Despite the countless questions swirling through her mind, Libbie kept herself quiet all the way home. When they got there, Ken-Ben, she reminded herself-helped her upstairs to her apartment before going back for the groceries.
When he got everything put away, he went to his apartment and brought back a laptop. Settling next to her on her couch, he brought up The Miami Herald"s website, keyed in a search, then handed the laptop to her.
BIANCO FAMILY TRIAL TO PROCEED read the headline. The story, a Sunday feature piece from several months earlier, detailed how undercover detectives had gathered enough evidence to make an arrest of a mob family member, which led to even more charges on the state and federal level. While Ben wasn"t mentioned in the article, it did have a picture of one of the lead prosecutors in the case.
And while he looked like Ben, she could tell from the expression in his eyes it wasn"t, that it was Charles. Or Allan, or whatever his real name was. The cutline under the picture identified him as Allan Donohue.
Ben remained silent while she read. When she finished, she returned the laptop. "So, where is he? Charles. I mean Allan. Where did he really go today?"
He closed the laptop and set it aside. "He"s on his way back from Orlando by now, I imagine. He really did go there, but not for art supplies, although I"m sure he"ll come back with some. He had to be on conference calls with the prosecution team today."
"Why Orlando?"
"We use disposable cell phones and put at least fifty miles between here and wherever we call from." She heard his deep sigh. "It"s paranoid, but I don"t want anyone able to track us back here to Brooksville. I don"t know that woman who saw me today," he said. "Obviously, she"s a friend of Allan"s. I haven"t had a girlfriend in a couple of years, since before I went in undercover with the Biancos. I couldn"t risk it while I was undercover." He looked down at his hands. "I"m sorry."
At war within her, anger and love and dread. "How many more lies are there?"
He shook his head, not meeting her gaze. "That"s the full truth."
"Why Nebraska?"
"Because I"ve got a friend in the DEA at their Omaha office. I went to college with him. He was able to set me up with some quick IDs and backgrounds and I knew he was clean. I trusted him not to tell anyone who we were or where we were living. It was either that, or we would have been forced into protective custody, and no way in h.e.l.l was I doing that."
"So...all this has been one big lie? Everything?"
The way he shook his head surprised her. He turned to her and took her hands again. "No. How I feel about you isn"t a lie. I"m sorry you got pulled into this. I never meant for you to get hurt. I didn"t want to fall in love with you, but I did. I"ve never felt about someone the way I feel about you. I love you, Libbie."
Her mouth snapped closed at his words, nearly biting her tongue in the process. As she stared into his eyes, she realized she no longer gave a d.a.m.n about protecting her heart. It had already jumped the walls without her permission, running straight to the men a long time ago.
"I love you, too," she whispered, relieved to finally be able to admit it out loud. "Both of you."
She felt even more relieved to know he felt the same way.
His expression softened as he opened his arms to her. She crawled into them, letting out a content sigh as she closed her eyes and breathed in his scent.
He kissed the top of her head. "I don"t know where to go from here," he said. "All three of us. He loves you every bit as much as I do."
"That"s why you said six months when you first got here, isn"t it?" she asked, the fact hitting her squarely between the eyes. "Because that"s when the trial starts?"
"Yeah." His breath felt warm against her scalp.
"So when the trial starts, you"ll both leave, won"t you?"
When he didn"t answer her right away, she thought maybe he hadn"t heard her. As she was about to ask again, he whispered, "Yeah."
She kept her eyes closed. She didn"t want to think about losing him.
Of losing them.
"What happens then?"
His hand tenderly gripped her chin and tilted her face up to his. His lips brushed hers before he touched his forehead to hers. "I don"t know about him," he said, his voice sounding choked. "After the trial, I plan on moving."
"Moving?"
When his thumb stroked her cheek, she opened her eyes to find him staring into hers. "Yeah. Moving here. I can"t lose you." He studied her. "If you"ll have me."
"What about Allan?"
