La Cosa Nostra, This Thing of Ours (27 page)

She opens her eyes for a second
, seeing me, then wrapping her arms around my neck, she nuzzles into me. I carry her all the way, only struggling when I have to unlock the door. I manage after a few minutes and take her straight to bed. 

She looks like an angel
when I lay her down. Her hair splays across the pillow. I could stare at her all day. I know I will never lose her again. I will do anything to keep this woman happy and safe for the rest of my life. 

Chapter 32

Dad had
been trying to get ahold of me. I told him I just needed some time to sort things out. I also wanted to make sure everything was good with Harper before I took her around my family again. I did not tell him we were in Italy the morning we arrived in Agropoli, when I had finally called him back. It had been a long twenty-four hours on a plane and then the train. Now with a rented Fiat, we are trying not to bring attention to ourselves. Driving around in a pack of gum with no kick in the engine is a lot different than the Viper.

"It's a cute car
," Harper laughs as I mumble about how stupid the little car is.

"You're used to a Focus, so you have no credit
on the matter," I growl at her, but laugh when she sticks her tongue out at me. It is bright and early, a beautiful sunshiny day in southern Italy, as we drive along the coast. If it wasn't for the fact we were dealing with a time change, and barely any sleep, it would be perfect. 

We pull
up to the ocean side villa where we will be spending the next few days. The doorman that opened the door for Harper lingered a little too long holding her hand, his eyes running up and down her body. She's wearing a pale blue sundress that hits just above her knees. She is breathtaking as always, and I was just about to break off the doorman's hand when he finally let her go. Her arm immediately wraps around mine. 
Stupid egotistical Italian men
. I narrow my eyes at him, letting him know to back off.

"
Ciao, benvenuto
," the lady at the desk welcomes us. 

"Mr. and Mrs. Caruso,
" I tell her, wrapping my arm around Harper's waist. We argued before we came when we made the reservations. We didn't want to use Tarseta for obvious reasons. Harper suggested we use Troy. Besides the fact that it felt emasculating, I was able to argue the point that it needed to be an Italian name. After a long conversation about me being a male chauvinist, and that she might want to keep her maiden name, it ended with me telling her firmly that she would be taking my last name, showing my dominance by throwing her on the bed and fucking her until she agreed. I can't help the smile that creeps up on my lips thinking about her so merciful under me, begging me for an orgasm.

"Stop that." Harper hits my stomach, noticing my grin. 

"What?" I laugh, innocently. 

We've paid for
everything with traveler's checks so far. Other than having to use our real names at the airport, we have officially become Mr. and Mrs. Caruso. To complete the transformation, I placed a ring on her finger the night before we left.

"Harper Ann Troy, I cann
ot imagine my life without you. Will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife?" I got down on one knee and proposed to her. Showing her the two carat diamond ring I had purchased a few days before the Chelsea fiasco. She laughed at first thinking it was a fake ring and was part of the ruse we would be playing, but when I did not laugh and my eyes filled with love and sincerity she started crying. 

"Oh my
God, is this real?" She studied the ring for a moment. 

"Please answer me." Still on one knee in front of her, I was starting to get queasy at the thought of her saying no. 

"Yes, Liam, yes, yes, yes," she cried, and fell into my arms. 

Technically we wer
e on our honeymoon, at least a practice one for now. I fully intended on getting a lot of practice making love to my wife-to-be. 

"It's so beautiful," Harper says
when we walk into the large honeymoon suite overlooking the ocean with a private veranda. She's standing at the railing, the breeze softly whipping her dress and hair to the side. 

"Very, very beautiful
," I come up behind her, speaking of her and not the view. Wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her back up against my chest, I breathe in her amazing scent. 

"Thank y
ou so much for bringing me here," she says, turning her head and placing her soft hand on my cheek then turning in my arms to kiss me. 

"My pleasure, Petal, I j
ust love seeing you so happy." I rub the tip of my nose up against hers.  "I can't wait until you're my wife for real, but that's not going to stop me from doing what I'm about to do to you." I lean down, and throw her over my shoulder. 

"Oh really," she yells
, high pitched, laughing as I throw her on the bed. "What are you going to do to me?" She giggles, rolling over as I crawl on the bed. I grab her by the waist, pulling her back to me. I flip her over so she is on her back again. This time I pin her down, sitting astride her waist and start to tickle her ribs. She's laughing so hard now she's crying.

"Uncle, uncle," she cries between her gasps for breath.
"You're lucky I'm tired, or I'd be kicking your ass right now," she says when she catches her breath. 

"Whatever you say, Petal." I let out a low laugh before I le
an down and take her lips. "You taste so sweet." I grin, my lips still on hers, I run my tongue along her bottom lip before slipping it in her mouth. 

