Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Istraighten when I hear the doorknob turn. I’ve been waiting here for what seems like hours. I was beginning to think she wasn’t coming home. I would have found her wherever she went if she didn’t show up, though.
“You know, one of these days I might set a booby trap on my door,” she says, appearing in the living room. Her bag drops to the floor. Her hair is damp, her face free of makeup. She showered. Why?
“Where have you been, Lailani?” I ask her without moving from the sofa. I don’t want to touch her. Yet. If I do, I’ll forget about the questions currently running through my mind. Like whose fucking shower she’s just stepped out of…
“I was out, remember? You saw me,” she says. “Are you okay?”
“Where did you go when you left the club?” I press. “Because I came straight here, and it’s been hours. So, where have you been?”
Her gaze drops to the floor, and she sinks in on herself. Shit. I need to remember she’s not used to my world. The last thing I want is for her to be afraid of me.
“I went to a hotel room, at Paris. I was… I was going to stay there because I didn’t want to see you,” she says quietly.
“You didn’t want to see me?” I parrot. Well, fuck, that’s not what I was expecting.
Lailani shakes her head without looking at me. Then she turns towards the kitchen. “Do you want a drink?”
“Why didn’t you want to see me?” I stand and follow her.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I changed my mind,” she tells me.
“It matters to me,” I say. “Why, Lailani? I can’t fix it, or make sure whatever I did to push you away doesn’t happen again if I don’t know what I did.”
“It’s not you.” She sighs. “It’s me.”
As much as I try not to laugh, I can’t stop myself. “Okay, then what’s wrong with you that made you not want to see me?”
“Why? So you can fix me? Some things can’t be fixed, Sammie.”
“Everything can be fixed, babe,” I tell her. Because like fuck I can’t fix something.
“I was jealous, okay? And I didn’t like it or know what to do with it,” she finally admits, her eyes lifting upwards and connecting with mine. “I’ve never been jealous before.”
I blink, not sure how to reply to that. “What were you jealous about?”
“When I saw a woman with you, I didn’t like it and it’s not my place not to like it. I have no right to be jealous. I know that, and I’m working on it so you don’t need to worry. It doesn’t change anything,” she says.
It doesn’t change anything? Like fuck, it doesn’t change anything. It changes everything.
I smile. I’m not stupid. I know this girl likes me a lot more than she wants to let herself like me. I get she wants to keep whatever we have under wraps. For now. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want more. I don’t know why she won’t allow herself to go for more. I’ll find out, though.
Then again, the only way I can keep her safe from my world is to keep her a secret. Make sure no one finds out just how much I fucking enjoy spending time with her.
“I like that you got jealous,” I say. “It’s a good thing.”
She shakes her head. “No, it’s not.”
“Although, she really was my mother. You don’t have anything to be jealous about,” I assure her.
“She’s beautiful,” Lailani says.
“On the outside,” I add. My mother is beautiful on the surface. Dig any deeper and that’s when you find the ugly.
“Does she live here? In Vegas?”
“She has a house a couple of hours away. She usually only shows up when she runs out of funds,” I confess. Why the fuck am I spilling all this shit to her?
“Where is she now?”
I run a hand through my hair. “Emmanuel took her home to his place for the night.”
“Why? I mean, if she doesn’t come to town often, shouldn’t you spend time with her? You didn’t send her with your friend so you could come here, did you?”
“The last thing I want to do is spend time with my mother. I came here because I wanted to see you. You are the only person I want to spend my night with.”
“You don’t like your mother?” Lailani looks at me skeptically.
“I like you more,” I tell her, which is true.
I love my mother in a she’s my mother and the only one I have kind of way. I’d never turn my back on her completely. But I’m not blinded by her either. She’s batshit fucking crazy—the kind of crazy I don’t want in my life on the regular.
“Do you get along with your parents?” I counter, realizing I’ve never asked Lailani about her family and that she’s never mentioned them.
“My mom died when I was young. My dad raised me alone. I get along with him okay.” She shrugs.
“I’m sorry. Do you have siblings?”
