by Theresa Papa
“Why does that surprise you?”
“Because you’re every man’s dream—an angel by day and a seductress by night—and it turns me on like no other woman ever could. I never imagined someone like you existed for me.”
“So you liked it when I took control just this once?”
“Hell yeah! And I hope you do it again sometimes. A man likes to know his woman gets turned on by him and wants to give him pleasure.”
“Oh, baby you had me so turned on I had to reach down and untie my suit bottoms while I pleasured you.”
Nico moans, and his superpower fingers snake their way back to my heated core.
“Let’s feel how turned on you are, baby. I can’t keep my hands off you.”
His palm travels down my stomach until he buries his fingers deep inside me. The pressure builds once again in every sensitive nerve within. Then he enters me again from behind. I throw my leg over, using his hip for support. He stokes the fire and increases the flames; Nico brings me to the heights of the volcano once again, and the eruption leaves me weightless and spent in his arms.
Chapter 38
Samantha Marconi
I wake from a restful nap, the movement of the water lulling my slumber. The clock says 3:15, but that would mean I slept for over an hour. What a boring girlfriend I am. Nico takes me out on this impressive yacht, and I fall asleep. I hop out of bed and into the bathroom. I look like a disheveled mess; my hair sticks up in all directions. With my clip, I tame my tresses once more in a messy bun on top of my head. Then I wrangle the girls back into my bathing suit top and tie on my bottoms. I splash some cold water on my face and head up to the deck to find my lover. I find Nico up on the deck as he pulls out some life jackets.
He turns to me asking sweetly, “How was your little nap, beautiful?”
“It was superb! What are the life jackets for? Are we sinking?”
“Ha-ha, I thought you would enjoy a ride on the water bikes.”
“Hell, yes! Let’s go!”
We ride the water bikes conveniently stored on the back deck of the yacht all afternoon. I’m touched at the way Nico carefully takes care of every detail to keep me safe. The thrill of going fast on the water is so much fun it’s hard to stop when it comes time to get ready for dinner.
I brought a flowing cotton casual dress in teal for dinner with strappy sandals and a cream sweater in case it gets cold. When you live in the windy city, the breeze off the lake is cold at night. Nico has on slim-cut jeans in a light beige with a button-down linen shirt in blue. The sleeves are rolled to reveal his tan, muscled forearms. This is so great. We look good together.
The surprise on my face when we arrive is probably what Nico’s obvious excitement is for. I place my hand on my heart with a smile at him. The dinner celebration we join is actually a Hawaiian luau complete with a pig roast. An appetizing aroma floats from the barbecue pit. The tiki inspired décor and cuisine is a refreshing change of pace. Nico and I enjoy some modern tiki cocktails, and I’m more relaxed. After dinner, the Polynesian dancers are fun to watch and the men with the torches are pretty hot. Pun intended.
As we drive back to Nico’s house, I almost wish we spent the night on the yacht with the sway of the water beneath me rocking me to peaceful slumber.
“Thank you for taking me on the yacht. Have you ever stayed the night on it?”
“Yeah, when Elizabeth was out on bail as we prepared for the trial. It was the only way to keep the photographers and the news reporters away from her.”
Nico’s cell rings. Jaxson is on Bluetooth for me to listen in.
“Hey guys, I’m sorry to bother you, but I know Sam would want to know about this. The next piece of news is disturbing. Tony and I both received packets with pictures of women available and both Elizabeth and Jennifer are included. To my surprise, Joe’s observations about Jennifer running away were wrong.”
Bile rises in my stomach, and I think briefly about asking Nico to pull over for me to vomit.
“How did they look in the pictures?”
“They are not looking straight into the camera, but I can tell Elizabeth is drugged.”
“Well, it looks like we are in it deep tomorrow night. I’ll see you at Joe’s garage,” Nico says before they hang up.
I wipe the moisture under my eyes and swallow my nausea, then put on a brave face as we pull into the garage.
“Have any of you ever been worried about Richard Harrington abducting Elizabeth?”
“Richard Harrington should worry about Elizabeth.” He smirks.
