Mafia Secret (15 page)

Jio nodded and stepped back into his office.

M
arc woke with a start. Confused, he sat up and looked around. Lessa's sitting room. The light shining through the window showed the early morning fog had already burned off. He rubbed his face and consulted his watch. Just after ten. He'd gotten maybe five hours of sleep.

He stretched as he stood and stepped over to look into the bedroom. The bed was already made. The faint scent of her shower gel lingered. She'd snuck out on him. Her purse sat next to the bed, so she hadn't run home. Probably gone down for breakfast or to call for her flight.

Pulling his shirt on over his head, he slid his pistol from under the couch pillow and stuck it in his back holster before putting his jacket on over it. His cell phone was secure in his jacket pocket, but he didn't take it out. He needed to report to Jio before he woke Silvio.

He found Jio in his office as expected. Papers were spread over the entire surface of the desk as Jio no doubt tried to get a grip on everything the Tazio empire entailed. He looked up gratefully as Marc shut the door behind himself.

"Report?"

"Silvio found a friend of the guy we suspected lives around the club. We found his hole in the alley, but he's gone to ground somewhere. Silvio and I started the search last night. I'll take a couple more men out to look today."

"We already looked around the club."

Marc nodded almost smiling as he thought of the crates. "Sam, the guy, he's smart. It won't be easy finding his second hole even if it's temporary. You'd have to see the first one to understand why."

Keeping his eyes focused on Marc's face, Jio tapped his pen. "All right. Take who you need."

Being in the office reminded Marc of the last time he'd been there. And brought up something else to deal with. "Tony went after Lessa yesterday."

"I know."

Marc narrowed his eyes. "It was unnecessary and wouldn't have happened if you'd stayed with her."

Jio's expression didn't change, but he leaned forward an inch. "Telling me what to do, Marco?"

"I can't protect her and search for your father's killer at the same time."

Jio leaned back. "It's already been dealt with. Tony's on a plane to South America as we speak. That do?"

"Yes." But Marc didn't get up.

"Anything else?"

"How honest do you want me to be with you?"

"What do you mean?" Jio's mouth thinned out.

It was Marc's turn to lean back in his chair. "I worked effectively for your father because I never worried he'd take what I said the wrong way. I always told him the truth within the doors of this office. If you're going to jump down my throat for speaking freely, you should get someone you trust to be your second."

Jio's eyes narrowed just a fraction.

"I'm not telling you how to run the business, but maybe you should transfer me."

"Thinking of leaving us?"

Marc smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it, but perhaps you feel I would be more effective somewhere else."

"What about the investigation? Lessa?"

"Lessa will be gone soon, and hopefully the investigation will be over before that."

Jio nodded slowly and set his pen down on the desk. "I'll think about what you said and get back to you."

Marc obeyed the dismissal this time and rose to his feet. "I'll keep you updated. Lessa?"

"Is spending the day with Nina and the kids in the vineyard. I have two guards on them."

Marc nodded and strode out. Frowning, he tried to analyze the sensation he felt. He hadn't even considered removing himself from his position until he'd spoken the words. But it felt right. He'd worked his ass off for years to be second-in-charge under Jiovanni.

Jio wasn't Jiovanni. It wouldn't be the same. Jio didn't trust him as Jiovanni had, and Marc didn't have the patience to have to start over and earn the trust again. He needed to step back from the power base. Work somewhere else where he wouldn't be stepping on Jio's toes.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket to wake Silvio. Time to start the hunt for Sam.

D
espite the sun, a light breeze coming off the coast kept it cool in the picnic place Nina had chosen. Lessa barely noticed the two guards. Barely. They didn't loom off on the sidelines. Nina's children wouldn't allow that. Obviously comfortable with the two men, they kept at least one involved in their game of tag as the other stood watchfully by. She marveled at the men's ability to switch off every few minutes without so much as a visual or verbal signal.

Nina had kept up a running chatter when they'd first gotten to the grassy knoll with the picnic table and plastic play structure. The play structure looked so out of place within the acres of vines and grapes that Lessa laughed when she first saw it.

The food was spread across the table, but Nina lay in the grass. Lessa grabbed half a sandwich before sitting down next to her to enjoy the sun. Nina was quiet now that her children were distracted by the game.

Lessa went through several topics of conversation and discarded all of them. They seemed trivial, yet everything important seemed off limits. She frowned as she bit into the peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich. She'd felt more at ease with Nina before, but she kept flashing on the doctor and the way Jio had touched her back as he led her out.

"You took the DNA test." Nina interrupted her silence, but didn't open her eyes.

"Yesterday." She wondered if Nina also knew who had administered the test. "The results came in confirming I'm Jiovanni's daughter"

"Good, it'll shut Tony up."

She didn't want to think about Tony. "It didn't yesterday."

Nina shrugged. "The results will. He isn't nice to anyone. I'm sure a shrink would have a field day with all the resentment he feels toward his brothers and sister." She opened her eyes, turned her head to look at Lessa. "Sisters."

"Sister-in-law?"

Nina had probably taken her share of his venom.

She smiled a little. "You should have seen his face when Jay was born. We put a round- the-clock bodyguard on the baby."

Lessa couldn't smile back. "You're serious? You thought Tony would do something to your baby?"

"Jio thought he might. Jio having a son effectively cut Tony out of being next in line." Nina opened her eyes and patted Lessa's hand. Lessa could only assume the horror she was feeling showed all over her face. "Jio sent him away to keep him from you, but he'll be back eventually. He actually seemed to be…maturing the last couple of years, but then Jiovanni died and left it all to Jio. Tony's behaving like he used to. I just want you to know it has nothing to do with you. Don't let Tony's words speak for the family. They don't."

