by Penelope Sky
“I never asked you to. That’s why I’m sitting here.” I never asked her to give up her dream. I simply put my life on hold so I could keep an eye on her. If anyone wanted to hurt her but saw me standing there, he’d run for the hills.
“You can’t stop living either, Griffin.” She angled my face toward hers, making me look at her. “You belong at the winery with my father. That’s your legacy. And this is where I belong. When the afternoon is over, we go home to each other—every day.”
Everything she said was rational, but I wasn’t thinking rationally. “I can’t let anything happen to you.” When I’d finally gotten her back in my arms, I broke down again. This woman was my whole world. If anything happened to her…I never would recover.
“I know.” Her fingers moved into my hair. “But one of the reasons why I love you is because you believe in me. You know I’m a fighter. You respect my strength and my intelligence. You know I can handle myself.”
“Yes…to a certain extent.” But when eight men came at her all at once, there was nothing she could do. Only I could have saved her.
“You killed all those men. There’s no one left to hunt us.”
I’d retired from my job and didn’t leave any stone unturned. It seemed like my past was buried for good. There was no reason to look over my shoulder when there was no one following me. The promise I gave to her had been fulfilled.
“So there’s no reason to protect me anymore.”
“I will always protect you, baby.” I would protect her from everything, from all the horrible things that could possibly hurt her. I would take all the bullets, all the punches, and make sure she was left untouched.
“I know. But there’s nothing to protect me from anymore. I have a pistol in the desk if I ever need it. But a group of men is never going to burst into this gallery again. No one is going to rob me because all my transactions are digital. There’s no one out there who wants to hurt either of us. So let it go, Griffin. Let me do my job and stop scaring away all my customers.”
“What am I doing that’s so scary?”
“Staring people down like a hungry bear.”
“I’m not doing that. That’s just how I look.”
“Whatever. It makes people uncomfortable.” She ran her fingers through my hair as she sat on my lap, her sexy lips close to mine. With her legs crossed and her dress hiked up to her thighs, she was artfully seducing me. Her perfume entered my nose, making me soften like a wilting flower. “Griffin, go back to work.”
I growled quietly.
She smiled. “And you say you don’t act like a bear…”
“I act like a bear with you. That’s it.”
She kissed the corner of my mouth, her bright lipstick leaving a gentle stain against my mouth. She breathed new life into my lungs, gave me a sense of peace no one else could bring. She had me wrapped around her finger, and she knew it. “Griffin.”
I closed my eyes and savored the feeling of her lips against mine, treasuring it as a special memory even though I received those warm embraces on a daily basis. She cast a spell on me the moment we met, and the effects had never worn off. “Alright. I’ll go back to work.”
When I arrived at the winery in the heart of Tuscany, I pulled up my phone and checked the tracker on the screen. Seeing Vanessa exactly where I left her gave me the strength to walk into the building and enter Crow’s office.
Vanessa was right. I couldn’t watch her every single moment of the day. We would have to sacrifice both of our lives to make that happen, and it seemed unlikely that someone would bother us again. I’d butchered every single member of the crew that tried to steal Vanessa, so there was no reason to look over my shoulder.
I needed to leave it in the past.
I tapped my knuckles against the office door before I stepped inside.
Crow was behind the desk, wearing a black t-shirt. He was signing a stack of papers, his black wedding ring a perfect complement to his dark skin. With a structured jaw and brilliant eyes, he was the embodiment of the strength that all the Barsettis inherited. “Griffin.” He dropped the pen and rose from behind the desk, slightly surprised to see me. He moved around the desk and approached me, a grin coming onto his face. “I wasn’t sure when I would see you next.” Instead of greeting me with a handshake, he hugged me the way he hugged his son.
I hugged him back, embracing this man like a father. I used to despise him with every fiber of my being. I used to want to slit his throat and watch him die. I used to want to murder his wife for revenge. But now…I couldn’t imagine my life without him. “That makes two of us.”
When he pulled away, he continued to smile. “Vanessa made you come back to work?”
I nodded. “Apparently, I was scaring away all of her customers.”
Crow laughed loudly, the chuckle coming from deep in his chest. “I can picture that pretty clearly.”
“She said I stared people down like a hungry bear.”
He tapped his fingers against his temple. “A very vivid picture. But I’m sure she made you realize you can’t watch her all the time. I used to be the same way with my wife. I realized it was unrealistic to keep her on a leash for her safety. She claimed I was taking away her freedom, making her a prisoner all over again.”
Vanessa would always be my prisoner—whether she realized it or not.
“I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about, Griffin. You know how much I love my daughter, and if I’m not worried, you shouldn’t be either. If those men were your only enemies, you dealt with them. As long as you live a peaceful life, there shouldn’t be anything to be wary of.”
