Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Dimos
Around lunchtime, I poke my head out of my office and watch as Carley works away at her computer. I love the way she’s concentrating on the words on her screen, pen between her teeth, her left leg tucked under her body on her chair.
“You know, that posture will lead to back and neck problems,” I inform her. “But I’ll have no issue rubbing your sore muscles later. Stay the night with me again, Carley.”
She drops the pen from her mouth as her head snaps toward me, and she bites that bottom lip of hers the way she always does. It has my cock at attention in no time.
“I’m going to need you to stop doing that at times when I can’t act on my desires, théa.”
When a look of confusion appears on her pretty face, I explain.
“When you bite your lip like that, it makes my dick hard.” I feel my nostrils flare as she immediately releases her bottom lip from the clutches of her pearly white teeth.
“Sorry,” she smiles, but her smirk tells me she isn’t fully apologetic.
And I’m glad.
It means that girl from Greece I spent all weekend luring out of her hasn’t retreated back into the confines of her mind.
“What are you in the mood for?”
I realize immediately I didn’t phrase my question the way I’d intended to. I can see the desire pool in her eyes as she silently tells me exactly what she’s in the mood for at the moment.
“For lunch, you horny lech,” my half smile crinkles the corner of my eye.
She recovers quickly, too quickly.
“I knew what you meant,” she winks. “I don’t know. I’ve kind of been craving Asian food ever since our dinner was disrupted by your predilection for hunting your prey last Thursday night.
I wipe a hand down my face, recalling chasing her around my penthouse.
“Yes, a game I’m looking forward to playing again very soon. Asian it is. Anything in particular?”
“You know what I like.”
With that, she goes back to biting her lip, and I have to remind myself we’re in view of the lobby camera.
My eyes bore into hers before I pivot and stalk back into my office.
Grabbing my phone from my desktop, I see a missed call notification flashing on my screen, and it’s like a splash of ice-cold water on my libido.
Emma. What the hell does she want?
I don’t have anything to say to her, and my alimony checks arrive on time. There’s no reason why she should be calling.
I clear the notification and check my voicemail, but she hasn’t left a message. Maybe she called by accident?
Wishful thinking.
I take a deep breath and try to forget I had a missed call in the first place before she completely ruins my day.
I pull up the app for the food delivery service I usually use, then I order the same two items we got on Thursday night, drunken noodles and pho. She never did get to sample a taste.
I was too busy tasting her.
* * *
We enjoyed a pleasant lunch with one another. Carley finally got to sample my pho, which she loved. The delightful sound she made the moment the broth hit her taste buds had me ready to pounce. Just as we finish cleaning up, I hear the elevator signal the arrival of someone on our floor.
“Damn,” I exclaim. “Who the hell is that, interrupting us before I’ve gotten my dessert?”
I cock an eyebrow at her and she gets my meaning immediately.
“Perhaps we can have dessert after you chase whoever that is away?” she suggests, and I would like nothing more.
We head out to the lobby, and I see the young man from the mailroom halfway across the large space as I approach the trash can. I cast a sideways glance at him as he places the mail on the ledge of Carley’s desk.
“Hey, Carley,” he smiles at her, and it makes me want to rip his throat out.
“Hi, Sid, how are you today?”
She regards him sweetly and casually looks over at me. I know the moment she notices my reaction because the smile melts off her face. Without missing a beat, she turns her attention back to Sid and picks up the stack of mail he left.
“Good, thanks. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
“You too,” she offers as she takes her seat.
I don’t move until Sid is back in the elevator and out of sight.
“A friend of yours?” I inquire.
“No, not really.”
Carley grabs her water bottle from her desk and takes a sip.
“Why? You jealous?” she challenges when she’s finished drinking.
Balling my hand into a fist, I squeeze it tightly as the need to claim her begins to take over.
She smiles from ear-to-ear as she flips through the stack of envelopes that was delivered.
The skin on her forehead puckers as she regards one in particular.
