“Grace was right,” I say, watching him twist open the wire cage on the bottle, thumb on cork. “You can’t speak like a normal person to save your life.”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” he says, rotating the champagne bottle until the cork pops.
I get a tiny bit startled and then start laughing. The seriousness with which he pours the cool, bubbling liquid in two tall champagne glasses, biting his bottom lip, makes him adorable. I wonder if he has taken acting lessons.
“Champagne with sandwiches,” I say, bringing the glass to my lips.
“Salmon sandwiches,” he corrects me.
“I guess it makes all the difference,” I say, sticking my tongue out. But that’s a mistake. Or is it?
He moves as fast as lightning, taking the glass from my hand and pushing me down to the couch, straddling me. “Did you just make fun of me?” he says.
“Guilty as charged,” I confess, laughing.
His mouth comes down on mine, hot and rough, as his body presses me against the couch. I wrap my arms around his powerful shoulders to pull him closer if that were even possible. It hits me that we’re both stark naked already which makes it all the more easier for him to slip inside of me without so much as moving a muscle.
His warm tongue keeps pushing and swirling around in my mouth and his hands start running all over my body. I want him so bad all over again and yet my mind tells me to take control of the situation and get the difficult questions out of the way before I even think about further deepening my attachment to him.
I don’t even know how I’m going to handle so much of a man if he really intends to be with me. He’s not like any other guy. He lives in a world apart from us common people. He’s passionate and demanding, rough and tender, bold and fearless but most of all he’s unreadable.
“Wait,” I say as soon as I free my mouth. “I need a clear head for what I’m about to say and you’re just turning me into a babbling fan girl.”
“A what?” he says confused, pulling back and supporting himself on his arms to glance at me.
“Tomas, I have tons of questions.”
“Oh, those,” he says, sitting up.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“Try the beginning,” he says, taking a small piece of my sandwich and putting it in my mouth.
“That’s delicious,” I say as I chew. “You sure as hell know what you’re doing. So, let’s see, question number one. Is this why you told me to meet you here? To make love?”
He considers what I have just said, taking a sip of the champagne. “No, it wasn’t why I called you. But when I saw you, so beautiful, frustrated and brave, something just snapped in me. I needed you then and I need you now.”
If I ask him now what he means by needing me we’ll get into a different conversation altogether. I make a mental note to ask him later and move on to the next obvious question. “So why am I here?”
“To talk,” he says. “We have a lot to discuss and, I have to warn you, it won’t be a pleasant conversation.”
“I didn’t think it would be,” I say, feeling a sudden chill crawl all over my skin. “I have been properly warned.”
“Okay, ask me your questions. Let’s get them out of the way.”
I take a deep breath in. “Is this your yacht?”
He smiles. “Silly girl, nothing is mine. I have no possessions. I’m just a shadow on the wind. I am always at my leisure to disappear.”
The chill deepens, entering my pores and bones. “Whose is it then?”
“It belongs to a friend.”
“Yet another friend,” I say, almost in a whisper. “How do you make so many rich friends? Or enemies, for that matter? Do you fuck them all?”
For a moment, I worry I might have offended him but I have to remember that nothing can offend Tomas. “Not literally, no,” he says with a smirk that borders on evil. “Not all of them. Some I just open up to new opportunities, new escapes. Others I help through rough patches.”
“Like Nate?” I say.
He gets very serious. “Nate’s my friend. He has done for me at least as much as I have done for him.”
I almost reconsider my next question, but say it anyway. “But you do sleep with some of them?”
“I’ve had no commitments,” he explains. “Sex can be a necessary communication in my work.”
“Right,” I say, punching his shoulder. “It’s getting chilly in here.”
“Come here,” he says, taking me in his arms. “I’ll keep you warm.”
I rest my head on his chest as he puts his arms around me, listening to that powerful heartbeat of his and smelling his musky cologne.
“Is that all?” he says. “Are you done with your questions?”
“Hmm, no, one last question. Why did you put on an English accent when you were on the phone?”
“I did?” he says, almost shocked. If it’s because he honestly doesn’t remember or because he didn’t think I’d notice, I can’t tell.
“You know you did. What was the point of that?”
“An old habit of mine,” he says. “It kicks in when I speak to an English person.”
I don’t buy it for a second but there are more urgent matters to worry about. I’m willing to bet good money Tomas will talk about De Luca and how dangerous things have become. Maybe he’ll ask me to go on a cruise with him on this very yacht and leave this ugliness behind us. A girl can dream.
“Your turn,” I say. “What do you have to tell me?”
“De Luca doesn’t like me,” he starts. “I’m sure you’ve figured it out.” His lips part in a devilish smile. “You knew the moment you saw him.”
He’s right, I did. There was no mistaking De Luca’s hostility. “I know this. What I don’t know is why.”
“It goes back to the days I lived on fraud and manipulation. That’s when I met him. A con had gone wrong and I was in debt. He helped me out and then decided he’d keep it over my head for as long as I lived. As long as he lived anyway.” He notices the question forming on my lips. “What is it?” he says.
“Can you be a little more specific?”
