Chapter 45
Chapter
Forty-Five
RAYNE
I’m sure I must be dreaming because the sight that greets me as I walk out of the gallery is a work of art.
If I had my camera with me I’d take a photo, choose the right lens to capture the perfect contrast to his dark silhouette against the gold ribbon of the early-afternoon sun lighting up the sky.
It would make a beautiful framed print. Perhaps I’d hang it on the wall in the den.
Enzo says he loves my work, and from the way his eyes light up when he looks at my photos, I believe he means it and it’s not a line to get into my panties.
Not that he’s spent much time at all out of my panties these past two weeks.
I swear I’ll get a permanent UTI if we have any more sex.
Thankfully, at least for my poor lady parts, he had some meetings he had to actually leave the penthouse for today.
He also set me up a meeting with Tonya, the fabulous gallery owner I just met with.
I left her some samples of my work, and she said that it’s just the kind of art they’re looking for.
She’s confident she can get me an exhibition set up in the fall.
I made him promise not to influence her decision and he swore he wouldn’t, and as we’re working on rebuilding trust, I’m choosing to believe him.
Enzo is leaning against his bike, a helmet on the seat beside him and another on the ground.
While I can’t see his features in the shadows, I know it’s him. I’d know his silhouette anywhere. My heart flutters like a butterfly behind my breastbone, and every step I take toward him has a little bounce in it.
By the time I reach him, he’s grinning and looking at me like he wants to throw me down onto the ground and remind me I belong to him.
“This is a lovely surprise, but what are you doing here? I thought Luca was picking me up.”
He slips his arms around my waist, pulls me to him, and kisses me deeply. I will never tire of this man’s kisses. They are hotter than hellfire.
“How was your talk with Tonya?” he asks, not answering my question.
“Good. I think. She really likes my work.”
He winks. “I knew she would.”
“You didn’t influence her in any way, did you?” I ask, my eyes narrowed on his face.
“I told you I wouldn’t, baby, and I didn’t. I didn’t even tell her you were my girlfriend.” He does a two fingered salute. “Scouts honor.”
“Like you were ever a Boy Scout, Enzo Medici.” I run my hands over his chest. “And girlfriend, huh?”
He grabs my ass and squeezes hard. “Yes. Of course, I could refer to you as my future wife instead, but I thought we were taking baby steps?” His dark eyes sparkle with wicked deviance.
Why does him calling me his future wife sound so right? As much as I rail against it, I adore possessive Enzo. “Yes, baby steps. And you never told me why you’re here,” I remind him. “I thought you were busy all day.”
I don’t miss the shadow that falls across his face.
“There’s something I need to tell you about.
” He tucks a curl behind my ear and my heart rate spikes.
“I’ve been putting it off for reasons I don’t fully understand.
Except that maybe I don’t want to keep picking at old wounds.
And maybe…” He blows out a breath. “Maybe I didn’t want to sway your decision to stay. ”
“Enzo, what is it? You’re scaring me.”
He gives me a reassuring smile. “It’s nothing bad, I promise. It’s a good thing.” He takes my hands in his. “I will make you my wife someday, and I will give you as many babies as we can handle. And to do that, I want there to be nothing between us. All cards on the table.”
I’m so confused my head is spinning. “You’re not making this any less worrying. Do you have a secret family or something? A love child I don’t know about?”
A laugh bubbles out of him and he shakes his head. “Nothing like that.” He picks up the helmet from the ground and hands it to me. “Come for a ride with me and I’ll show you what I’m talking about.”
Still skeptical, I allow him to slide my helmet on and fasten up the chin strap for me.
He’s also brought the leather jacket he got me and he slides that on for me too.
Then I climb onto his bike and wrap my arms snugly around his waist. “Make yourself comfortable back there, baby, we have a long ride ahead of us.”
Now I’m even more curious as to where we’re going, but I trust him. And that’s all that matters.
I don’t know how long we’ve been riding since we last stopped for gas, but my legs are stiff when we finally come to halt outside a fast-food restaurant that promises the best beef patty in California.
Across the street there’s a bar named Rookie and the Bear.
The wooden tables and benches outside are filled with people, smiling and drinking and having fun.
