“Leah...God. You—”
I clamped my lips shut before things escaped that I couldn’t take back. Things like love and want and forever. Things I could never have, no matter how much they pounded in my brain, begging to be let out.
Leah circled her hips, and a new flood of arousal bathed my cock. “Remi, I need... I need it. Please.”
I eased back, continuing to hold her still. Glancing down, I could see the wetness on my body, see it dripping from hers. See the invasion as I pushed back inside.
We groaned together.
I pulled back again, breathing away the need to blow, to spurt inside her and bathe her with my come. I focused on my cock, on her lips clinging to me, begging me to stay, to come back, to—
And that’s when I realized.
“Fuck.” I pulled all the way out. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Leah came up on her elbow, a confused frown on her face. “What is it?”
“Condom,” I muttered, reaching for the bedside table.
Her eyes clamped closed, and a curse of her own escaped her.
“I’ve got it,” I said, ripping open a packet and sliding the latex over my cock. My angry cock. Nothing should come between us, even the thinnest barrier. I needed to feel her, to have her feel me. But I also needed to protect her, always.
Fuck.
I slid back inside, glanced up to see Leah’s eyes glittering at me in the dark. “Okay?”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, didn’t move. Then, “Putting it on now doesn’t mean we didn’t do something incredibly stupid.”
I planted my fists on either side of her ribs, leaning over her. Leah’s eyes went a little dazed at the pressure against her clit. “I know. I’m sorry.”
She tilted her pelvis, taking me deeper. “It’s on both of us, Remi, not just you.”
She was wrong about that, but I wasn’t going to argue with my cock screaming at me to move and Leah’s willing body lying beneath mine. Instead I came down over her, nuzzled the valley between her breasts. A small bite of one sweet curve drew a gasp from her lips. “Ready?”
Her knees tightened around me. “Holy hell, yes.”
A tight feeling hit my chest, took my breath. Trailing my tongue along the skin I’d just nipped, I spread my knees and slid a hand under Leah’s hips. The lift put her at just the right height for me to drive in all the way to the hilt. “Holy hell is right,” I whispered against her skin. Grasping her nipple between my teeth, I sucked hard. She arched into me as I rolled my hips back, then slammed inside.
Leah cried out. Groaned. Begged. Clawed my back, my ass, and demanded more, harder, faster. I gave her everything she needed, everything I had. It took way too long and not nearly long enough, but in the end we hit the peak together, shattering into what felt like a million pieces, scattered together on the sweaty silken sheets.
Arms tight around Leah’s body like I thought she’d disappear into thin air, I held her against me and struggled to breathe, to think. To pull myself back together. And when I had, I tilted her face up for my kiss and started all over again.
Chapter Sixteen
Leah —
Remi barely let me sleep. Maybe that’s why, when he stirred, I did too. And groaned. I felt like I’d been carved out and left empty. Hit by a six-four, 260-pound storm that had battered me, body and soul. God knew I’d be walking funny when I finally got out of this bed.
Remi stretched behind me, then curled around my back. “You okay?”
I was never going to be okay again; I’d known that from the very first kiss. “Sure.”
“Liar.” His palm flattened on my lower stomach, pulling another groan from me. “Don’t lie to me, Leah. Not after last night.” The words sounded disappointed, like he’d expected more. But he didn’t wait around for me to answer. Moving toward his side of the bed, he said, “I’ll run a bath for you.”
I wanted to tell him not to bother, wanted to deny how he’d affected me—emotionally and physically—but I couldn’t. He was right; he’d given me too much of himself last night. The least I could do was give him the truth. “Thank you, Remi.”
“Sure.”
A long soak in the tub did help ease the sore muscles. It also gave me time to inventory the marks on my body: love bites on my breasts, red swollen nipples, finger marks on my hips, my inner thighs. I’d have to check my neck when I got out. As much as Eli’s teasing nature helped lighten the mood sometimes, I felt too raw, too vulnerable for anyone to know about this. I needed time.
