Chapter Four
Valentino
I swung into the driver’s seat of my jeep aware I was getting too obsessed when it came to Chantilly. I couldn’t blame Alessio for staring at her exposed flesh as she’d climbed into the jeep.
It wasn’t as if I’d looked the other way.
I fired up the engine, then accelerated onto the highway. Alessio might often be my driver when I was on an assignment, but he was still a hot-blooded Italian man.
That we often shared pussy no longer mattered. He knew now my hostage was off limits. He wouldn’t dare touch her, not unless he was willing to lose a hand and perhaps a testicle or two.
That my blood pulsed like lava through my veins while my dick was a crowbar in my pants was proof that Chantilly was a goddess. I’d need to fuck her as many times as it took to get her out of my system so that I could get on with my assignment.
Normally it was a privilege to get under the Irish don’s skin in any way possible. Sending bits of Tilly’s body parts to him should have made my day. Instead I was getting too personally involved in the woman Sean wanted. The woman I had to eliminate.
I expelled a harsh breath, then inhaled the briny air that infiltrated the jeep as I drove toward the coastline where my home sat on a sandy embankment facing the sea. A few mansions dotted the side of the road, their interior lights switched on to counteract the approaching night.
Then the long stretch of road and beach was all that could be seen. I’d bought the five mile frontage of beachside land when it’d been laughably cheap. It was my best investment to date. That it also safeguarded my privacy was priceless.
I bit back yet another sigh, my fingers clenching the jeep’s steering wheel. There was a good reason I’d never brought a woman here—let alone one who was my mark. Solitude was everything in my line of work, I knew better than to get close to a woman…to anyone.
“This is where you live?” she asked. When I didn’t answer, she bit her bottom lip and added in a small voice, “I guess me not being blindfolded can only mean one thing.”
My knuckles whitened. She clearly knew the methods of the mafia, had no doubt witnessed enough murders to know when hers was imminent.
I focused on the road ahead, on my land that centered me. Too bad it didn’t now. I experienced a disorientation that rattled me to my bones. I should have taken Chantilly elsewhere. This was hallowed ground. My sanctuary that allowed me to destress and reset.
She turned in the seat to face me. “What if Sean finds me here? I’m not sure you realize what kind of a monster he really is. He’d gladly torture then kill us both—“
“Let him try,” I interjected harshly.
Didn’t she realize I was the biggest monster of them all? I had more blood on my hands than Sean had had dinners.
She blinked. “Who the hell are you?”
Your worst nightmare.
I shrugged. “You’re better off not knowing.”
She slumped a little in her seat. “Better off before or after you kill me?”
I chose not to answer as I turned into the concrete driveway of my double-storied glass and steel home, where the heady, sweet scent of frangipani competed with the briny, salt air fluttering the fronds of a dozen palm trees. Then my garage door rolled up and I coasted the jeep inside before the door rolled back down behind us, blocking any further stimulus.
I killed the engine as automated downlights flicked on and shone brightly on the ground floor garage. I unclipped her seatbelt and then my own. “Allow me to take you on a tour of my home.”
She nodded stiffly before she pushed open her door and climbed out of my jeep, her skirt riding up and showing a glimpse of her ass. My mouth watered at the sudden visual I had of bending her over the hood of my jeep and exposing her bared pussy, then thrusting deep inside her from behind.
My breath hissed as my dick inflated to bursting-point. Son of a bitch. It was taking every bit of my willpower just to be in her vicinity without fucking her. But I knew the wait would be worth it. There was something to be said about denying what I wanted most before I took it.
I escorted her through the garage, nodding at inbuilt cupboards either side of my jeep. “There are enough explosives surrounding us to kill any number of enemies who’d be stupid enough to break and enter.”
She blinked at me. “Killing us too?”
I shook my head. “My home is reinforced, rock-solid. The explosions would barely shake the foundation, leaving us unscathed on the floor above.”
She rubbed her brow as I opened the single door of the garage that opened into the large, open ground floor area. Dropping her hand, she asked, “So you’re expecting trouble, then?”
I ushered her onto the blue-veined, polished concrete floor. She paused, her mouth opening at the lap pool in front of her, along with the workout area at one end, which included my home gym, a well-used boxing bag, a treadmill, weight bench, a couple of sets of dumbbells and a rowing machine.
She cleared her throat. “I see you like to keep fit.”
I nodded. “If someone wants to take me out, I won’t make it easy for them.”
“No amount of muscle will stop a bullet.”
“True. But I like to think my honed reflexes will see me fire the bullet first.” I twisted my lips at her in a parody of a smile. “It’s kept me alive this long.”
I clasped her elbow and drew her with me toward the internal, metal spiral staircase in the corner of the room. “Let me show you around upstairs.” She didn’t resist and I smiled as her heels rang out like castanets on the steps as she hurried in front of me.
I bit back a groan as her ass peeked out from her skirt like an invitation, her pussy ripe for the taking. If I didn’t take her soon I’d internally combust. I glanced a little higher, focusing on her long ponytail. I’d hold it while I fucked her hard, then I’d release it so that it spilled down her back while I spilled inside her.
I cleared my throat and resisted wiping off a bead of sweat from my brow. “If you want to be silent, I suggest going barefooted.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
I clasped her arm, stopping her on the top step while I was on the one below her. I was still half a head taller and had to bend to murmur close to her ear. “Just so you know, if you did dare to run from me, and I caught you, I can’t tell you what I might do with adrenaline from the hunt overtaking my logic.”
She glowered. “Intimidation doesn’t work well on me.”
“You think that was intimidation?” I cracked out a mocking laugh. “Sweetheart, you have a lot to learn.”
“Fuck. You,” she bit out, lifting a hand and swinging it toward my face.
I easily caught it, then pressed her palm against my huge erection. “You must have read my mind,” I said hoarsely. “But first, I believe I mentioned giving you a tour of my home.”
She snatched her hand free, then crossed her arms with her hands under her armpits. I smirked. Like that would keep her safe!
“I believe you did,” she finally conceded.
I took the last two steps and walked across the oak floorboards with her trailing cautiously behind. “No surprises up here,” I said, waving my hand to each section from right to left. “Open plan kitchen, dining and lounge room, and a balcony to capture the sea views.”
“I bet the views are incredible,” she said faintly.
I smiled. I had to give her props for dredging up interest in my home after my warning that probably still rang in her ears. “They are,” I conceded. I swept my hand toward the short hallway behind the dining room. “Down the hallway to the left is my master bedroom. My office is at the end. To the right are two guest bedrooms, each with their own bathroom.”
It’d been a stupid idea to have guest bedrooms when I never had visitors, but the mercenary side of me liked the idea of a hefty resale value if I ever decided to give up my dream home.
“Which guest bedroom will I be staying in?”
I snorted. Did she think she was here for a relaxing sojourn? “You’ll be staying in the master bedroom with me, Tilly, where I can keep you close at all times.”
I mightn’t have yet broken her body into little pieces, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t break her spirit. A part of me savored the idea.