Fate Book Two (16 page)

Of course. Paolo would have little dime-sized cameras discreetly mounted at every entrance of the small apartment building we were in, and around the neighborhood in strategic locations. Just in case we had to get away, he’d know which route was safest.

“Hope you don’t mind if I borrow some of your things?”

“Go right ahead.” He stood there staring, and I stared right back. Okay, I was ogling. Now dressed in a navy blue T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans that hugged his lower, manly extremities in a way that highlighted his muscled thighs and his “endowment for the female-pleasure arts,” all I could see were images of what was beneath those clothes.

Grow up, Dakota. So what? He’s hot. Really, really hot. And he’s a warrior in bed. That doesn’t mean you can’t control yourself.

I cleared my throat. “Privacy?”

“If you insist.” As he closed the door, I could swear I heard him grumble something like, “Nothing I haven’t seen before. Or last night.”

I quickly pulled on his shorts and a black tee. Later, I’d see about washing my outfit from the night before. If I were going to be taken to his father, I’d want to be dressed in something less skimpy.

When I came back out into the living room, I found Paolo shirtless and barefoot doing push-ups, his bulging arms roped with tight, flexing muscles, back straight, broad shoulders effortlessly pounding out one push-up after another. His hard ass flexed, and I had the urge to go over and—

“Okay,” I said. “This isn’t going to work.”

Paolo looked up at me, but kept up his aggressive pace. “What. Won’t. Work?” He panted his words.

“This. You and me in this apartment together.”

“Of course.” Pant. Push. “It.” Pant. Push. “Will.” Pant. Push.

“I can get a hotel room down the street. You can stay here.”

“Not going to…” Pant. Push.

“Could you please stop and talk to me?”

“Fine.” He hopped to his feet like a ninja jackrabbit. Damn, the man was in shape. His abs were chiseled to hard perfection and his bulging biceps looked like they were cut from marble. “Not going to happen.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to keep my gaze focused on his eyes.

“Why not? Who’s going to know I’m there?”

“I will, and I can’t keep an eye on you and ensure everything goes off without a problem.”

Ugh.
When he put it that way, I didn’t want to do anything else to derail his work. I supposed I’d just have to muscle through…his muscles.

“All right. But no more push-ups,” I said.

“Sit-ups?”

“No. No flexing of muscles of any kind.”

“I need to exercise.”

“I’m sure your ego can take a few days’ hit on your bodybuilding efforts.”

“The exercise,” he growled, “keeps my mind off of you. And it’s been the only thing keeping me sane these last four months. Especially these last few days.”

Now I understood why the man looked so much bigger. And the sudden thought of him push-upping his way through countless lonely nights made me want him even more.

He continued, “Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you looked in that silver dress at the club? Do you? I nearly dragged you out of there so I could take you to the back of the limo.”

The visual image of him and me having sex in the back of a limo, me straddling his lap and feeling his thick, hard—
No. Dammit, Dakota. You’ve been with the man less than a day, and you’re already getting all lusty eyed for him?

“Fine. I’ll stay, but you sleep on the floor,” I added.

“
You
sleep on the floor,” he replied with an abundance of frustration in his voice. Sexual frustration.

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re the one who insists I stay here. And don’t forget—you owe me.”

“For what?”

“Leaving me at the altar—”

“There was a good reason for that.”

“Threatening to hit me—twice, I think.”

“I was only trying to convince you that I was Felix—to avoid this mess—I wouldn’t have really hit you, Dakota.”

“Telling me to suck you. Also twice,” I added to my list of grievances.

“I
would
have let you do that.” He smirked.

“This isn’t funny,” I growled.

“No. It’s not. But now we’ve both made mistakes.”

“So you admit you were wrong?” I said, unsure if I’d heard correctly.

“I should’ve argued for plan B and told you what was going on. I should’ve believed in you to be strong enough to handle whatever happened. And you should’ve stayed the hell away from Italy. Seriously, Dakota. After everything I told you about my family, and then you come waltzing in like that?”

