Chapter Three
Chantilly
What the hell had just happened?
I’d been about to enjoy a one night stand when the barbarian—Valentino—I’d been fantasizing about had appeared inside my bedroom, threatening William with a gun. That William had run off without even attempting to protect me hadn’t really surprised me.
He wasn’t like the men I’d escaped from.
Valentino was everything like those men. He took what he wanted without regrets. My stomach contracted. I didn’t doubt he killed in the exact same manner.
I exhaled wearily. I also didn’t doubt he was a hitman who’d been sent here to return me to Sean. That Sean hadn’t used his trusted enforcer was a mystery I couldn’t unravel. Was he injured or dead? It wasn’t uncommon for the mafia or their rivals to make someone disappear, but the risk multiplied as an enforcer.
Valentino returned then, his expression unreadable. “Pack a bag. We’re leaving.”
Nausea swirled and made my throat thick. I’d been planning to leave, but not with him. And I certainly hadn’t planned on returning to Sean. “Where are we going?” I asked, anything to put off the inevitable.
“You’ll see,” he grunted.
I climbed off my bed and stalked to my closet, aware of his eyes on me. Did he like what he saw? My pulse surged, beating like a drum in my ears. Of course he did. I hadn’t yet met a woman-loving-man who didn’t appreciate my form. It was why Sean had taken me away from my family with nothing more than a wad of cash to quiet their outraged cries.
Could I use this man’s attraction to my advantage?
I snorted. He wasn’t stupid. He’d know my ploy. But whether he’d enjoy using me for a few days first was another matter, days in which I might genuinely have a chance to escape again.
I dressed into a white mini-skirt that barely covered my ass and a silver crop top that showed off my midriff, before I stuck my feet into heels. I didn’t bother with underwear. If there was even a smidgen of a possibility to seduce him and sway his mindset, then I’d do everything I could to improve my chances.
No doubt he was getting paid a whole lot of cash to return me. But what if he preferred a whole lot of pleasure? Sex might be something he’d get on a regular basis, but was he bored by it all? Passion was fleeting, but his fascination with me was strong.
If I could hold the attention of Sean for over five years, maybe I could prolong this man’s interest too?
Suddenly he was behind me, his big body pressing against mine as he reached the top of the closet to drag down a bag. “You’d best hurry,” he advised. “William might not be who you think he is.”
I stiffened. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I think you know exactly what it means,” he said. “He wouldn’t be the first man lured to a life of wealth, women and drugs at the expense of someone else’s fate.”
I inhaled sharply. “You think he’s an associate of Sean’s?”
“Why don’t we hang around for a few minutes and find out?” he said harshly. “I’m sure a gun fight should be proof enough.”
I didn’t waste any more time. I threw clothes into the bag along with my purse. Though it held no identification inside, nothing to link me to my past life with Sean, it did have some cash. It’d be handy if—when—I managed to escape again.
Minutes later I was led through the rear of the apartment block’s tiny back yard, my bag slung over Valentino’s shoulder. At the shadowed picket fence, Valentino threw the bag over, then hoisted me next before he effortlessly catapulted after me and re-secured the bag.
A dog barked somewhere behind us, a muffled shout then filling the air. It wasn’t until a gunshot cracked like a whip that I froze, my lungs incapable of drawing breath while my overstimulated brain imagined every future horrific thing happening to me possible.
“Look at me,” Valentino said harshly. I did as he asked, his dark eyes then holding mine in the near-darkness. “You need to focus more than ever now.” At my jerky nod he took my hand in his, lending me untold strength. “Let’s go.”
I followed him down a laneway that reeked of piss and mold. Old buildings loomed either side of us as we skirted bits of garbage and straggling grass sprouting through cracks in the asphalt. Only once we’d stepped off the laneway and turned right onto a concrete pathway did I notice a black sedan parked ahead.
It’d been a few minutes at most, but it was enough time for me to wrangle my emotions back into some semblance of order, my fear becoming nothing more than a fleeting reaction as calm settled over me.
A man in a suit climbed out of the driver’s seat to open the back passenger door for us. His eyes widened momentarily at seeing me before his face settled into its previously impassive expression, Valentino nodding at him before ushering me inside.
I sat back against the new leather, my nostrils flaring at the luxurious scent that’d once been so familiar to me. The mafia enjoyed the latest and best in luxury cars. Wealth and prestige was a statement, a finger to the outside world, reminding others no one could touch them.
I shuffled across the backseat as Valentino slid in beside me before I asked, “So you’re not here doing Sean’s bidding?”
Valentino’s dark eyes crinkled. “No, quite the contrary.”
I frowned. What exactly did he mean by that? My skin prickled and my stomach churned, my senses going into overdrive as I suddenly comprehended I’d escaped from one dark lair only to be trapped in another.
“Relax,” Valentino murmured as the driver pulled the sedan out onto the road. “You’re safe.”
For now.