“It makes no difference, Taylor. I should have left the island the moment I found out he was here. I knew he owned the villa, but it had been years since he had visited. I thought we’d be safe.”
“What does he do? I mean, what’s his profession?”
“His profession? I guess that’s one way of putting it. He offers protection to those who don’t need it.”
“I don’t understand,” I say.
“The protection he offers is from himself and his goons,” Tomas explains. “He preys on the defenseless. He also offers protection for gun dealers, drug dealers, gambling syndicates and back alley loans. He even owns a whorehouse or two for fun.”
“Like a mobster?” I say.
“Exactly like that.”
Okay, I knew De Luca was a scumbag but hearing it all on a list like this gives me chills. He’s like a virus that corrupts everything and everyone he comes across.
“The reason I treated you that way on the beach that day with De Luca, treated you like what happened between us didn’t matter…”
“You tried to push me away to protect me,” I say, to help him out.
“It’s much more than that. I’m not the right man for you, Taylor. Hell, I’m not the right man for anyone. Seeing De Luca reminded me of that like a ton of bricks had fallen on my head. This is the kind of people that follow me around. It’s true that you have become important to me but I’m beyond messed up. I’m gone, do you understand? There are no lawn mowers or drinking beers at barbecues in suburbia in my future. Keeping you in my life would only be a selfish act.”
“People change, Tomas. Nate changed. You have changed. I have seen it and I’ve had more than a few glimpses of the good in you.”
“You barely know me,” he says, stroking my hair. “You know nothing of the darkness that follows me, the depth
s of my degeneration.”
“We can go wherever we want, Tomas. You don’t have to engage. We can get out of here and just keep going.”
His smile is bitter, his fingers curling my hair as he kisses my shoulder. “That’s exactly what you should do. At the very least, you have to move out of the house. And that’s final.”
“Move? Without you?” My blood freezes as I’m beginning to understand what he has been trying to tell me.
“For a moment, a very brief moment, I thought I could keep you safe, but I can see clearly now. No matter what I do, I can’t guarantee you’d get out of this unscathed. Or worse.”
I’m trying to wrap my mind around what he’s saying. “You’d rather stay and risk everything, including your life, than go back to LA with me?”
“My problems would follow me. I can’t risk your safety. I can only tell you that I’d sooner die than expose you to danger. You’ve been through enough.”
“Well, guess what, I don’t do as I’m told. I have a brain of my own.”
“Taylor, you can’t joke your way out of this. That pretty little head of yours has a big brain inside but it could also become a target. Do you understand?”
“So you just want me to pack my things and fly to California?”
He pulls back to look me in the eye. “You can go to Athens and wait for me there.”
“How long?”
“As long as it takes to get this sorted.”
“It makes no sense.” My voice is trembling and my eyes get watery so I lower them to keep this truth from him. The truth that I can barely imagine life without him. A single day alone has become unbearable.
He smiles and for a moment I’m hoping against hope that he’s about to tell me he’s been pulling my leg and he will go with me wherever I want to go. But that’s not what he says.
“This is our day, sweet girl. Let’s make the best of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means we’ll go out in the town and do whatever you want—shop, eat, drink, dance, absolutely whatever you want. And then we’ll come back to the yacht and find new ways to scream to the night.”
His tongue seeks out my ear, hot and rough, but if he thinks one night of fucking will ever be enough, he’s more than deluded. “And then what?” I say.
“In the morning, you’ll get in the car and drive to Mytilene to take the boat to Athens.”
“Promise me everything will be okay,” I say quietly, my vulnerability leaking through for the first time.
He takes my face in his hands. There’s so much tenderness in his eyes, it makes my heart break and my knees buckle. “I do. And now you promise me,” he says, almost in a whisper. “Get out of here. Go to a safe place. I won’t rest until I know you’re out of harm’s way.”
“What will you do?”
“I’ll do what I do,” he says. “I’ll do what I’ve always done. I’ll work it all out. I am a man with no shortage of solutions.”
It’s hard not to tell him that I don’t believe him but even harder to show I have no trust in him. I nod.
“I believe you,” I say. I know how important that is to him.
Now I see a vulnerability in him that almost breaks my heart. “If you believe in me, Taylor, then anything is possible.”
His sudden smile lights up my entire world.
Chapter 15
“This is the most beautiful village on the island,” I say as Tomas and I roam around the narrow, picturesque streets of Petra with the stone houses that come in a variety of warm colors
“Better than Molyvos?” Tomas says, snapping a picture of a café with tables covered with red and green tablecloths.
“Yeah. Molyvos is great but noisy. Petra is tranquil and colorful. It feels like we’ve stepped into the past.”
I do my best to block out all the darkness of the truth that we’re both facing. He wants me to enjoy this day with him and I’m not going to deny him that. As hard as my broken life has been, it’s nothing compared to the demons he’s been carrying around for years. I know that now and he doesn’t even have to say a word about it. It’s etched in his tan skin, his teasing eyes and the little vein above his temple that has its own heartbeat.