“No. Just me.” She smiles. “Do you have any siblings?”
“I have Louie, Carlo, and Emmanuel,” I tell her. “They’ve always been like brothers to me.”
“That must be nice,” she says.
Vibrations pull my attention away from Lailani’s face to my phone screen.
Carlo:
Sammie, I need to find a babysitter, someone trustworthy. Someone already on payroll would be preferred.
Louie:
Bring my niece to me if you need to go out.
Carlo:
You’re likely to be with me, idiot. I can’t take a six-year-old to meetings or to the warehouse.
Louie:
Charlotte will watch her.
Carlo:
I think I need a more permanent solution.
Emmanuel:
Sammie knows a nice girl.
“Fucker,” I curse out loud.
Carlo:
Who?
Louie:
Who?
“What’s wrong?” Lailani’s voice has me looking up at her. She is a nice girl, and I trust her.
“How would you feel about a new role? Within the company?” I ask.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you like kids?” I say, instead of answering her. “I mean, Carlo has a daughter. You know that already. He needs someone to watch her, occasionally. Someone we trust.”
“You trust me?” An almost-pained expression crosses Lailani’s face for a split second and then it’s gone.
“I do,” I tell her.
“Okay. I mean, if Carlo is okay with it, I can babysit for him,” she says.
Me:
I’ll bring her around. When do you need her?
Louie:
Tomorrow night. We have a meeting with Joey Mancini.
“You start tomorrow night,” I repeat aloud while pocketing my phone. “She’s a great kid.”
“Cool.” Lailani nods.
“You going to drink that?” I nod to the glass of water she placed in front of herself and hasn’t touched.
“I think I want you to take me to bed,” she says, a blush creeping up her cheeks.
“That I can do.” I walk around the counter, stopping in front of her.
I cup Lailani’s face in both of my hands, lean forward, and press my lips to hers. Pushing my tongue into her mouth as my hands move over her shoulders, down her arms, and then around her back. They don’t stop until my palms reach her ass. I pick her up and her legs wrap around my waist.
“I’ve been waiting to do that all fucking night,” I groan.
“Kiss me?”
“Yes.” I fuse my mouth with hers again, and I don’t stop kissing her as I walk us into her bedroom. Where I lower Lailani onto the bed before covering her body with my own.
I roll over and pull her on top of me. Lailani sits up, her hands on my chest, and then she’s undoing the buttons of my shirt.
“You know, you could have kissed me when I first walked in. We could have gotten to the fun part a lot sooner,” she says.
“And never find out just how much you like me? I’m glad we talked.” I reach for the hem of her blouse and raise it over her head. She lifts her arms up, assisting me.
“You knew I liked you already. I don’t sleep with people I don’t like, Sammie.” She smiles.
“You don’t sleep with anyone but me, babe,” I correct her.
“Well, it would be hard to bring another man home when you’re constantly breaking into my apartment. I don’t need that kind of awkwardness in my life.” She laughs.
“Awkwardness? I’d fucking kill him,” I tell her. Because I fucking would, without hesitation.
“Don’t kill people over me, Sammie,” she says, staring at my chest as she continues to unbutton my shirt.
“I can’t promise you that,” I admit. She needs to know who I am. “You’re not stupid, Lailani. I know you’ve heard the rumors. About who we are.” Holding her face in my hands, I make her eyes meet mine.
“I’ve heard,” she whispers.
“I will never hurt you. I can promise you that,” I tell her. “But if anyone fucks with what’s mine, all bets are off, babe. I will fucking kill them.”
“When did I become yours?” she asks me.
“The day I saw you.” I smile up at her.
“Does that mean you’re mine?”
“It does.” Fuck, I am hers. I haven’t thought about being with anyone but her. I don’t want to be with anyone but her. I’m completely gone for this woman, and she has no idea the power she has in her hands.
“So, I can kill for you too then,” she says. “If someone hurts you.”
“You’re not a killer. We’ve discussed this already.” I pull her down, capturing her mouth before she can argue with me.
This girl is so fucking pure, so fucking innocent. I won’t let her taint her perfect soul for me.