She sighed, tempted to give him the finger. “I hate looking weak all the time.”
The two men exchanged a puzzled look. “Why would you think you look weak?”
“I don’t know. I think I view myself that way because I’m not like Emmanuelle. I always wanted to be. She and one of Elie’s cousins, Axelle, have always been held up as the gold standard in our business. I never met that standard, or even came close.” She looked across the room at the sofa. It was really far away.
“Ask for help, Brielle,” Dario said.
He was worse than Elie. He really was. He knew she was afraid to walk the distance to the sofa, but was he just going to come over and help her? No, he was going to make her ask for help. Maybe she really was too stubborn. And why could these men read her so easily?
“Has it occurred to either one of you that I barely know you and maybe it’s a little difficult to ask for help from strangers?”
“We aren’t strangers to you.” Valentino dismissed the idea. “Now you’re just stalling. You’re family. You belong to Elie. We regard him as a brother. That makes you a sister.”
“Elie is a pain-in-the-ass brother and you’re worse,” Dario pointed out. “He isn’t going to like that you were so fucking stubborn, you would rather topple over than ask us to help you to the sofa.”
Sweat had begun to bead on her forehead and trickle between her breasts. Little black dots began to float behind her eyes. “Fine. I would appreciate help in making it to the couch since I’m about to faint.”
Dario and Val both jumped to either side of her. Val slid his arm around her waist, careful of where he put his hands, not wanting to hit any of the places a bullet had torn into her body.
Dario, muttering curses under his breath, gripped her with hard hands. “I don’t envy Elie one minute. We should let the chef’s assistant make his try. Maybe put poor Elie out of his misery.”
“Dario,” Val tried to sound harsh, but his voice was filled with laughter.
“I’m getting used to him,” Brielle said. “He’s scary when he’s at a distance, but this close I can smell lavender all over him. Lavender has a calming effect. It’s used for things like reducing stress, anxiety and even mild pain.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Dario snapped as they helped her onto the sofa.
Brielle gratefully lay back. She definitely felt the stretch on her belly, telling her she’d been sitting too straight for far too long. She’d been warned that she had to be careful and take it slow. She wasn’t to work long hours at a desk.
Valentino burst out laughing at her revelation that Dario wasn’t in the least scary close-up. “We’d better take that into consideration when you’re interrogating prisoners, Dario.”
Dario gave him the finger.
“I think maybe it’s just me, Val,” Brielle said, closing her eyes against the light. It felt so good to be off her feet and just lie down. “I used lavender all the time for anxiety and when I’d get so sick when I’d work.” She was chattering because she was nervous. Talking too much, but she couldn’t stop herself. “I found lavender was calming to me if I used it for aromatherapy or as oils in the bath. I probably conditioned myself to react that way. I honestly didn’t mean to embarrass you, Dario.”
She loved that he not only had a lavender farm but oversaw the running of it himself and that it was a legitimate business. He didn’t taint it in any way. He didn’t use it to launder money or for any purpose other than to sell the lavender to his wholesale clients. Brielle found that was endearing.
She lifted her lashes, just to try to get a look at his expression, but Dario raised an eyebrow at her, his mask slipping easily back into place.
“I knew when I bought that farm, I would take some heat for it,” he said before throwing himself into a chair in the casual way he had.
She lowered her lashes again, partially blocking out the light, but she was still able to see the two men. “Did you always intend to keep it going?”
“No. I bought the property because it was next to Val’s. He needs looking after whether he wants to admit it or not.”
Val made a sound of derision under his breath. “He likes to think that. It makes him feel needed and gives him the opportunity to be bossy.”
“I’m good in that role.”
“Which is why I handed Miceli’s territory to you. Boss away, Dario.”
Dario raised his middle finger to Val. “Drives me crazy to have to have all those idiots coming to me and asking if they can do things they should be able to figure out on their own.”