Page 26 of Veiled Amor

His eyes lifted, and that’s when he saw the little shorts and vest shirt she was wearing to bed. A catastrophic pulse went through him, holding a groan at bay, he kept his hands hanging by his waist and didn’t reach out to grip her lush ass cheeks.

She blushed under his scrutiny. He didn’t bother to hide how he looked at her.

Lucia was beauty itself.

Nothing had changed about that.

Only now, she wasn’t nineteen.

Only now, she wasn’t his brother’s wife.

And Capone was still awrongman.

He wondered why she wasn’t throwing a fit, telling him to get another room. She hadn’t questioned him at all, and he knew it was because she trusted him.

She’d always put her trust in him unquestionably.Stupidly.

Because he wasn’t a man she should trust.

Look how he smashed that trust years back by taking her sweet body, by burying his grief between her thighs, and then leaving her behind to fend off a man like her fucking father.

He’d always had his reasons, as threadbare and breakable as they were, to keep her away from him, but if he had an ounce less of control right now, he would defile her in the same filthy way. He’d act on the sidelong glances by moving aside the shorts to taste her.

More important than sex, though, hewantedto earn hertrust. She’d given it anyway, but Capone knew he had shit to make up for. Getting her away from Nicholas’ stronghold, making sure Lucia could have a life worth living on her terms and not shackled to an aging dick, was the task ahead for him.

Keeping his hands off her was going to take self-discipline.

He jutted his chin, “climb into bed.”

“But..”

“The bed,nena. I won’t sleep.”

She frowned, but climbed in with little fuss. He’d always appreciated the way she didn’t go on like the women in his family who didn’t know when to let shit lie, but that didn’t mean Lucia was a pushover either.

A little more time away from her father’s strictness, and she’d be a stubborn force to reckon with. Fortunately for him, he wouldn’t be around to witness it. He’d be happy enough to know she was happy.

And that was the lie he was sticking to.

“You still have trouble sleeping?” She asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Sí.” He listened to her shuffling in bed beneath the covers, only seeing the outline of her body, though he was aware she was looking at him through the darkness. Capone locked air in his lungs and then slumped in the chair, legs spread out in front of him.

“Yoga.”

“Qué?”What?

“Doing yoga would help you sleep. It relaxes every muscle in the body. I used to do a goat yoga class.”

The statement was so left field andsoLucia that Capone felt his lips turn up at the corners with amusement.

“A friend of mine has a pygmy goat.”

He heard her smile. “Really? They’re so cute.”

“Not sure I want one climbing all over me.”

She yawned, “it’s fun. You get distracted by the frolicking goats and forget your bones are screaming in pain.”

---