She lifted her long lashes because she was used to doing what Taviano asked of her. He was the one man in the world she trusted when she wouldn’t trust any other. There he was with those dark blue eyes of his, looking at her as if she were the only woman in the world. She had no idea how he could do that—focus so completely on her—but he always did. She couldn’t help but smile at him. She couldn’t help the way her heart reacted with that instant joy. She adored Taviano. No matter how often she told herself she was going to get her heart broken if she didn’t protect herself, she couldn’t stop the overwhelming emotion he produced in her. It just spilled over, like some volcano welling up out of nowhere.
“This is going to be your life with me, you know that, don’t you?” She cupped the side of his face, hating that he had been forced to marry her. That he had known three years earlier and had been helpless to do anything about it. She had always wondered why he had been so angry. He’d been abrupt with her, those dark blue eyes so moody, his handsome face never quite facing her when all the other Ferraros did. Their shadows had twisted together, and he’d been caught in a trap, just as surely as men had been caught in years gone by when girls had purposely gotten pregnant. She hated that for him.
He leaned into her, covering those scant inches between them, and brushed a kiss across her lips, trailed more kisses down her cheek to her shoulder. Light. Gentle. Barely there. She felt his mouth like a hot promise. He might as well have pressed a fiery brand straight through skin and muscle and etched his name into her bones forever.
“Dio, Taviano,” Stefano snapped. “I’m supposed to be passing sentence here. You’re tying my hands.”
Taviano sank back against the leather couch, taking Nicoletta with him. She couldn’t help noticing the others smirking a little as they exchanged looks with one another. She didn’t quite understand what that all meant, but she knew those looks were at Stefano’s expense. He was both sibling and parent to his brothers and sister, and it wasn’t always the most enviable position to be in. Right now, she felt a little sorry for him.
“Nicoletta is famiglia.” Stefano pinned his youngest brother with a stern eye.
Immediately Nicoletta felt the difference in the room. All humor was gone. Whatever Stefano was about to say, he meant business; all of them were listening, and every single one of them, Taviano included, would abide by what he said. She slipped her hand into Taviano’s and tightened her fingers around his, willing to show him support as best she could.
“She’s loved by all of us. You claimed her three years ago, so yes, you have that first right to her, but she is famiglia. We do not fuck around with famiglia. We don’t take chances with famiglia. Never with our women. I will admit, there were extenuating circumstances I was unaware of. The fact that Nicoletta had already been in the shadows and was experimenting on her own—which, by the way, is extremely dangerous and is now forbidden to you, Nicoletta.”
Stefano turned the full impact of his deadly dark stare on her. “I hope you understand what I am saying to you. As head of this family and as the leader of the shadow riders of Chicago, you are forbidden to experiment on your own. You will be trained properly if Taviano and I agree that you can safely maneuver inside the shadows. But you will never try to do so alone. Is that understood?”
There was no way in hell she was going to defy Stefano Ferraro. She nodded. “I understand, Stefano. Absolutely.” She might not like that Taviano and Stefano had a say in what she could or couldn’t do, but she’d hear them out before she entered into an argument about whether or not she could go into the shadows again. She believed in Taviano, and he’d already told her his idea for his wife was to work with him.
Stefano turned his attention back to his youngest brother, and Nicoletta held her breath. Unknowingly, Taviano tightened his fingers around hers, nearly crushing her hand. She didn’t protest, realizing how difficult this was for him. He would accept whatever Stefano decreed, but being a rider was who and what Taviano was. If that was taken from him …
“I’m very aware your shadow had already tangled with Nicoletta’s. Everything about Nicoletta is unprecedented. Everything. Still, the rules we have are in place to protect the family. Telling her what we are and what we do and how we do it could have placed all of us in jeopardy.”