The seaside town of Petra is heaven on Earth— an ancient precious stone that shines bright under the Mediterranean sun. Small tavernas with tables next to the ocean waves are everywhere. The waters glisten as small fish swim in all directions.
“Did you see that art gallery somewhere back there?” I ask Tomas.
“Somewhere back there,” he says, squinting. “Your sense of direction is unparalleled.”
“Did you see it or not?” I insist, ignoring his typical male remark.
“I did. Something about local painters and sculptors. Why?”
“I want to go.”
“No, no, no, I’m not going back there. I want to be outdoors.”
“Fine, I’ll go then.”
I turn to go but he wraps a hand around my wrist, pulling me to him.
“Don’t even think about running off by yourself. You stay with me at all times. Is that understood?”
His voice is dead serious. His face looks down at me just a few inches from mine. His hand tugs at my wrist. His eyes reach into my soul to scrape it naked. He’s sexy as hell. “I can do that,” I say. “If you ask nicely.”
He dips his lips on mine for a soft kiss. “Pretty, please,” he says.
“Okay, I’ll make the sacrifice and stick with you.”
“Thank you. Nathan would kill me with his bare hands if anything happened to you. Hell, Grace would have my head.”
“So, is this why you want me in one piece?”
His eyes dart swiftly from my face down to my toes. “I love all your pieces,” he says. “You’re so nicely put together.”
“I’m sure you’re in no short supply of nicely put together women.”
“I haven’t even thought of another woman.”
“Since when?”
“I don’t know, it must have been sometime at the end of last year.”
What? Does he really think I’m going to buy that? I mean, he’s fucking charming and all but I have a brain and I have eyes. “When you met me? Oh, c’mon, I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen you flirt since we got to the island.”
He’s not fazed by my impervious logic. “Have you seen me take it any further?”
I stop to think for a second. “I didn’t even want to imagine.”
“Imagining and seeing are two different things, baby.”
“Cliché,” I say, laughing, but his words touch me, deeply and unmistakably. The revelation of his feelings for me is so unexpected it makes my body tickle.
“All truths are clichéd to some extent,” he says, “but no less true for that. Lies on the other hand are quite unique and imaginative, aren’t they?”
“You’ve been celibate this whole time?” As I say the words, I realize how ridiculous they sound.
He doesn’t get a chance to answer. My heart sinks all the way down to my belly when I hear the voice behind me.
“Hey, Tommy, fancy running into you again.”
Every muscle on Tomas’s face and body goes instantly rigid. His hand lets go of mine as his eyes focus on a freshly arrived De Luca.
I turn my head slowly to look at the man who’s after Tomas. He’s on his own, but it could be that his thugs are just comfortably hiding nearby, lurking in alleys and taverns, waiting for the opportunity to jump at us when no one’s looking.
De Luca has huge, ugly sunglasses and a gray fedora hat on. He looks like a caricature of a gangster from an old movie. Sweat beads have gathered on his forehead and temples. He takes a sip out of a water bottle he’s holding.
My mind starts a trip backward, trying to figure out if I noticed anything unusual when I got in the car early this morning. Was I followed? Is this how he found us? The idea that I led him straight to Tomas terrifies me.
“What bri
ngs you to Petra?” Tomas says, completely focused on De Luca.
“What do you think, Tommy? You didn’t think fate would bring us together again? You know I have fate on my payroll. You’re an intelligent chap.” He turns to me. “Don’t you think so, Miss… You know what, I don’t think I got your name.”
Tomas gets in front of me, hand on my chest, pushing me behind him. “For the last time, I don’t have what you lost. Your goon squad should know that if they’ve been following me around. I have nothing to hide.”
De Luca smiles like a venomous viper. His lips squint down until they become so narrow they almost disappear. “You should never say that to an Italian, Tommy. We take things literally. When we say something is the last time then it truly is the last time. Finito.”
He puts a hand in his pocket and fumbles with something.
“I’m having a nice night with my friend,” Tomas says with a steely gaze.
“All right, tonight is for lovers. It’s beautiful here. Nothing ugly should ever happen in a place like this, but business is business,” De Luca says. “Sooner or later, work will call. It is a pity.”
“I agree,” Tomas says.
“Enjoy yourselves. Show your lovely friend the stars, but make sure you give some thought to fate. Do we understand each other?”
“Completely,” Tomas says.
“Good,” De Luca says as he steps past us. He stops and stares into Tomas’s eyes. “You have spirit, kid. I can respect that. Just get one thing straight. You come clean and you will have no end to such beautiful nights. But, if you do not, then these magical fish in these clear waters, well, let’s just say they will have an exotic feast. And you might be the guest of honor. And then your stolen boat will sit in this harbor with no master.”
Stolen? How many crimes will this guy put on Tommy? And did he just threaten to kill my man? Right in front of me? Doesn’t he know I’d be a witness? In fact, I could go to the police right now.
I’m about to speak my mind when Tomas jumps De Luca swiftly like a panther, grabbing him by the throat. “Don’t ever call me Tommy again. And I don’t give a fuck about your threats. I’ll fucking kill you right now.”
Magnificent Ruin (Everlasting Series Book 2) Page 11