Then he shakes his head and adds, “She can be pretty feisty, and she has a temper. Also, she took self-defense classes. Her body is in top physical condition at all times. She vowed that she would never let anyone take advantage of her again. That’s how I know they’ve drugged her.”
“They probably keep her drugged and chained up. A woman that determined would have found a way to escape by now.”
“By tomorrow night, it will all be over, hopefully.”
Chapter 39
Nico Pope
The mini vacation Samantha and I are in the midst of has been so perfect that I don’t even want to think about what’s going down tonight. I wake up with my perfect angel asleep in my arms. Her silky dark brown hair fanned out over my pillow, a small smile on her plump bow-shaped lips and little flutters of her thick long eyelashes rest on her cheeks. My eyes feast downward next on her sumptuous body tight in all the right places and soft in all the others that feel so good. I gaze at her asleep while I get painfully more aroused by the minute, but I don’t have the heart to wake her. I want to prolong the bliss of this perfect moment as long as possible before everything could get royally fucked up tonight.
She breathes deeply and stirs in my arms, then nuzzles her face into my neck. She’s perfect. I can’t wait much longer.
“How long have you been watching me sleep?” she asks hoarsely in her sexy morning voice.
“I love it, to see you peaceful and content is very pleasurable for me.” I stroke her arm lightly with my fingertips and move on to the sensitive curve of the side of her breast. She exhales a deep breathy moan at the sensation, so I continue downward with just my fingertips, playing her ribs like the keys on the piano. Her own investigation interrupts my concentration when her hand roams lightly over my hip to my groin and grasps me gently in her small hand. I suck in a quick breath at the stimulation and slide my hand down her stomach into her heated cleft. She spreads her thighs, allowing me to probe deeper and cause shudders of pleasure throughout her body. Before they diminish completely, I maneuver myself above her and slide home. She wraps her legs around me, and together, we are that unfathomable grand slam.
The day goes by too quickly, and my nerves start to kick up a notch with all the things that can go wrong with the plan tonight. Sam and I have lunch together after a morning deliriously filled with lovemaking. It bodes well to keep her mind on something other than Jen. I drop her off at her condo where she reluctantly agrees to stay while the whole rescue takes place. When it comes time for me to leave, she makes her best effort to persuade me.
“I should be there to take care of Jennifer when they bring her out.”
“We are not taking any chances by putting you anywhere near the danger. If she needs to go to the hospital, I will have you meet us there. If not, we will likely bring her to you here.”
“It was one thing when I was convinced that Jen ran away on her own free will, but now I know she’s really at the club. I’m worried and being here alone will make me go crazy.”
“My top priority is to keep you safe. I can deal with a little crazy.” I pull her into my arms, and she smiles up at me, finally in agreement. Those gorgeous eyes that look sweetly up at me could be the last thing in this world I see, and I would die a happy man. She is the kind of woman wars are fought over. I hold her for a long time and just gaze at her. The will to leave escapes me, and I can
’t bear to let her go, but I know that my brother and Tony need my help. I lean in and kiss her with all that I have, a kiss that conveys how much I feel for her. But when I pull away, a thought occurs to me. Just to show her is not enough. I need to tell her how I feel. The memory of my mother comes to mind when I was a boy, and she always told me she loved me as she said goodbye or good night. Her actions always displayed her love for me, but her words are what I always cherish since her passing. When I asked her one day why she says “I love you” all the time, she answered, “Because, my sweet son, my quest on this earth is to make sure that you and your brother know you are loved above all things. When you know you are loved, you become loving by that example. When you both grow up to be loving and caring men, you will be happy, and you will, in turn, attract love into your lives.”
My arms remain around her, and Sam has laid her head on my chest. We both just want to stay there and hold each other. I tighten my arms to hug her closer and take the opportunity to tell her.
“I love you, Samantha.”
“I love you too, Nico.”
Mom was right, and I probably have her to thank for sending me this loving, intelligent, and glamorous woman. I’m now a lucky man with love in my life. Mom wanted the same for Jaxson, so I hope one day he can experience this kind of love.
