Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Remi
Strong arms band around me, and I’m being pulled to the surface. Maks rips off the tape from my mouth, and I cough violently, my nose burning from the water.
“Your training just got a hell of a lot more intense,” he promises, towing me to the river’s bank, where I’m not so delicately dropped onto the patchy grass. “Where’s the phone?”
“It’s in my cape pocket,” I say between coughs, and he fumbles in my pocket, grabbing it. “Please tell me it didn’t get ruined!”
He doesn’t answer, popping open the case, and water pours from it.
“No!” I cry.
“Let’s go.”
“Uh, a little help here.”
He curses, squatting down and retrieving a knife from his ankle. He cuts the zip ties, and gives me a hand up.
I try my best to keep up with him, but my best isn’t fast enough for Maks. He takes my hand, practically dragging me up the hill, and flings me into the passenger seat of the Calvani Seafood truck. He goes to the back of the truck and disappears inside, reappearing a moment later.
“Our guy’s working on saving the phone.”
“I’ve lifted the damn thing twice now! I can’t help it if my security sucks.”
“You’re right.” He tosses a towel at me. “I’m a dead man.” It’s said so quietly I almost didn’t catch it.
Angelo
“We have two men down in the garage. I’ve sent in a cleanup team. There was an incident with Cannon?—”
“Mr. Calvani, I said, there are rumors of tension between you and the mayor?—”
I walk off mid-interview, Nic and my additional security trailing along. “Where. Is. She?” With the enunciation of each word, my blood pressure rises.
“With me, boss. There was an incident; she went into the water?—”
“What?” I shout, the noise lost to the sound of the jazz band now.
“I’m taking Cannon to the apartment.”
“Angelo, there you are.” Laurie appears, grabbing my wrist.
“Not now,” I say between my teeth.
“I heard you were at the hospital asking about Mini Mardi Gras. There was some miscommunication; everything’s being delivered as we speak. If you come tomorrow, you’ll see all the hard work we’ve put into it.”
Shaking out of her hold, I bull my way through the crowd. My convoy pulls up, and I hustle inside the vehicle.
“Tell me everything, like your life depends on it,” I warn Maks, because it does, but he’s too far out of range.
“Take me to my apartment,” I command the driver.
I feel out of control, which is the ultimate four-letter word for me.
Remi
Maks and I enter the apartment, and before I can even change out of my wet getup, he shoves the video game console into my hands.
“At least let me shower first,” I protest.
“You want that feeling of being bound and helpless, sinking to the river’s bottom, to be permanently seared into your psyche, so much so that it’s the first thing you think of when you wake up, and the last thing you think of when you go to sleep?
You want this terror to sneak up on you, attacking you at the most random of times?
Never feeling safe in the present moment because mentally, you’re still drowning? ”
“Are we still talking about me?” I whisper.
“Play.”
I don’t argue, sitting my wet behind down on the couch and moving blocks into formation on the little screen.
Twenty minutes of focus, and the timer buzzes .
I toss the device and go take a quick shower.
Giving my hair a quick wash, Mak’s words replay in my mind.
Maybe Alessandra’s right: there is method to his madness.
Because instead of thinking about what just happened to me, I’m now wondering what happened to him.
Whatever it was, it sounds really freaking bad.
Still hate him just a teensy weensy bit though.
Stepping out of the shower, I quickly dry off and throw on some clothes, joining Maks in the kitchen.
He silently hands me a mug, and I blow on the steam before taking a sip of the hot chocolate. “It would only be fair that, since you saved my life, I save yours when Angelo gets here. I prefer itty bitty marshmallows in my hot chocolate, and next time, I want homemade,” I poke him.
He looks at me with cold eyes. “I refuse to be indebted to a grifter.”
“Both ‘pickpocket’ and ‘grifter’ are old news,” I inform him. “Was your IT guy able to save the phone?”
“Yes.”
“Yes!” I grin from ear to ear. “Go ahead and say it. I’m as good as I think I am.”
“He’s still working to get inside the phone,” Maks warns me.
“You’re as good as you think you are, Remi,” I prompt him.
He crosses his arms.
“Why was I unpolitely kidnapped and then tossed in the river?” I try.
He snorts. “English isn’t my first language, but I’m fairly certain ‘unpolitely’ isn’t a word.”
“Why?” I press him.
“They thought you were Al,” he confirms.
“I get that much, but why did they want her?” I ask.
“That’s the question.”
Angelo bursts through the door, his eyes landing on me. “You’re alright?”
I set my mug down, crossing the room and wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’m okay.”
He releases a shaky breath, kissing the top of my head.
“Ahhh!” I squeal when he jerks me to the side, pulling a gun out and pointing it at Maks’ head. “Angelo, wait. Maks saved my life?—”
“Your life shouldn’t have been in jeopardy to begin with.”
“They took me, thinking I was your sister,” I tell him, looking between him and an unblinking Maks.
“What?” Angelo lowers his gun.
“I’ve already called ahead; Al and Nola are in the panic room until given the green light,” Maks says.
Now’s not the time to ask, but I really hope there’s not a television in the panic room.
Angelo
Like Nola, Remi has the ability to catnap on a dime. She’s drifted off with her head in my lap while my fingers run through her damp hair.
Me, I’m far less relaxed as I watch the video of her abduction.
“ Idiot! This isn’t his sister!”
