Mr. Mysterious In Black (14 page)

My mood was now as bitter as gall, so much that I was uninterested in continuing this conversation with Natalio. He must have taken note of such when I picked up my wineglass and turned my attention to the Jazz players on-stage, because he breathed an audible sigh and reached across the table to take my hand in his.

“Sadie, this is what I didn’t want, for you start over thinking things or feeling sorry for your situation. If there are no wonders with your memory returning, then we can just start over—well, we’re already doing that. Don’t worry about it and just forget this conversation. I never knew you, you never knew me. We’re just two new people trying to get to know each other. Please, can we just get back to where we were before your roommate opened her beak?” he pleaded.

That was a good proposition, I thought. Because, in all candidness, my brain was weary from trying to assimilate this intricate conversation. What I did know, with utter certainty, was that I wanted him—physically. His hard frame against my melting flesh. His lips on mine again, and hopefully, other places. And what I also knew, inauspiciously, was that I was incapable of granting his wishes. I
couldn’t
fall helplessly in love with him, or need him for any other reason beyond bed-mating. I found him fiendishly attractive, yes. And I’d been longing to be knotted in the sheets with him from the very outset. But now, he was talking about forever. And I wanted none of that. He was right, all that love and forever talk
will
scare me. I
will
run.

Ergo, I would grant Natalio his last wish and forget about it. As long as it didn’t stymie us from sharing our bodies sexually, then with no further bedevilment, I would allow him the reservations of his secrets.

“Agreed.”

“Are you here on business?” I asked Natalio once we were on the move again. I’d powered back the car seat and was lying relaxed, gazing longingly at the gorgeous chunk of man who handled the steering wheel with easy grace. Replete, content, and boosted by wine, I was once again enjoying my man in black.

“Yes and no.”

“Where do you stay when you’re here?” I queried, knowing exactly where I wanted this conversation to take me.

His cell phone chimed and he snatched it from its holder and attended to his received email or whatever it was, while maneuvering the vehicle single-handedly and answering my question.”Depends. I have a loft here in west. My brother, Trevillo, owns a hotel in south where I have a penthouse suite reserved. And I’m fond of Roosevelt.”

“Your brother owns a hotel?”
Of course he does.

“Yes.”

“Which hotel?”

A tic jumped in his jaw as he read his phone screen, intermittently glancing up at the road. Like granite, his face hardened and he threw the phone down in the cup holder, evoking a loud clang. “Viscas.”

“Wow. That’s a freakin’ five-star hotel. Affordable only to the moneyed.”

“Yes.”

Monosyllabic he was. Pensive he seemed. What was his problem now? His mood tended to change at the snap of a finger. But I wasn’t about to let his mood ruin mine.

In the sultriest voice I could afford, I asked, “Where are we heading now? Your loft?”

Natalio side-eyed me. “That’s where you want me to take you?”

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“Nope,” I said coolly. “See, I can be monosyllabic, too.”

He didn’t laugh as I’d expected him to. Something obviously had him peeved. After a long while, he struck. “Why did you disregard my order?”

“Excuse me?”

As if trying to repress his anger, Natalio gripped the steering wheel with both hands. Tight. “Sadie, I told you to stay away from Devon. To stay
away
from him. That means you don’t get to go on a goddamn movie date with him! It was a simple frigging order. Was it that hard to follow?”

How on earth did he know that? Was he having me watched? Nevertheless…”Are you kidding me?
You
don’t get to give me ‘orders’, Natalio. This is
my
life, not yours. And I can do whatever I bloody well please.”

Natalio slammed the brakes, jolting the vehicle to sharp halt. It was good that I’d been lying back in the seat, or I’m pretty sure I would’ve gone straight through that windshield. He rammed the gear in Park while the drivers behind blew their horns in exasperation. “No, you will
not!
I can’t protect you if you don’t listen to me.”

“I don’t need your—”

I almost swallowed my tongue when he launched towards me, gripping my shoulders to keep me still…and silent. “Sadie, listen to me. Devon. Is. Deleterious. Stay
away
from him. He’s seeking some sort of information that he thinks you might have. And if he can’t get it, he’ll resort to extensive measures. That’s how he works. But I’m going to find out what the hell it is before he gets it.”

The harsh, cold demeanor that he wore had me fearing. Fear. An emotion I almost never employ. “Are
you
going to hurt me?”

Natalio’s eyes widened a fraction. Passing car lights made intermittent glides over his face, revealing his pained expression as he eyed his large, aggressive hands that were gripping my slender and innocent shoulders. He then he swore beneath his breath and released me. “No, baby. Never. I’m sorry if I scared you.” He traced the pad of his thumb tenderly across my lips, and I sighed into his touch, believing every word as he said them. “Will I hurt someone who tries to harm you? Yes. Cruelly. Will I hurt
you
? Never. Never, Sadie. Forgive me. Forgive my anger.”

Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against mine, and just when I was opening my mouth to charge my tongue inside his, there was a knock on the window. It was then I remembered that we were parked in the middle of the street.

Natalio muttered something inaudible and powered down the windows, revealing a burly, shaved head man dressed in a black suit and gripping a handgun in one hand, his sharp eyes searching everywhere in the vehicle. “Just checking if you’re okay, boss,” his heavy voice rumbled.

Natalio waved him off. “We’re good, Ruddy.”

The man nodded and backed away as Natalio powered up the window. Well, there’s proof to support his claim that he’s always secured. How did his men stay out of sight, though? Until now, I’d
never
seen any of his people.