She reaches up and kisses me again when my cell buzzes.
“It’s probably Joe,” I say, keeping one arm around Sam. “Hey Joe, I’m leaving right now. Be there in ten minutes.”
Sam’s eyes are wet when she pulls back from our embrace.
“Nico, please be very careful. I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to you.”
“I’ll be outside in the van with Joe. Perfectly safe.” I smile and kiss her one last time before I bolt out the door to my car and head to Joe’s.
On this clear and warm night, my drive to Joe’s is spent with anxiety over my brother and Tony having to go into the club to get the girls out. What if they are met with resistance and one of them or one of the girls gets hurt or worse? Jaxson and Tony will both be armed, but we wanted to get them out without anyone seeing or hearing anything. Especially Giselle, that would be perfect.
When I pull up, Jaxson’s car is already there. Joe has the van at a friend’s auto mechanic garage so he could set up all the high-tech equipment inside. I bang on the metal door, and Jax comes to let me in. As I follow him back inside, I chuckle loudly at his skintight black leather pants and black boots.
“Hey bro, looks like you dressed for the part. Did you have that in your closet just waiting to be worn?” I crack up laughing, and Jaxson turns to give me a dirty look.
“Very funny, dickhead. We could always trade places, and you could be the fucking hero who saves Samantha’s girlfriend. She’ll be very goddamn grateful, I’m sure of that.”
I lose my temper and get up into Jaxson’s face while I raise my voice. The other guys look over at us.
“What the fuck? Is this some weird way for you to try to win Sam’s affection? I thought we talked about this, and we understood each other. You told me you were stepping away from your pursuit of her. It doesn’t matter what the fuck you do! You could save the world! She would still love me!”
Jaxson pushes me away, and I go at him again. Joe and Tony come over and pull us apart.
Tony calmly talks me down; the guy has always been the voice of reason. Even in the old days of high school when we played hockey together, all the guys respected Tony, and when he said “enough,” we were done with the fight. The guys all nicknamed him “The Dragon” in high school because his last name is Dragonetti.
Jaxson’s face is on fire, he takes a deep breath and blurts out, “Nico, I didn’t mean shit by what I said. You know I enjoy teasing the hell out of you when it comes to her. Fuck, I know that you and Sam are together, dumb shit. I’m happy for you both. I don’t have time for a nice girl like Sam. Amanda and the two other bimbos I’m juggling at the same time right now are enough, bro.”
I walk over to Jax and apologize. My emotions are all over the place; who would have thought one woman could make me so nuts? I need to pull myself together and concentrate on the job.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what got in to me. I guess I’m just worried about you guys going in there tonight. When it comes to Sam, we are getting pretty serious, and it’s something I’ve never felt before.”
“She told you she loves you, bro?”
“Yeah, she did.”
“I’m happy for you. She’s sexy, intelligent, and the whole package. You’re one lucky son of a bitch.”
We shake hands and hug to resolve the misunderstanding between us, then Joe speaks up.
“Now that you pussies are done hugging it out, can we get to work?”
The next two hours are spent eating takeout while Joe teaches us about the equipment. He brings out a box of microphones that look like buttons and attaches them to Jaxson and Tony’s clothes. Then he makes sure they work properly through the system in the van. He tests the equipment that will jam the video feed in the club long enough for them to get the girls out of there. We finish just in time to climb in the van and leave for the club.
We drop the guys off and park in a discreet place that Joe scouted out on an earlier trip. He makes sure Jax and Tony both know exactly where we parked. And of course, he made sure we’re close enough to hear what’s going on. We settle in the seats in the back, and he puts on the earphones to listen to Jaxson and Jennifer, and I listen to Tony and Elizabeth.
At first, there’s Tony breathing. Then finally someone speaks to him.
Club Host: “My apologies sir, but there has been a problem, and we are unable to procure the partner you have selected from the photographs. We would like to offer you a suitable replacement of your choice and a free session of your choice in the future to reconcile the unfortunate mistake.”
