous he gets, then you owe me. I’ll think about your repayment.”
Dario glared at Val. “I don’t know if you’re worth the crap I have to put up with sometimes.” He stalked out and shut the door just a little too firmly.
Emmanuelle burst out laughing. “I’ve never managed to rile him.”
Val tugged at the sleeves of her jacket. “Take this off. You can wear one of my tees. Dario grabbed a few we had at the lake house. You’ll be more comfortable. There’s some Tylenol on the nightstand. And just so you know, you’ve managed to rile Dario plenty of times.”
“I have?”
She slid off the bed, away from him, and the moment she was where he couldn’t reach her, he had that same feeling he always got—that he might lose her. He immediately threw back the covers and put his feet on the floor. He was far stronger than anyone thought. He had three wounds that were of any significance, one of which hurt like hell and two others that he certainly felt but were nothing in comparison to the one throbbing so painfully.
“Yeah, babe, you infuriate him.”
“I do? That’s great. Someone needs to infuriate Dario. I thought he was pretty much unflappable.”
“That’s what they said about me until you came along.”
He watched her as she sank into the chair her brother had occupied. She was beautiful. His Emme. He could breathe again, now that she was in the same room with him. Two long years where she wouldn’t even speak to him. Interestingly enough, she hadn’t blocked Dario’s number, but she’d blocked his. She’d kept that line open, his only faint hope.
Emmanuelle looked up from where she was bent over, unzipping her boot, a look of amusement on her face. She hadn’t yet covered up, and her full breasts tumbled forward, the bruising dark spreading out over her otherwise flawless skin. She could never be called thin, and he liked that. He had never wanted thin. He liked that she had breasts and hips. He liked her curves. He liked everything about her.
“Two fucking years, Emmanuelle.” He said it quietly.
“I know how long it’s been, Valentino.” She pulled off the boot and set it aside. Keeping her head down, she unzipped the second boot.
“You wouldn’t give me a chance to explain. To talk to you. That gutted me.”
Her boot dropped to the floor, and she sat up slowly, her blue eyes finally meeting his. She saw pain there.
“Too many things between us, Val. You know that. The ropes. The blonde. Your family. Mine.” She shook her head. “I know you told Stefano you loved me, but that wasn’t the entire reason for binding me to you. Not in the beginning. I saw your face. You were so smug about it. You knew exactly what you were doing. I would lie awake at night thinking about how you looked and how you distracted me by kissing me. I let you do that. I let you take me over. I was ashamed of myself for not fighting, for putting my family in danger.”
“We’re going to take this one step at a time. I did tell your brother the truth. I do love you. I felt very smug and satisfied every single time I managed to get more ropes around your shadow. In the beginning, you were good at hiding from me. But eventually you let your guard down. I was happy about that. Elated, in fact. I did know what I was doing. I started researching our weird Saldi myth. If I could find a way to tie you to me permanently, you better believe I was going to do it.”
She stood up and pulled the tee over her head, allowing the material to drop around her curves. He was taller than her by almost a foot, and the shirt hung on her. She reached under the hem and opened her trousers.
“Your family was never in danger. If anything, my family is in danger from yours. Baby, I don’t want you to ever feel shame because you want to be with me. Is it because of who I am? A Saldi?”
Emmanuelle shook her head. “You know what we do, or you can guess. Your family is out in the open where mine is literally hidden in the shadows. It would be a little hypocritical of me pointing fingers at you.”
He still wasn’t exactly certain what her family did, but they had taken care of Miceli’s men efficiently. More than efficiently. Thinking like a leader, he had to admit, forming an alliance with Emme’s family would be more than beneficial to him.
Val didn’t like the fact that she carefully folded her trousers, then unfolded them and arranged them over the back of the chair.
“Come here.”
Emmanuelle sighed and turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. She looked so damn heartbreakingly young. His woman was fierce, and yet right then, she looked vulnerable and afraid. He hated that he was the one who’d put that look on her face when she should always feel safe and protected with him.
“You do know it doesn’t really matter what we feel for each other, don’t you? It isn’t like we can sneak around like we used to.” She ignored his directive and walked around the room, one hand moving along the wall, staying as far from him as possible. “You have a life already mapped out for you, Val. You said yourself you can’t change it. My brother even implied you couldn’t. You’re taking over as head of the Saldi family, aren’t you?”