“I can smell your bullshit from here. Honestly, I don’t know how the fuck you’re still alive.”

He smirked. “You’re just upset you can’t kill me.”

“Never tried to kill you.”

“Debatable. But I know you won’t now. You like my sister and my sister loves me.”

I like his sister? Was that what it was? Sounded mediocre in comparison to what I felt about Elena.

Gianna’s words suddenly filled my mind.

Because you’ll fall in love with her. And she won’t love you back.

Well, Jesus H. Christ. Gianna was right.

Fuck. This was inconvenient.

I tapped my pen on the desk, leaned back, and refused to reply to that ridiculous statement. Tony laughed, and I gritted my teeth.

“Finally, the black-hearted Russo knows what it’s like to be whipped.”

I gave my head a small shake. “There’s a big difference between you and me, Tony. Whipped or not, I’m not a fucking doormat.”

Tony’s gaze hardened, but he only lifted his feet onto the coffee table.

“Jenny pulls you around by your cock and you let her. Might as well buy her a strap-on.”

“You know,” he said, “I could live without you saying her fucking name.”

“And I could live without your shoes on my coffee table.”

He left them there, smoothed his tie, and rested a bandaged hand on his stomach. “I got a hot date tonight.”

“I think ‘hot’ loses its steam after every man in a ten-mile radius has had a piece of it.”

His jaw ticked. “I love my sister, Ace, but it’s not like you’re getting a cherry with your fiancée either.”

Annoyance unfurled in my chest, and his gaze flickered with pleasure when he noticed he’d gotten to me.

“If you want to sit around and talk about me fucking your sister, be my guest. Brings back good memories.”

He picked a piece of lint off his suit jacket. “If it was up to me, I’d never have let Elena stay with you until the wedding.”

“Good thing not much is up to you,” I said dryly. “New York would burn under one of your massive tantrums.”

“If I lit fire to the city, it would deserve to burn.”

I let out a half laugh. “More likely a man tossed your girlfriend some quarters and took her for a ride.”

He pulled on his collar, his gaze heated. “She’s not a fucking hooker.”

“Coulda’ fooled me. If I gave her the watch off my wrist, she would’ve done anything I asked of her.”

“Any woman would. You look like a tool walking around with that thirty-five-thousand-dollar watch.”

I would’ve easily agreed with him before I met Elena—the any woman would part, not the fucking tool comment—but now I couldn’t imagine her giving it up for a large sum of money. And it wasn’t because she already had plenty of it.

Jesus, we hadn’t even gotten to business yet and a headache already bloomed behind my eyes. “Maybe we could get this over with?”

“Sure thing, Ace. But I gotta say something first.”

I tossed my pen on the desk. “Can hardly wait to hear it.”

“For whatever reason—most likely Stockholm—Elena chose you, and I respect her choice. But if you hurt her, I’ll have to kill you.”

I laughed. I was pretty sure I’d rather cut off my left arm than ever hurt her, but fuck if I was going to let him know she was my biggest weakness.

My gaze froze to ice. “Since we’re getting the threats out of the way—if you ever do anything stupid enough to get another gun pointed at her head, I’ll skin you alive. Got it?”

He smirked. “Got it, bro.”

Jesus. As of tomorrow, this idiot was my fucking brother-in-law.

The clock said two a.m. when I got home. Tony and I had finished the meeting without trying to kill each other—a success in my book—and then I had some other business to take care of. Annoying business that left a red stain on my shirt.

The trashcans near the garage were full of bags, and a small smile came to my lips when I realized what Elena had thrown away. She was like a fascinating creature in my house, and I’d never know what she would do next.

Luca left after filling me in on Elena’s amusing activities today. I knew he was getting tired of having to stay here—and I also needed him back at work—but I wasn’t sure who else to trust. Usually, I would have left Lorenzo with this kind of shit—but with Elena? Fuck no. I briefly wondered if eunuchs were still a thing.

Truthfully, I hated the idea of leaving her with another man at all, but her safety was more important to me than that. Also, there was an itch in the back of my head that kept reminding me she’d tried to run only six months ago. Did she leave because her papà was a fucking scrooge, or for another man who possibly still lived? My teeth clenched.

I headed upstairs and decided I needed to do something about the creak in the stairs. It was loud as shit.

I’d been chafing to come home. Just so I could fuck Elena soft and easy, all night long. I wanted to draw it out, soak up her moans, make her sweat and shake beneath me. I was fucking rock hard at the idea.

After going to my room and finding my bed empty, a growl sounded in my throat. I pushed open the spare bedroom door to see her fast asleep. The window was cracked, letting a breeze in that rustled the sheer curtains. The streetlight shone a yellow glow across her face, and my chest ached at the sight.

I dropped to my haunches next to her. She slept on her side, facing me. One smooth thigh was outside of the covers. She had on a tiny t-shirt that had ridden up to right below her tits and a fucking thong. The curve of her bare ass was right there, begging me to bite it. My dick insisted that I be an asshole and wake her up. Shit. I rubbed my face and gave my head a shake. I couldn’t do it.

Her lips were slightly parted, and her breaths came out even and shallow. Dark eyelashes fanned her cheeks. I stared at her for a moment. How peaceful it must be in that head of hers to have such a sweet expression. I wanted to keep it that way, to make sure she never worried about anything again.

Fuck, I was whipped.

If perfection had a face, a body, a voice—this girl would be it.

I skimmed a thumb across her soft cheekbone.

My gaze found her ring and my throat tightened. Gianna’s words filled my mouth with a bitter taste.

I would make this girl want me, need me, love me, because fuck if I was going it alone.

“We are most alive when we’re in love.”

—John Updike

IT SMELLED LIKE FRESH AIR and expectation. A warm breeze flowed through the cracked window and I realized I left it open all night. That wouldn’t be good for Nico’s electricity bill, though I was sure he had enough money to power New York City for years.

I got up and closed the window, and then padded toward the bathroom. After I appeared halfway presentable, I headed downstairs. My feet froze at the base of the stairs, but unfortunately, this time it wasn’t due to a half-naked Nico.

A quiet “No” escaped my lips.

“Yes,” Nico said.

My heartbeats ricocheted like pinballs in my chest.