5. Thirty-One
Thirty-One
AMARA
I spent my entire day in and out of meetings. By the time I arrived home, all I wanted to do was kick my heels across the room and sip a crisp wine.
Bella greeted me in the kitchen. “You’re home so late. You’ve been working a lot, Ms. Amato.”
I managed a smile. “It’s part of my responsibilities.”
The sun had started to set.
“Can I bring you a cocktail?” she asked.
“Yes. Wine in the pool courtyard, please.”
“I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
I changed into a swimsuit. It was a red one-piece with a deep V that stopped just below my navel. The sides had been strategically cut away. I was hot, and I thought about swimming laps tonight .
I emerged on the pool deck, followed by Bella. She brought a wine chiller as well as a cheese plate.
“Just in case you get hungry.”
“Thank you.”
I made sure the volume on my phone was turned up. I didn’t want to miss any calls from the office. I ran things differently than my father. I didn’t need a stuffy bar or office to handle business. I could do it from the places that made me the happiest and the most relaxed. The men in this city had been holding on to the old ways far too long.
I tasted the wine and leaned back, staring up at a starry sky. This was the way to work.
“Carpe noctem?” The growl invaded my ears and rattled my spine. “Your company is carpe fucking noctem? I still can’t believe it. I’ve heard it. Read it. Seen the doc, and I still don’t believe it.”
I almost shattered the glass at the sound of his voice. My eyes opened. Luka towered over me.
“How did you get in here?” I gasped.
Luka grinned wickedly. “I just told them who I was at the front door. I was even given condolences by your butler. Seems my father used to pay you visits here. They knew him, Amara.”
“You should go.” I swung my legs around, but Luka was there, blocking them. His solid body, an obstacle to any movement I made.
All I could think about was this moment five years ago. Here. Him chasing me down. Kissing my lips. Pulling me into the cabin and taking everything I gave him between my thighs. My skin flushed at the thought. His tongue had been wild and dangerous, dragging one orgasm after the next from my core.
“I’ll call Ciro,” I warned.
He huffed. “I’m surprised about a lot of things since I’ve been back. Keeping him on your payroll is at the top of my list. I thought you hated him.”
“You don’t have the right to judge anything I’ve done while you’ve been gone,” I snapped. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. You don’t know what happened.”
“Is that your excuse for decimating the families here?”
I should have expected this from him. The fury. The anger. But God, the waves of power wafting off his body were a turn-on. I had to look down at the tiles and not look into the dark depths of his eyes. I wasn’t the young girl who made those mistakes anymore.
“I brought Philly to New Orleans. There is nothing wrong with what I’ve done. You don’t like it because you left.”
His jaw hardened. “I was occupied with other parts of my family’s organization.”
I’d wanted to know all this time what he did. Where he had gone. Once I had run into Katya and she told me he was running their family’s vineyard in France. I had been desperate enough to search for details on the champagnes and wines. I wanted any piece of him I could get my fingers on. Maybe that was why I had taken so much that belonged to the Novikovs. I wanted him. I wanted to own him the way he had taken me, but with him standing before me, I knew it was impossible to ever control this man .
My body reacted to him like no one else. He had claimed me, and I had always been his. Running the city wouldn’t change that. I didn’t know how long I could keep the charade up before I melted into him.
I had to try. He had left me. Abandoned me. I had to shield myself from that earth-shattering heartbreak again. Because if I let Luka back in, I knew he would destroy me all over again.