Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Angelo
I take a seat next to Remi, who’s watching a guitarist audition on stage. She’s too far away, and I grab her chair leg, pulling her closer to me.
There. Better.
She flashes me a warm smile before leaning over a microphone and interrupting the musician. “Thank you, but I don’t have room in my band for divas. You’re out.”
He mutters something, walking off stage.
“Did I miss something?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Me exacting some payback,” she says sheepishly.
“Do I need to exact my kind of payback?” I rise from my seat.
Her eyes go wide as she grabs my arm. “Angelo, no!”
Nola’s lounging on top of the table, still disgruntled.
“I’ve requested reinforced steel in all the duct work,” I tell the cat, settling into my chair. “In the event you need to be prowling around up there again, the vents will easily support your weight.”
She looks at me unimpressed.
I’ll win her back yet.
“Let’s hope that never happens again,” Remi says, organizing her papers.
“How did the auditions go?”
She hesitates. “Pretty good.”
“But?”
“But if I’m being honest, I was sort of hoping Ellis would show up.”
My nostrils flare, and she grabs my hand, lacing her fingers in mine. “So that I could gloat about my lounge. And about my man.”
She can’t gloat because I’ve already killed Ellis, but not wanting to upset her, I don’t gloat either.
But I’ll never tire of hearing Remi call me hers. “Come with me; I have something to show you.”
“Not another surprise; I don’t think I’ve fully recovered from the last grand reveal.”
“This one, I make no promises on how it will be received,” I warn her.
“Well, now I’ve got to find out, because I’m?—”
“Nosy?”
She sticks out her tongue at me. “I was going to say intrigued.”
I carry Nola—because she’s currently on a leash strike due to the cone—where Maks is waiting for us with the SUV.
He silently hands Remi a coffee cup. She takes off the lid and beams. “Hot chocolate with mini marshmallows.”
“Did I miss something?” I growl, irrational jealousy simmering in my chest.
“Oh, nothing.” Remi gives me a quick peck before climbing into the SUV.
“Don’t make me kill you,” I quietly warn Maks before climbing in with Nola.
Remi sips on her hot chocolate, chattering excitedly about the lounge. “But what if I don’t want a band at the opening; what if it’s just me with my piano?”
“Then it’s just you with your piano. It’s your lounge; your opening.”
“But do I have enough material to put on a solo performance?”
“If any woman can pull it off, you can,” I tell her.
“You’re right,” she says resolutely. “I’m going to have to practice.”
She doesn’t need to practice, but I don’t tell her that, because I know she will practice anyway.
“Why are we here?” Remi notices us pulling into the cemetery.
Maks opens our door for us, and I slide out, extending my hand for Remi. I lead us to the gravesite, and she covers her mouth with her hands.
“You can spit on it, or cry on it. I’ll give you privacy so you can decide.”
Remi
I don’t know how he did it, but if there’s a will, Angelo Calvani finds a way.
Running my fingers over the clarinet engraving on Charles “Charlie” Landry’s tombstone, I sit down beside the freshly packed dirt.
“I should hate you,” I say, dabbing my eyes.
“But really, I want to say thank you. Because you showed me everything a man shouldn’t be, and that led me to a man that is everything he should be, and more. I’m a queen, not your pawn.”
Nola comes nosing over. She hikes up her leg, peeing on my dad’s grave.
I choke on a laugh. “I take it back, Nola is the queen.”
We return to the vehicle, and I crawl into Angelo’s lap, cupping his intense face in my hands. “I love you,” I whisper.
He wraps his arms around me, whispering against my hair. “Ti amo più di ogni altra cosa al mondo. ”
I don’t know what that means, but my heart must, because it feels so full it might burst.
“Are you hungry, amorina ?”
“Starved.”
“To The Boardroom ,” he orders Maks.
My eyes meet his as I tickle his beard with my nails, my other hand fanning his inside jacket pocket, swiping the small…cloth pouch?
Kissing him as a distraction, I move the pouch to my pocket. Except I’m the one who gets distracted, but who wouldn’t get distracted when kissing Angelo Calvani? The man’s kissing skill should still be studied for scientific purposes, except it would have to be a one-woman control group…
“Remi?” He says my name against my lips.
“Yes?”
“Stop thinking.”
“Can’t; we’ve already established that my head is an interesting place to be.”
He playfully flicks my nose. “No doubt.”
We arrive at the restaurant, where I’m whisked to the empty dining room. Soft jazz plays over the speakers, with red carnations filling the room.
