Chapter 15 #2
Rossi took a sip of coffee. “First of all, the situation with Christopher Pearlman has been handled. He was only seen on two traffic cameras heading this way yesterday. Both have been reconfigured and transferred to traffic cameras in other locations. Now we have him on cameras leaving Wild Rose Point and headed toward Portland at the time he was here. So in other words, no one will connect him to you.”
“Good.”
“Also, a couple of guys on the team will be arriving later to go over the boat. We need to make sure you didn’t leave any evidence of your late-night excursion before you return it to the rental company.”
Dante nodded, knowing the men who worked for him were thorough. They would deep-clean the boat from bow to stern. “What about Titus Blinken, Lonzell Miller, and Wendel Langley?”
Rossi settled back in his chair. “Pearlman shot and killed Titus Blinken a week ago when he was leaving a relative’s house. Blinken was out on parole from the Sacramento State Prison. While locked up, he was in the same cell block as Malcolm Edwards.”
“Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?” Dante muttered.
“We’re looking for Lonzell Miller. Pearlman hadn’t lied. It’s like he’s disappeared from the face of the earth.” Rossi smiled. “Of course, we will find him. We checked the prison log, and Miller has visited Edwards in prison more than once. We can safely say he was the messenger.”
“What about Langley?” Dante asked.
“Langley has a clean record, although he is known to hang out in shady places. Kendall is digging, trying to find out Langley’s connection to Edwards.”
After taking another sip of coffee, Rossi added, “We currently have a tail on Langley. So far, he hasn’t left his house today. I figure he’s hanging around, waiting to hear from Pearlman that the hit on Marti was successful. We’ll probably see some action when he doesn’t get that call.”
Just then, Dante got another text from Marti, this one saying she was on her way to the beach.
He got up and looked out the window again.
She was wearing that floppy straw hat and had her tote bag on her shoulder.
He was glad he had purchased the beach furniture so she could be comfortable.
Since they were no longer the only ones in Lasco Cove, he hoped the two-piece suit she was wearing under her cover-up wasn’t as revealing as all the others had been.
Rossi came to stand beside him. “I like her, Dante. She’s nice.”
Dante nodded, thinking back to what Marti had shared with him a few days ago—about what some men living in Charlotte had thought of her.
That she was cold, calculating, and heartless.
Of course, they had judged her without knowing the full story.
But then, she admitted she had intentionally acted that way.
“Marti didn’t deserve what was done to her. No woman would have,” he said to Rossi.
“I agree.”
“Unfortunately, she didn’t seek out any type of therapy right after it happened.”
Rossi glanced over at him. “How do you know that?”
“She told me last night. Marti only started getting help about four years ago, after her sister strongly encouraged her. She said those sessions helped her tremendously.”
Dante couldn’t help but admire her strength.
Some women, after suffering such an ordeal, would not have wanted to be touched by a man again.
However, Marti had explained that she refused to be destroyed by the assault and had been determined to take back control of her body, both mentally and physically.
“Why don’t you go out and join your woman on the beach. I’m going back to the house to wait for additional information. Also, a company has been contracted to build that security gate. They start work in the morning and have been vetted.”
Dante nodded. He had decided to make Lasco Cove a gated community.
There were only three homes in the cove, and he now owned two of them.
He had mentioned his plans to Marti last night, and she thought it was a good idea.
Since he and Marti would only spend time here during the summer months, his team would use a hi-tech, state-of-the-art security system to monitor for any trespassers on their properties when they weren’t there.
“I still want you to set up my meeting with those four men, Rossi. Make all the necessary arrangements.”
“Are you sure?”
“I haven’t been surer of anything in my life. She didn’t deserve what they did to her. And they need to know it.”
***
Marti walked out of the bathroom to find Dante in bed with his hands raised over his head, on top of the covers, and naked. She smiled. “Waiting for me?”
“Of course,” he said, grinning. “And that outfit you’re wearing made it worth the wait.”
She returned his grin. “Glad you like it.”
This particular negligee, like the others he had seen her wear during their time together, had been one she’d purchased in Portland.
At the time, it had never occurred to her that her credit card could be traced.
But the hit man had admitted to Dante that he’d used those records to find her location.
When she was within arm’s length, Dante reached out and snagged her by the waist, pulling her onto the bed. Her nightgown was quickly removed. “I thought you liked my nightie.”
“I do. But I like seeing what’s under it even more.”
“You just want to see it?” she asked when she was flat on her back beneath him.
“No, I want to feel it and taste it all over.”
She had experienced Dante Avera’s ‘feel-and-taste’ treatment many times before and absolutely loved it. His hands and mouth could be considered weapons of mass seduction.
Before Marti could put up a fight…not that she would have stopped him anyway…he had lowered his head between her legs and in no time at all, she was spiraling toward an orgasm. When she returned to Billings, she would definitely miss all the wonderful things he did to her body.
Before she could recover from the sensations he had detonated inside of her, he had eased between her legs and was sliding inside her. They were a perfect fit, two peas in a pod, two birds of a feather. She didn’t mind that they had so much in common. In fact, she thought it was rather nice.
Four orgasms later, she fell off him exhausted, glad she had managed to straddle him for a ride at least once tonight.
She was seriously worried about returning to Billings and waking up in the middle of the night when a Dante Avera craving set in.
She wasn’t ready to face the realization that he wouldn’t be there to satisfy her.
She wondered what he would think if she flew to Sedona Valley and surprised him with a booty call one weekend.
“I got a question for you,” he said, pulling her closer into his arms, right before she could drift off to sleep.
“Hmm, what’s that?”
“Why does it bother you to be called Martina?”
Of all the questions she had thought he would ask, that wasn’t one of them. “I think it’s a beautiful name,” he added.
She didn’t say anything for a moment, then she snuggled closer into his arms. “I always thought so, too. Although my friends shortened it to Marti, I would introduce myself to guys as Martina. It sounded kind of sexy.”
“Why did you stop?”
“Because that’s what Malcolm and his friends called me. After what happened, I detested hearing that name from any man’s lips.”
“You know what that means?”
“No, what?”
“I’m going to make sure you love hearing it from mine, Martina.”
Then he leaned in and kissed her in a way that made her forget just how exhausted she had been earlier.