Page 37 of Caruso (Vegas Mafia #3)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Taylor

N ow that I’ve stated my intention, I can breathe a little easier. As soon as Jason walked back to his friends, I hated how he left me. I don’t want to be like him. Hustling my way through life, feeding off a weaker person to better myself.

I am better than that, but all the time I’m the Caruso brother’s sex toy, I am kidding myself.

It’s best if I leave now before I fall any harder for these men.

They have given me so much, and one of the most important things is strength of character.

Confidence even and even if I only walk away with that, it’s the first brick in building a stronger foundation because I will not allow my past to define me. I’m better than that.

The fact I don’t want to leave is killing me inside. To lose them as fast as I found them isn’t sitting well with me. But I must cut free with a grateful smile, and telling Tommaso is the best way to make it a reality.

He doesn’t want me here; he will consider this a win and is the perfect brother to convince the others to let me go.

As soon as I delivered my speech, he fell silent, which I am grateful for, and for the next hour we sit with our thoughts for company until the car turns into a driveway under an arch that states grandly, ‘Freedom Ranch.’

“Is this it?” I ask, straining for a glimpse of their mountain home but seeing nothing in the distance.

“It is.”

His voice is gruff, which is usual, I guess.

“How long have you lived here?”

“We don’t live here. It’s a place to retreat to when the city suffocates our minds.”

“You own a home you hardly live in. That’s a bit of a waste, isn’t it?”

“It’s real estate, nothing more.”

“Giorgio may disagree with you on that.”

“Giorgio likes to play the cowboy. We hoped he’d grow out of it, but apparently he never will.”

I smile. “You should never let go of your childhood dreams, Tommaso; they are there reminding you that life was once yours for the taking.”

“What are your childhood dreams, Taylor?”

I shrug. “For a normal family like the ones on the shows on television. To skip home from school, where my mom was baking cookies and my father chopping wood in the yard. A bicycle on my birthday with a cake and candles. A pretty dress, grandparents, cousins and siblings. A family, I’m guessing, a happy home and hope for the future. ”

I sigh. “It’s a little sad to dream about something most people take for granted.”

I turn to him with curiosity.

“What was your dream, Tomasso?”

“To wake up from the nightmares, Taylor.”

His eyes darken, and I hitch my breath because it’s all there before me. A broken man struggling to deal with the life he was given.

I don’t get to question that as the car turns a corner and a huge ranch-style house appears like a mirage in a desert.

“Wow, is that your place?”

“It is.”

I stare wide-eyed at the gorgeous house that is way bigger than any ranch home I’ve ever seen. It’s completely built of wood, as natural as the terrain it sits on, and yet it’s not a house; it’s an estate.

“It’s huge!” I gasp as I stare open-mouthed at an experience.

Despite the rough terrain around it, the Freedom Ranch sits on landscaped grounds that are at odds with nature. We pull in through an arch into a courtyard where huge wooden doors lead inside.

“I can’t believe you don’t live here.”

I gasp as the door opens and Tommaso’s guard stands to attention, his eyes scanning the horizon, always on alert.

Tommaso grips my hand, and it reminds me of the magnetic pull I have toward these brothers. A shock of desire ripples through my entire body as he pulls me from the car, and I swallow hard.

Of all the brothers, Tommaso is an enigma.

A dark force, strong, deadly, unforgiving.

He hides his emotions and offers only threats.

A sleeping lion that could strike at any time.

Unlike Giorgio, who uses humor to disguise the fact he’s a psychopath behind his smile.

Matteo is all about business, a shrewd individual who takes no prisoners.

Tomasso is like a demon walking between them. Alert for danger, always ready to strike.

I have yet to figure him out, which is half of the attraction, and as he pulls me toward the open door, I take a deep breath, wondering what lies waiting for me inside.

As it happens, a whole lot of luxury on a grand scale.

Our first stop is a giant living area with a view of the mountains that takes my breath away.

One entire wall is glass, allowing nature inside.

Outside is a veranda with comfortable seating set facing the view.

Inside, the stone fireplace also offers a view through it to the landscape outside, and I can only imagine it lit in the harsh winter while the snow-capped mountains glisten in the winter sun.

Stone walls are bare with only a stag head and swords decorating them. Fur rugs align with throws on the battered brown leather couches, of which there are four. Wood, glass and stone are softened with fur, and the space itself in this one room is the largest I have ever seen.

“What do you think?”

Tommaso is studying my reaction carefully, and I gasp. “I love this place. If it were mine, I would live here and never leave.”

“Then don’t.” He shrugs as I stare at him in shock.

“Excuse me.”

“Don’t return to Vegas. Remain here and find the woman you have lost somewhere along the way.”

“But I would still be a kept woman for you all to use when you visit.”

My breath catches as I conclude that’s all I will ever be to them.

“You believe you have no value to us.” Tommaso sits on the edge of the couch, his forearms resting on his knees, leaning forward with a piercing gaze. In this room, in his presence, I feel so small and like the ragged girl from the trailer park I always was.

“You tell me.” I shrug, sighing as I glance around at a life I never actually realized people live.

“You think we only want you for sex.”

“Don’t you?” I arch my brow, and he leans back, my desire only increasing as I regard the rippling muscles that appear to move with the silk of his shirt.

“You are wrong.”

“Then what do you want?”

He cocks his head to one side and his gaze pierces my soul as he says gruffly, “We don’t want you, Taylor.”

My shoulders sag, and my spirit dies a little .

“Look at me.”

His strong voice tugs my gaze back to him, and the dark expression in his eyes warns of a storm approaching.

“We need you, Taylor, because the moment you lit a burning rag and set fire to the demon from your past, we all realized that you are the only one who can save us.”

I’m speechless. There are no words to answer that, and he stands, prowling toward me like a black panther.

“If I may ask you for a favor.”

“A favor? What can I possibly give you that you haven’t got already?”

“Your time. One month. Here in the mountains. Learn about us, this life, why we really need you to stay and if at the end of it you still want to leave, I will drive you, fly you and take you wherever you want to go. Set you up for life on your terms but know I will be doing everything in my power to make you want to stay with us.”

“Buy why? You could have anyone. I’m a nobody.”

He strikes like a viper and grips my face hard, forcing me to stare into his stormy eyes that drag me in like the fires of hell.

“You are everything , and the sooner you realize that the better. Be strong, Taylor, you are better than this, and I will not have you doubting your value.”

I’m even more surprised when he leans in and kisses me hard, a cruel kiss, one that’s meant to punish as he reminds me of his strength, his power over me.

Our tongues clash as he fills my mind, defeating me with one brutal kiss where words have failed. His hands grasp my head, tangling in my hair, holding me still so he can punish me some more.

Hard, brutal, soul-scorching.

When Tommaso Caruso strikes, its hard and deadly, and nothing registers other than him. He surrounds every part of me and owns my soul, and I never expected the storm he wreaks in his path as he tears through it, twisting it cruelly and leaving me panting and screaming for more.