It looks like the kind of place that has live music and serves European beer and local wine.
A little elegant but a lot of fun. Enzo takes off his helmet, places it on the tank and rests his forearms on it, staring at the bar across the street.
“What are we doing here, Enzo?”
He checks his watch. “Just wait and see.”
I roll my eyes, knowing he won’t see. But what the hell reason could he have to bring me to some bar in Temecula?
The door opens.
“Here he is,” Enzo says. “Right on time. No matter what day of the week, he always clocks off at eight.”
A man walks out. He’s tall, from here it’s hard to tell his age, but the collar-length dark hair and the way he moves suggests he’s not old. “Who is he?” I ask, straining my eyes to identify him.
“I believe he’s the Rookie. His business partner, Hal, is the Bear.”
I still have no idea who the guy is, until he turns his head slightly and the sun catches his face at just the right angle, illuminating his features in full.
Aside from being a little older, he looks exactly the same.
I tighten my grip on Enzo’s waist, my fingers digging into the leather of his jacket, and I’m sure it’s the only thing that stops me from falling off the bike entirely.
“Tommy?” I gasp his name, unable to believe I’m saying it. Unable to believe I’m looking at him, a man who’s as alive as I am. He’s chatting to one of the customers now, a cute redhead who’s laughing at whatever he’s saying, and he looks…happy. Really happy.
“Yeah. It’s him.”
“But I thought…” I swallow down the words. He knows what I thought.
He taps my thigh. “You want to grab a burger and a drink, baby? Then we can talk.”
I’m stunned into silence, so I simply nod and hold on while Enzo maneuvers us to a quiet parking spot at the back of the diner. The restroom, a burger, and some answers—in that order, sound really good right now.
By the time I’ve used the restroom and freshened up, Enzo is sitting at a table near the window with two sodas on in front of him. I slide into the booth.
“I ordered you a double patty with everything,” he tells me.
My stomach growls at the mere idea of food. I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast, except for the bag of Skittles I scarfed when we stopped for gas. But a gal cannot live on candy alone. I know because I’ve tried. “Thank you.”
He smiles, reaches across the table, and takes my hand in his. “There’s a nice hotel not far from here. I’ll book us a room. They have a pool.”
I take a sip of my sugary soda. “I don’t have a swimsuit.”
His eyes grow dark with the kind of hunger that will not be sated by the best beef patty in California, not even a double. “Then we’ll swim naked.”
I narrow my eyes on his handsome face. “I’m not sure hotels look very favorably on that sort of behavior. Not the kind of hotels where I’d consider using the pool anyway.”
He squeezes my hand. “Then I guess I’ll just buy the fucking hotel then.”
I wouldn’t put it past him. “Or…” I catch my lip between my teeth. “We could just not swim and spend all our time naked in our hotel room?”
He hums like he’s thinking through my proposal when we both know he’s already picturing me bent over the bed. “I think I can get on board with that.”
I flash him a sweet smile. “I thought you might. So, now that that’s out of the way, shall we talk about Tommy? Tommy who is very much alive and, from the looks of him, well and happy?”
He winces. “Yeah. Tommy.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Well, at first it was because I was a jealous prick and I didn’t want you to know he was alive because the idea of you two running off into the sunset together would have been a slow, agonizing death for me.”
I can’t help rolling my eyes again.
“I know,” he sighs. “But that was back when I thought you and he were…” He grimaces, like he can’t even bear to say the words.
“Why did you let everyone think you killed him?”
“I almost did. I thought I might have. I left him for dead and for all I knew he might not have made it. So when I told my father he was gone, I wasn’t sure I was lying, even though I suspected.
Then Micah found him a few years back. I drove out here, thought I might finally end it and put a bullet in his head.
Wondered if it might make me feel better.
And then I saw him, and he was holding this little kid’s hand.
Had that same shock of dark hair. Looked like he was about two or three and he was just staring up at him.
And then Tommy picked the kid up, and he squealed laughing, then he called out his name.
Daddy. And I just couldn’t take that kid’s father away from him, you know?
Even though a part of me hated that he had what I was supposed to have.