He didn’t need to utter those two words for me to be aware of them. I only wish I knew what he wanted from me. Really wanted. The attraction between us might keep me alive for a short time, but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe he’d pull out all stops to keep me that way once he’d had enough of me.
“Come here,” he ordered.
I turned my head to glare. “I’m not your puppet.”
He reached out and curled a hand around the back of my neck, his palm warm and his fingers rigid. It’d take little effort for him to increase the pressure, then wrench my neck and break it.
“I’m keeping you alive,” he reminded softly. “If you want to stay that way you’ll do everything I say.”
I was suddenly breathless; my heart banging against my ribs as something between longing and fear all but overcame me. He smiled as he lowered his head, his lips brushing across mine and his beard scraping my jaw.
“Now spread your legs for me,” he commanded, his minty, dark spiced breath tickling my face.
I fidgeted in my seat and closed my eyes with an unsteady sigh. Was he really going to do this—with his driver aware of everything? But of course he was, this kind of practice would be commonplace to men like him.
I should know.
Then I heard a whirr and I opened my eyes to a dark glass divider sliding down, giving us complete privacy.
“Now, Chantilly.”
Valentino spoke my name with such dominant authority that my legs parted almost on their own volition, inviting his touch. My bare pussy beneath reminded me that I’d wanted to seduce him. That he’d turned it around and was seducing me instead hadn’t factored into my plans.
I wanted to be in charge of my destiny, but he was quickly taking that away—
I jumped as his fingertips brushed along my seam, his thumb then pressing down on my clit. I moaned, then swallowed convulsively at the heat blasting through my nerve endings.
I hadn’t even been half this aroused when William had touched my body. So why was I so attracted to this man? Was it because he screamed danger like the men I’d grown used to? Had William been just too ordinary for me?
Did I crave the dark rush that someone like Valentino gave me?
He rotated my bundle of nerves and I writhed beneath his deft touch, wetness flooding my core and my flashes fluttering closed.
Yes, I most definitely did.
“Look at me, Tilly,” he commanded.
Tilly? But I was too overcome by his sexual prowess to think on the shortened name he’d given me, one that sounded so perfectly right on his lips. I opened my eyes, his stare holding mine, penetrating into them as though he was reading my every thought, my every desire.
“I’ll give you the orgasm you crave if you promise me you won’t try to escape.”
Was he kidding? I would have jumped off a cliff if he’d asked, anything for the release I so desperately needed. He stopped massaging, his hand instead cupping my sex while he waiting for my compliance.
I swallowed hard. “Yes,” I whispered. In that moment I meant every word.
His smile was filled with hard satisfaction. “Good answer.”
Then he slid a finger deep inside me while his thumb mercilessly rubbed my plump clit with a skill that took my breath away. Seconds later I was convulsing with orgasm, my short, sharp scream turning into a whimper as he withdrew his hand then sucked my taste off his fingers.
I might have orgasmed all over again.
“Next time I’ll be sticking my tongue inside you and sucking your clit before you orgasm.” His eyes turned heated and intense. “Before you suck me in return.”
Sean had requested that from me too, except he’d rarely bothered pleasuring me first. His pleasure had always been of the utmost priority. I’d secretly hated blowing him. So why did I get the feeling I’d enjoy doing it to Valentino?
The car slowed then and I looked out the side window to see the driver was pulling off the road to park beside a black jeep. We were outside of town, with nothing but trees and shrubs and spreading darkness.
The driver climbed out and opened our door. When Valentino climbed out, I had no choice but to follow him—no doubt leaving a wet spot on the seat behind me—my heels sinking into the sandy ground. Fresh air tinged with a lemon and eucalyptus scent fluttered my hair, and I touched my ponytail, surprised to find it was still mostly tied back.
I glanced at Valentino, almost flinching to find his gaze already on me.
His smile was twisted, his eyes full of promise. “I’ll release your hair…later,” he said huskily.
I glared, though my womb clenched at what else he’d likely be doing to me. “Perhaps you’ll release all of me?”
His bark of laughter made my nipples pucker, my ears feasting on the sound. He shook his head. “That won’t be happening.” He gestured to the jeep, his driver standing beside the now opened front passenger door. “Get in.”
I lifted my chin, my eyes burning with challenge. But if I was hoping for some kind of give from him, there was none forthcoming. Valentino was about as stoic and unyielding as a person could get. “Fine,” I muttered, turning then to climb into the jeep.
The strangled snort of the driver made me aware I’d flashed him even before Valentino pushed the door shut with a loud crack behind me. I looked straight ahead as I clicked on my seatbelt, my peripheral vision noting him getting up close to the driver to say something in his ear.
I was learning Valentino could get a little territorial. Clearly the possessive gene ran strong in the mafia men, it didn’t seem to matter whether they were Italian or Irish.
Or maybe it was just me? Powerful men seemed to want me, to own me. Whether I liked it or not didn’t matter.
I despised Sean, I didn’t need a master’s degree to know I’d hate Valentino just as intensely.
The two men might as well be peas from the same pod.