She opens the envelope carefully as I get closer to her desk.
As she pulls the letter out and unfolds it, I notice bold lines shining through the other side of the paper, illuminated by the light overhead. Her eyes grow wide, and she turns white as a ghost which causes me to quicken my pace.
“What’s wrong? What is that?”
She doesn’t answer me, and she doesn’t hand it over, either. She just sits there, trembling, frozen in fear. Tearing it from her hands, I read the note written in scraggly handwriting:
I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN
“What the fuck?” I pick up the envelope from Carley’s desk to inspect it.
There’s nothing identifying where it came from. It’s blank, other than her name. No stamp, no return address at all, which means someone must have delivered it to the building by hand.
“Fuck.” I drop to my knees in front of Carley and force her eyes on mine. “You’re okay, théa. No one is going to set foot near you while I’m around. Do you understand?”
She barely nods.
I take a deep breath.
“I’m going to go down to the mailroom and see if I can find out where this came from.”
“N—no, no. Don’t leave me here, D. Please.” The terror in her voice absolutely crushes me.
“Okay, okay. I won’t leave you. Here, come into my office with me. I’ll call down there instead. Okay?”
As a lone tear crawls down her cheek, she gives me a weak nod. Helping her out of her chair, I wrap my arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her as we walk. I direct her toward the sofa in my office, and she takes a seat. Removing her shoes, she tucks her legs underneath her.
I place the letter on the table before walking to my desk to make the call. Grabbing the receiver of my phone, I punch in the extension to the mailroom. After four rings, someone finally picks up on the other end.
“Mailroom.”
“This is Dimos Anastos. Who am I speaking to?”
My eyes stay locked on Carley as I speak. I’m absolutely furious this asshole is contacting her again.
“This is Ray. I’m the manager.”
“Ray, Sid just delivered a stack of mail to my assistant. In it was a letter addressed to her. I need to know who it came from.”
“Uh, sure … just one second while I grab the log.”
Carley finally looks up at me, and I offer her a slight smile while I wait.
“Okay, got it. What is her name?”
“Carley Garrettson.”
“It says here it’s from Rapid Flyers Courier Service, but that’s it. No other information was provided.”
Fuck.
“Does it say the date and time it came in?”
“Yeah, this morning at seven after ten.”
“Thanks, Ray.”
“You got it.”
I place the phone back on the receiver and think. I need to get a hold of the courier company and find out if they have a record of who dropped the letter off to them.
“Carley, how long was your order of protection good for?”
“Only for one year. It expired while he was in jail.”
Damn it.
“Okay, let’s do this. Why don’t you call Saylor and have her bring you some work clothes for tomorrow? I’d like for you to stay the night tonight. Actually, invite her to stay for dinner. Ren will be there, too.”
When she looks at me with confusion, I explain why.
“I hired him to install a security system for the penthouse. He’s coming over tonight to begin installation.”
“Oh. Okay, good,” she agrees, but when she doesn’t move, I approach her.
Sitting on the sofa I wrap her in my arms, and she begins to sob.
“I thought this was all over and done with.”
“I know, théa.”
“No, no you don’t,” she sits up straight and backs away from me so she can look me right in the eyes. “If Saylor hadn’t stopped him … if she hadn’t come home at that moment …”
Large, terrified tears leak from her eyelids, and it’s tearing me apart.
She told me he didn’t hurt her. But I had no idea he’d attempted to or that he was damn near successful.
I pull her to me again and wrap her in my arms. Rubbing soothing circles over her back, I repeat the same words to her that I told her on Friday night.
“You’re safe with me, théa. I’ll never let anything happen to you.”
The moment I get Carley back into the safety of my penthouse, I’m putting out a call to my PI. I want to know every last detail about this motherfucker. I want to know when he got out of jail and what he’s been up to since. I want to know where he lives, where he hangs out, who he talks to.
Everyfuckingthing.
And then I’m going to find him, and I’m going kill him.