Angelo pulls out my chair for me, and I take a seat. He sits, scooting my chair next to his, and God, why is that still so damn sexy?
“This is a date,” he informs me deadpan.
I grin. “I gathered as much.”
A server appears with trays of food, and of course, no crawfish for me. We eat, all the while I want to peek so bad at the item I’ve swiped, but I keep it in my pocket for now.
“Something on your mind?” Angelo asks.
“Nope. Not a thing.”
“Really?” He raises an eyebrow. “Not even a little bit curious about what you’ve stolen from me this time?”
“Now that you mention it,” I say, slipping my hand in my pocket and retrieving the bag.
“Open it,” he says, and I pull the little strings of the bag and dump it out. Falling into my hand is a beautiful ring; teardrop diamonds in the shape of an abstract butterfly, with a diamond-encrusted band. “You’ve stolen my heart, and you’ve stolen your engagement ring.”
I laugh, tears fill my eyes as he takes the ring from my hand and slips it on my finger.
“Marry me, Remi.”
“Why’d you have to be all handsome and smooth and a great?—”
“Kisser?” He presses his lips to mine, capturing my bottom lip between his and giving it a sweet pull.
My heart is all warm and fuzzy as I murmur against his lips, “I was going to say dancer.”
“Say yes, and then dance with me.” He pulls back, extending his hand. “All or nothing. I want it all, and I’ll give you everything in return. Marry me, Remi.”
I blink back the happy tears. “Yes.”
“To?”
“Both.”
With a triumphant smile on his intensely handsome face, he leads me to the dance floor. Giving me a spin, I giggle when I fall into his arms.
“There’s a wall of mirrors,” he says, his seductive voice tickling the shell of my ear.
“Why do our dances always turn into something else?” I muse as he leads me closer to the wall.
“Because I can’t keep my hands off of you, and you can’t keep your hands off my valuables. Our valuables,” he corrects himself.
“Better,” I tell him.
He spins me to where I’m facing the mirrors, his back to me. “What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine. And this pussy, Remi? All mine.”
A throaty moan sounds from me as I wiggle my ass against that third appendage of his, which should have scared me off from the jump. Or maybe that’s the man that should have scared me from the jump…
“Remi?” Angelo begins unzipping my dress.
“Yes?” My body shudders.
My dress falls, pooling around my ankles as he watches me in the mirror. Topless, my body begs for him to touch me.
“You’re going to watch how I fuck those flittering thoughts right out of your pretty little head. Watch how I own you.”
“You don’t own me,” I argue weakly.
“I’ll happily spend the rest of our lives proving you wrong. Now, you’re going to take my cock like a good girl, aren’t you, Remi?”
“Yes, Angelo.” I breathe, bracing my hands on the mirror as he slides my panties down, helping me step out of them.
“That’s right.” He kicks my feet apart before the sound of his metal zipper sliding down has me so on edge I might orgasm before he gets inside me.
I’m naked; he’s fully clothed. Those two facts drive me wild.
Angelo grips my hair, watching us in the mirror as his cock slides between my ass cheeks. “I will own every one of your pretty holes, but not today. Today, I need to be inside this sweet pussy.”
“Yes.” I moan, arching my back as he inches inside me.
“Look at my future wife. She takes my cock so well,” he praises as he shifts forward, stretching me full.
The back of my head lulls against warm chest as he fucks me so hard, I’m lifted onto my tiptoes with each forward motion.
“The things I want to do to you, amorina. ”
The sound of my pants and his filthy-sounding Italian words fill the room.
I’m so keyed up, God, I don’t even know how it happens so fast, but my body shudders violently; my orgasm rips through me with brutal force as I come long and hard. Spots blink behind my eyes as my body goes limp.
“Christ.” He grits, wrapping his arm around my waist to hold me upright. He begins fucking me ruthlessly. “Such a naughty girl, watching me fuck you bare. Maybe I’ll put a baby in you, Remi. Your belly swollen with my child. Those big breasts dripping with milk. I’m going to steal a little taste.”
“Oh.” My moan surprises myself, because, damn, I didn’t know I’d be into that…but maybe?
A snarl rips through his chest as he comes hard, his hot cum spurting inside me in long bursts.
Our chest heaves as we watch each other in the mirror.
“I’m on the pill,” I remind him.
“For now.” He lifts my hair to the side, peppering my neck with kisses.
“For now,” I agree with a smile.