Chapter 9

Nine

Emilio

I thought for sure when we woke, she would be gone.

How would we track her down if she had left? We have nothing. No number, no connections. We don't even have her complete name for God's sake. What does a name mean when the hearts connect? God, here I am thinking like a fucking poet chin deep in the river of love.

I hold in a laugh at my ridiculousness.

When I finally opened my eyes, the sight of her creamy skin and angelic hair filling my vision calmed the restless beast in me. One night with her isn't enough. Feeling drunk on her essence is how I want to spend the rest of my life. Tonight is the beginning. Not the end.

I silently watch Stella slip from our bed and lift one of our shirts from the back of a nearby chair. Seeing her inhale our scent activates something primal in me. Possessive. I'd kill for her. Point blank, no questions asked. I would die to protect her. Since we've entered this room I've thought of nothing else except finding a way to keep her. If that makes me a bastard, fine.

She's a woman who has every right to walk out of here without a second glance back at us.

But I can't let her do that. Seeing the back of her head as she left us would take me out at the knees. She's so damn perfect it breaks my insides to think of moving forward in our lives without her a part of it.

And isn't that some kind of shit? I don't believe in love at first sight, but what Adrian said hit home for me. You don't have to know someone's past to know your energies fit together.

Can it be that simple? Hope stomps on all the self doubt wanting to take up space in my head.

We all released inside her with no protection. I know it's not a guarantee, but there's a good chance she's carrying our child. Even if she's not, she's tied to us as we are to her.

I always loved the idea of building something from the ground up. And isn't that what you do with a family? You start at the ground level and you go from there. We have three of the four pillars needed to balance the foundation. If we can get her to agree, we could be complete. Not a lot of women like the idea of having multiple lovers and husbands beyond the fun provided in a place like Club Sin.

Come morning, everything is back to mundane and everyone goes home with new memories.

Which is great. But I want more.

As we drifted to sleep last night, I watched her breath. Something I've never done with past lovers. Seeing her in our arms gave me so much satisfaction I silently vowed we would heal her wounds even if it took the rest of our lives.

Shit. Here I am deciding her future for her, when reality is messier than simple black and white. I scrub a hand down my face to gain my bearings.

Anyone can see she's too damn young for us. But age doesn't matter. Right? She's gotta be in her early twenties while we are all nearing our late forties. We can all play her silver daddies in bed, but would she want us in her daily life?

I don't. From the way she kissed us and took everything we had to give, I'm going to venture to think she doesn't care either.

I know to the core of my being Stella is the one for us. I know it. Adrian and Stefan do too. They didn't have to put it in so many words last night. I know my blood brothers. She would have already been on her way out the door long before now, if that were not the case. Adrian doesn't have the patience to cuddle. He's too focused on getting Astor Enterprises sorted out.

We spent a decade after college building a life that started with moving stolen goods and was quickly heading toward a dead end life.

The tattoos Stella seems to like so much cover a lot of scars that speak of a different life—one of street fights, betrayals and crime. We destroyed lives daily with the misconception that it didn't matter as long as we came out on top.

We were fools.

It's been two years since we shook off Seattle's underworld and foolish ideas of ruling the world with iron fists. We left all that behind and exchanged our weapons for briefcases. The death of Adrian's sister demanded we change or the family empire would crumble.

So we stepped up and took over Astor Enterprises with Adrian at the helm and Stefan and I as his partners.

In truth, it's a monster that might end up consuming us whole, but I'm with Adrian. We have to save the business. Funny thing is, corporate life is just as cut-throat as any criminal empire out there.

Sharks act like sharks no matter the waters you swim in.

We are hardened men with decades of experience between us.

But Stella isn't like us. She's delicate. Strong, but fragile at the same time.

Ghosts haunt those beautiful green eyes, and she doesn't trust easily. Someone hurt her deeply. It might take me a minute, but I'll eventually get the name of the bastard and see to it our shady friends over at Club Genesis have a talk with the unlucky bastard.

Stella didn't say it, but the scar on her abdomen came from dealing with her own sharks. I know and so do my brothers. Fear enters her eyes and her muscles lock up every time her fingers brush over the jagged edges on her abdomen. Once I get a name, my brothers won't need any convincing to revert to the days of filling graves.

I leave the bed and make my way to her. The shower left her hair a sexy mess of waves falling down her back. I love it. She feels real to me and for the first time the family I crave to share with my brothers and a woman we can all love doesn't seem so out of reach.

