Page 49 of Veiled Amor

Swiping his thumbs under her eyes, he knocked away the errant tears, and then he stepped back from her. His lungs inflated with much-needed air.

She was a vision.

It probably made him a sicko to enjoy seeing her eyes sparkling with unshed tears and her lower lip caught hard between her teeth.

In his mind, he saw her in a different place. Wearing his marks all over her sweet body, clawing him up, begging in gasping sobs.

And when his resolve was crumbling again, making him lean in to take her lips, he saw his brother in his head.

The brother he’d betrayed. Cold water poured over him.

Motherfucker. It was a sucker punch of guilt coming at Capone from all sides.

She deserved better than a man who couldn’t do the decent thing and not defile his sister-in-law when she’d only needed comfort.

Whatever she saw on his face made Lucia’s features rush with color. She pressed her hands to the wall, inadvertently pushing her tits higher, focusing his gaze.

“Fuck.” He swore, head hanging low. “Lucia, I…”

“You apologize, and I will punch you.”

His head reared up to see blazing eyes staring him down. Perfection right there in a tiny beast package. She was made to be mauled and worshipped and fucking licked all over. If he got his way back then, he would have tattooed the bite marks he’d left on her hip bones, making sure she had a permanent reminder of him.

How sick was he, huh?

“I’m not sorry.” He rasped his truth.

However wrong it made him. He wasn’t sorry for acting like a mannerless animal now. Or fucking her in every dirty way years ago.

It made Capone the lowest of the low. But that was his truth.

He wasn’t sorry for it.

Shuffling his feet until he was in her face again, she cocked her head back, inhaling hard. “I don’t want you flirting with anyone, got it?”

A second. And then two.

“I wasn’t flirting. It’s called being friendly, you should give it a try sometime.”

“Lucia.” He growled.

“I won’t flirt with anyone. Will you and your whoredom?”

“No.”

“What about Sassy, who has big plans for you?”

“Not interested in her.” Or anyone else. Other than the beauty in front of him, cutting him to shreds from the inside.

She nodded only once and slid her body out from under his, walking back into the main room like nothing happened. Capone followed a minute or two later when he had his hard body under better control. Parking it at the bar again, this time facing out to the room, he watched her play card games.

Keeping the women away, he took Lucia fresh drinks, made sure she had snacks. She didn’t acknowledge him other than to turn her head his way, their eyes locking with understanding.

There’d been no defense plan put in place once he knew she’d needed his help. He hadn’t factored in how fucked up he got over her.

Without a way to say sorry to Santiago, all he could do for his younger brother was to stay away from his wife.

Only, that was getting harder by the second.

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