Roxanne (The Italian Cartel Book 2)

by Shandi Boyes

  By staying on script, we learned that Dr. Bates is knowledgeable on parts of Dimitri’s life not many people know about. His voice didn’t waver in the slightest when I said Dimitri would be mad as hell if I fell pregnant at the start of our relationship like his wife did. It was as if he already knew their story. I wasn’t sharing anything new with him.

  After ensuring me I’d be okay, Dr. Bates offered to clear his schedule so I could immediately come in. That threw me out of the loop for a couple of seconds. I hadn’t expected him to react so quickly. Although I was eager to get our ruse started—the quicker it occurs, the faster Fien will be returned—I knew Dimitri’s team needed more than twenty minutes to put steps into play to ensure Dr. Bates’s every move was being scrutinized.

  I also perhaps needed more than a measly twenty minutes with Dimitri before his life is upended for the second time. We haven’t had a moment of quiet since he agreed to my offer. It’s been full steam ahead since then.

  “Still nothing?” I ask after stopping at Dimitri’s side. I don’t know who he’s been trying to call the past six hours, but the tension on his face grows more obvious the longer his calls remain unanswered. I’m confident his worry doesn’t stem from his cousin. She left here earlier today with an armored fleet as impressive as the one they used to bring Maddox here for the night, but it’s clear he’s noticing their absence.

  “He must be somewhere without cell phone service as he’s never not taken my call.”

  As he slides his phone into the pocket of his trousers, I spot the name of the man he’s endeavoring to reach on its screen. Rico. He must be new to Dimitri’s sanction because it isn’t a name I’ve heard the past several weeks.

  “Ask Smith to track his cell. If it’s turned on, he should be able to find it.” Keen to soothe the heavy groove between his brows, I add, “Even without a trendy microchip installed in your arm, it’s almost impossible to remain incognito these days.”

  His smirk is only half what I was hoping for, but it’s better than nothing.

  After a few more minutes soaking up his handsome face, I say, “I’m going to go lay down for a couple of minutes. My head is a little woozy.” I peer up at him with hopeful eyes. “Would you care to join me?”

  Only weeks ago, I wouldn’t have been game to assume he wants to sleep with me. Now, it feels as natural as breathing. Even with his quiet taking up a majority of my focus today, I’ve noticed his heated gaze directed at me multiple times. He finally believes I’m on his side, and I’m more than willing to continue convincing him, especially if that can only occur while he’s naked. I’ve always been the more daring one of my friends, and now that I’ve discovered just how powerful sex can make you feel, I want to flex my muscles.

  Either mishearing the innuendo in my tone or too worried to sleep, Dimitri replies, “I’ve got a few things to take care of first. I’ll join you once they’re finalized.” The drop of my bottom lip isn’t as noticeable when he lowers his voice to ensure his next set of words is only for my ears. “Sleep naked. I don’t want anything between us when I come to bed.”

  “Okay.” Considering I only spoke one word, it shouldn’t be as breathy as it is.

  After squeezing his hand, wordlessly assuring him he has nothing to worry about, I skip to my room, confident it’s the perfect location to ease his panic.

  Many, many hours later, the creak of an old set of hinges wakes me from my slumber. My head is still a little woozy, but it’s more compliments to Dimitri’s delicious scent than the sedative Smith gave me. He strips beside the bed like he did every night we shared the same room before he slips between the sheets.

  Unlike our last night together at his compound, I don’t cry into his chest when he pulls me into his arms. I moan. He’s thick, warm, and he smells like me since the only shower he’s had the past twenty-four hours is the one we shared.

  A husky moan fills my ears when he curls my leg around his waist. For once, I’m confident it didn’t come from me. Dimitri is responding to my submissiveness in a way that ensures it will occur more often from here on out. I’m naked as he requested, and his scent alone has me the wettest I’ve ever been.

  “Grip my shoulders like your cunt does my cock. If I go too fast, dig your nails in deep.” He bites my bottom lip, drags his tongue across the welt, then tastes the minty flavor of my toothpaste before he adds, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t.”