We spend the whole day in bed ordering room service, making love, and napping. Sitting on the veranda in one of the lounge chairs, Harper curled up next to me, we are watching the sunset when I see a flash. Stretching my head to see over the railing, I stand immediately when I see the man just feet away on the beach with a camera pointed at us. A couple more quick snaps of his camera, he turns and starts walking away. Slowly, like he doesn't give a crap he was just caught taking pictures of us.

"Harper, get in
side." I'm panicked, as she stumbles to her feet. I rush her inside, slamming the French doors and pulling the curtains.

"Who w
as that?" She's wide-eyed, staring at me for answers. 

"Fuck, I don't know.
Son of bitch, I knew this was a bad idea." I sit on the bed and run my fingers through my hair with frustration. 

"Now wait, we don't know. It could be
some pervert, or he could have been taking pictures of something else…" She stops, and I can tell she is making light of it, but I do hear worry in her voice. 

"First thing in the morning we are switching towns, we
're going north, away from Vallo della Lucania. I don't want to take any chances." She doesn't argue, but nods in agreement, which tells me she is worried also. "I'm sure you're right. I'm sure it was some stupid pervert. There's no need to worry, Petal." I pull her to me, kissing the top of her head. The last thing I want is for her to be worked up. 

"I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have made us come here," she says lightly. "I thought it was exciting, but now we are here, it's a little scary. I just keep thinking about what I've read and what these people do. It didn't seem real before, but now it does." 

"Hey look, I'm sure it's fine. Tomorrow
we will leave for Rome, take in some sights, and then go home. We are just newlyweds on our honeymoon, right?" I pull her back to see her face. 

"Right," s
he smiles.

Chapter 33

"Harper, no!
" I scream as loud as I can, but no sound comes out. The men have no faces, and I can't move no matter how hard I try. They're holding her down, ripping at her clothes. She is crying out my name to save her, but something is holding me back. 

I shoot straight up in bed, my heart pounding, drenched in sweat
, when I look over in the bed to see Harper sound asleep next to me. Fuck, it was a dream, a horrible fucking dream. I sit there trying to shake the images from my mind; the terrifying images of my girl being raped by faceless men. 

"Baby?" I hear her sweet sleepy voi
ce. "What's wrong?" She sits up, touching my back. "You're burning up, are you sick?" she asks, sitting up on her knees to face me. 

"I'm ok
ay, just a bad dream." I force a smile for her.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"
Fuck no! I never want to say aloud what I saw in my head. I want it to go away. 

"No, I don't even really remember it." I
bring my hand up to her face. "Go back to sleep, Petal. I'm going to take a cool shower and I'll be back in a jiff." I smile again, getting out of bed. She watches me go into the bathroom and I see her lie back down before I shut the door halfway. 

We are packed and checking out the next morning when I notice a man in the lobby paying special attention to us. I don't know if I am just extremely paranoid or not, but I get a very uneasy feeling as he gets up when we are about to walk out the door. Hurrying Harper, my hand on her back, I rush her to our waiting car. 

"Leaving so soon?" I hear a
thick Italian accent behind us. Both of us turn around to see he is now accompanied by two other very large, muscular men dressed in black. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I turn back around and open Harper's door, but before she can get in, a fourth man steps in front of the door. 

"What's going on
, fellas?" I say as calmly as I can. 

"We need you to come with us
," the man from the lobby says. Harper wraps her arms around me, as the men come closer. Holding her to me as protectively as I can, I feel like I could vomit. 

"Why would we do that?" I snap, backing us up away from them. 

"You can come willingly or we can do it the hard way."

"What is this about?" I can't believe I was so stupid, I can't believe that we came here. 

"I think you know, Mr. Tarseta," the man says. I hear Harper gasp next to me her face buried in my chest.

"This is about me, not her. Leave her here. S
he has nothing to do with this. I will come with you, just please leave her alone," I plead with the men. 

"Sorry
, but she's coming too. This way, let's not make a scene now," he orders. Two in front of us, two behind us, we walk toward a black SUV with black tinted windows. So much runs through my mind,
how can we get out of this, how can I get Harper out of this?
We are escorted into the back of the SUV, Harper stuck to my side like glue.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," s
he whispers over and over into my chest. 

"
Shhh, it will be okay." I kiss the top of her head trying to stay calm for her. God, let this be another nightmare, please God, let this not be happening. 

We drive for an hour, the only sounds in the car are Harper's soft crying, the sound muffled since she has
her face buried into my chest. She is trembling in my arms, and I can do nothing. Why did I let her talk me into this? She was just so happy at the thought of coming to Italy. I was so happy to have her back I would've done anything she asked. How did they know we were here so fast?