Now I know he deserves it more than anyone. ”
I place my hand over his and squeeze. “You deserve it too.”
He smiles, but it’s sad and doesn’t quite reach his eyes, like he doesn’t believe me. “So, I drove away and we agreed to forget he ever existed.”
“You and Micah?”
He nods. “And Raf, Angelo, and Luca too.”
I’m still reeling with the shock of it. Shaken to my core. “If I’d known, Enzo… You told your father he was gone, and I assumed…”
“That’s what you were supposed to assume, Rayne. What everyone was supposed to assume.”
Tears burn the backs of my eyes. “I would have fought harder to tell you the truth if I’d known Tommy was alive. I should have fought harder.”
“No,” he says firmly, giving my hand another reassuring squeeze.
“You believed what I wanted you to believe. I am the only one at fault here because I should have listened to you, baby. I should have focused on you, and maybe then I’d have seen the pain on your face instead of being blinded by my anger. ”
“Didn’t Tommy try to tell you what happened?”
Enzo shakes his head. “He was hardly conscious by the time I was done with him. His jaw was broken, some teeth knocked out. I guess he tried to tell me, but I never gave him the chance. I know about his life, but he doesn’t know I know he’s still alive.
And I think we should probably keep it that way. ”
I’m quiet for a moment, trying to process all of this and what, if anything, it means for us. “You said at first you didn’t tell me because you were jealous, but what about after that? When you found out what Ethan did?”
He drops his head into his free hand for a few seconds before he meets my eyes again.
“I couldn’t find the words, Rayne. There never seemed to be a good moment, and then things started getting better between us and I didn’t want you to think I was using this as some kind of way to get you back.
I wanted you to stay for me, not because of him. ”
“And now?”
“Like I said, I don’t want any secrets between us. And whenever we talk about the past, I can tell you never wanted to bring him up. Still trying to protect me from what you thought I’d done, even though I don’t deserve it.”
I lace my fingers through his. “I will always protect you, Enzo Medici. Even when you don’t deserve it.”
His lips twitch in a smile. “Can you forgive me for hiding this from you?”
The waiter brings our burgers, interrupting the moment and giving me time to think.
I shouldn’t be surprised that Enzo couldn’t kill his best friend.
When it came down to it, he protected him, just like he protected me.
Enzo is a man of honor and principle. His loyalty is the thing both his father and Carmine wanted from him so desperately that they were willing to ruin his life, not to mention mine and Tommy’s, to secure it.
When the waiter leaves, Enzo watches me, waiting for my answer. “Yes, I forgive you. And I’m very happy to see that you didn’t kill him. Tommy was always a good friend to you, to both of us.”
He nods, sadness in his eyes. “I know that now, baby.”
“I’m really glad you told me, and that you brought me here on this unexpected road trip.”
He winks, and my skin blooms with heat.
“How far away is that hotel?” I ask cheekily.
That gets me a laugh. A loud, unapologetic laugh from the most dangerous man in Nevada, the same man who can command an entire room with just a look.
But only I get this part of him, and it’s a privilege I don’t take lightly.
He leans across the table, dragging his thumb over my lower lip.
“About a half hour away.” His voice drops to a low growl. “Do you need to be fucked, baby?”
I blush to the roots of my hair, but a quick glance around confirms nobody is in earshot. “Always.”
He groans like he’s in distress. “You’re fucking insatiable. Eat your food, and then I’ll take you to the hotel and take care of you.”
I flutter my eyelashes. “Promise?”
He leans closer and kisses me softly. “I’ll take care of you right here at this table if you keep looking at me like that.”
Oh, that sounds dangerously exciting, even if it would also be mortifying. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, sir.”
“I’m not playing, Rayne. Behave, or all of these fine customers will hear the sweet little sounds you make when you come.” He tears off a chunk of his burger with his teeth, and dammit, even the way he eats is sexy as hell.
I do think about pushing him to make good on that threat, but I am ravenously hungry, and as delicious as it is to imagine how hot it would be for him to defile me here at this table, I’m not sure the reality of losing control in a diner full of truckers and teenagers is high on my bucket list. So I behave, blow him a kiss, and then devour my burger.