  A stretch of silence follows my promise. It’s a tense, beautiful moment occupied by Dimitri slowly sinking inside of me. I fist the sheets as big, extended breaths seep from my mouth. The feeling of being stretched so wide is wondrous, but it has nothing on the sensation that overwhelms me when our eyes collide. His earlier panic has receded. Now, nothing but pleasing me is on his mind.

  When shudders commence rolling through me, I freeze. I can’t possibly be coming already. He’s barely rocked his hips four times.

  The thought he can bring me to climax so fast turns me on more than I could ever explain. It doubles the tingles in my womb and ramps up my moans to an embarrassing level.

  “Come hard for me, Roxie. Coat my cock with your juices, then I can try and stuff my cock all the way in.”

  His tongue laps at my lips as he rocks in and out of me, prolonging my orgasm to the point I’m considering classing it as two. The wetness soaking the sheets should have me blushing. However, it doesn’t. I’m drenched front to back, moaning like we’re the only two people in the world and clenching around Dimitri’s fat cock with every plunge he does.

  We’re not brutally fucking as we did last night, proving I don’t need violence nor an audience to get off. The perfect rolls of his hips and the dirty words he whispers in my ear is everything I need.

  It’s perfect.

  Mind-blowing.

  Fireworks producing.

  It has me stuttering out a warning I’m about to come again before the first one has fully dissipated. It’s a brilliant exchange that verifies every crazy decision I’ve made the past nine weeks was for the best.

  “I knew you’d be like this. Explosive and un-fucking-relentless.” Dimitri rolls me onto my back before he curls my legs around his sweaty back. “How many times did you dream about this after that dweeb’s attempt to get you off in the alleyway?”

  “More times than I can count,” I answer truthfully, unconcerned by his name-calling. You can’t be expected to think morally when you’re in a situation like this. Even the most solid principles burn when the fire is out of control. “But it’s better than I could have ever comprehended. No one can predict explosions like this. They’re unpredictable…” I lock my eyes with Dimitri’s, meowing when I notice how clear of trouble they are, “… kind of like you.”

  He thrusts into me deeper, faster, and harder, turned on by my words. It’s crazy, but within seconds, I feel another powerful, all-encompassing orgasm building inside of me, and I’m not the only one noticing.

  As he demands the attention of my dripping sex with quick, powerful strokes, Dimitri raises his hand to one of my breasts. He pinches my nipple, growling when the sharpness of his touch sends me freefalling over the edge.

  A shudder rips through me from my head to my toes as Dimitri’s name leaves my throat in a grunted moan. My climax is violent. It takes everything I have and then some. I feel incapable of breathing. I’m hot everywhere and screaming oh so loudly. I can’t control it. It’s uncontrollable. It pummels into me over and over again like a violent ocean refusing to leave a single victim. I’d let it take me if it promised every night would be as exquisite as this one.

  “There you are,” Dimitri mutters against my lips, God knows how long later. I’m dazed like I zoned out for longer than a couple of minutes, the prompts of my body no longer mine. They’ve been relinquished to Dimitri, along with my heart.

  “I love…” I freeze, fretful I’m about to make a horrendous mistake.

  I don’t know this man. We were strangers only
months ago, but that doesn’t mean I can’t also love him, does it? He forced me to share information I’ve never wanted to give anyone, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I may have very well fallen in love with him that morning in the plane. He didn’t judge me as I thought he would. He held me in his arms and wiped away my tears. He was there for me like no one ever was.

  Whether in fear or euphoria, he makes my heart beat like no one else can. Its patters will never be matched for anyone who isn’t him.

  That, in itself, is worthy of recognition.

  That deserves acknowledgment.

  Confident this will be by far the least stupid thing I’ve done, I return my eyes to Dimitri’s face, gulping when I notice his watch. The speed of his pumps hasn’t slackened in the slightest despite him noticing my thirty seconds of deliberation. He stares straight at me, the altering of the light in his eyes as fascinating as his infamous half-smirk when I say, “I love you, Dimitri Petretti. Your fierceness, your cockiness, I love everything about you.”

