It took me a moment to realize who was speaking, who was holding my wrist. Nino’s face came into focus above me, and I cringed into the pillow. I tugged at the wrist he was holding and he released me.
“Let me help you.” He reached for me and I stiffened, watching his hand. He grabbed the covers and yanked. They came loose and I was free. I sucked in a deep breath.
His hair was disheveled and with it not being combed back or in a short ponytail he looked more human, almost approachable. Of course, that changed the moment my eyes dipped below his throat, where his tattoos began. Almost every inch of his torso was covered in them. They barely touched his neck so they weren’t visible if he wore a shirt. The tattoos snaked over his shoulder on his back and down to his arms, reaching his wrists like sleeves. They didn’t hide the steely outline of muscles or the raised scars.
I swallowed and sat up. My skin was slick with perspiration, but I shivered. “I’m not used to that much space. The chaise longue I slept on didn’t allow for me to move enough to get entangled like that.”
Nino was still propped up on one arm. His gaze trailed over my face, and it made me acutely aware of our proximity and the rude way I woke him. He must have realized what kind of lousy deal he’d gotten by now. I was nothing like the promised prize. He couldn’t claim me, and I stole his sleep. “I’m a mess,” I whispered. “At least, you don’t have to worry about other men making a move on me.”
“I’m not worried about that,” he said in a low voice.
I tilted my head. “Have you discovered that you got a faulty prize?”
“Faulty?” he inquired.
I motioned at myself. “Broken. I’m not what was promised. You should give me back.”
Nino pushed himself into a sitting position and brought us closer. I forced myself to remain still, but my body tensed. His eyes flickered over me, perhaps noticing my reaction, but he didn’t pull back. “I was promised a Vitiello woman in marriage. A woman with beauty and grace. You fulfill my requirements.”
I stared. “You think I’m beautiful?”
“To think it would suggest it’s born of my imagination, but your beauty is fact. And the reason why I’m not worried about men making a move on you is because you are a Falcone now, my wife, and in Las Vegas nobody goes against us.”
I swallowed harder.
“The dark holds power over you because he came at night for you?”
I nodded, followed by another hard swallow.
“Your nights are safe. You are safe now, Kiara. Even in the dark there’s nothing you have to fear, no one, because I am there and they will have to go through me. And no one ever has won against me. I am the most dangerous thing in the dark, but you don’t have to fear me.”
I lowered my eyes, not understanding. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why don’t I have to fear you? You are a Falcone.”
“I am. And my brothers and I protect each other because we are family, and we protect Fabiano because we made him family, and now we will protect you because you are my wife and that makes you family as well. That’s what family is supposed to be, don’t you think?”
I looked up at him with a shaky smile. “Was that how your family raised you? How your father raised you? Because my father beat me and killed my mother in an attempt to save his own life. My Aunt Egidia and Uncle Felix treated me like a burden and pariah because my father was a traitor, and my uncle Durant, he … he …” I still couldn’t say it.
“My father and mother were never family. They were blood, nothing more. My brothers and I are blood, but we also decided to be more, to be a unit. We are blood and chosen family. And we protect family.” His expression was more animated than I’d ever seen it, and I wondered if he realized it … if he really was as emotionless as he claimed to be. “If you choose to be a Falcone, if you choose to be our family, if you choose to be mine not just on paper and because it is your duty, then we will protect you.”
“What do I have to do to be family? To be yours?”
“Be loyal. Be trustworthy. Forget your blood family and New York. Cut the bonds that tie you to them and become a Falcone. It’s us against the rest. It will always be like that.”
“I can do that.” Nothing in New York was holding me back. The only person I cared about and who cared about me was Giulia, and we had barely seen each other because she lived in Philadelphia and I lived in Baltimore with her parents. She also had Cassio’s children to take care of.