All of that made complete sense, and there was no argument against it. “I guess I have PTSD because of it.” When Vanessa slipped through my fingertips, it gave me the worst feeling in the world…helplessness. I’d never been so afraid in my life. I’d never panicked the way I did in that moment. I’d never been so hateful. “Everything else I’ve dealt with in my life has just been problems…problems with simple solutions. But losing Vanessa…wasn’t some kind of problem. It was the worst moment of my life, a moment I can’t look back on without feeling powerless all over again.” I didn’t look her father in the eye as I spoke, slightly embarrassed by the emotion swelling inside my chest. “It’s gonna take me some time to get over it.”
Crow watched me, a sympathetic look on his face. “It’ll pass—in time. The best thing you can do is go back to a normal life. As the weeks pass, your fears will pass. Then you’ll stop thinking about it altogether.”
I was certain Crow knew exactly how I felt, after everything he’d lived through. “I’m surprised you don’t hate me because of what happened.”
“Hate you?” he whispered. “You got my daughter out of there.”
“I’m also the reason she was there in the first place. I should have listened to you when you told me to quit. I didn’t listen…and I almost lost the most important thing in my life.”
He gave a quiet sigh before he turned around and grabbed the bottle of scotch sitting on his bookshelf. He picked up two short glasses and filled them with the amber liquor.
I took my cue to sit in the chair in front of his desk.
He set the glass in front of me before he moved to his chair. “You can’t play that game, Griffin. If you do, you’ll always lose.” He took a long drink of the liquor, licking his lips as he set the glass down on the surface of his desk. “You can think about the past and wonder why you didn’t make better decisions, but in the end, what does that accomplish?”
I’d never been a man who lived with regret. I stood by my decisions and didn’t question them. Vanessa was different because I’d never been in this situation before. I’d never loved someone the way I loved her. She was the single most important thing in my life—more important than my own life. I used to be selfish before she came along, but now I was completely selfless.
“It’s difficult to see straight when someone you love is involved. When I first
got married, a part of me missed my life before Pearl came along, not because I wanted to be single again, but because life was just simpler. I didn’t care about anyone but myself, so my decisions had little consequence. But once she became the most important thing in my life, she turned into baggage. I constantly had something to protect, something valuable that could be stolen. It created a huge headache.”
I understood the feeling all too well.
“You can hate yourself for not listening to me about retiring sooner, but you couldn’t have done it any other way. You had to be loyal to your team, and loyalty is important to Barsettis. In the end, you’re capable of protecting my daughter, and that’s all that matters.”
“And what if something happens again?”
He shrugged. “You’ll be there for her. I have no doubt of that.”
He used to wish me dead, but now he had so much confidence in me.
“Conway would be dead right now if it weren’t for you. I would be too. Probably my brother. Then they may have moved in after my wife and sister-in-law next. But you changed the course of the future. Then you ended that feud permanently. When Vanessa was taken, you destroyed your enemies. Frankly, the safest place for Vanessa is in your heart.” He pointed to my chest. “Safest place in the world.”
I walked in the door and found Vanessa in the kitchen. She was still in the deep blue dress she wore that afternoon. I already knew she was home on my drive back to Florence because I checked her tracker every fifteen minutes. Without that little device, my anxiety would be insurmountable.
She poured the milk into her cereal before she noticed me. “How was your first day back?”
I tossed my keys on the table as I slowly walked toward her, amused that this perfect woman continued to make cereal for herself for most meals rather than learn how to cook something. “Cereal for dinner?”
“It’s a snack. I figured you were making dinner.” She looked up at me, that beautiful smile just for me. Her eyes glowed in a special way that didn’t happen for another person. Without even touching me, she treated me in a way she never treated anyone else.
“I spoil you too much.”
She shrugged. “Can’t argue with that.” She rose on her tiptoes and kissed me on the mouth.
I kept my eyes open and watched her, watched her visibly melt for me. Her hand was pressed against my chest for balance, and her tits looked incredible from this angle.
When she pulled away, that same light was in her eyes. “So, you made it through the day?”
“Yes. Your father talked me down.”
“Ohh…one of those lectures. Been there, done that.” She left her bowl of cereal on the counter and kept her attention on me. “I’m glad he made you feel better. He’s very wise…when he’s not being annoying.”
“Yeah.”
She turned back to her bowl and finally scooped a bite into her mouth. “I got a lot more customers after you left.”
I dug into my jeans and pulled out the set of keys that I’d gotten from the real estate agent. I placed them on the counter beside us and stared at her.
She glanced at the keys, immediately recognizing they weren’t ours. They were made of brass, and they were big and ancient, not like the keys we had to the apartment. There was a slight hint of rust on the metal. “What’s this?”
“The keys to your new home.” I waited for her to explode, for her to jump into my arms and scream with joy.
“You’re being serious?” She dropped the bowl back on the counter, the milk spilling over and rolling toward the microwave. She snatched the keys and felt them in her fingertips before she clutched them to her chest. “We got it.”
“It’s all ours.”
“Oh my god.” She launched herself into my arms and wrapped her arms around my waist, her dress immediately popping open to reveal her sexy skin in her black thong. “I can’t believe it. It’s ours!” Her arms hooked around my neck, and she hugged me tightly. “Thank you. Thank you for buying it for me.”