“Yeah. But I came to see you—not Felix—and I had no idea Horse was your cousin, let alone that he’d take me to your grandma’s house at 2:00 a.m. to eat meatballs. My god, I was leaving the dang city and then he blinked those big green eyes at me and—”

“I get the picture,” he interrupted. “The point is that we both made mistakes, and now we will
both
deal with them.”

“You say that, Paolo, but I know you. You’re going to lie to me and then go off and do whatever. So how can I deal with anything if I’m surrounded by lies? I’ll only make another bad choice—possibly ruin everything—because I don’t ever have a clue about what’s going on.”

Paolo stared at his bare feet, and I couldn’t help but stare at his bare chest. The grooves between every muscle were so deep, they almost looked painted on.

He scratched his stubbly chin, and I knew he was mulling over something.

“Just spit it out, Paolo. Stop the plotting and maneuvering.”

“All right,” he said curtly, piercing me with that overly confident gaze. “The truth is, I just wanted to spend a day or two with you before I go back to my family and finish this job. The truth is they will probably kill me because I’m sure they’ve caught on, but I have no choice—I have to see this through. And the truth is I love you. I would never, not in a million goddamned years, let you sacrifice yourself to maintain my cover. I would sooner handcuff you and ship you home in an ocean container than let anyone from my family get their hands on you. And if we’re talking about truths, I never stopped hoping that this would all go away so I could go home to you. Because I don’t give a shit about doing right by you. I don’t care if you’re better off without me. I want you. I’ve wanted you since the first moment we met, and I will never stop wanting you.” He stepped in so close I could feel his sweet breath on my face. “Leaving you that day in Costa Rica was the biggest fucking mistake of my life, Dakota. And if I could do it all over again, I would have told your father to fuck off and let someone else save the world.”

My eyes trickled with tears. His words were raw and real and exactly what my busted-up heart needed to hear. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. I wanted to wrap my legs around his waist and feel his hot body pressing into mine. Yet, something stopped me.

I stared deeply into his eyes. “Does this mean you’re walking away from your job?”

His eyes flickered with a bit of turmoil. “As soon as the buyers call and we complete the transaction, I’m out. For good,” he added.

“What about your family? You said you’re afraid they’ve caught on.”

“I’ll find some other way to convince them I’m Felix.”

“Like how?”

“If there’s a will, there’s a way—I’ll go rob a bank or set up some fake murders or something.”

I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not, but regardless…“Paolo, it sounds really dangerous.”

“It is. But this is what I signed up for. You just need to trust me.” He paused and stared at me with those fierce eyes. “And you need to say you’ll take me back.”

I flung my arms around his neck and pushed my mouth to his. His soft, full lips, surrounded by the familiar roughness of his unshaven face, were like heaven. Masculine and sweet, rough and sensual.

Paolo hesitated for a moment, perhaps thinking over if this was the right choice for us, but then the man I knew—insatiable, sexually ravenous, and unapologetically dominating in bed—took over. He kissed me back in a wild explosion. His lips and tongue devoured my mouth with sensual movements while his hands reached down and scooped me into his arms. I didn’t say a word. All I wanted was to feel the weight of him on top of me, to feel the hard heat of him pressing between my legs and sliding deep inside.

He carried me to the small bedroom, laid me down onto the narrow mattress, and pulled off my shorts. He paused for a moment to stare hungrily at my most intimate spot before quickly shedding his jeans and laying his body over mine. He pushed up my T-shirt with one hand while his lips made the trip down to my breasts. He kneaded and sucked each one as if he’d thirsted for them. Then one of his hands made the trip down between our bodies, and I felt his rough, thick fingers stroking me, testing me. I knew I was ready for him. I had been from the moment we’d woken up on this bed, even after the cold shower.

His deep, sensual groan signaled that he’d found what he’d been hoping for at my entrance: a welcome invitation for his hard, thick shaft.

Still kneading my breast, his frenzied mouth moved back to mine while he settled himself between my thighs, gripping his cock and positioning it for that swift thrust he knew I liked.

I felt so lost in him when we were like this. And I knew if he ever left me again, I wouldn’t recover. But my fear of the future was completely overridden by my hunger for him.

Holding the tip of himself against my pulsing, needy entrance, Paolo stopped for a moment and looked into my eyes. “I love you, Dakota.” He began to thrust, and I closed my eyes, wanting to lose myself in the sinful bliss. Then the jeans on the floor began to vibrate and ring.

