by Mj Fields
I was scared to get close to anyone. I had my girls in school and college. I didn’t want to be used like my mother. I didn’t want to be pathetic, so I stayed away from the relationship scene, until James. James didn’t know this, and I would never tell him, but he was my first.
The way Dominic makes me feel, both physically and emotionally, is more than James ever made me feel the entire time we were together. I want him so badly.
God help me.
I sit down in front of the computer. I type Dominic Segretti into the search box and watch as site-after-site opens up. I see him with different women on his arm, sometimes one on each. So many are of him partying and at clubs with girls. Oh, my God, the girls. They aren’t like me. They are Garavani and on a good day, I am Gap. I am not good enough for him. I cannot spend any more time trying to convince myself I am.
I scroll through site-after-site of him and a bunch of men, all gorgeous and Italian-looking, at ribbon cutting ceremonies. Then, I see him with the same woman in many of the recent photos. Who is she?
I go back and look at the party pictures. He looks drunk and happy with the super models sitting in his lap on a yacht, or at a club. But this woman, the one with dark hair, he looks at her differently. He looks less playful, more serious, and then I see some photos where he looks at her with the same concern and care that he looks at me with.
I can’t stop, I dig deeper, and then I find her again, but with another man: Benito and Jules DeLuca.
Dominic isn’t who he portrays himself to be, not to me anyway. I have been foolish, again.
I look around the room and shove everything in my travel bag. I find a file on the desk and open it. It has the address and a note that says, ‘meeting’ and gives today’s date. I throw the file in the bag along with the envelope the concierge gave me and head out the door.
***
I pull outside a building on the outskirts of town. The parking lot is empty, except for two black BMW SUV’s. I look at the paper in the folder and compare the address to the one on the door. It was the same place. I grab his envelope and the file and look in the mirror.
“What a waste,” I grumble, as I see my reflection.
When I walk in the doors of Steeletto’s, it doesn’t take me any time at all to realize I was in a bar or club of some sort; a very high end club. Three women, in next-to-nothing, come out of the back room and approach me.
They speak to one another as they walk around me, circling me like vultures.
“Employment?” one asks, and then looks at one of the other girls and snaps her fingers. The girl walks away.
“I’m here to see--”
“Arms up.”
The other girl has returned with a tape measure and a clipboard.
All three begin lifting my arms, and the one who seems to be in charge snaps at me when I pull away.
“What the hell is going on?” I hear his voice bark and look to see Dominic walking out of a different room buckling his belt.
I want to cry. I know what they are and seeing him buckling up, I knew damn well what he has come here for.
“Lasciarla da sola!” he yells, as he storms toward me.
I hear another man chuckling behind me, and turn to see where the voice is coming from.
Dominic yells something at him. He laughs, barking orders of some sort, and the women walk away slowly, as they check me out.
“You okay?” he asks, and tries to touch me.
I pull back. “I’m just dropping off your things from the hotel--”
“Laney.” His eyes smile at me as he reaches again.
“Don’t touch me!”
The smile melts from his face and he looks hurt.
Fraud.
“I brought these for you, and now, I’m leaving.”
I turn and start for the door when he grabs me.
“You’ll leave after you tell me what the fuck I did.”
“You’re kidding me right?” I snap.
“Do you see anything but serious standing before you?”
I grab her and haul her over my shoulder, kicking and pounding on my back, as I walk into the room I had set up in.
I kick the door shut behind me and drop her little ass on the bed.
She jumps up and tries to run to the door.
“You can’t keep me here!” She screams the most high-pitched scream I have ever heard in my entire life. It shocks me. I’ve never encountered a woman like this. It should make me turn the other way and run. Instead, I move quickly between her and the door, so she doesn’t escape. I’m not thinking clearly. I want to cage her. Keep her. Calm her.
“As soon as you tell me what the hell your problem is, we’ll figure out what I can and cannot do to you in here!” I snap back, and then become aware that I am acting nearly as insane as she is.
She throws the envelope at me, “My problem is you. I brought you the things you left, and now, you won’t let me leave. I have places to go. I have a life, you know. I’m not some whore you can slum around with while you’re on business.”
“You need to take a few breaths and --”
“I need to leave. I have friends expecting me and--”
“Jesus Christ, I left an angel this morning, and now, I have a she-devil. Did I not make you come enough last night? This morning? Tell me what brought this on.”
“What is this place?” Her eyes sweep around the room, and she is angry, “You know what? Never mind. It’s none of my business--”
“My dick and tongue inside you, for nearly ten hours, gives you the right. Me adoring your body, and telling you –fucking everything about me, gives me the same damn right! I am here on family business. I told you this--”
“I’m not a whore.”
“Hell, no, you’re not! You couldn’t be; how would you be controlled?”
“Fuck you!”
