Page 88 of Captivated

Frankly, Joe was stunned the Marcellos had tried to handle this situation on the up and up, anyway. Shit like this couldn’t be handled on the level—on the right side of the law, in a goddamn courtroom.

Or maybe, they had done that for Liliana.

It didn’t matter.

Now, they were going to handle it like it should have been from the start.

On the fucking streets.

In the shadows.

Liliana peered up at Joe from her bubble bath, and gave him a small smile. “You don’t have to stay, Joe. I’m sure you have better things to do tonight than take care of me.”

He scoffed, and leaned down to rest his arms along the edge of the tub. “No, actually. There’s no other place I would rather be than right here with you.”

“So, you didn’t have plans?”

“Just to come here, apologize for being an asshole, maybe grovel a little bit if I needed to, and then I was hoping you’d either let me in, or let me take you to dinner. I figure I got what I wanted in the end.”

Liliana didn’t even try to hide her grin. “Mmhmm.”

“That was the plan. Now, do you want music, or something? A book?”

She shook her head.

“Nothing?” he asked again, raising a brow.

“You, maybe.”

Joe flashed his smile. “You’ve got me—I’m right here.”

“Not in here, though.”

Ah.

“I could do that,” he said.

Liliana’s teeth abused her bottom lip in the sexiest way. “You should probably do that, then. Now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Her laughter colored up the bathroom as Joe stood, and quickly discarded what remained of his clothes. It never failed to amaze him how whenever he took off his clothes, Liliana couldn’t seem to drag her gaze away from him. Like she was seeing him for the first time all over again.

Maybe he liked it.

A lot.

“Why the sleeve?” she asked, reaching up to stroke bubble-covered fingers over the tattoos on his arm. “And only a few on the other side—the heart is my favorite.”

Joe glanced at the black outline of a simple heart on the inside of his left elbow. “I went and had my first tattoo done with my brother when I was seventeen, and he was sixteen.” He pointed at the eagle on the top of his left shoulder. “That one, actually. Cory has a slightly different version. Our mom kind of had a fit—too young, she said. Dad just shrugged it off like he does. And that was how it started for me, I guess. One tattoo led to another, and then another.”

“People do say it’s addicting.”

He shrugged. “I just don’t put them in visible locations. No need to be caught on camera with something recognizable, you know what I mean?”

Liliana said nothing; Joe figured she didn’t have to.

Stepping over the edge of the large bath, Joe sunk into the other side of the water. Across from him, Liliana lowered deep enough into the bubbles that only her head was sticking out. The water was so hot, steam had already fogged up the mirror. She had so many bubbles that with him inside the tub, they were starting to spill over. The heady scent of strawberries and cream clung in the air.