  Twenty-Eight

  Dimitri

  Doing everything I can to weaken the knot in my gut, I pace the room. I didn’t know I was walking into a trap when I offered to chauffeur Audrey to her baby shower. If I’d known, I would have put actions into place to protect her and keep our daughter safe. I would have had every eye of my team on her as they are now on Roxanne. However, no matter what I did twenty-two months ago, my panic would still be valid today.

  If my enemies hadn’t taken Audrey, they would have taken Roxanne, and then I wouldn’t have heard the words she spoke to me as clear as day last night.

  I killed her boyfriend, tortured her family, and have threatened to kill her more times than I’ve showed her an ounce of affection, yet, she still loves me.

  She. Loves. Me.

  The thought blows my mind. It also had cum rushing out of my cock last night like I hadn’t had sex in years. I filled Roxanne to the brim before displaying exactly what her words meant to me with my body. We fucked for hours. It was glorious, the best sex I’ve ever had, but it feels like a thing of the past now as I watch Roxanne prepare for her appointment with Dr. Bates.

  The beat-up Honda Rocco purchased from a used-car dealer three towns over is wired to the hilt. It has a tracker, multiple microphones, and almost as many cameras as Roxanne’s clothing. We have every angle covered, yet I still feel like I should call off the whole thing.

  I wouldn’t hesitate if Fien’s ransom hadn’t landed in my inbox this morning. It was short, snarky, and requesting a year’s payout for only one month, proving Roxanne’s chat with Dr. Bates yesterday morning has circulated amongst my enemies.

  It also has me confident Roxanne is right. The instigator of Fien’s captivity is a woman. I can smell bullshit from a mile out. Jealousy extends to five. The scent that streamed through my nose while reading Fien’s ransom request was fucking rank. The person responsible for the hell I’ve lived in the past two years is a female—a dead one when I find out who she is.

  “Is that everything?” I ask Roxanne when she ties up the final lace of her boots.

  Alice picked a casual look for Roxanne today with a free-flowing dress, a cropped jacket, tights, and boots that are more than capable of removing a guy’s nuts if he gets out of line.

  I requested for her to wear the boots.

  Rocco was adamant they needed to be steel caps.

  Nodding, Roxanne licks her lips. She won’t say she’s scared because she knows I’d call off our ruse in an instant. Little threads are unraveling everywhere, so it will only be a matter of time before Fien’s captives are brought to justice, but Roxanne is also mindful that every hour I’m without Fien feels like a lifetime of punishment. For some insane reason, she wants to save me from the nightmare, and her motives have nothing to do with the fact she was swapped for Audrey. She’s so under my thumb, even if her parents had nothing to do with Audrey’s murder, she’d still offer to place her life on the line for Fien. No fear.

  That thought alone has me doing something my crew would never expect to see me do. I don’t bid Roxanne farewell with a dip of my chin. I kiss her with everything I have. Teeth, lips, tongue, they all get in on the action. I pass on my appreciation for what she’s doing and the words she shared last night, then I promise her loyalty won’t go unnoticed.

  I will protect her better than I did Audrey.

  I will keep her safe.

  She has my guarantee I won’t let anything happen to her.

  By the time I pull back, Roxanne’s knees are wobbling, and Rocco is clapping. “I didn’t think you had it in you, D, but I was wrong. You can totally make me hard.”

  I cut off the grab of his crotch with a stern sideways glance. I appreciate he’s trying to bring down the tension in the room with a little bit of humor, but now isn’t the time. I’m five seconds from throwing in the towel on an operation that could get me my daughter back. That’s unacceptable even to consider. However, it’s straight-up honest. I’ve never felt as conflicted as I do now. It feels as if I have Roxanne’s life in one hand and Fien’s in the other with no possibility of them both making it out of the carnage unscathed.

  I’ve just got to try what Roxanne suggested. I have to put my faith in the people who have never given me any reason to doubt their loyalty. I won’t lie. The track is bumpy, but I’m giving it my best shot.

