Enforcer’s Obsession

Chapter 24

TWENTY-FOUR

Nico

“If you don’t hurry up, I’m going to change my mind,” I said to Hope.

“You wouldn’t!” she said, her eyes wide.

I couldn’t help but smile. “I definitely would. You look fine. Let’s go,” I said.

She smiled, the sheepish, almost embarrassed grin on her face only emphasizing her beauty.

“I know,” she said, her face tilting up brighter, “it’s ridiculous. But I’m excited, and I want to make sure everything is right.”

“As long as you’re there, everything will be fine. Let’s go,” I said.

Then I grabbed her shoulders, turned her, and walked behind her as I used my hands to guide her to the garage.

Touching her felt so…natural.

Even Champ barking as Hope walked by felt natural.

He’d been here less than a month, her not too much longer, but they felt like a part of my life.

I wasn’t sure what to do about that.

“I hate these scrubs,” I said, looking down at the pale blue monstrosities, that did nothing to emphasize Hope shape, not she needed it.

“That means they’re perfect. I’m going to take care of animals, not win a beauty competition,” she said as she reached for the car door.

“There’s no competition, no matter what you wear. But you have an entire wardrobe that barely gets a second glance,” I responded, rounding the car after she had settled in her seat.

I opened the door and sat down, and she looked at me.

“Aren’t you the one who insisted we keep everything normal?” she said.

I grinned and glanced at her out of the corner of my eye as I left the garage. “You’re not going to throw my words back at me, are you?”

“Only if forced,” she responded, smiling.

“Fine. But if something happens to your scrubs, definitely don’t blame me,” I said.

She laughed, the pure joy in the sound making my heart thud.

Reminding me of how special she was.

To think that her barely above minimum wage job, something that most people, especially ones that I knew, would have scoffed at, gave her such joy.

But it did.

As the days had passed, she’d lamented that they’d probably have to hire someone to replace her soon, and at the agony in her voice, I had no choice but to fix it.

“Remind me of the rules,” I said as I got the car to the freeway.

“No leaving the building. No trying to duck the guards. If I see anything, and I quote, any fucking thing, that makes me nervous, I bolt,” she said.

I nodded, satisfied but not happy.

Well, not entirely happy.

I could still remember how Hope had squealed with delight when I told her she could go back to work, with some conditions. I hated the thought of it, and didn’t want her to be more than an arm’s length away. But to see how happy she was, feeling so pleased at being the reason for one of her smiles, was too tantalizing to resist.

To my surprise, she hadn’t even balked at the conditions.

“Maybe I’ll just drive you directly there,” I said.

We were approaching her apartment, and the thought of leaving her there, even under the watchful eye of my men, felt wrong.

“No. These are your rules remember. You said we go to my apartment, and I take the bus to work like normal. Then do the same on the way home. And it’s a good idea. I’ve already done things far out of character, so it’s best to keep things normal and not raise suspicion,” she said.

She was right, just like I’d been right when I had said those words to her, but still, knowing I was right, and hating that I was right were two different things. But the Genovese weren’t the only thing to consider. Don Carlo had enemies, and the fewer people who knew about my connection to Hope, let alone what she meant to me, the better it was for her and the more easily I could protect her.

I pulled to a stop about two blocks away from her building, not wanting to get too close and attract the wrong kind of attention.

“You have the phone?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I’m number one, Enzo’s number two, and Sebastian is number three. Don’t hesitate to call. Somebody will always be watching,” I said.

She smiled. “That sounds really fucking creepy, Nico.”

I knew her humor was driven by her happiness, but I didn’t crack a smile.

“You remember why, don’t you?” I said.

Her smile dimmed, but ever so slightly. “I know it’s dangerous, and I’ll do what it takes to make sure I’m okay. And thank you,” she said, her eyes darkening with sincerity.

“Thank me for what?” I said.

My voice was rough, but I was surprised.

“I know this goes against some of you more…overbearing instincts. So I appreciate it,” she said.

My heart felt like it had been a death grip, but I paid the feeling no heed.

“Go,” I said. “The men are around.”

I wanted to kiss her, drive her back to my house, do anything to make sure she was fine.

I did nothing.

She flashed me another quick smile, and then got out, walking toward the bus stop near her apartment without a glance back.

The way she should have been.

I hadn’t dare tell her, but she had been different since we run into her shitty stepfather.

She seemed unburdened.

And she didn’t even blink when I told her what I’d done to him.

Whatever hold he’d had on her was gone. And knowing that, at least in that small way, I had allowed her to live the life she deserved was a fact that I cherished.

Rather than linger, or even worse, replace Sebastian so I could keep watch on her, I drove.

“Do you know how fucking early it is?” Enzo said when he got into my car.

“Yeah. But we have work,” I said.

“Work,” he grumbled, “no self-respecting criminal is up this time of day,” he said.

“Stop complaining, you fucking baby, and tell me everything you found,” I said.

As I drove, Enzo rattled off what he had discovered.

The Geneovese were encroaching on several other territories, apparently deciding that any stress to their resources would be worth the element of surprise.

He also identified three key players, one of whom I planned to visit today. After, the other two would get their turn.

Once I knew how the Genevose worked, I’d strike.

Don Carlo wouldn’t appreciate the bloodshed, at least not openly, but I knew, even if he wouldn’t admit it, that me doing what he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—would be welcome.

Because as much as we like to delude ourselves with stories of honor, our code, I knew that the only thing people understood was strength.

And if Don Carlo wouldn’t give me numbers, I’d show strength and smarts, make my message clear to the Genevose and anyone else who needed to hear it.

“So what is this about Hope going to work?” Enzo asked.

