BELLA ROSA

This is the city.

Murder and violence is all in a day’s work for Lieutenant Vincent Girardi. But there is something about this murder that doesn’t add up. When a piece of paper with an address written on it is found at the crime scene, Vince believes that perhaps this victim wasn’t the intended target.

Dr. Rowan Delaney is biding her time. In less than a week she will give testimony that will rid her of a painful past once and for all, and grant her and her two children the freedom she has been seeking for years. When Lieutenant Vincent Girardi and his partner show up at her door to question her about the murdered woman across the street, and then suggest that she may have been the intended target, she refuses all help or protection, intending to fulfill her obligation in front of the Grand Jury without interference from anyone—including the handsome cop darkening her doorstep.

But the Lieutenant has other plans. He is convinced the pretty doctor was the intended victim, and he is determined to find out why, starting with Rowan’s absentee husband, head of a notorious drug cartel. Vince is determined to see the woman and her children safe; Rowan is determined to start her life over—after her testimony.

Can Vince protect her without his feelings for her getting in the way? And can Rowan accept his care, along with a heavy dose of hubris and alpha dominance, without losing herself in the process?

And will their growing love be enough to save them from the evil that will not take no for an answer?

** THIS BOOK IS A ROMANCE/SUSPENSE THAT CONTAINS VIOLENCE AND EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT WITHIN A LOVING RELATIONSHIP, INCLUDING DOMINATION AND THE NON-CONSENSUAL SPANKING OF AN ADULT FEMALE **

“Ro, I don’t want to hold too tight. I don’t want to drive you away.” He saw the tears pop into her eyes like something had burst.

“Oh, sweetie...”

“No, let me finish. I want you to come to me. I want to give you what you need, and I don’t want my needs to overshadow yours. I need control, I need to protect you, I need to lead. I know I’m asking a lot.” He reached for his jacket and pulled out the box.

“I was saving this for another time – I didn’t know when – but it’s taken on new meaning for me now.” He handed the box to her.

She held the black velvet, five-by-seven-inch box in her hands, her mouth open, her eyes moist. She lifted the lid, the hinge creaking faintly. Vince watched her face as she took in the jeweled, drop Y-necklace, the silver-linked chain dotted with pink sapphires halfway up both sides. Another chain dropped down from that, also encrusted with white pave diamonds and pink sapphires coming together through the loop at the top of a paddle-shaped pendant. The focal point, a two-and-a-half carat pink sapphire, was surrounded by tiny pink and white Swarovsky crystals, dark pink around the sapphire, fading to light pink, and to white up the handle of the ‘paddle.’ The necklace was long; he wanted the sapphire to rest between her breasts.

“Oh, Vincent.” She took the necklace out of the box and held it up. It glimmered in the dim light of the room. His heart pounded. He wanted so much for her to love it, and he wanted her to accept it on the terms he’d decided on only a few moments ago. He cupped her hand and they held the piece up together.

“It’s simply stunning. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful. My God, it must have cost...”

“Shhhh. I won’t discuss that, nor is it your concern. I want you to take this from me as my commitment to you, that you come first.” He caressed her face. “Ro, I want you to put this on whenever you feel like offering your submission to me. I’ll take it as a sign you’re ready for me to lead, to take charge. It doesn’t have to be about sex, but I’ll expect at times it will be, and I’ll take you my own way then. But, to me, this means more than sex. I know what I need, but I’m not going to suck what I need out of you. I want it only if you’re willing to give it freely. Wear this and I’ll know you trust me enough to take care of you in all ways.”

“I’m overwhelmed,” she whispered, tears now streaming down her face. “You overwhelm me.”

“Please put it on me. I want to wear it right now.”

“Do you understand what I’m asking with this?”

“Yes. I’ll wear it to honor you, love.”

He smiled. “Damn,” he whispered. He kissed her deep, slow.
Vincent’s sensuous mouth was making her almost too week to stand. He held the necklace in his hand, the delicacy of the piece resting against his dark skin was almost as sensual as the piece itself. Rowan was spent with emotion. The gift, and the idea behind it, was beautiful, yet that description did not do it justice.

A symbol that gave him permission to be who he was, and that gave her permission to give herself to him, a gift she did not mind giving him, even when over his knee with her bottom bare.

“Gonna have you, babe. Gonna take you tonight, gonna own you. And I’ll put this on you when I’m ready. Understood?”