I glance at the table. Adrian turned the lights low, but there's enough glow to see the three faces of men staring back at me from a photo. Men I've seen in this club before.

I grab the picture and gather my little flower in my arms. I can't wait to hear how she explains this.

"Friends of yours?"

She tenses against me, and I can feel her muscles quivering. It starts at her knees and works all the way up her delicate body.

"Stella?" I murmur against the softness of her neck.

The way she clears her throat, a sexy sound between a squeak and laugh, calms my nerves against there being anyone else waiting for her once the sun rises.

"They were meant to be my dates for the evening and then you three brutes happened," she explains in a hushed voice.

"We're regular thugs. You should have kicked us in the balls and run away."

"I should have," she agrees with no heat to her words. "But then again, I liked my elevator pirates too much to refuse their kisses." She leans her head back against my shoulder like we've done this a million times.

"Pirates, huh?"

"Sexy ones."

Her voice dips. She turns her head and I take her lips in a fervent kiss. I can't resist her allure.

"I feel sorry for the other guys. But I have to admit, I would fight them and anyone else for a chance to touch you. Hold you. Revenge you." I didn't mean for the conversation to lose its light heartedness, but I don't regret saying those last two words once they are out.

She turns in my arms to face me, her hands coming to rest over my bare chest. "You would slay my dragons? You don't know me and you are ready to spill blood in my name?"

"We are your dragons. Your protectors." Her hair is silk through my fingers and she loses her balance for a moment. I steady her with an arm around her and let her lean into me, our bodies touching from knees to chest. My strength is hers. Everything I am is hers.

She grows silent and turns back to watching the rain run down the window.

"Who hurt you, Stella?" I force myself to be calm and to keep my tone even. The last thing I want to do is scare her.

Her chest rises and falls with shuddering breaths. "It doesn't matter, really. I rather not spend the last few moments we have together talking about things that will never change."

I turn her to face me again. I drop to a knee in front of her. If she doesn't want to talk right now, fine. But she's not leaving. I don't care what she says. It will be fun showing her how well she fits into all our lives. Some people have to experience it to believe it and I'm okay with that. Even if we have to tie her to our bed to help her see.

"Then let's use our time wisely." I push her back against the glass and peel back the sides of the shirt open, exposing her beautiful skin. I run my hands up the backs of her smooth, creamy legs. All the way up until I have her bare ass in my hands.

I dig each of my fingers into her tight flesh and massage the warm flesh.

Her gasp is husky, but I catch a slight panic under the layers of arousal, too.

"Stella?" She needs to know she can share the slightest discomfort or worry with me.

"The glass. Do we trust it? What if we fall?"

I press my lips to her skin. "Then we fall together."

"That's not…oh, Emilio."

"Hmm?" I hum in question against the area of skin right above her smooth folds. Our beautiful little flower has failed to use the buttons on her borrowed shirt so exposing her to my hunger is easy. Her sharp intake of air and the way her head softly thuds against the glass is all the consent I need to move up her body and curl my tongue over a hard nipple.

She'll talk eventually. I have all the time in the world to get a name from her and then we can go hunting. Someone will meet their end for what they did to her, but right now she needs to know she isn't alone anymore.

Her delicate fingers move to the back of my head, and she holds me to her.

"Emilio," she gasps, sending blood to my hardening cock. It's heavy, throbbing and I already need to feel her grip it with her sweet pussy.

I look up to find her mouth softly hinged open. Black lashes fall over the soft curve of her cheeks. She is beautiful and all mine for a few more moments. I move from one breast then to the other. My hands find the dips in her waist and I hold her in place as I run my lips down the soft swell of her abdomen.

I pause when I feel the lifted edges of her scar.

"Emilio. Please."

Doubts smother the arousal I just heard in her voice a second ago.

"It's okay. It's done and over with."

Anger spikes through my veins and all I can see for a second is the blood of her attacker across my vision.

Fingers glide through my hair. Soft skin meets my forehead when I rest against her belly. "I swear to you, he will pay. When you trust me enough to give me his name, I will see that the crime against you is paid for in kind." I keep my words no higher than a whisper but a powerful promise all the same. She does not know the lengths we will go in order to protect her. Eliminating any threat to her is now a priority.

Eyes glittering with pain meet mine when I raise my gaze.

"No revenge talk. Please don't ask me for a name. I can't risk you getting hurt. Please promise me you will never dig into my past."

I'm on my feet and pulling her into my arms. "Trust me with your sorrow and pain."