Lessa nodded because it was what Nina wanted, but she wasn't reassured. Her words reminded her too much of what Marc had said yesterday about Tony. They both warned her to be careful, but also wanted her to stay here, where Tony might cause her physical harm. Just because he was gone just then didn't mean he'd be gone forever.

She glanced at the guard who wasn't playing tag and considered what it really meant to have someone with a gun nearby all the time. Nina couldn't even walk her own property without fear of someone trying to harm her or her children. Was the fear from an outside source, or was she afraid of Tony or someone else who should have been safe?

"Do you always have guards with you?"

Nina sat up and cocked her head, watching the game. "Since we came here."

"I thought you lived here."

"We will now, but we had a nice little house near the ocean. If I went out, the guards came with me, of course, but they weren't there all the time. Jio says once things calm down, we'll get back to normal." Nina brushed her hair out of her eyes as a breeze lifted it and glanced at Lessa as if considering her next words. "You get used to it after a while, but then I grew up with guards always around. It must be different for you. It makes you nervous?"

"A little." She gave her own shrug. "When I think about it, a lot."

"Do you notice Marc?" Nina's expression didn't change, but Lessa wondered if she somehow knew about the kiss they'd shared. "He stays in your room. Does it make you uneasy knowing he's just a few feet away, or does it make you feel safe?"

Lessa hadn't considered that. She seemed to be aware of him and always looking for him. She'd looked for him when she'd set out on the small hike with Nina. She felt braver with him near. "I guess I'd have to say safe."

Nina nodded. "That's how it should be. You no longer see the guards as a symbol there's something to be afraid of, but as a wall standing between you and anything bad that may happen."

"Momma, Auntie, come and play!" Belinda called with a squeal as she dodged around the guard.

It took Lessa a moment to realize Belinda referred to her. She smiled at the idea. Nina groaned as Belinda tugged her up to her feet, but she jumped into the game of tag.

T
he door shutting in the sitting room of her suite sent a small thrill through Lessa. She shot a quick glance at the digital clock by her bed. Ten-o-four. Marc was the only one who didn't knock. She hadn't seen him since she'd tip-toed out that morning.

With Tony gone, would Marc need to guard her any longer?

He didn't step into her bedroom, but she could hear his heavy footsteps as he seemed to pace the sitting room.

Walking softly to the open door, she peered out. He circled the couch to look out the window. His scowl didn't bode well, and she wondered briefly what was bothering him. But since she had no idea what he'd been doing all day, she couldn't very well guess at its cause.

She bit her lip in indecision before mentally squaring her shoulders. This was her room. She didn't have to stay quiet just because of his bad mood. If he didn't want to deal with her, he could always leave.

"I was thinking—" Marc spun around, and she paused at his quick movement. "You probably don't need to stay with me now. You have things you need to be doing right now instead of babysitting. Jio sent Tony off, so you don't need to worry about that. I think I've got the house rules." She ticked each rule off on her fingers. "Stay out of Lucia's way, don't go anywhere without permission, don't leave the estate without a guard, don't walk into rooms without knocking, don't stray too close to the property boundaries." Marc's frown turned into a smile. "What's wrong? I'm just saying if you need to be somewhere else . . ."

"I do need to be somewhere else."

The stab of disappointment took her by surprise. She'd just told him she didn't need him to hang around and so shouldn't be hurt he was no longer going to be her babysitter.

"But," he continued as he walked over to her, "I don't want to leave you either."

Her heart thudded under his intense gaze. "I'll be fine."

"I'm not." He reached out and pulled her into his arms without a second's hesitation.

She sucked in her breath. Her entire body flashed hot at his touch. They'd only known each other a couple days, and had kissed once. She shouldn't respond to him as if they were lovers. And she most assuredly shouldn't be fantasizing about being naked on the floor with him.

"I think about you when I shouldn't." He tangled his fingers in her hair.

She held her breath, waiting for him to kiss her like he had the day before.

He slid one of his hands down to cup her butt and squeezed. "If you don't want this, you need to say so."

She couldn't imagine sending him away. Pushing up on her toes, she tried to complete the kiss. His lips were still too far away. She wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled. He resisted, eyes trained on hers. She tugged again, and he briefly smiled before scooping her up so his lips met hers.

He slid his tongue in and tasted all she was. Her heart hammered,
 
and everything within her heated. He pulled away and she moaned in protest.

"I'll take that as a yes." Marc toppled her down onto the huge, overstuffed couch.

The feel of his weight pressing her down into the cushions made her a little woozy, and she wrapped a leg around his. He feathered a kiss across her forehead before tracing light kisses down her face to her neck. After swift bite, he braced himself with one arm. His heated gaze moved down to her breasts as he slid a finger inside her tank top to trace their swells. He dipped further and flicked one of her nipples.

A delicious shock darted straight from her breast to her groin, and she shifted. To relieve or increase the ache, she wasn't sure. She tried to pull him down more firmly against her to kiss him again, but he shook his head in denial. His gaze went back to hers, and he pulled the stretchy tank down off her shoulders. She dropped her hands to help, but he stopped halfway to her elbows, revealing her breasts and affectively pinning her arms by her sides.

She wiggled a moment, before stopping in anticipation as he lowered his head to take one of her hard nipples into his mouth. She moaned as his tongue swirled around, then he was sucking, drawing her deep into his mouth. Intense need built between her legs, and she shifted again, trying to press up against his thigh as he leaned over her.