“
Cazzo
,” Paolo hissed.

He blew out a breath as if fighting his urge to ignore the phone. “I have to get that.”

I nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Just hurry.”

I immediately missed the heat of his body the moment he pulled away and went for the ringing cell phone.

“
Pronto
.” He listened for a moment, and I watched his face transform from that man filled with potent lust and emotion into a block of ice.

My heart pounded inside my chest as he spoke to whoever it was in some strange Slavic-sounding language. No, I hadn’t known he spoke…whatever, but it didn’t surprise me. The man spoke ten languages that I knew of and probably spoke ten more.

He ended the call with little more than five words and then began rubbing his chin.

“What’s the matter?” I flipped the blanket on the bed over my exposed body. Paolo reached for his jeans and slipped them on.

“Paolo? Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“It’s a little snag. It’s fine.”

“What do you mean?”

He adjusted himself and winced. His erection was still at full force, and I knew he didn’t want to leave, especially like that, so it had to be bad, bad news.

“It was one of our guys,” he said. “The shipment is stuck in customs.”

“And?” I asked.

“It means whoever is holding it wants more money.” He shook his head. “
Cazzo!
We paid them three times what they normally ask. Greedy fucking bastards.”

I couldn’t believe there was a going rate for bribing Ukrainian customs agents, but okay.

He slipped on his boots. “I have to take care of this.”

I stood from the bed, holding the blanket over my front. “Where are you going?”

“I have to see my guy that handles Ukraine.”

“Where is he?”

Paolo hesitated. “I really can’t tell you, Dakota. It’s for his safety as much as yours.”

“Okay, but is it here in Rome? Is it safe?”

He pecked me on the lips. “Yes, but—”

His cell rang again, and he looked at the number. His eyes lit up, and he answered it. “Yeah?”

He listened and then began speaking some other language. Middle Eastern. The conversation sounded agitated and angry. Like he was convincing someone what to do. After a few minutes, he hung up. “Shit. This is it.”

“The buyers?” I asked.

He nodded frantically. “They’ll be at the drop-off in two hours. I have to hurry and get those bodies released. And you are going back to the States. Right now.”

I blinked. “No, I’m not.” I wasn’t going to leave him. Not now. “I’ll wait here, and we’ll leave together.”

He smiled affectionately and cupped my cheek. “Dakota, listen to me. You have to—”

“I’m afraid if I let you out of my sight, I’ll never see you again.”

“Where is your closest safe house?” he asked.

“Chicago.” I hadn’t really had time to set anything up on this side of the Atlantic.

“I’ll be there. Just a few hours behind you.”

“No wa—”

“I’m losing time debating with you. Please, Dakota. Please, just go to your safe house, and I’ll be right behind you. I need to know you’re safe so I can concentrate on this one last thing. Then we’ll be free. I promise.”

I knew what he had to do was important, but I didn’t like the idea of leaving him one bit. “Please be careful.”

“I will.” He pulled me into his warm body and kissed me deeply. It took every ounce of strength I had not to grab hold of him and beg him to leave with me right then and there. But that would not help him.

He pulled away, went for his shirt, and pulled it over his head. “I’ll drop you on the way.”

“Drop me where?”

“There’s a tour bus that can take you all the way to Naples. From there you can get a flight to London and then Chicago.”

“Will it be safe?” I asked, remembering that he’d told me people were all over the place looking for me.

“By now, they’ll think you slipped out of the city by car or something. If not, they won’t be checking tour buses or the Naples airport—it’s the wrong direction out of the country.”

He grabbed a coat and then turned to me. “Aren’t you getting dressed?”

“Oh. Yeah.” My head was filled with so many unpleasant thoughts, I didn’t know what to do. I put on my same clothes from the night before and grabbed my purse.

Paolo checked the camera feeds on his phone one last time before opening the front door and grabbing my hand. Once outside and safely in a taxi, I told Paolo the address for the apartment in Chicago. We pulled up to a little hotel with a bus stop out front, just off of a main thoroughfare, and he handed me a wad of cash.