My jaw nearly hits the floor hearing that come out of her mouth. I have no idea how to respond. So I do what I feel I have to. I snatch her up, grab the back of her head and kiss her.
She fights like hell, refusing my tongue, she even bites me, but I don’t care. Eventually, I am sitting on the bed with her on my lap, her head nuzzles into my neck and she begins to cry.
“Please don’t cry,” I whisper, as I kiss her tears away.
“Let me go.”
“No.”
“Should I be afraid?”
“Of what?”
“Those Amazon women and this place. Of you. Of what I allowed myself to feel. Of making it go away.” Her body trembles.
“Honestly?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe. Not of them. They just thought you were here for a job.”
She huffs and I do too.
“I should be afraid of you?”
“Probably.”
“Because of all the women you do this to? Because how you make them feel like they mean something to you? Or, because of the married woman you care about?”
“Someone has done some Internet spying. But here’s the problem with the Internet, only twenty-five percent of what you read is true.”
“Tell me then, why won’t you let me go?”
“Because I’m afraid it would take forever to find you again. I’m afraid when I finally do, I will have broken many laws to get you where you are right now. In my arms.”
“Many laws?”
“Drugging you, human trafficking, taking you in an airplane back to Italy, and tying you up, so you can’t leave. Just to name a few.”
“That’s only a few?”
“There’s more.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure I’d figure it out.” I need to shut the hell up. “You trusted me last night. I trusted you. How do we get back to that place?”
“It’s pointless, Dominic. I was stupid to come but I--”
“Wanted to see me. Wanted to yell at me, because you feel I have wronged you in some way.”
“You have wronged me.
You lied--”
“Name one lie.” She sits quietly for almost a minute, “There are none, Laney.”
“Do you care for her?”
“Jules? Yes, but not in the way you think.”
“Have you had sex with her?”
I let out a deep breath, “Yes.”
“A married woman?”
“Her husband sent her to me.”
“So are you like, into all that --”
“Not with Jules. Look it’s very complicated--”
“I don’t need to know--”
“You need to know a few things. One, I will be here on business for a few weeks. While I am given the privilege of being the one to make you come, there will be no others.”
“Why was your belt unbuckled?”
“I came out of this room, do you see anyone else in here?”
“No, but--”
“I changed my clothes. That’s it.”
“I really need to go.” Yet, she doesn’t move. I don’t want her to go either. I don’t want to move. I want to --stay.
“Let me take you to dinner.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.” She stiffens up again. I know if I don’t find a way to make her believe me that I may not have the chance to see where this can go.
“You can trust me. I can’t explain why, but I need you to trust me. I need you to allow me to see you, while I’m here. Nothing has felt as right as it felt last night. I’m not just talking about when I was inside you, Laney. Try to deny it all you want to me. But for Christ’s sake, be honest with yourself. You feel this, this connection, too.”
“When was the last time you were with her?”
“Let me ask you something, first. Who broke you and when was the last time you were with him?” She doesn’t say anything, not one damn thing. “I saw Jules before I left. I didn’t go seeking her out, I told her I didn’t feel right about her being on her knees in my office. It won’t happen again. I can promise you that. Furthermore, she and I are working together, against her husband, who is a complete tyrant. I made a promise to her and I will honor it. I can’t go into detail, but I can assure you she is in no way a threat to us exploring our feelings for one another.”
“So many women Dominic. I—I’m—I can’t compete if I tried, and I am not about to--”
“Stop. Just fucking stop. There is no competition. None. You want it all on the table? I have never been as affected, by a single human being on this planet, than I have been affected by you. Fuck, I’ve never been with a woman I wanted to spend two nights in a row with, but waking up this morning with you, nothing compares.”
“Your words, God help me I want to believe them, but I don’t think --”
“Doesn’t matter what you think. Doesn’t matter that it scares the hell out of me to trust someone. It’s been Valentina and I against the fucking world. She is the only other person who I’ve shared my pain with, until you. And only you know the true depth.”
Her phone buzzes and she fishes it out of her bag. She looks at the message, “I really have to go.”
“Don’t do something you might regret.” I let go of her, and it takes an extra moment for her to get off my lap.
I walk out with her and she gets in her car. I squat down, take her hand and kiss it, as I inhale her skin’s scent. I know it may be a long time before I touch or smell her again. I also know it won’t be the last. There is something in the way our bodies connect. In the way our souls connect. Undeniable attraction. Undeniable connection.
“When can I see you?”
“I can give you my number. Give me some time to think--”
“I have your number, got it this morning.”
She rolls her eyes and tries to look annoyed, and then turns the key in the ignition, nothing. She tries it again and groans, then bangs her head against the steering wheel. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Everything alright?” Sabato yells from the doorway.
I nod and she tries it again.
“I can give you a lift. Tell me where.” I try not to smile and fail miserably.
“This is not funny.” She suppresses a smile much better than I do.
