Page 37 of Fierce Hearts

Because I couldn't do this on my own, no matter how badly I wished I could.

CHAPTER10

GRAYSON

Icouldn't get Sofia out of my head.

For over two weeks, I'd been walking around with the ghost of her touch on my skin. The way she'd felt beneath me, wrapped around me. Perfect. Like she was made for me and I for her.

I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat of my car and gripped the steering wheel tighter. That was the third time I'd tried calling her today. Each attempt went straight to voicemail.

Any other man would take the hint, but I knew what we'd shared wasn't just physical. I'd seen it in her eyes, felt it in the way she'd held onto me. Sofia was fighting something—herself, her past, whatever it was—and I wanted to help her through it.

Last night, I'd gone to a bar downtown. A beautiful blonde had approached me, all curves and invitation. In the past, I wouldn't have hesitated. But when I looked at her, all I saw was that she wasn't Sofia. I'd left alone, frustrated and wanting only one woman.

I pulled into the parking garage beneath the Donati building, killed the engine, and grabbed my phone. One more try.

"This is Sofia. Leave a message."

I sighed and ended the call without speaking. What was I supposed to say that I hadn't already said in my last text to her? That I couldn't stop thinking about her? That I wanted more than just that one night?

I'd agreed to give her space, but now, it was clear I couldn't. I needed to let her go, but the thought was crushing me.

There was no going back to how things were before. Where we barely spoke, and I fought my attraction to her when we met in person. We'd fractured that old relationship, and going back was not an option now.

The elevator ride to Leo's office gave me time to compose myself. I needed to focus on business, not on the woman who'd somehow managed to crawl under my skin after just one night together.

No, she'd been digging under it long before then. She'd just become caught when she'd finally given herself to me. I'd said she was mine, and I had meant it. But actually making that come true was not proving easy.

Maybe I needed to try another method. Flowers, gestures, all of that.

I just wanted to talk to her, to hear her voice, to discuss if it was truly a lost cause or if I could find a way to make it work. Find a way that she'd allow it to work.

Leo was waiting in his office, paperwork laid out across his desk. He looked up when I entered, arching a brow.

"You look like shit," he said by way of greeting.

"Good to see you too." I dropped into the chair across from him and loosened my tie. "Let's get this over with."

For the next hour, we went over the expansion plans for both our legitimate businesses and the less legitimate ones. Lion Freight Services was growing faster than we'd anticipated, and we needed to discuss how to handle the influx of new "products" coming through our shipping routes.

"We need more men on the docks," Leo said, marking something on the paper in front of him. "The Malatestas are getting antsy about their cut."

"I thought we settled that after the whole thing with Tullio."

Tullio Matatesta had organized a faction of his family to attack us after the death of his son Cosimo, who'd been murdered by an associate of our dead father in an attempt to frame Leo. That mess had been handled, and Tullio had been cast out of the family and the entire country by his own brother, Fiorenzo, for taking matters into his own hands and acting behind his back. Despite the bloodshed brought on by it all, the Donatis and Malatesta had an alliance once more.

"We did, but Fiorenzo's looking to renegotiate now that things have calmed down."

I was about to respond when Leo's phone buzzed. He glanced at it, and his expression shifted to one of confusion and slight unease, before morphing into frustration.

Never a good mix.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"Ernesto Savoca was seen in the city yesterday. He's Sofia's uncle, father of the current head of the family."

My blood ran cold. The Savoca family had mostly kept to themselves since Sofia's father was killed years ago and they'd moved their business and family to a smaller city where they could reign supreme, although that hadn’t exactly worked out. Another growing family from Ironstone, the Ferences, had followed, and they’d been competing for power ever since. If Ernesto was here, something was happening.

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