Chapter 29
twenty-nine
. . .
After my outburst at the police station yesterday and in full view of Remo, I’d walked on tenterhooks, expecting him to come after me.
All that fierce bravado I’d displayed there, left me the second I walked out the hospital last night and spotted a sleek black sports car parked across the bus station.
Even though the blacked-out windows were too dark to make out the occupants, I knew it was him.
Unnerved, I forced myself to stay calm when all I wanted to do was turn tail and run back to the hospital.
Thankfully, the bus arrived on time and surprisingly, the car didn’t follow. The moment I pushed through the villa door though, I made a beeline for the bathroom.
No amount of scrubbing could rid me of Remo’s touch.
He might’ve used just my mouth, but I felt him everywhere, even in places I didn’t want to.
When I finally stepped out of the bath an hour later, dried my body and hair, I wiped the steamed mirrors, my gaze latching onto the two cuts at the side of my neck.
Without meaning too, I’d rubbed them raw along with the rest of my body and they bled again.
After I dressed the wounds, two glasses of wine saw me to bed.
However, the second I shut my lids, visions of radiant blue-grey eyes, a silky-smooth chuckle some women might consider sexy and a distinguished smirk I’d never witnessed on another man, toyed with my need to sleep.
Annoyed, I sat up most of the night, admonishing myself for dreaming about a monster disguised as a man.
Although I had the evening shift, I still couldn’t sleep in that morning. Not even the long run I took until my calves screamed their distress, helped settle my mind. I just couldn’t shake that hold Remo had over me every moment I closed my eyes.
By the time I arrived at the hospital that afternoon, I couldn’t stop yawning and had to down several cups of coffee to keep me on my toes. Throughout the day, sleep burned my eyes, threatening to collapse my knees if I didn’t rest.
Now, I glanced at my watch, moaning. “This is going to be a long night?” Only three hours had passed since my shift began.
“Why do you look like death chewed you up and spat you out from distaste?” Brandi rounded the reception desk, taking the file I’d signed off. Stasia and Trixie had the morning shift while she worked the afternoon.
I wrinkled my nose at her. “Because I feel like it.”
“Fifth floor is empty.” She winked. “I’ll cover for you.”
“You’re the best.” I blew her a kiss.
The hospital had undergone recent renovations to the fifth and sixth floors, scheduled to open in a month.
Some of the board members decided that pandering to the whims of rich Italians, would give the hospital an edge.
Hence the lavish refurbishments that catered for the elite and why a few of us snuck in there to take a breather.
Our rules were simple, one person at a time, not more than two hours relaxation and make sure someone covered for you.
I was half down the first-floor corridor when my trainers came to a squeaky halt, courtesy of the man exiting he elevator.
Straightaway, his eyes locked on mine, nipping my instinct to hide, in the bud.
Gone was the playful arrogance I encountered at the station replaced now by piercing coldness.
His steps a distinct prowl, he stalked toward me, every movement controlled, precise, a lethal promise.
Unconsciously my hand drifted to the wounds on my neck, attempting to swallow my anxiety.
A dismal fail. In a clinical space filled with bustling blue and white figures, his grey pants and a black shirt with sleeves pushed up just enough to reveal those corded inked forearms, commanded effortless dominance.
Hands in his pants pockets, he lifted one dark brow and the abrupt tingle to my skin reminded me what he’d done to my mouth. Immediately, my anger resurfaced, erupting like molten lava, scorching through reason and logic, snapping my restraint on self-control.
“You,” I spat out, standing inches away from him, unaware of how I got there. “Have some nerve coming back here. Who the hell do you think you are, manipulating people, asserting your power, taking liberties?” I snapped, too far gone to care that we had an audience.
Silence descended around us, tension crackling the air as I faced off the devil, my thoughts of self-preservation out the door.
“No matter how untouchable you think you are, you’ll never be anything more than a coward who preys on the innocent.” I jabbed my finger at his chest, and he let me. “You deserve to be behind bars.”
“Are you done?” his voice eerily calm, he wrapped a hand around my finger, lowering it, the warm touch a stark contrast to his icy glare.
“Nope,” I seethed, jerking my finger out of his hand.
“You don’t get to walk in here and do as you please, frighten people into submission.
Hurt them, make them bleed, free will be damned.
