If you let yourself believe in me, I'll take care of us. I believe absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, that you'll take care of us just as well.
His breath hitched. His lungs seized. She was the last thing he'd expected to happen because...frankly...a woman like her was so rare. He didn't know how to feel about it, but suddenly there was nothi...
He was a shadow rider and that meant no one, 'no one' other than family, and even then close family, could the truth about him. She had to be in completely. Committed to him.
He radiated calm, his energy peaceful, surrounding her in a cocoon of tranquility. He made her feel safe, wrapped up in their world together, even though she knew neither of them was.
He needed a woman strong enough to accept that he would always need his ropes. They anchored him. Centered him. The moment he touched them, those dark shifting shadows inside him subsided.
He breathed away all the anger, all emotions, cloaking himself with Grace and everything in him settled, once more allowing complete control.
Where the fuck is your coat? His voice was pitched low. Soft. It sounded menacing, as if all his anger was directed at her because she didn't have on a coat.
This wasn't about bringing justice to criminals no one else could get to. This was about the knots in his gut that coiled tighter and tighter, and felt personal. Very personal. And that in itself was...
There was always a trail, skin cells, a scent, thermal imaging, parts left behind that the riders called prints. Sometimes those proved helpful when tracking an individual, especially if they were fre...
The lights threw her Shadow into sharp relief behind her on the wall. The shadow was dark and thin, but threw out strong tubes, feelers reaching toward other shadows. When there were none, the feelers...
The life was lonely, regimented, dangerous and formidable. Now that he had Grace in his life, even for a short few weeks, he wasn't willing to go back to that stark, lonely existence.
Stefano threw back his head and laughed. She loved the sound. Carefree. Masculine. Enjoying life. He didn't laugh a lot. You, bambina, were celebrating me finding you.
She was...salvation. Everything good. She lit up a room just as she lit up his life.
She put her hand in his, and he smiled. It was as if for her, the sun came out. His smile took her breath and made her inexplicably happy because, she sensed, he rarely smiled and it was like a gift.
She kept her arm firmly around his waist, fitting under his shoulder when she never would have walked so Intimately with a man. Strangely, she didn't mind. In fact, she liked thinking of him as hers t...
She had the strangest need, almost a compulsion, to shield Ricco from his brother's scrutiny. From all of them. She sensed he detested appearing weak in front of anyone, but especially his family.
She glanced at it now, thrown from the light from the flames dancing in the fireplace. Her shadow and Vittorio's were connected. More than connected. The tubes had intertwined to the point that it app...
She felt Stefano's body sitting next to her, yet he seemed to take up the room, surrounding her, in front of her, at her back. He was everywhere. Dangerous. Determined. Giving her a feeling of securit...
She didn't think she had anything to offer him. He got that. She had no money, no family, nothing at all in her eyes. Yet she gave him this magnificent gift - her and her trust, when she had no reason...
She cleared her throat. I dont like that sort of thing. [...] What sort of thing? His gaze dropped to her mouth. Held there. [...]The F-word sort of thing. She blurted it out, saying the first thing t...