Tony: “This is unacceptable. I paid a hefty sum in advance and waded through all your red tape, and you wait until now to tell me this?”
Club Host: “There are extenuating circumstances that are beyond our control, and all we can do is try to offer you someone else.”
I can hear in the next thing Tony says that his patience is gone, and this could blow up in our faces. He has strong feelings for Elizabeth. If he believes they intend to keep him from seeing her on purpose, or they have hurt her in some way, it may be the only trigger to make this usually reasonable man into a volatile risk for us.
Tony: “Where is the woman I picked? Why is she not available? Has something happened to her?”
Someone needs to remedy this problem, and I realize it has to be me. This could jeopardize the whole plan and put everyone in danger. I take off the earphones and bolt out of the chair, causing it to roll backward into the opposite wall of the van. I grab one of the microphones out of the box and show Joe. By the time, he realizes what’s happening, I’m out the door and down the ramp to the lower level. I know Joe will be able to monitor all of us; he’s a pro, so I’m not worried. To get into the club is not difficult using the entrance that I know about from the other night. Tonight there isn’t even a door attendant, so I walk right into the place. The only problem I have is to find where Tony is right now. I’m near the chambers where Sam and I were together, but the Alpha service is top secret, so it must be somewhere else. I listen for any kind of arguing or Tony’s raised voice as I walk down the candlelit subterranean hallway. There’s a rustling behind me, but before I can turn around, a searing pain on my neck is followed by a burning sensation. Then my knees buckle, and darkness closes in.
I call out hoarsely. “Joe!”
Then nothing but blackness.
Chapter 40
Nico Pope
It seems like it’s only a moment later that blinding light breaks through the darkness. I open my eyes, blinking against the glare and struggling against the effects of the injection. For a moment, I’m disoriented and my surround
ings overlap as they tip back and forth. My eyelids flutter to try to clear my vision. Shackles restrain my wrists above my head, causing my arms to tingle. Iron cuffs further constrict my ankles. As my eyes adjust to where recognizable forms and colors take shape, I realize I’m in one of the chambers with my back to the wooden cross. It’s unclear how long I’ve been here, so the numbness in my limbs could be either from the drug or the restraints being on too long. Before I can even get my thoughts straight, the large wooden door unlocks and opens. I’m not surprised the person who walks in is dressed in leather. Of course, a mask hides their identity.
“What do you want from me?” I demand.
Blinking a few more times, I pick out the details of the person as they come closer to me. I now can see a blond female dressed as a dominatrix in a corset with a leather thong. Her body is shaped like a porn star with huge tits and a small waist. Her legs go on forever and are adorned with thigh-high stiletto heeled boots. Her nose and thick collagen-enhanced lips in a pout are the only features visible from under her black-feathered mask. She laughs at my question while she starts to feel me up with her hands. The heat from her breath is on my face as she slides her tongue up my cheek. I turn away as far as I can.
“Am I so revolting that you turn away from me every time? Why can’t you like me as you do Lisa or Samantha?”
Even in my post-drugged haze, I recognize her voice as soon as she speaks.
“Giselle? What are you doing? This is crazy. Let me go.”
She backs up from me and removes her mask. The look in her eyes is maniacal, and she continues with a pronounced French accent.
“I won’t let you go until you fulfill my fantasy. You see, Nico, I have wanted you for so long, and you never showed me any interest whatsoever. Then today, you just walk right into my dungeon, so how could I resist? This is what I love to do. This is what I have dreamed of doing with you. I saw from the moment I began to work for you that you’re a firm boss to everyone at the salon. And you are a ladies’ man who has your fair share of one-night stands just for sex. But underneath it all, because you have a heart of gold, when you finally commit, it will be with your whole self. In my experience, if a man like you falls in love with a woman, she could easily make him her submissive. Your love and loyalty make you want to do anything in your power to please the lucky woman who has captured your undying affection. When I become that woman, you will want to become my submissive to please me. I want to show you that I can be that woman, and if you let yourself enjoy the pleasure, I’m about to show you that you can fall in love with me.”