” My voice shook with unconcealed fury. “You’re nothing more than a monster, Remo Rossi, and the people in this place might lick your goddamn feet to get a look from you, I will never bow to you.
” I blinked away the hot anger-induced tears threatening to fall.
“Not now, not ever but I will see you rot in hell.”
“Ishika!” I heard someone whisper-call behind me, their fear unmistakable.
Remo’s frigid stare kept me rooted to the spot. “Quite the show, little fox,” he mocked, his eyes dark and intense. “My turn.”
I opened my mouth to challenge him, and his hand shot up, his finger to my lip, silencing me.
“I said. My turn.” This close, he was suffocating, every inch of him radiating raw power, unfettered masculinity. “You’ll be quiet now and listen to me. Speak again and I’ll gag you with a lot more than my finger.”
My jaw dropped, my eyes narrowed slits but he ignored me, his finger sliding from my lips to my neck, tracing a slow line across the wound I’d covered with a large band aid. I clenched my fists to keep me grounded, to not move.
“You disrespected me in front of these people. For that you will be punished.”
“What the–”
He gripped my wrist, his touch searing my skin through the material of the long sleeve, shocking me into silence. “You don’t know me, or my world nor do you know anything about the power I wield but you’re about to learn.”
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed, yanking my hand out of his grip.
“Oh, little fox.” He smirked. “Touching you is the least of your worries.”
Don’t poke the bear, don’t poke the bear, don’t…
“I’m not scared of you.” I tilted my chin, exerting my defiance, mentally stabbing the bear in his face.
He leaned forward, his face inches from mine. “You reek of fear. I can smell it.” He licked his lips. “My favorite scent.”
My heart pounded in my chest, warning me to walk away. I jerked back, drawing in a steady breath, trying to hide his effect on me and glared at him. “Go screw yourself,” I retorted, hearing the shocked gasps of our audience as I turned my back on him.
Strong fingers closed around my arm in a vice grip a second before he swung me around. “That’s not how you speak to the man who owns you,” he rasped, his tone a deadly menace.
“You don’t own me,” I gritted, fighting his hold.
But his free hand grasped my other arm, restricting my movement. “Keep telling yourself that.” His fingers dug into my skin, his whisper a clear warning.
“Nev–”
His mouth slammed over mine, freezing my words, paralyzing my body for a moment before a slow unexpected surge of electricity charged through my veins.
Panic crashed through me. I struggled, needing to escape.
He tightened his hold, pulling me closer and forced his tongue into my mouth, pressing his rigid cock to my stomach.
The kiss was aggressive, possessive, demanding, his lips soft in contrast yet nothing like I’d experienced, ever. My skin erupted in flames, the tingle between my legs dizzying, my body trembled with unwanted need. I shouldn’t enjoy the effect he was having on me.
Stop him.
Frantic, I bit his bottom lip until the metallic taste of blood infused our tongues, but Remo’s soft groan filled my mouth, the sound a sexual deviant all on its own, reigniting that lick of arousal I denied yesterday.
His kiss became fiercer and no matter how much I pushed at his chest, his hold remained relentless.
I resisted, stiffening my body but I was drowning in him.
His touch, his control, his taste, his smell, it was all slowly dragging me in, pressuring me to succumb.
Just when I felt my knees start to buckle, he pulled back, releasing me. Desire made him look almost human, his chest rising and falling in ragged pants much like mine before his swollen lips bright with blood, slipped into a wicked smirk, his blue eyes glistening with unconcealed triumph.
I didn’t think, just reacted, slapping him hard across the face. A crescendo of anxious whispers crashed around us the same time the sting of my palm awakened me to what I’d just done.
Crap.
Slowly, his head turned back to me. Jaw clenched, his glacial eyes burned into me, promising pain.
“You’re going to pay for that too, little fox,” he growled in a voice roughened by desire.
Then he swiveled sharply on his heels and walked away, the harsh set of his body an ominous warning of his fury.
Immediately, I was surrounded by a wealth of concern and well-wishers from doctors and nurses that witnessed the entire debacle.
“I’m fine,” I forced a smile, pretending my insides weren’t somersaulting from Remo’s threat and what it implied.
“Seems like you’ve tangled with death twice in the space of two days and lived to tell the tale,” Maria commented after everyone walked away.
“Embarrassed, yes. Lived, no,” I mumbled, sure I was going to die soon.