"That"s for him to decide. If he wants to pick up stakes and move here, then fine. If not..." He let out a sigh she couldn"t interpret. "Then I guess it"d be the two of us." He kissed her again. "But the trial is going to be a long one. Several months or longer. I won"t have to testify that whole time, but Allan needs to be there to work with the team and I can"t leave him on his own, unguarded. I"d feel horrible if Bianco got to him because I wasn"t there watching his back."
"Can you come here on the weekends? Or I could go there."
He vigorously shook his head. "I won"t put you in harm"s way. Those people are vicious. They wouldn"t hesitate to stoop to hurting you, especially if they found out how much you mean to both of us. I won"t do it. I won"t risk it. I don"t want you anywhere near Miami."
She clutched at his shirt. "I can"t lose you. I love you." She wanted to say it all the time now, to never stop saying it in hopes it would keep both of them forever by her side.
He stood, then easily scooped her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. When she tried to speak again, he shushed her with a finger to her lips. "I love you," he said, then kissed her.
He slowly undressed her before tossing his own clothes to the floor. While most of her encounters with the men were with both of them together, there was something even more special about having one of them to herself.
Ben rolled a condom onto his c.o.c.k and slowly entered her. Then he laced his fingers through hers, holding them above her head and leaving her feeling like she was in a safe coc.o.o.n formed by his body.
"Slow and steady," he said, his blue eyes boring into hers. "Try to come for me like this, baby." He dipped his head and kissed her.
Libbie closed her eyes and let not just the sweet sensuality of his body, but the knowledge of his love flow through her. She felt connected to him like never before. Moving together, she matched his movements, her c.l.i.t brushing against his body with every stroke. When many long minutes later her o.r.g.a.s.m struck her, it might have been less powerful physically, but it brought her to tears.
"I love you, Libbie," he whispered in her ear as his hips quickened, staying with her and waiting until he knew she was finished to pick up the pace even more.
Her fingers clutched at his, squeezing as she felt as well as heard his release.
"I love you, too, Ben," she said back.
He cleaned up and returned to bed, tucking her into his arms and whispering "I love you" into her hair, softly, until she fell asleep.
She was tightly snuggled against Ben when she heard the men"s truck pull up outside and park under her living room window before the engine shut off. Ben had fallen deeply asleep, his arms securely wrapped around her and his warm breath blowing against her shoulder. Then the sound of the downstairs door opening and closing came to her, followed by Allan"s steps on the stairs.
She still had to pause to think of him as Allan. Although, in retrospect, the name fit him better than Charles.
She heard their apartment door open and close. A few moments later, her apartment door opened and his footsteps crossed the living room.
Libbie looked up when he stepped into the bedroom doorway. He smiled at her and crossed the bedroom, prepared to give her a kiss. "Hi, sweetie," he whispered as he leaned in.
She smiled. "Hi, Allan."
He froze, blinking in shock. "What?"
Behind her, Ben stirred. "Secret"s out, bro," he mumbled.
Before Allan could straighten, she grabbed the front of his jacket. "What about my kiss?"
He smiled, but it looked a little odd. He leaned in and kissed her h.e.l.lo. "What happened?"
She patted the bed next to her. He pulled off his jacket and dropped it on the floor. Then he kicked off his shoes and settled next to her.
"We went to the store," Ben said, sounding a little more awake. "An acquaintance of yours thought I was you. She got friendly with me, and Libbie saw it. I didn"t have a choice but to come clean with her." He brushed the hair away from the nape of her neck and kissed her, making her heart and her p.u.s.s.y flutter.
She poked Allan in the chest. "She"d better be a past acquaintance."
"Who was it?" Allan asked.
"Some woman," Ben said. "A Leeza something or other. Said she"ll hit you up on Facebook."
Allan closed his eyes and groaned. "s.h.i.t. Leeza Maxwell?"
"Yeah. That was it."
Allan looked at her. "Babe, I"m so sorry. She"s definitely a past acquaintance. She was a bartender I dated for a few weeks early last year. She moved and I didn"t keep in touch with her."
Libbie arched an eyebrow at him. "Dated?"
"Slept with. All right?" He palmed her cheek. "But not now. Now, I don"t want to be with anyone but you." His eyes searched her face as he waited for her to speak.