“Yes, honey. I understand.” She took a deep breath and settled into her role. She’d soaked her panties at his threat in the restaurant, and her body continued to betray her now. His voice, raspy and low when he went ‘Dom’ on her, had her almost convulsing. She was so ready for him. She wanted him so bad, yet it was not up to her tonight. Nothing was up to her tonight.

She sat on his bed in the cool room bathed in morning light, with a mug of coffee in her hands. The digital clock on his nightstand read 8:30.

            “Good morning,” she said.

            He blinked a few times, then squinted up at her. “Good morning. Are you okay?” His voice was deep with sleep and, she guessed, surprise.

            “Yes, fine.”

            “Good.” He quirked a brow. “Did you lose your way to the bathroom?”

            “No. I brought you coffee.” She set his cup down on the oak nightstand next to his bed.

            “I see.” His confusion was not waning. “Is that my shirt you’re wearing?”   
                   She looked down at the white oxford cloth shirt that clearly belonged to him. “Uh huh.”

            “And where did you get it?” he asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

            “The floor.”

            “My floor?” He reached for his coffee.

            “Uh huh,” she said, looking around. “You should pick up your things.”

            “Thank you, mom.” He sipped from the mug of steaming brew. “Where are your clothes?”

            “My room, probably.”

            “Then why are you wearing mine?”

            “I got cold.”

            “You got cold?”

            “Uh huh.”

            He scratched his head. “May I ask what you were wearing when you came in here?”

            “You may.”

            He chuckled. “Okay…what were you wearing when you came in here?”

            “Nothing.”

            “I see.” His mouth curled into a smirk that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “If you’re looking for trouble, Delaney, you’ve come to the right place.”           

            She smirked right back. “You go to church, Lieutenant?”

            He arched a brow. “No.”

            “Well, you’ve got a steeple growing under your sheets.”

            His eyes narrowed into slits, then darkened. A lock of hair fell over his forehead, and the dim light of the new morning played off the angles of his face, and off the ridges of his toned chest and arms. The sheet that covered him twitched periodically. A dark quilt lay on the floor at the foot of the bed. The furnace hummed as it came awake for the first time. The fire from last night and the masculine smell of a newly awake man invaded her senses. His full mouth invited her in—on the joke, for the kill, or for a kiss; she was not quite sure. She awoke determined to kick-start…something. She didn’t know what. She questioned now the wisdom of early-morning thinking.

            “What are you doing, Ro”

            “I—I brought you coffee.”

            He stared at her, and then his face changed. “You want me to fuck you, Delaney, because I can do that. I can pull you into this bed, part your sweet legs and split you in two, take you to a place you’ve never been before, and that’s a guarantee. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. If that’s what you’re after, then say the word, and I’m there. But, if you’ve come in here to toy with me, see how nuts you can make me, then sit back and smile because you’ve won your little power trip for the day, then we’re going to have a different discussion, and it’ll be one you won’t like.”

            Crimson heat shrouded her body. Her mouth dropped open, and she snapped it closed. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

            “Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s what you need.” A mixture of lust and fury etched his face. He sat up, his legs stretched out in front of him, his back ramrod straight. “You’ve been begging for a spanking since the day I met you. Maybe it’s time I gave it to you.”

            “I beg your…what?”

            His hand shot out and caught Rowan’s arm just above her elbow. Her eyes flew open in shock. She tried to pull away, her coffee sloshing in her free hand, hot liquid burning her knees and staining his shirt. He tightened his grip on her arm, and they locked eyes. A gamut of emotions raced through her brain, then took the usual detour south—anger, fear, embarrassment, lust; it was all there.

            “What, you’re taking umbrage now? You are not a teenager, and I am not a boy. You came in here looking for something, and now you’re going to get it. Either way you decide to roll is fine with me, but we’re going to roll. Now, decide.” He paused, piercing her with a stinging glare, lust and anger etched on his face. The notion she’d had that maybe not making the first move on a man like him had been the right notion, came crashing to reality at his words. “In here with me, or I’m going to turn you over my knee and blister your bare ass. I’m not playing. Time to put up or go over.”

            “You’re insane,” she said, her voice sounding hoarse and weak.

            “No, lady, I’m quite sane.” Then his voice dropped an octave and a few decibels. “One…two…”

Her heart stopped thumping and fell to her knees. It wasn’t as if she’d never imagined cozying up to him, because she had. He was so beautiful, especially now, with those blue eyes on her, so intense and intent on getting what he wanted. The man spoke his wants and needs as if they were a given, that to deny him this was something he probably couldn’t imagine. It was called hubris, and he had a ton of it. A man like him could be dangerous, yet she felt no danger from him. She knew that if she agreed to go with him, she would be in his bed by dark, and it would mean something to her. She felt like it would mean something to him, too, yet she had no way of knowing that.

