“Isn’t talking. I got that.”
Leon frowned is frustration. “I need to deal with him myself.”
She nodded. “Then you should go to the warehouse and do that.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
“Leon, you had a Mafia empire to run long before you met me.”
“Are we back to that old gangster joke?”
“Absolutely not.” She moved up out of the covers and moved on all fours down to the end of the bed. “You were the one who wore me out last night,” she admitted.
She was well aware she was the one who had fallen into an exhausted sleep immediately after Leon had made love to her for the third time. Not surprising when, to Leon, making love included bringing her to climax half a dozen times before he even thought about sliding that enormous cock inside her. And he loved having his cock inside her as much as she loved having him there. She might be walking bow-legged for a few days. A small price to pay for the ecstasy the two of them had given each other.
“You should go,” she encouraged.
Leon studied her for several minutes, looking for any sign she was displeased at his having to leave too suddenly. Carla returned that searching gaze steadily, confirming that she really didn’t mind that he had to go. “I’ll be back,” he promised as he pulled his clothes back on. He’d taken a shower while Carla continued to sleep.
“Can I come with you?”
“I would rather you didn’t.”
“Then take Padraic with you,” she encouraged.
“I want him to stay here with you.”
“But—”
“No, Carla,” Leon spoke quietly. “I would do a lot of things for you, but leaving you here unprotected isn’t one of them.”
“What about the fact you’ll be unprotected on the way to the warehouse?”
“I very much doubt there’s a cab driver out there waiting to kidnap me.”
“You’re Leonardo Brunelli. You can’t just get into a cab!”
He chuckled. “I doubt the driver will know who I am.”
“Leon—”
“Carla, I’ll be fine.” He tapped her playfully on the nose.
She clung to him. “Please make sure you are.”
His expression softened. “I can’t believe I’ve been lucky enough to find someone like you.”
Her fierceness lessened. “I think you were overdue, don’t you?”
“Maybe,” he conceded.
“Definitely.”
Carla couldn’t imagine his loveless marriage and then the years of loneliness since. The same sort of deep-down loneliness she’d known this past year…
She didn’t feel that way anymore, she realized. Her feelings for Leon now filled that place in her heart to overflowing.
She had a feeling he always would.
“If I can’t come with you, am I allowed to ask you to call me when you get there and then again when you’re on your way home—back?” she corrected with a self-conscious wince.
“You’re allowed to ask me whatever you damn well please, and I will always try to say yes,” Leon assured as he bent down to claim her lips with his. He stared deeply into her eyes when he finally lifted his head. “From this moment on, wherever you are is my home.”
She swallowed before speaking. “My concern for you isn’t the amazing sex talking— Yes, it was amazing,” she admitted dryly when Leon grinned. “But that has nothing to do with the fact I…” She drew in a deep breath before admitting. “Leon, I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Leon’s breath caught in his throat. She was such a warrior, this woman of his, to have lain her heart out for him to trample on or reject, if he so wished. He didn’t. He so, so didn’t.
“I love you too,” he assured gruffly, his heart pounding loudly at the expression of joy that suddenly lit up Carla’s beautiful face. “And I’ve never said that to any other woman before you.”
She nodded. “I believe you.”
They continued to stare at each other for long and reaffirming minutes. “We’re going to talk more about what that means for us when I get back,” he promised.
There were many details that needed to be worked out and decided upon if they were going to be together in future. Which, as far as Leon was concerned, they were. This warrior woman was most definitely his, and one of the things he intended talking to her about when he got back was locking that down by making their relationship official. He wanted Carla as his wife.
His first marriage had been arranged for him. He intended to ensure his second marriage was because he loved Carla with all his heart, and she loved him in the same way. He wanted love and laughter in his future, and making love to his warrior woman day and night.
“Later,” he promised before resuming dressing. “I’ll call you when I get there and again before I come home.” Ordinarily, he would have been irritated at the very idea of being answerable to any woman. But not Carla. Because… “I love you,” he told her again, waiting only long enough for Carla to echo that emotion before he kissed her breathless.
He finally pulled himself reluctantly away from the warmth of her arms. He had to, or he wouldn’t be able to leave at all.
And Sebastian Russo needed to realize the full force of Leon’s anger.
Chapter Twelve
Carla was getting antsier the longer she waited for Leon’s call to confirm he had reached the warehouse where his bodyguards were holding Don Sebastian and his men. And Benny, of course.
She had no idea if Benny was still alive. She hoped so, for his sake, but every time she thought of how close he’d come to killing Leon, she wanted to hurt Benny herself.
Maybe she was cut out to be a mobster’s girlfriend after all!
In the meantime, she’d kept busy after Leon left, quickly showering and dressing, aware it should have only taken him fifteen minutes, twenty tops, to reach the warehouse before he called her. It had now been an hour, and Leon still hadn’t called.
Maybe it was a case of out of sight, out of mind?
Words spoken out of obligation because she’d
