Page 72 of Captivated

He understood.

But it hurt him, too.

And she should know that.

And yet, the woman’s father standing in the room kept Joe from blurting out some kind of personal shit that he didn’t want people knowing. He especially didn’t want other men in this life to know he’d found a weakness in himself.

Or rather, this woman brought out Joe’s weakness.

Maybe that was Joe’s flaw—Liliana ran, and Joe was too cold. She had her way of protecting herself, and he had his way of safeguarding his secrets, too. That didn’t mean it was good, but humans were predictable that way.

“Yeah,” Liliana said, giving Joe another look. “I fucking get it, Joe.”

He knew what she was seeing; his blank expression, and stiff posture. A cold aura, and a dispassionate delivery to his words. It was the mask he kept firmly on when other men like him were present, and he was not going to drop it right then, either. She didn’t know these things, but he had never offered an explanation, either.

Whose fault was it, then?

Liliana nodded. “I’m just a job.”

“Liliana—”

“Call me a driver,” she interrupted her father. “I need to go home.”

“You could stay, and—”

“I’m going home.”

Lucian didn’t bother to argue with her further, and instead, waved his hand at the door for her to leave. Liliana didn’t even give Joe a look over her shoulder as she left in her floor-length, beautiful wine-red gown.

He didn’t blame her, either.

Once her footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore, Lucian turned to Joe again. He didn’t want to talk—really wasn’t in the mood for another lecture about how he hadn’t followed through on his hits, yet, and the rest of that bullshit.

Joe was too busy being stuck in his own head, and trying to figure out how to fix what he fucked up on. He’d never had to fix something with a woman before, and he didn’t like how much it hurt in his chest to know that he’d caused Liliana some kind of pain.

Or that he made her feel anything less than … adored.

Because he did adore her.

“I know,” Joe murmured, pushing away from the wall, “get the fucking job done. Save your breath, Lucian.”

“Actually,” Lucian said, clearing his throat, “I was going to say that should you finish this job out, I wouldn’t mind giving you a second chance to correct whatever happened here tonight, Joe.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My daughter, and all my children. I tend to … stay out of their personal business. Something my wife and I chose a long time ago where our children were concerned. I didn’t realize there was something going on between you and Liliana, and I realize I may have just made your situation worse. I apologize.”

Huh.

“She’s a good girl,” Lucian added quieter. “And the thing about her is—well, she doesn’t care who you are, or the things you do, Joe. If she loves you, then she overlooks the rest. I’m sure you know being in this business … a woman like that is terribly hard to find, and the men who do have a woman like that are the luckiest of us all.”

“You’re right about one thing.”

“Which one?”

“It was hard to find her; twenty-one years, actually.”

Joe wasn’t sure he would say love—not yet, anyway. He would say that if he had one person in the world, he thought it might be Liliana. There was something about her that kept drawing him in. She was spectacular; captivating. And she had done exactly that to him with nothing more than a sly smile, and a few quick words in a darkened hallway.