I carried her toward the dining table, the place where I made love to her in the middle of our meals. “You’re welcome, baby.” I sat her on the wood and yanked her straps down to reveal her perfect tits. My hands pulled her thong down next before I positioned her at the edge of the table.
“You want me to show you my appreciation?”
I dropped my jeans and boxers and prepared to thrust inside her. “I expect you to pay for half with this perfect pussy.” My hands gripped the backs of her knees, and I pinned her down against the table so I could fuck her good and hard.
She gripped both of my wrists and looked at me with fire in her eyes, her sexiness incredible. With her hair all over the table and her green eyes so bright, she looked like a fantasy I couldn’t even make up. “That sounds fair to me.”
I worked in the warehouse most of the day, marking the products that had been produced that week. Barsetti Vineyards just acquired a new client with a large demand for a chain of restaurants, so our production had increased. I noted everything had been shipped out and took care of the shipment. I wasn’t moving crates and boxes around like I did before since Crow had hired someone to handle those things. Now I took care of the paperwork, traveling from one vineyard to the next before I came back.
It wasn’t as exciting as my old profession, but at least it was something meaningful. It would protect Vanessa’s legacy so she could pass it on to her children. Even though I spent eight hours there every single day without getting paid, it was a good utilization of my time.
And I checked Vanessa’s tracker every hour.
She was never where she shouldn’t be. Sometimes at lunchtime, she was in a restaurant, probably with Carmen. But she never deviated from the two-mile radius around the apartment. The rest of the time, her dot was inside the gallery.
It always brought me a sense of calm that got me through the rest of the day.
At the end of the day, I returned to the main winery and headed to Crow’s office. My heart was beating so hard in my chest that I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. The nerves were getting to me, making my spine tighten against the muscles that flanked my back. This uneasiness was new to me. Even when he’d hated me, I never felt this way.
But this was something I’d never done before.
I stepped inside his office and saw him standing behind his desk.
“Hey, how’d it go?” Crow powered down his laptop before he shut the lid.
“Got it all right here.” I placed the reports on his desk so he could look at them tomorrow.
“Great.” He placed the stack inside his desk.
“We’re making good time. Should be able to fill the order. Cane had to move some stuff around at the second location, but we made it work.”
“Excellent.” He walked around the desk and placed his phone in his pocket. He wore dark jeans and an olive green V-neck. There was a prominent vein in his neck and along his forearms. He wore a shiny watch on his left wrist. He was a simple man who cared about the bare minimum. He only wore suits for meetings and wore jeans and boots the rest of the time. “You’re doing great work, Griffin. Adelina has been happy that Cane is home early every night. Same thing goes for Pearl. Maybe we’ll retire a little sooner than planned…”
The compliment didn’t mean anything to me, at least, not in that moment.
Crow noticed the tension in the silence. His eyes scanned back and forth as he looked into my face, trying to gauge my emotions based on my coldness. His hands slid into his pockets, and he stopped before me in front of the leather chairs that faced his desk. “Everything alright, Griffin?”
I wasn’t nervous because of his response. I was nervous for a million other reasons. I’d never been good with feeling emotions, let alone expressing them. The only person I could talk to was Vanessa, and that was because she understood me so well. I was a man of silence, and that had always been fine for her. She seemed to know what I wanted to say without hearing me say it. “I don’t
know how to do this, so…” I dug into my pocket and pulled out the small box I’d kept stashed there since this morning.
The second Crow saw it, he took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. “I knew this was coming.” He returned his hand to his pocket then lifted his gaze to look at me, this time his expression softer than before. “But I’m still not ready for it.”
I extended the box so he could take it.
He eyed it for a moment before he took it. He opened the lid and stared at the three-carat diamond that immediately caught the light coming through the window. The main stone was in the center, beautiful and big, and smaller diamonds wrapped around the band halfway. I bought the highest clarity diamonds because I wanted it to sparkle constantly as she moved her hands, whether she was painting or working in her gallery. Crow took a deep breath before he let out a long whistle. “Jesus, Griffin.” He took the ring out of the box and examined it closer. “This is one hell of a ring.”
Anytime she wore it, I wanted every man who looked at her to know she was claimed—and not by an ordinary man. I wanted that fifty-thousand-dollar ring to ward off any asshole who thought he might have shot with her. “It’s bug repellent.”
Crow chuckled lightly before he put the ring back in the box. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks.”
He closed the box and handed it back to me. “She’ll love it.”
“Yeah…” I cleared my throat as I shoved the box back into my pocket. “Mr. Barsetti, may I have your blessing to marry your daughter?” I’d never been the kind of man to ask permission for anything, and the only reason why I did it now was because it was important to him. But when I saw his eyes soften even more and a new wave of emotion enter his expression, I didn’t mind asking the question. I saw the love for his daughter in the difference that came over his composure, the way his daughter changed him from being a strong and hard man to being a father who loved his children more than anything in the world. She was his weakness, but he wasn’t ashamed of that vulnerability at all.