Natalio slid back the gear in Drive and resumed our journey, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as his mind seemed to have left the earth.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I only went out with Devon last night because I was upset with you.”

There was no reply. He just kept his eyes on the road, the drumming of his fingers against the wheel being the only sound between us.

“He inquires a lot about Tevin,” I added, hoping that would make him speak to me again. “Maybe Tevin’s who he’s trying to get info on?”

“Ah,” Natalio drew out, nodding on a frown. “Tevin. That makes sense.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it, Sadie. Just…don’t defy me again and steer clear of Devon, okay?”

As much as I wanted to argue with his terms ‘defy’ and ‘order’, terms that made it seem as if I were some sort of slave to him, I didn’t. Natalio Nelson wasn’t quite the ambrosia when he was angry; that tasteful, edifying treat that I always saw him as, eager to lick and devour every bit of his immortalizing nectar. An angry Natalio, I’d just learnt, was a scary, unpalatable one. Leaning forward, I upped the volume of the car stereo, refusing to further this conversation. Etta James’ mesmerizing voice filled the confined space of the vehicle as she crooned
‘I’d Rather Go Blind’.

Elevator doors slid open and I was led directly into a cold, high-ceilinged, glass-walled penthouse. And I inwardly snorted. Were all affluents the same? Always preferring cold glass boxes to comfortable
homes
?

As I walked further into the suite, I found myself slanting my head to assess an intriguing painting that sat in isolation on the center of a wall adjacent the elevator. A black, oil-painted vortex on a white background, with a semblance of shadowed hands reaching out. I found that I was pulling closer towards it, wanting to climb in. It was quasi-hypnotic. Beckoning. The strangest painting I’d ever seen.

“Explains me,” I heard Natalio say from behind me.

“It’s…eerie,” I whispered, fascinated.

“I know. Can I get you a drink?”

“Merlot.”

His footsteps sounded across the wooden floor. For several moments I stared at the painting, before the feat of ripping my gaze away from the curst thing came. Turning, I let my eyes wander idly around the rest of the room which was open floor plan. What wasn’t glass was either black or white. Black furniture. White walls. Black and white paintings. I glanced over to the kitchen where Natalio stood pouring a glass of wine and noted that it was all stainless steel.

Would I want to live in an all glass, sterile, pallid home if I were wealthy? Maybe it was just a way to say, ‘Hey, I’m rich!’

My sight rested on a bubble chair that hung from the ceiling, and I walked over to it and ensconced myself there. A huge, fluffy, white pelt was spread obediently beneath it. Closing my eyes, I swung the bubble chair back as I heard Natalio’s footsteps approaching.

“You don’t want to look around?” He handed me the glass of wine.

“No.”
I’d like to look down your pants.

“Are you comfortable in this thing?” He sunk to his knees before me on the pelt.

“Yes.”
And I’d be even more comfortable naked, with my legs on your shoulders.

Natalio sat back on his heels, lifted my feet onto his lap, slid off my heels and commenced massaging my feet; his thumbs kneading my soles.

It felt really good. My head fell back as I closed my eyes and emitted a soft moan. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d received such treatment. Years.

Natalio spoke. “If it was anyone else, they would’ve been from basement to balcony, wandering from room to room gushing about how amazing this place is.”

“It’s cold and lifeless. And I’ve only been in the main room.”

His fingers paused momentarily, then resumed. “You don’t like it.”

“It’s not for
me
to like. Next foot,” I ordered.

Subserviently, he picked up my right foot and granted it similar treatment as the left.

He seemed to enjoy doing this. And I wondered what else I could get him to do before he slipped back into complexity.

“Have sex with me tonight,” I tried.

“No.”

Whamp, whamp, whamp. Failure.

“Why not?”

“Because I refuse to have sex with you in the manner you prefer.”

So much for com-mu-ni-cat-ing. Pulling my foot from his grasp, I pressed it gently on his chest, while setting my wineglass on the floor. Natalio looked at me quizzically, but I gave him no time to think. Applying pressure to my foot on his chest, in one thrust, I pushed hard so that he fell backward onto the pelt. Before he could move, I leapt from the bubble chair and sat astride him.

“You want to play, Mr. Nelson? Let’s play,” I sweltered. Leaning down, I ran my tongue along his jaw.

Natalio gazed at me with impassivity for a moment, then his mouth twisted in amusement, his blue eyes gleaming sinisterly. And I momentarily cowered.

Oh hell no, Natalio. I want you tonight and I’m going to get you by all means. Game on.

He folded his arms behind his head in a relaxed position and gave me an impish smile. “What are going to do with me, seductress?”

Holding his gaze, I grasped the hem of my dress and inched it up, up, up, slowly. If he broke eye contact, then I’d know I could win tonight. I edged my velvet dress farther and farther up my thighs and he still didn’t look away. Damn, he’s got more control than I thought.

Reaching behind my back, I struggled to get my zipper down.

Natalio chuckled. “Now that’s something you’ll need a hand with. Too bad my hands are busy pillowing my head.”

“I didn’t need help zipping it up. So I don’t need help zipping it down,” I sassed. Then finally, after an eternal struggle, I got it unzipped and I smirked at him. “Now, Mr. Nelson.” I slid my dress down and stopped halfway over my breasts. Natalio drew a sharp breath, but his eyes still didn’t leave mine. “If your dick so much as twitches beneath me,” I warned. “Then
I
get what want.”