"He told me about the trial."
"Yeah." He glanced at Ben behind her before holding her gaze again. "It"s going to be a long one, unfortunately."
"And I can"t see you guys while it"s going on?"
He shook his head. "It"d be too dangerous. Bianco is notorious for using whatever means necessary to get his way."
"I thought mobsters didn"t mess with families."
"They didn"t used to," Allan said. "Years ago, that was taboo. Now, they don"t care. And Bianco is too desperate, wants to make as much of this go away as possible. That"s why I"m taking a backseat and only doing support work on the trial, but I still have to be there during the trial. I know the entire case front to back. I"ve practically memorized the files, and no one in my office knows it the way I do. We don"t want to give them any reason on appeal to use Ben and me being brothers to force a review or retrial for conflict of interest. The Feds have too much involved in this to let it get sunk like that. Our trial comes first, then the Feds are building on that for their case."
"Then what?"
"What do you mean?"
She felt Ben"s arm tighten around her in support, but she forged ahead. "After the trial," she softly said. "What happens then? What do you do?"
He smiled and leaned in, kissing her. "I"m thinking a private practice in a small, west central Florida town a little north of Tampa is just what I need now in my life." His thumb stroked her cheek. "If you"ll have me."
"Us," Ben said.
Allan nodded. "Us. Both of us."
Relief flooded her heart. She sat up and threw her arms around him. "Yes."
Chapter Nineteen.
"We"ve got a tip," Barry Conner softly said from the doorway.
Victor Bianco looked up from his papers at his resident computer geek standing in the doorway. Bianco had been reduced to holding court in the back room of an auto repair shop he owned and used to launder cash through. The air compressor for the shop was positioned five feet directly behind his desk. He flipped a switch that made it spring to life. The noise defeated any electronic surveillance the Feds might have used. He motioned for Barry to come closer and leaned in to hear and be heard. "Well?"
"Brooksville. North of Tampa. Apparently, some woman who used to date Allan Donohue tagged him on her Facebook wall yesterday."
Victor Bianco leaned back and templed his fingers together. "Really? I thought Donohue"s Facebook page was set to private and locked down tight."
"Right. It is. She tagged him." Bianco noticed the man held several pages of paper in his hand. He waved Barry closer to his desk, where Bianco took an offered piece of paper.
"Kelly, guess who I ran into in Wallyworld? Allan Donohue," he read. The comment was tagged onto a picture over eight months old, of Donohue, along with several others, taken at a bar.
"She checked in via Foursquare at the Brooksville Walmart a little while before she made the comment."
"Brooksville, hmm?" Bianco mused as he studied the picture. "Do we know where this Leeza Maxwell lives?"
"Yep," Barry said, handing him another piece of paper. "I tracked her down. She lives in Spring Hill, just west of Brooksville."
Bianco smiled up at his man. "Excellent. You don"t disappoint, do you?"
Barry"s face turned pink. Bianco had quickly learned the young man wasn"t used to receiving praise. He"d discovered that soon after hiring him upon the young man"s release from jail for hacking into a bank. "Just doing my job, sir."
"And you do it well. On your way out, please send Enrique in."
Barry quickly turned and left. Bianco was still studying the papers in his hand when Enrique walked in.
"You wanted to see me, boss?"
Bianco nodded at the door. "Close it."
Enrique did, quickly closing the distance to Bianco"s desk, where he leveraged his bulk into the chair in front of the desk and leaned forward so he could hear over the compressor noise. "Whatcha got?"
"Let me thank you again for scouting Barry. He is an a.s.set to our organization."
Enrique"s ma.s.sive shoulders lurched in a shrug. "Easy way for him to pay off his vig. My cousin gets the credit for the tip."
"That"s another thing I like about you. You share credit but accept full blame when something goes wrong. I like that I can count on you." Bianco handed over the papers. "Find her. Find out everything she knows about Allan Donohue and his current whereabouts. And then lose her. Permanently. I don"t care how it"s done or what it"s made to look like, because she has no ties to us."