“Val, I have to check my schedule. I’ll come if I can.” She holds the back of her hand against his smooth face. His hair has been freshly cut in a style she loves on him. The cream-colored sweater he wears over faded blue jeans is one of her favorite looks on him—casual, yet elegantly understated. His blue eyes pierce her with longing. God, how she loves this man. He is everything she ever dreamed she wanted. She smiles to herself at the notion of loving him this way, this much, a year ago when she was in Mexico and he’d been hired to rescue her. She didn’t care much for his macho, highhanded ways back then, but she has learned to appreciate most of his ways now. He is sexy and romantic and no-nonsense, and he loves her beyond reason, and she knows it. He had been hard on her during their short time together in Mexico, then after, as they settled into a life together. That has not changed much. She has had to reconcile herself to life with a man who sees nothing wrong with putting her over his knee for a spanking when he feels she needs it—and since their reconciliation in San Diego, at Basil and Genoveva’s wedding, he apparently feels she needs it often. Most of the time it is playful and sexy, but a couple of times the sessions have been anything but. He is protective and very clear about safety issues, given what he did for a living, and as his wife, as he so chauvinistically put it, she would place her safety and health at the top of her priorities, or she would suffer the consequences. She does not test him on safety issues, but she has defied him and played the shrew enough times to know what those actions cost.

A trip to Denver wouldn’t be so bad. She could sight-see in town, and meet up with him after his whateveritwas he was there to do. Spending time with him, no matter where or when, is what she enjoys most.

“Alright, babe?” she says. “I’ll come if I can.”

“Good enough.”

They talk little while they walk, preferring the gentle noises of the wind and the forest thawing to their own voices. They hear the noises of someone walking in the snow, and they turn in time to see Bas enter through a clump of trees.

“Val, I just got a call from Goldman...hi, D.”

“Hi, Bas.” She clings to Val’s arm while Basil speaks. Genoveva will arrive later this evening. Diana can’t wait to see her.

“Marquez is going to trial and they’re going to want testimony, especially from Diana.”

Val’s eyes turn black. “Diana…?” he turns to her. “Why?”

“Uh…” Bas catches the fear in Diana’s eyes. He has said too much.

“If you had no dealings with him, like I requested of you, then why do you need to testify?”

“Look, uh…” Bas begins again.

“Leave us,” Val says, never taking his eyes off Diana.

“Shit…” Bas mumbles. “Diana, I’m…”

“Leave us, please, Bas.”

She stands, now, arms crossed and defiant. She is a doctor, and she treats people. She does not have the luxury, like he does, of deciding who is worthy and who is not.

“I’m a doctor, Val…”

He holds up his hand. “No. We discussed this…”

“No, you discussed this!”

“And you agreed. I expressed my point of view about his man, and about this particular case, and I told you I did not want you involved, did I not?”

“You did, but…”

“And you promised me you would let this one go, let another renowned surgeon deal with him, and his ilk…is that not correct, jovencita?”

Uh oh.

“Did you, or did you not promise me you would pawn him off on someone else, so that I would not have to worry that one day we’d smell him again in our lives?”

He is furious. His hands are on his hips, his legs apart for balance, and he is so angry he is sputtering.

She looks down at her shoes.

“Diana?”

She shakes her head and looks around—anywhere but at him.

“Did you make me a promise, jovencita, then fail to keep it?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

He narrows his eyes. “I shall await your explanation.”

“How could I have promised you something I’d done already?”

“Mande?”

“I’d done the surgery already when you asked me not to. It was done.”

He stares at her for a long time before speaking again. “Then why didn’t you tell me that at the time?”

“I didn’t want to deal with you. You were so adamant that I not get involved…”

He speaks slowly now, his tone firm, his resolve set. “Yes, I was adamant, and for good reason.” He moves past her a few feet to a large bush dusted with snow. He snaps off a branch and turns to her. “So, you prefer, then, to deal with me now.” He pulls the small leaves off the green, smooth bough, thick as her middle finger on the end he held in his hand, and half the thickness at the other.

She shakes her head and backs away.

“Take your pants down.”

No. She shakes her head. No. No way.

“I said take your pants down. Now.”