Shadow Keeper (Shadow #3)

“Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment. I want to go to sleep now. I can’t take much more of your macho bullshit. Speaking of which, your brother Vittorio scares the crap out of me. Talk about macho.”

“Vittorio? He’s my nicest brother. He shouldn’t scare you. Seriously, babe, he’s a good man and one you can always count on.” Very slowly and reluctantly he pulled out of her.

Her body shuddered as the action of dragging his heavy cock over her muscles caused more friction and sent another ripple of pleasure moving through her. He hated missing that. He detested not being inside of her. He caught her folded-up body in his arms and rolled, nearly taking them both off the side of the bed.

She burst out laughing as he threw himself back toward the middle of the bed, taking her with him. They landed back on the stack of pillows.

“Cool move, Mr. Sauvé.”

He caught up one of the pillows and hit her with it very gently. She wasn’t nearly as gentle in retaliation. The next thing he knew, they were in a full-blown pillow fight. He was definitely the loser because he spent more time looking at her naked body and making certain he was careful not to hurt her than he did protecting himself.

She wasn’t nearly as careful about being gentle with him. They both collapsed on the bed, and she flung her arms out wide and stared up at the ceiling. “Babe?”

“Right here, Sasha.” He stretched out beside her.

“You have stars on your ceiling.”

“Really?” He’d had the house built. He’d needed escape routes, hidden hallways and rooms. “I never noticed that.”

She turned her head, and he felt the impact of her eyes. He loved those sapphire eyes. So startling blue. Now they regarded him with so much love in them he felt his heart stutter in answer. He rubbed his palm over his chest.

“I’m really in love with you, Giovanni.” Her voice was a soft whisper. He heard the love. “I never want you to think this is about your money or your power. This is about you. The man. You make me laugh. You make me feel beautiful. I love the way you are with Sandlin and the care you take of him even though you barely know him. I can’t ever explain to you what that means to me. I just want you to feel loved and I swear, I’ll spend a lifetime making you feel that way.”

He found her hand and brought it to his heart. “I feel the same way about you, Sasha. I love you very much.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you earlier. The way I acted toward you in the club after I saw you with that actress, that was so wrong. I felt raw and afraid and angry, but it wasn’t at you. You didn’t deserve the way I treated you, and in the end, through my stupidity, I put all of us in danger.”

“That’s not true,” he denied.

“No, it is. I should have listened to you.”

“Sasha, the fact that this bastard tried to bring down the ceiling on the patients at the Center tells me he doesn’t care who he hurts. I was feeling angry and pretty raw myself. Don’t beat yourself up because you’re human.”

“Do you believe it’s Aaron?”

He stared up at the ceiling. At the stars swirling around above them. Did he? Did he think Aaron was capable of such hatred and jealousy that he’d hurt everyone around Giovanni? “I don’t like to think so,” he mused. “Aaron had a rough childhood, but he pulled himself up out of that by his fists. By his feet. He literally fought his way up. He’s good, too. There was no fixing fights or anything underhanded. Aaron is where he is because of his determination and skill. That skill was hard-won. Practicing every day. Working at his craft. Honing it. Finding people who could help him make it better. He worked hard and had the discipline to get up every day whether he was hungry or not. Just get up and work.”

“You admire him.”

“Damn right I do. I know what it takes to work like that. I had Stefano driving me. My duty to my family. Aaron had to find that drive in himself. He had to be the one who forced himself up on those days he wasn’t feeling like it. Motivation only goes so far when you’re doing it yourself, but he managed.”

“Would Aaron be so jealous of you that he would be willing to kill me? Kill my brother? Hurt people?”

Giovanni thought that over. It was a good question. Aaron might have reason to be jealous. It looked as if Giovanni had everything, but Aaron had never struck him as that kind of man. He was too busy working his way to the top to feel jealousy. He had goals and kept his eye fixed on them until he accomplished them. When he did, he set new goals.

“I don’t know, baby,” he said softly, but he was shaking his head. “I just can’t see Aaron doing all this. Of course, I would never have believed he would lie to you and say we competed for women. Why would he do that unless he was motivated by jealousy?” That was the one note that struck the biggest chord of argument. It made no sense that Aaron had lied to Sasha unless he was jealous.

He sighed. “I hate like hell to think this has been Aaron all along. And what set him off, if it is? You? He was there that night, but he had at least three women fawning all over him. He was drunk, and that’s unusual. Believe me, it isn’t his normal unless he’s been drinking. Aaron stays away from booze and women because he trains daily. A night out like that is rare and having the women and the alcohol fogging up his brain …” He closed his eyes. “Dio.” It exploded out of him. “I don’t want this to be Aaron. I really don’t. I hate that he’s in any way attached to it.”

He knew the hurt in his voice showed, and that embarrassed him. He was a man and in his world, a Ferraro didn’t show weakness. Allowing an outsider to hurt him showed he still had vulnerabilities, and those weren’t tolerated. That was a direct edict from his mother. She made certain they never showed real emotion in public. Their circle only included family. While other members of the family were allowed outside friendships, riders were not. He rubbed his eyebrow, keeping his eyes closed, afraid of giving too much away to her, afraid she would think less of him.

He felt her move, roll, so she was pressed to his side, and then she draped her body over his, almost as if she were protecting him. He opened his eyes and looked up to the mirrored tiles cut in the shape of stars, surrounding the golden light still shining down on them. On her. Sasha. He could see the line of her back, all that smooth, silky skin. The curve of her spine as it met her buttocks, those dimples and the swell of her cheeks. One still carried a flush of rose where his hand had been. Without thinking, he covered the spot and began to rub.

Her face was buried in his throat and her arms were flung out to wrap around him. He felt the press of her soft breasts pushing into the heavy muscles of his chest. Her legs wrapped around his. She looked beautiful. Enticing. More, she looked as if she would fight off an army for him. His love felt so large, so encompassing, it actually hurt. Physically hurt. His heart felt as if it could shatter.

Giovanni didn’t say anything to her, he just stroked her hair and her butt. He loved the feel of both. All soft silk and satin. After a few minutes her breathing evened out, her breath warming his skin.

“You asleep, baby?”

“Just drifting.”

“Marry me. Right away. Let’s get married. We can marry at the Center. Sandlin can give you away. He’d love that. I know he could do it and he’d be happy to.”

“Honey.” She moved her head. Rubbed her chin along his chest and then looked at him. Her eyes met his. “I’m not going anywhere.”