The one thing I didn’t really have today. Because we were going after Brooke in a few short hours. Remi had promised.
By the time I made it to the kitchen, breakfast was well underway. Stealing myself, I walked up to the stove where Remi was flipping pancakes. “Hey.”
He paused, his gaze taking me in from the raised collar of my plaid button-down—there had definitely been a hickey—to my sweaty palms rubbing up and down my jean-clad thighs. “Hey.” He finished flipping the rest of the pancakes, laid down the spatula, and then I was in his arms.
“Good morning, lev sheli.” He breathed the words against the sensitive skin just below my ear.
I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. How did he do this? How did a man I was pretty sure wouldn’t hesitate to kill make me melt with his tenderness? Last night he’d overwhelmed me, but in the midst of the storm there had been moments like this. Moments where I knew he cared, that I wasn’t just a convenient screw. Moments that planted dreams of a happily ever after that simply wasn’t meant to be.
“What does lev sheli”—the words didn’t roll near as smoothly off my tongue—“mean?”
He nipped my earlobe. “Something my father called my mother.” Sadness flashed in his gaze before he forced a smile. “I’ll explain it sometime.”
Something his dad had called his mom? More melting, damn it.
“Pancakes are burning,” Eli pointed out behind Remi’s back.
“Then do something about it, dickhead.” But Remi let me go, his fingers sliding reluctantly from my hips. I turned toward the coffeepot, only to be pinned by three pairs of wide, curious eyes.
So much for no one knowing what had happened last night. I tugged my collar tighter around my throat and hurried to get myself some caffeine.
When we were all seated at the table, plates stacked with light, fluffy pancakes and crispy bacon, Levi speared me with those inscrutable gray eyes. “You have the phone.”
I fished my cell from my pocket and laid it beside my plate on the table. Such a small bit of plastic and electricity to be the only lifeline to my baby.
“They’ll call soon,” Remi said. “Likely they won’t give us much warning, try and keep us off-kilter, unable to prepare.”
“How will we prepare?” I asked.
“Not we,” Remi growled. “You’re staying here.”
“Like hell I am.”
“Leah—”
“She’s right,” Levi interrupted. “Think with your instincts and not your dick. As much as you want to protect her, she has to be there. Ross will insist on it.”
I winced at the dick comment but let it pass for now. “Brooke will need me there,” I pointed out. “She doesn’t know any of you. She won’t feel safe, and she might try to fight you. You need her calm and cooperative.” And I needed to be the one to do that for her. As soon as possible, not hours after Remi managed to extract her. “I can take care of Brooke. That leaves you all to take care of the rest without worrying about her.”
The skin around Remi’s eyes went tight, broadcasting his worry, but he gave me a nod anyway. “You do exactly what we tell you, Leah, got it?”
“Of course.” These men had been together all their lives, knew each other inside and out. I was an anomaly in their well-oiled machine. “I trust you.”
Remi’s eyes rounded. I hadn’t realized what I was going to say before the words escaped. Hadn’t even realized it was true, but...it was. “I trust you
,” I said again.
The flare of heat and something soft, tender in his eyes shook me right down to my toes.
Love, Leah. That’s love.
It wasn’t. Couldn’t be. But it still made me melt.
Levi cleared his throat. “Remi will go in with you. Eli and I will take the outside.”
I forced my gaze away from Remi’s. “What will happen to Ross after...” I set my fork down, no longer hungry. “Afterward?”
Remi reached for me, tugged at my chin until I met his eyes again. “That’s up to you, Leah.”
A lump of fear caught in my throat. “Killing him isn’t going to get the Fiori family to leave us alone.”
“No, it’s not.” The warm amber of his eyes iced over. “If you were anyone else, we wouldn’t be having this discussion; Ross would be a dead man walking for what he’s done to you, to Brooke. But he’s your brother, so I’ll give you the choice. We can give them a chance to surrender to authorities if that’s what you want.”