“Not funny; fate.”
I walk in to see if there is a mechanic in the area who Sabato can recommend.
“No need.” He sets a spark plug on the bar.
“You did this?”
“You’d have done it for me. Now go.”
I walk outside and look at Laney standing by the rental. I open the door for her, and then hop in the driver’s seat and smile as I buckle my seat belt.
“Where to?”
She rattles off the address.
“Thirty-five minutes, max,” I say, as I pull onto the road from the parking lot.
“You know the area?”
“I do.”
She remains silent for a while, and I fight the desire to reach over and take her hand.
“What’s your friend’s name?” I ask, as I glance at her hand.
“Nikki.”
“Nikki, lovely name,” I chuckle. She looks at me curiously. “Does the name Abe O’Donnell mean anything to--”
“How do you know him?” she gasps.
“Steel Inc.”
“How do you know them?” she asks.
“Isabella DeLuca raised me. When Anthony and she married, my sister and I were thrown to the wolves. Isabella’s son was my father. The Steel brothers’ mother is my aunt, Joe. Abe O’Donnell--”
“Is CFO of Steel.”
“And a very good friend of mine.”
“This is crazy,” she whispers.
“This, Ladybug, is fate.” I don’t care if she pulls away. I grab her hand and kiss it. “Don’t believe a word he says about me.”
“That bad?” I let her think for a moment. It’s adorable the way her lip curls up, like she understands I am joking, but then her brows knit.
“No.” I wink.
I reach up and tap the radio control on the steering wheel, Winds of Change by Vance Jay blow through every speaker in the SUV. I squeeze her hand. I know when she squeezes back, it is a gift.
A second chance.
Our second chance.
The album continues with Mess is Mine as she looks over at me and wets her lips.
I pull over to the side of the road, reach across the console, take her beautiful oval face in my hands and then I take her lips. Her response is immediate and filled with just as much need as I feel.
Passion. I have never felt it for a woman before, and now, as I lick in her mouth and she responds by licking in mine, I feel it.
Panting, I hold her forehead to mine as we look into one another’s eyes, damn near into each other’s souls.
“Where did you come from?” She asks me the same question I had asked her last night, and I took her mouth again, immediately.
We pull up to a warehouse and Dominic hits the intercom.
“Apri la porta,” Dominic’s tone is jovial when Abe’s face appears on the screen.
“Not sure I want to open it for you, you son of a bitch,” he laughs, and the gate opens.
We pull up in front of four garage doors, and he jumps out as I open my door.
He shakes his head disapprovingly. “A gentleman opens a door for a lady. Allow me to do so, from now on.”
“I thought I would see you tomorrow. What the hell brings you here?” Abe asks, as he walks out of the garage door.
I step around Dominic and wave. “Hey, Abe.”
“Laney?” He is truly confused and then he looks at Dominic. Their eyes lock and Abe shakes his head then yells over his shoulder, “Nikki, Laney’s here.”
Nikki runs out laughing. We grab each other and hug. When our embrace breaks, she looks at me, “Laney, are you okay?”
I nod and smile.
I feel Dominic grab my hand. “She’s fine.”
Nikki looks at our hands and then up at him. “Well, I don’t know who the hell you ar
e, but she and I have been friends for years, and I know when she isn’t--”
“Nikki,” Abe’s hand rests on her shoulder, “This is Dominic. Dominic, this is Nikki.”
“What?” She is shocked. “How? What?”
I look up at Dominic, I don’t know why. I suppose because I have no idea how to tell my best friend that I had met him less than twenty-four hours ago, and I already feel such a strong connection to him. That even though I thought he would be the nail in the coffin of my fragile emotional state, right now I want him so badly that I am ready to risk everything just to see, as he says, where this leads.
“Laney and I know each other and that’s really all you should be concerned with.”
“Laney, a moment please?” Nikki’s eyes narrow at Dominic and his narrow back.
“We met last night,” I blurt out.
“I don’t understand,” Nikki said.
“Does she need to?” Dominic asks me.
“She’s here to see me. She’s here to start a new career and new life--”
“I know that. So why do you have a problem--” Dominic is asking, but Nikki cuts him off.
“I don’t like your tone.”
“Dominic, I think you should leave. We can talk--” Now, Dominic is cutting me off.
“No.”
“No?” Nikki huffs, “Abe, did he just say no?”
“Alright look, we aren’t off to a good start here. Dominic, how about you and I go to dinner and leave them to--”
“No,” Dominic says, again.
“Okay, stop. Please just stop!” I yell. I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not—Damn it!
“Now you’ve upset her,” he spat at Nikki.
“Segretti, you need to watch your tone with my girl--” Abe spat back at him.
“She needs to watch hers with mine!”
“Yours?” Nikki laughs.
I pull my hand away and start to walk down the driveway.
“Laney,” Nikki and Dominic say at the same time.