“What do you mean?” I responded, looking at the target out of my window.

“You’re letting your woman work?” Enzo said.

“My woman?” I countered, tearing my way for eyes from the screen to look at him.

“Glare all you want, dickhead. You heard what I said,” Enzo thundered.

“Why are you gossiping like a little bitch, Enzo?” I grumbled.

My cousin laughed. “Name-calling and deflecting. Not a good look for a boss, Nico,” he said.

“I’m not a boss,” I responded.

“Yeah, just like Hope is not your woman. Whatever you say, cousin.”

I glared at Enzo one more time, then turned my eyes back to the screen and lost myself in the familiar.

Because trailing lowlifes as they moved through their day, picking up payments here, meeting mistresses there, all of that was as familiar as breathing.

But Hope and whatever the hell she had done to me…

I didn’t know how to handle it, so I wouldn’t.

No, it was best if I didn’t even acknowledge it.

Resolved to do just that, I pushed Hope out of my head and finished a day’s work.

Felt far too much relief when Sebastian sent me a message that Hope was back at my place.

Where she belonged.

I ignored that thought, tried to let it float through my brain, but it stuck.

Not that I had to acknowledge it.

“You want me to drop you home?” I said to Enzo at the end of a very long day.

We had tracked our target’s movement, and had a good idea of where the other two would pop up.

Our work for the day was done.

“Yeah,” he said.

I glanced at him, studying him.

“Why the fuck are you so nervous?” I asked.

“I’m not nervous. I’m just sick of sitting in this fucking car with you,” he said.

I looked at him again, leaned against the window.

“What secrets are you keeping, Enzo?”

“What, are you going to accuse me of betraying you?”

“Fuck no. You have the smarts but not the ambition. No, this is personal. You haven’t asked me to go to a club with you or any of your other usual shit,” I said.

“Because I know you have your not-woman waiting at home,” he said.

I laughed. “Like that shit would make a difference to you,” I said.

My playboy cousin actually looked offended, then waved me off.

“Fuck you, Nico. I’ll see you way too fucking early in the morning,” he said.

He got out of the car, and I laughed, knowing he would tell me what was up when he was ready.

And then, feeling far too eager, I made my way back to my place.

I parked, went inside, but instead of a cold, quiet, lifeless house greeting me, I was met with something altogether different.

All the lights were on, a quirk I hadn’t had the heart to tease Hope about.

I heard an occasional bark from Champ, along with some news podcast droning in the background.

I also smelled something delicious.

It wasn’t what I intended, but I couldn’t help thinking back to before, those years I liked to ignore. I’d come home from wherever, my mother and father, brother and sisters being noisy, boisterous.

Being a family.

I froze at the top of the stairs leading out of the garage, trying to soak in the feeling.

Knowing I didn’t deserve it and never would.

No, I didn’t deserve happiness—didn’t deserve Hope, but I had it, and her—at least for now.

I would enjoy it.

Besides, when had thing like “deserve” ever stood between me and what I wanted?

Never.

Not once.

And even if I’d wanted to resist, I wouldn’t have been able to.

So I didn’t even try.

Instead I followed my nose to the kitchen where I found Hope.

She was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, wearing a pair of cotton pants and a T-shirt and looking like everything I had always wanted.

Everything I knew I didn’t deserve.

“Nico,” she said when she noticed me, a huge smile on her face.

She grabbed the remote control for the sound system and turned the podcast off, plunging the kitchen into silence.

It was an easy silence, a comforting one before she spoke.

“I made some dinner,” she said. “It should be done in about twenty more minutes.”

I nodded, not able to speak. I worried that she might see some of the tumultuous thoughts. If she did, she ignored them, and instead moved around the kitchen like she belonged there.

“So all in all, it was great!” she said.

I realized she had been talking, then met her eyes, smiling.

“I’m glad,” I said.

She nodded, her smile even brighter. “I was so worried they were going to hire someone else. But to hear that all of my coworkers missed me so much was nice. Really nice,” she said.

She took the lid off of a pot, one I must have bought, though I could remember when.

“Turn off the stove, Hope,” I said.

She blinked.

“It’s not done yet,” she said.

“Turn it off,” I responded, walking toward her.

“Okay,” she said.

She turned off the stove, and I approached her slowly, then covered the few steps between us in a flash.

She inhaled sharply when I pulled her body flush with mine, her eyes meeting mine.

They were heavy lidded desire, desire I didn’t even attempt to resist.

I kissed her ear, then turned her, pressing her face against the cabinet refrigerator.

My hands rested on her sides before I started rubbing big circles down her body, taking her pants and underwear with me as I went down to my knees.

I wrapped my arm around her waist, forcing her to arch her back, smiling when she opened her thighs for me before I said anything.

Her sweet, musky scent tantalized me, and on Hope’s short breath, I dove in, traced my tongue down her crack, over her puckered hole, to feast on her wetness.

I kept an arm tight around her thighs as I lapped at her with my tongue, only pausing to circle her clit, working hard to bring her to the edge before pulling back.

“I need to…”

She started on a harsh breath, then trailed off.

“Need what?” I said, pausing only long enough to speak before I dove again.

“To come,” she whispered.

“Then do it,” I said, my breath hot against her wet flesh.

And she did, falling apart on my tongue so beautifully it almost took my breath.

I kept at it through it all, desperate for each taste. Pulled back when she started to shift.

She smiled down at me and pulled me up to stand, and I kissed her back greedily when stretched up to kiss me.

“What was that?—”

I shook my head, cutting her off before she could finish.

“Finish your dinner. Don’t wait up,” I said.

Before she could respond, I was gone.