Lucas’s smile returned, and I traced my fingers over his lips before kissing them softly. “I love you,” I told him, not caring if he didn’t want to hear it.
In one quick motion, Lucas flipped us over until he was looming over me, his expression full of emotion. “Don’t stop saying it,” he whispered as he started to move inside me, never having pulled out from the last time. “Don’t stop reminding me.”
It was his way of saying that he needed to hear it, maybe even one day believing that he could be loved and love in return without it being considered weak. “I won’t.”
Lucas let out a ragged sigh and I wrapped my legs around him, arching my body so that he could hit that spot deep inside that would provoke the earth-shattering orgasms. His hand raked up to my breast and I cried out, the combination of his fingers pinching my nipple and him driving into me giving me everything I could want.
“You are everything,” he said huskily as he drove into me. “Everything.”
In that moment, I felt like it.
We returned to the house as the storm moved off into the distance, our clothing just as wet as when we had taken it off, but our bodies sated. I pressed into Lucas’s side, his arm around me until we came into view of the house, sighing as I moved away from him.
“What are you doing?” he asked roughly as I put some distance between us.
I swallowed. “I’m—I mean, you don’t want them to see us together, right?”
Lucas growled as he reached for me, his arm tight around my waist. “Listen, fuck them. They would have to be deaf and blind not to have heard what’s been going on in this house.”
My cheeks flushed. “I didn’t. Oh God, I’m never going to be able to face any of them.”
Chuckling, he continued on the path. “Trust me, princess. They have heard worse.”
I still kept my face averted until we were in his room, the warmth seeping through our wet clothes. “Take a warm bath and change,” he said as he stripped off his clothing, only to reach for more. “I need to check in.”
I stopped his movements and wrapped my arms around his waist, laying my head on his back. “Thank you, Lucas, for today. It meant the world.” Somehow being out there had brought us closer together, and I wanted to hang onto it for the bumpy ride ahead. Something told me that I wasn’t going to have much time with Lucas coming up, and as much as it was going to suck, I knew why. Our lives, Lucas’s life, were at stake.
He turned in my arms and gave me a quick kiss on the temple. “It meant just as much to me as well.”
He was gone before I could truly respond, and I sighed as I watched the empty doorway before shutting it soundly. There had been a moment where I had questioned why I would fall in love with someone like Lucas, but these times, the way that he made me felt, I knew why. My heart knew why.
Now I had to protect this budding love between us, ensuring that it wasn’t pulled apart by those that wanted to hurt us. Lucas needed protection for more than just his physical body. I had to make sure that I was there to remind him that he was loved.
Because I loved him more than life itself.
With another sigh, I headed to his bathroom, stripping off my wet clothing as I did so. Now it was time to focus on my brother’s visit and keep him from killing the man I loved.
Chapter 34
Lucas
Three Days Later
I stepped outside my bedroom, adjusting the cuffs on my shirt as I did so. Today was the impending visit of Nico D’Agostino, and I wanted to make certain that there was no denying that I was a Don. After a few days of jeans and T-shirts, I was wearing a suit, my favorite one to be exact, with the dress-shirt collar open and my lucky clover cufflinks. I had taken special care with my appearance for this visit, though Leda had suggested I go casual to show that I wasn’t a threat to her brother.
Fuck that. I wanted to be a threat, even if it was all purely smoke and mirrors at this point. I might be accepting of this meeting, but neither of us truly knew what Nico might bring with him. He could bring the cops, have me arrested, and rip Leda away from me.
It would be his death sentence, of course. No one was going take her away from me, though I doubted she would still want to be with me if I killed her brother.
Nevertheless, I was hoping that D’Agostino would give me no reason to distrust him today.
My gun pressed into my lower back as I made my way to Leda’s bedroom, rapping on it gently. “It’s time,” I told her. She had gone to her room this morning to get ready, after spending every night in my bed, giving me complete access to her body. Something had shifted between us since I had bared my soul to her, telling her all the things that should have kept Leda away.
Somehow, it had brought her closer, and hell, I didn’t want to lose sight of that feeling.
The problem was, I wasn’t sure how the next few hours, much less the next few weeks, were going to play out.
The door opened, and Leda assessed me with a critical eye. “You’re overdressed.”