“And you won’t hurt him?”
Remi’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “Not much.”
I knew from his face that was the best I was going to get. And maybe, deep down inside, brother or not, I thought Ross deserved whatever punishment Remi chose to dish out. “Just don’t kill him.”
Remi nodded. I turned to Levi. “I still don’t know what to do about the Fioris. I don’t have what they want,” I said for what felt like the thousandth time.
“We’ll worry about that after Brooke is back with her mother.”
I shook my head. “Why? Why are you all doing this, risking this for me?”
Levi took his empty plate and stood, staring at Remi for a long moment before turning away. “You’re a part of us now.”
Because I had slept with his brother? Or because Remi had brought me here? I wasn’t sure which answer I wanted, so I clamped my mouth shut on any further questions.
Abby was smiling at her plate. Eli popped the last bite of pancake into his mouth, mumbling around it, “Does that mean she gets dish duty? Because I’m starting to get dishpan hands, yo.”
Remi smacked the back of Eli’s head. “Keep talking and you also get to clean every weapon in the weapons locker.”
Eli shot his brother an evil look but began gathering dishes anyway.
I grinned.
My cell rang.
The room went instantly still, silent. Another ring.
“Remi,” I whimpered. I’d thought, coming to this point, I’d be eager, confident. But I wasn’t. One wrong move could get my daughter killed.
“You’ve got this, lev sheli.”
The men in the room stirred as if surprised.
I reached for the phone. “What does it mean?” I asked without looking at him.
“It means...” He shook his head, sighed. “You’re eshet hayil, Leah. My warrior woman. Answer the phone.”
Warrior woman. I didn’t feel like a warrior at the moment, but I could pretend.
The phone rang in my hand. I clicked the Answer button, then Speaker. “Ross?”
“Leah, it’s me.”
His voice sounded higher than normal. Excited. No, scared.
What was Ross afraid of?
“We’ve got the location. Write it down.”
I glanced at Remi, saw him keying the address into his phone. He gave me a sharp nod.
“Got it, Ross.” I took a deep breath. “Let me speak to Brooke.”
I could hear Ross moving around but couldn’t make out any distinctive sounds. “Not now. This afternoon. Meet us at one; you’ll see her then.”
“Is she all right?” I had to know. Four hours from now was too long to wait. “Is she?”
Ross hesitated, making my heart jump. “She’s fine,” he finally said. “I promise, Leah.” More movement. “This afternoon, come alone, got it? And bring the recordings.”
Those damn recordings. In that moment, if Angelo had still been alive, I thought I might kill him myself. All this, the danger to our daughter, for nothing.
“Not going to happen, Windon, and you know it,” Remi said.
I opened my mouth to protest. Remi held up a finger, his eyes seeming to say it would be all right.
“She comes alone or no deal,” Ross said. This time the quiver was definitely fear. Of Remi or someone else?
“I come with her or I bring a team in and destroy your ass. Which will it be?”
My lungs ached, making me realize I was holding my breath.
Curses filtered through the phone. “Fine, then. But you only. No one else.”
The call clicked off. I dropped the phone onto the table like a hot potato.
“And if he believes that, I have some rice fields in China that would make nice building sites,” Eli said. The words were joking, but his tone... I’d never seen it in him before, the killer instinct, but now I understood. It might be buried beneath a lighthearted facade, but it was there nonetheless.
Abby took the dishes from Eli’s hands. “I’ll take care of cleanup. Y’all have planning to do.”
Remi picked up the phone, handed it to me. I slid it into my pocket. “Let’s go,” he said, holding out his hand.
I took it. “Let’s go.”
It was time to get my daughter back.
Chapter Seventeen
Leah —
I eyed the aerial image of the address Ross had given us on the table nearby. “We’re going in the front, right?”