I hit pause, my nostrils flaring. Trying not to jostle Remi, I retrieve my phone from my pocket and call Nic, who’s on his way to the weekend house. “The shipment order that I paused, I want it to resume immediately .”
“You sure, boss?”
“I’m sure.”
“Understood.”
I resume watching the video, wishing I hadn’t with Remi on my lap; my body’s physically vibrating with rage.
Remi stirs, her hazel eyes meeting mine.
She’s so resilient, and dammit, she shouldn’t have to be. But she was right. I’m the one who keeps putting her in dangerous situations.
“ Mai più, ” I whisper to her, closing the laptop.
“I’m sorry?” With a yawn and a stretch of her arms, she shifts to sit beside me.
“We’re going home.”
Remi’s forehead bunches. “Do you mean the weekend house?”
I confirm with the slice of my head.
“But I thought the weekend house wasn’t convenient for handling business,” she reminds me of my rigid words.
“It isn’t. But home is wherever you’re happiest.”
Remi lifts her knee up and over, and I grab onto her hips as she straddles me.
She playfully tickles my beard. “Turns out I’m happiest with a broody bastard.
Who’da thunk?” Her smile falters as she drops her hand.
“But I wasn’t happy watching you with Laurie today,” she admits quietly, burrowing her face in the crook of my neck.
“And I never want to see the Mississippi River again.”
Wrapping my arms around her, I say against her hair, “If it’s any consolation, I got no enjoyment from it.”
“I’m not the kind of woman a man like you has on his arm.”
Anger rumbles in my chest. “Says who? It’s my damn arm.”
“You have an image?—”
“Of being a broody bastard,” I say impatiently. “Yes, yes, we’ve established that.”
“I don’t want to be your hidden queen; a dirty little secret.”
“Look at me,” I command.
She rises up from her hiding spot, her expression guarded.
I fucking hate it.
Cupping her cheeks, I assure her, “The world will learn you are mine when things settle down. Doing so right now would only put a target on your back.”
“What if your world never settles down?”
“It will,” I vow, hoping it’s one I can keep. “Now, the only thing ‘dirty’ is what I want to do to you.” My lips tickle Remi’s ear as I describe the fantasy she’s inspired.
I pull back, admiring the way her pupils have blown out, her rosy nipples begging for attention beneath the fabric of her dress. “Is my naughty Remi game?”
“I’m game.” Her husky voice goes straight to my cock.
“Good girl. We’ll play this game another time. For now, I need to be inside you.” I emphasize with the thrust of my hips.
“Oh.” Remi moans and begins grinding her pussy against my length.
“Unless you want me coming in my pants, let me take them off.” My fingers bruise into her hips, stilling her movement.
“Maybe that’s my dirty fantasy,” she challenges.
Remi
Making Angelo Calvani lose control does sound like a fantasy, but I’m up for making it a reality.
He watches me with a mixture of heat and amusement as he spreads his arms on the back of the couch. “Grind away.”
And now it’s my mission to make this refined man come in his pants.
“Angelo,” I whimper, rolling my hips as my hands fall to the hem of my dress. Lifting it over my head, I toss it on the floor.
He takes in my bare breasts, his nostrils flaring. “Such a filthy girl.”
I begin tweaking my nipples with the roll of my hips. “I’m not the one who’s going to come on themselves.”
“You think so?”
My pussy drags over his throbbing cock in response.
“Mmm.” His head falls back against the couch, his eyes fluttering shut.
My triumphant smile falters when, on the next roll of my hips, my clit brushes the pad of his thumb he stealthily moved there. “Oh.”
“I love it when you do that,” he murmurs. “Like your own pleasure surprises you, which leads me to believe you’ve not had nearly enough. Our next free day, I’m tying you to our bed and making you come until you think you can’t come again, and then I’ll make you come again to prove my point.”
My body shivers at his threat, but I refuse to come before he does. Stubborn . It’s written on my palm, for crying out loud.
Placing that right palm on his shoulder, I use it as leverage as I rub my pussy over the head of his cock. “Maybe I’ll tie you up and ride my slick pussy over your face; coming over and over until you think I can’t come again, but I’ll make myself come to prove my point.”
He laughs darkly, grabbing my cheeks and causing my lips to puff. “Remi, Remi. It’s so sweet that you think you could tie me up. But I’d gladly let you ride my face until your little heart’s desire.”
Determined; it’s also written on my palm, and now I use both of them to hold onto his shoulders as I grind faster and faster.
Tears well in my eyes, but I refuse to fall off the cliff before he does.
“Angelo, please.” I whimper on a moan, my panties drenched.
“I know you want to come for me. Only me.”
He groans, his hips bucking as he comes, and I lose control, a strangled cry as I come.
Falling into his arms, my chest heaves in rhythm with his.
“We’ll call that a photo finish.”
I smile dreamily, snuggling into the crook of his neck. “The photographer didn’t photo it, though.”
“And I never will. As much as it would turn me on to watch us, I would never risk someone else watching us.”
“There’s more than one way to watch ourselves.” I glance across the room to the mirror.
“Naughty and clever,” Angelo murmurs, cupping my cheeks and bringing my lips to his for a tender kiss. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, you’ve made a mess that we need to clean up.” He glances down to where we’re both soaked.
“Excuse me, you made a mess.” I poke his solid chest, and he smiles, causing a warm feeling to settle in mine.
The man’s already won over Nola’s human, but I’m still a thief at heart, and nowhere does it say I have to be honest.