  I return Roxanne’s focus to me by running my index finger down the little bump in her arm. The implant site of her tracker is still sensitive to touch, but since the tracker is the size of a grain of rice, it’s barely noticeable to the human eye. “If at any time you feel something is off, signal for us to move in. Rocco will be in the pharmacy next door. Clover and a team are one block over. I’ve got as many men on this as possible—”

  “I know, Dimi,” she interrupts, smiling to assure me she got the gist of what my kiss was about. “We’ve got every base covered. Now we just need to get your daughter back.” She wipes off her sticky lip gloss from my mouth before she pivots to face Rocco. “Ready?”

  Rocco’s face is well-known to our enemies, so he can’t drive Roxanne to her appointment, but he will tail her two-town trip. My enemies would expect her to have a constant shadow since I’m as neurotic as I am wealthy.

  “I was born ready.” After gathering up a set of keys, Rocco heads for the back entrance, so he can be in his truck before Roxanne departs the main entrance, patting my shoulder on the way by. “She’s got this, D. She was run over twice. She can handle anything.”

  Once Smith gives Roxanne a final rundown on each camera button in her dress, she glances my way for the quickest second, waves like her heart isn’t thudding in her chest, then slips out the front door.

  My brain switches from personal to business just as quickly. “Bring up the surveillance cameras in Dr. Bates’s office.”

  One of the techies Smith brings in when he gets snowed under jumps to my command. I can’t recall his name. It starts with an H, I think.

  Once Dr. Bates’s office is displayed on multiple screens in front of me, I shift on my feet to face Smith. “Are all communication methods hacked?”

  He jerks up his chin. “We’ve got eyes and ears in each location and frequencies scanning remotely. Even if he uses a burner phone, we’ll know exactly what he sends and who he sends it to.”

  “Will it give us a location?”

  My jaw tightens when he shakes his head. “But that will come with time.”

  It’s an effort not to sigh as I have no patience whatsoever. That’s why our plan today is slowly killing me. We have every intention to let Roxanne be kidnapped this morning, confident the group Dr. Bates is working with will take her straight to Rimi Castro. Then we’ll use the tracker in Roxanne’s arm to pinpoint her location, go in hard, then come out victorious.

  Sounds easy enough, but very rarely does it pan out that way. And I’m not going to mention my intuition warning me to pull back on the reins, or I’ll instruct Smith to overtake
the controls of Roxanne’s car she’s steering toward Hopeton.

  We have control of everything except the one thing I want to control the most. I can slay my enemies, I can gut them until they’re spineless, worthless men, but I can’t seem to outrun them lately. I’m always one step behind, and more times than not, that minute gap is filled with the biggest chunk of anarchy.

  It kills me to admit that. I’d give anything to change it. But I can’t. That isn’t the way things work in this industry. If you’re not giving it to someone up the ass, you’re taking it. I’m so fucking over it, but I have no choice but to play the game as it’s meant to be played. I can mix up the pieces as I did by bringing Rico onto my side of the board, I can strategize to ensure the princess is protected above the king, but I can’t alter the rules to suit myself. If I did, it wouldn’t just be me paying the penalty. Fien would, and so would Roxanne.

  With that in mind, I get back to business. “How many patients does Dr. Bates have coming in today?”

  “According to his schedule, over half a dozen.”

  Sensing some unease in Smith’s reply, I ask, “And according to you?”

  He takes a moment to deliberate before locking his brown eyes with mine. “He’s organized to have lunch with his wife today. They’re planning to eat in Ravenshoe.”

  “Is that out of the ordinary for them?”

  He nods. “The last time they ate together was Thanksgiving four years ago. To say things are strained would be an understatement, so why would he go out of his way to wine and dine her today?”

  He has a point—regretfully. “Send someone to the restaurant he’s planning to dine at. It could be a waste of resources, but I’d rather be cautious.”

  While he attends to that, I request the techie whose name I still can’t remember to bring up the main camera in Roxanne’s car, praying like fuck the last time I see her face won’t be through a computer monitor.