Page 38 of Her Keeper
But it was a lot harder to work the system when half the men I needed worked for my father and were now set against me. Joseph and I had talked time and again about how we needed to take the family over from my father so we could make sure it ran more smoothly but the fact was Fat Jimmy was still the head of the Rossi clan.
And everyone who worked for me actually answered to him.
It had made the last several days a whole lot harder than they should have been—leading to me being shot because we didn’t have men to call for backup. And leading to Penny sitting here at the kitchen table figuring out how to lie to me.
My hand darted out and grabbed her wrist, squeezing her hard enough to let her know I meant business. “Penny, whatever it is, I need to know the truth.”
Her gaze came back up to me, wide and blue and guileless, and she shrugged again. “I’m just worried, Michael. I don’t like that we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
That... seemed like it could actually be the truth.
Maybe I’d been jumping the gun, assuming she was lying to me. Maybe she was just worried.
My grip lightened and became a caress on her arm. “I don’t want you to worry. I’ve got a plan, and it’s going to work. Got it? Once I’m feeling better, I’m going to handle everything.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. “You mean you’re going to take care of everything? Again?”
“Exactly.”
She leaned forward, her movements becoming languid and suggestive. “Are you feeling any better this morning than yesterday?”
I frowned, confused at this sudden change of tone. “A night of sleep definitely helped.”
She gave me a coquettish smile. “In that case, how about we take a shower and you let me take care of you for a little bit?”
I might be in an awful lot of pain. I might be concerned about how scared she was. And I might be 99 percent sure she was lying to me about something.
But I would never be the kind of man who turned down a shower with Penny Lane.
I leaned in and brushed my lips against hers. “That sounds like the perfect way to start my day,” I whispered.
She smiled slightly and then got up and walked toward the bathroom, pausing only long enough to look at me over her shoulder.
And I got up and followed her like she was the fucking Pied Piper, ignoring my guts, which were screaming that she was lying to me about something and I needed to get to the bottom of it immediately.
* * *
By the time I got into the bathroom, she already had the shower running and was stripped naked.
I slammed the door behind me and got to her within three steps, taking her in my arms and bending her backward over the sink. “You’re lucky I’m the only one who came in,” I breathed, reveling in the feel of her soft curves under me. God, the girl was fucking hot. I’d always known it, but she’d somehow gotten even hotter in the past three days.
Maybe it was the fact that I’d almost lost her in that time. Or maybe it was just the fact that I knew now that she was mine.
She lifted an eyebrow. “Since when do you need other people to help you get into the bathroom? I figured I was probably safe.”
“Never,” I growled.
I closed my mouth over hers, taking what I wanted and leaving no prisoners, and when she opened her mouth to me I dove into her, tasting all the sweetness that she had to offer. My hands reached down to cup her sweet little ass and spread her for me, and she gasped into my mouth, squirming a bit at how quickly this was progressing, but when I pressed up against her, demonstrating how hard I already was, she stilled.
When she managed to get her mouth free of mine she stared up at me, a moue of discouragement on her lips. “You’re injured,” she murmured. “I don’t think you should even be on your feet.”
I pulled her hand down to my cock and pressed into her, grinning what I knew to be a wicked grin. “Never too injured to want you, little girl.”
Her eyes widened, shock showing through, and in that moment I recognized the girl that had come into my office on that first day, all tight skirt, curls, and wide eyes. The innocence of someone who didn’t know how our world worked and what it would require of her.
What it might do to her outlook on the world.
The thought almost brought me down from the high I was riding, but then Penny’s eyes turned flirty and she leaned up to put her mouth next to my ear.
