“You don’t consider that a lie?”
Fire flashed in her eyes. “Absolutely not. I may have omitted telling you, but I didn’t lie. And I had every intention of telling you later and I did, as soon as I tracked down the origins of all the photos. I could have waited until way later, but I didn’t. You omit telling me all kinds of things, so don’t you dare be self-righteous with me about that, Elie. If you get to do things in our marriage, then so do I.”
Her chin went up and he couldn’t stop himself this time. He leaned over, framed her face with his large hands to hold her still and used his teeth, nipping her soft skin until she yelped, her eyes darkening with a mixture of desire and temper. His tongue soothed the bite and then he kissed it before pulling back.
“I’m not certain now is the best time to defy me, mon petit jouet sexuel. We’re alone for the night. Locked in. You committed several indiscretions we have yet to discuss, not to mention I was away from you and men determined to kidnap you came to our home. I didn’t like the way that made me feel.”
At his soft-spoken declaration and him putting her on notice by calling her his little sexual toy, goose bumps rose immediately, and beneath her blouse, her nipples peaked. He had been thinking she needed more than his gentler lovemaking, although she was very responsive every time he touched her. The restlessness she tried to hide was coming from need. From a craving. Just the way she responded to his voice, the way he called her his toy indicating they were about to play a very intense game, meant he was on the right track.
He straightened and indicated her sandwich. “Eat.”
She made a face. “I ate half of it. I’ll eat the fruit.”
He wasn’t going to argue. She loved fruit. She seemed to prefer it for every meal as well as for snacks. He’d managed to get her to eat half her sandwich so he called it a victory. She worked out daily and trained with him just as if she was shadow riding. He was fine with that, preferring her to be ready at all times, just in case she ever needed to escape into the shadows, not to mention protect herself in a fight against an assailant. He just didn’t want her workouts and lack of eating to be about fear of gaining weight.
“I don’t omit telling you anything, Brielle. You need to ask me when you want to know something. You’re a shadow rider, whether you’re an active one or not. We made a promise to one another to communicate honestly. I didn’t mean that you had to do all the communicating and I could keep things to myself. Do I hope that you don’t have to witness certain things such as the torture of a prisoner to extract information that does, in fact, take place? Or that you want to know about it and I have to tell you details? I hope you don’t ask me for that, but if you do, I would tell you. You’re aware Dario and Val have two prisoners now. They’re attempting to shut down a trafficking operation and they aren’t above using any means to stop it. Sadly, seeing children in cages and what the traffickers were capable of doing to those unfortunate human beings, I think I’m in agreement with Val and Dario.”
Elie didn’t look away from her. “I might not be any better than Santoro or Colombo for my decision to stand with Dario and Val, but I can’t take having so many children, teens and women taken on the whim of others for money or power or just to use and then kill when they like. It sickens me. As hard as the law enforcement agencies try, they can’t seem to shut these people down.”
The intense fire in her eyes softened to that admiration and passionate caring she seemed to reserve for him. She didn’t realize she gave away so much when she looked at him. She didn’t want to care about him, but for some reason she did. He knew it would take time to get an admission out of her, but they had time. He wanted to know everything about her. He had thought he was obsessed with her before; now he knew what real obsession was. He loved every one of those little expressions chasing across her face and needed to know what each meant.
“You’re so compassionate, Elie. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t expect that of you, or Val or Dario, either. Dario scares the hell out of me, but I can tell he genuinely cares for Emmanuelle, Valentino and you.”
“And Stefano, but he’d rather be boiled in oil than ever admit it,” Elie said, strumming his thumb over her soft face.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your photograph right away, bébé?” Elie asked, keeping his tone gentle, all the while stroking his thumb along her cheekbone and then down to feather the pads of his fingers along her jaw. He slipped the question in while she was feeling safe and open and very loving toward him.