Remi tightened the strap under my arm. The Kevlar vest was sized for one of the brothers, not a smaller woman, so no amount of tightening would make it fit, but something was better than nothing, Remi had said. In this case I agreed.
“Right.”
“And your brothers are already in place?”
Remi began strapping on his own vest. “Outside the warehouse, yeah.” He slapped the Velcro hard. “We’re not certain it’s only Windon and Southerland at the meet, so better to be safe than sorry. My brothers will take care of any outside guards before coming in to assist.”
Through the rear of the building, effectively flanking the enemy. We’d gone over the plan more than once, but I found myself obsessing over every detail, worrying I’d forget something, get it wrong, even though I knew the fear was ludicrous. There weren’t that many steps, for goodness’ sake.
That was the problem. My daughter’s life depended on each and every one.
Remi put on a blue button-down over his vest and tucked it into his pants. I couldn’t help noticing the vest made him look bigger, more intimidating. Definitely sexy. “This is going to work, Leah.”
“You and your brothers have done this before?” I asked absently.
“Not this, exactly.” He slid a handgun into a holster on his calf. “Usually we don’t have to worry about anyone surviving but us.”
My heart jumped into my throat. “What?”
One side of Remi’s mouth tugged up. “Hey, we kept ourselves alive so far.” The smile slid away as he cupped my cheek, his thumb stroking my skin. “We know what we’re doing, Leah.”
Digging his fingers into my hair to hold me in place, he gave me one of those quick, hard kisses like he’d given me before he left with King. When he drew back, I could literally see the shift—in his body, his eyes. All emotion slid away, leaving behind a stone-cold killer I’d never seen before. “I’ll take care of her. And you. I promise.”
Without another word, he turned for the door.
Abby stepped close to hug me. “He really will,” she said in my ear. For the briefest moment I let her warmth surround me, ground me. “They won’t fail. In a couple of hours you’ll have Brooke back with you, safe and sound.”
I couldn’t accept anything less. And part of that was up to me, so I straightened, breathing through the fear to a kind of calm resolve I’d never felt before. Was this how Remi felt, how he turned off the emotion to focus on the job at hand? Not because he wanted to, but because he had to in order to bring everyone home sa
fe. Hurrying after him out the door, I prayed I could be just as strong as he was.
That’s what Brooke needed. I could fall apart later.
The drive into town was silent. Only when I knew we were a few minutes out did I break from my thoughts enough to speak.
“Remi, I need... I want to ask you something. A favor.” Sort of.
“What?”
His tone was clipped, but I didn’t take it personally. He was in warrior mode. Exactly where I needed him to be. “If anything happens—”
“It won’t.”
I squeezed my eyes closed, took a deep breath. When I opened them, it was to the reality of a mostly abandoned industrial park on the edge of town. Almost there. “If it does, I want your promise that Brooke’s welfare comes first. You keep her safe, no matter what. She’s a little girl. If you have to make a choice—her or me—you go to her.”
I looked at him then, needing to see the promise in his expression, not just hear the words. Remi’s mouth was tight, his eyes narrowed—unhappy. He didn’t want to give me that promise.
That moment, between one breath and the next, was when the truth finally settled in my heart. I had sensed all along that this thing between us wasn’t just an obsession, a weird attraction. I’d known love before, with Angelo. I’d felt it, seen it. Remi would never hesitate to put a child’s life above all else unless the person he’d have to abandon meant everything to him.
Unless I meant everything to him.
“Please,” I begged. “Promise me.”
He blew out a breath. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to get you both out safe.”
“Remi—”
“Stop.” His fists tightened on the steering wheel before deliberately relaxing. “It’s the most I can give you, Leah. Both of you will come out of this alive. I won’t accept anything less.”
I subsided as the warehouse came into view at the end of a deserted road. Remi parked the SUV several yards away. We’d walk from here, allowing Ross’s friend to see that we were alone.
It took one glance to realize Ross and Southerland definitely weren’t.
“Remi?”
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