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We sagged against the wall when he was done. I didn’t care how rough the brick was. I didn’t care that I felt blood on my cheek. All I cared about was the warmth and strength of Devil behind me and the knowledge that he protected me and cared for me.
“I love you,” I whispered.
He turned me to face him, and once the world stopped spinning, I met his gaze. The tenderness there made me sink back against the wall.
“I love you so much, Joe, and I hope… I hope this was special for you.”
I smiled, and suddenly I couldn’t keep from laughing. Devil burst out laughing too, then brought his hand to his mouth. The last thing we wanted was to ruin the moment by alerting someone now. It took a few moments to get myself under control so I could speak again. “When I imagined a special night together, I wasn’t thinking of anything as special as this.”
Devil brushed a thumb over my injured cheek.
“How bad is it?”
He shrugged. “It’ll heal.”
“Any chance your family will think I got scratched up in the line of duty?”
He smirked as he shook his head. “Not a single chance.”
“Maybe I can slip out early in the morning.”
“And make Lola miss the chance to congratulate us and officially welcome you as a Marchesi?”
Lola had been the Marchesis’ housekeeper since Devil was a child. I couldn’t do that to her. “You really want me to change my name?” Suddenly it seemed too much, the idea that they would truly accept me as one of them. It was foolish of me. I knew they’d already welcomed me and brought me into their home. They’d all approved of our relationship, but somehow actually taking their name seemed monumental.
“Don’t you want to?”
I nodded. “I do, but it’s… Are you sure?”
He gently cupped my face. “Joe Marchesi, you’re mine. My man, my family, my slut.”
I rolled my eyes.
“And now I’m going to take you home, stretch you out on our bed, and have you all over again.”
I smiled. “I like that plan very much.”
“I thought you would, and afterward, we can plan our honeymoon. Where do you want to go, baby?”
“I’ll think about it. When do you think were taking this honeymoon?”
“If I had my way, I’d take you away tonight, lock you in a tower, and keep you there.”
“This marriage thing really feeds your ego, doesn’t it?”
“You’re mine now.”
“I’ve been yours since the first time we were in this alley.”
He smiled. “True enough, but now it’s, like, legal and shit.”
“I’m pretty sure the things you contemplate doing to me aren’t all legal.”
He shrugged. “They are in my world.”
“Your world and reality are very far apart. Also, like Angelo said, you have shit to take care of. You can’t leave right now, and neither can I.”
“Joe, you can’t keep working so much. You’re putting in as many hours as you did when you were a cop. You have other people to help you now.”
I ran a hand over my hair. I needed to tell Devil about the letters Donaldson had sent me saying he would get his revenge. I’d been the lead in the investigation that had led to him being sentenced, and he blamed me for the time he’d spent in jail. Now he’d escaped, and I was sure he intended to follow through on his threats, but it really wasn’t the time to share that information with my husband. It was not a wedding-night conversation. “The longer Donaldson stays free, the greater the chance he’ll kill again.”
Devil sighed. “Fine, but we’re going soon. I’ll only let you put this off for so long.”
“Maybe after the first of the year—”
Devil growled and wrapped his hand around my throat again. “You will not make me wait that long. I want to take you away so I can enjoy you like the Christmas present you are. We’re not losing the chance to have a holiday honeymoon.”
“See? I knew you wanted a Christmas wedding, but now it’s a Christmas honeymoon.”
“And so much better because it’ll just be me and you.”
“And your enormous ego?”
Devil grinned. “That’s not the only thing about me that’s enormous.”
I scowled at his awful joke. “I’ll see when I can get away.”
“Just remember I’m not a patient man.”
7
Devil
After two weeks of watching Joe exhaust himself with his search for Donaldson and nagging him daily to commit to a day we could leave for our honeymoon, I’d had enough. Angelo and I had finished up the urgent business we’d been working on, so I’d cornered Lucien in his office.
His eyes narrowed as soon as he saw me. “You’re about to tell me something I don’t want to hear.”
There was no point in denying it. “I’m taking Joe on a honeymoon, and we’ll be gone for ten days.”
“One week is enough. You know Pop will be coming home for the holidays. You and your new husband are not weaseling out of all the family plans.”
