“You’re killing me, woman. Go to sleep.” Because he couldn’t take much more.

“Not yet.”

“Bambina,” he said softly, sweeping the hair from her neck to over her shoulder. He pressed his lips against her bare nape. “Go to sleep. If you don’t, I’ll know I didn’t do my job, wearing you out.” He murmured the words against her soft skin, his teeth scraping back and forth gently, the desire to take a bite out of her strong in him. “That will mean I’ll start all over again, which I don’t mind, but I’ll get you sore. So close your beautiful eyes for me and go to sleep.”

She sighed. “I wish I could, but I keep thinking about the poor girl, Stefano. The one you told me about.”

He closed his eyes. He had no right blurting out details of his assignments no matter how disturbing or upsetting. “Francesca, I should never have told you about her. I don’t know why I did. You don’t need to hear things like that. Not ever.” He stroked her hair. He loved touching her. He fucking needed to touch her.

“Of course I do,” Francesca protested, snuggling deeper into her pillow.

He loved the way her bare skin slid over his. Like silk. Or satin. So sinful he wanted her all over again. His cock just kept throbbing. Demanding. He pressed deeper against her ass, finding the crease there. He used one hand to circle his shaft, closing his eyes against the pleasure sweeping through him.

“Anything that upsets you, I want to share. I want you to be able to talk to me about your work. I might not be able to do anything but listen, but at least I can do that. The thing is, if you’re reading reports on this girl, that means you’re considering some way to help her.”

He met her statement with silence. She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him. Dio. So fucking beautiful. Her eyes. The way she looked at him as if he were the only man in the world. He buried his face in her hair, escaping that wide blue gaze.

“You’re too damn smart for your own good, Francesca. We’re getting into things I can’t talk about until my ring is on your finger.”

She blinked at him and then turned back to lay her head on her pillow, her fingers curling into a fist beside her chin. “Your ring is on my finger,” she pointed out, her voice low.

He reached across her body to lift her left hand, his thumb sliding over the engagement ring. He loved seeing it on her finger. Feeling it there. “You have to have my wedding band here as well. That’s how this works in my family, amore.”

Francesca was silent for a long time, and his heart pounded. She couldn’t slip away. She just couldn’t. Not now. He wouldn’t allow it. He stayed quiet, afraid to say anything. Afraid not to.

“Stefano, I know your business isn’t legal. I suspected all along, but you told me your family doesn’t sell drugs or run guns and I believe you. I can’t imagine you involved in prostitution or, worse, human trafficking.”

His heart continued to pound. Blood thundered in his ears. Was she making a leap of faith or about to tell him to fuck off? He held himself very still, waiting for her to shatter him.

“Your family isn’t like the Saldi family, in the news suspected of all kinds of heinous crimes. Still, in spite of your banks, hotels, nightclubs and even the casinos, I’m fairly certain your family has an illegal side to some of the things you do.”

Not his entire family. Just the ones that would matter to her. He wanted to kiss her, cover her mouth with his. Stop her. In that moment he knew she could shatter him. Break him into a million pieces and he’d never recover. Not in this lifetime. He realized all the lore in his family was truth. Ferraro men, when they found the right woman, loved her with everything in them and they did it only once. Francesca was his once.

“To be with you, I can accept a lot of things, Stefano, but not silence. Not being kept in the dark. I know that there isn’t always justice in the world. Believe me, I am living proof of that. It isn’t like I’m ever going to go running to the police believing they’ll help me. I did that too many times.”

She made a move, as if she might put distance between them. He wasn’t having that. He refused. He tightened his arm under her breasts and tucked her into his side, pushing his cock into the cleft of her rounded cheeks, deep, claiming that part of her for his own as well. Making a statement. She subsided, but that didn’t stop the tension from coiling tighter in his gut.

“This girl. The one you read about. I don’t know why people come to you for help, but if you can get her out of that situation, I’m behind you 100 percent.”