‘Passion.’
Clem nodded. ‘I think so, yes. Luca, you are and always will be, my best friend. You know me in your bones.’
Luca reached over and stroked her cheek. ‘Passion’s overrated. Maybe it’s just for kids.’
Clem held his hand to her face, leaning into his touch. ‘You felt passionate…you feel passionate about Emory. It was obvious, practically from the moment you met. As much as it hurt to see, you were meant to be with her.’
Luca, his eyes sad, nodded. ‘And what about you? Maximo Neri?’
Clem nodded, wanting to be honest. ‘We had one night. Then Bree was kidnapped and I realized I wasn’t ready, especially not for something with Max…you might have guessed, he’s a high-roller, he’s a player. He would have broken my heart.’
Luca nodded and took her hand and they sat in a companionable silence for a while before Clem sighed. ‘Maybe you’re right. Maybe passion is for kids. There’s something to be said for familiarity.’
Luca smiled over at her. ‘Breeds contempt?’
Clem laughed softly and held his gaze. ‘I was thinking, more like trust…’
They gazed at each other for a long moment then Clem leaned toward him and their lips met, brushed against the others softly at first then, as Luca’s hands slid into her hair, with more fire. ‘Clem?’ She nodded to answer his unspoken question and he lifted her onto his lap, his arms tightening around her waist, his tongue probing her mouth.
Clem sighed into the embrace, Luca’s familiar solid body, his clean smell, all she needed at this moment.
As Luca maneuvered onto the floor, she didn’t resist at all, in fact she began to pull at his clothes hungrily. She needed to feel his skin on hers, as much a need for comfort as for sex now.
Luca undressed her slowly, kissing her pale skin, driving her insane with desire as his lips traced a path down her belly to her sex. His tongue lashed around her clitoris, and she gave a moan of desire, heard him chuckle.
‘Take me to bed, Luca,’ she gasped but he continued his assault on her sex, his tongue sweeping along her peachy folds until it plunged deeply into her. Clem’s back arched as she came once, twice then, before she could recover, Luca was pulling her to her feet and sweeping her into his arms. Leaving their clothes where they lay, he carried her to her bedroom and laid her on the bed. Clem grinned up at him, and sat up, reaching for his already engorged cock, sweeping her lips over the wide crest.
She tasted his salty pre-cum then ran her tongue up and down the silky shaft of him, teasing the tip until Luca was groaning. Clem grasped his buttocks as he came into her mouth, swallowing his seed then as he pushed her back onto the bed, she spread her legs wide and welcomed him into her arms.
Luca drove his cock into her, hard, and she gasped, and her legs curled around his hips and they began to move together, kissing, murmuring the other’s names. It was a hard, passion-filled fuck that they both reveled in and when their orgasms came, they both fell back, exhausted and sated.
But as Clem fell asleep in Luca’s arms, she wondered. She wondered if Luca, like her, had been imagining another face the entire time.
Zea opened her eyes and realized she had been sleeping for hours. The apartment above the diner was unfamiliar and she blinked a couple of time trying to get used to it. She heard voices coming up the stairs, and swung her legs over the side of the couch, trying to shake the sleep from her head.
She looked up and felt her heart leap as Flynt came into the room, followed by Teresa and Flynt’s sister, Hannah. Zea had met her a couple of time and liked her very much but she wondered why she was here. From Flynt’s expression, she could guess that he knew everything.
Almost everything.
Before anyone else said anything, she blurted it out. ‘He says he’s going to destroy me unless I do what he says. He told me that…he would kill anyone who got in his way. I don’t know what to do.’
Flynt sat beside her and took her in his arms. ‘We have to go to the police, Zea.’
She shook her head. ‘If I go to the police, my cover is blown. I’ll have to leave Portland, leave all of you and I can’t bear it. Not again.’
Flynt looked at a pale and shaken Teresa and Hannah. His sister spoke first. ‘Then we’ll have to go about this…another way.’
She and Flynt shared a look Zea couldn’t understand and she began to panic. ‘I don’t want anyone getting hurt,’ she said, her voice shaky and Flynt’s arms tightened around her.
‘No-one’s getting hurt,’ he said firmly, ‘we just have to give Podesta enough rope to hang himself. We can arrange it so it can’t be traced back to you.’
Zea looked confused but Teresa was nodding. ‘You mean, bait the trap?’
‘Yep.’
Teresa grinned, her smile full of mischief. ‘I’m in. You can use me as the bait, if you like. He said he’d start with Zea’s friends in the diner, well make him start with me. Bet he doesn’t realize I know Muay Thai.’
Zea shook her head vehemently. No way. Absolutely no way – Terry, he is dangerous. A psychopath. No way.’
‘It might work,’ Flynt said slowly. ‘We’ll rile him up, and the best way to do that is to keep him away from you, Zea. You’re who he wants and if we kept him from you, it’ll get to him. He’ll know he doesn’t have control. It’ll drive him insane.’
‘Sounds like he’s already halfway there,’ Hannah muttered. Zea looked at her.
‘Surely you know this is insane? I won’t let him hurt any of you.’
Hannah shrugged. Flynt hugged Zea but he nodded. ‘This is happening, Zea and we have to stop it. We are all with you in this – you understand me? We’ll work it all out, make sure no-one gets hurt, and put Jared Podesta where he belongs – in jail.’
‘Or in the ground,’ Hannah growled and suddenly Zea chuckled, seeing Flynt’s sister in a whole new light.
‘You are a badass, Hannah.’
Hannah grinned. ‘You bet your ass I am. Listen, Zea, you’re family. No-one hurts our family. Especially not some pissant little psycho with mommy issues.’
Zea smiled, shaking her head. ‘You may be all insane, but I do love you all. Thank you. Thank you for caring, for being a comfort. I’ve never had that before.’
‘From now on,’ Flynt said, his lips against her temple, ‘You’ll never be without it.’
Zea smiled up at him gratefully. How could I ever have thought you were a bad boy? She let her body relax against his, felt his arms tighten around her. Flynt looked up at Teresa and Hannah.
‘Guys…’
Teresa got it and smiled. ‘Of course, we’ll talk later. Come on, Hannah, I’ll make you some food.’
‘You always did know how to sweet talk a girl,’ Hannah joked and winked at her brother. ‘Later bro, Zea.’
When they were alone, Flynt got up and locked the door and pulled his jacket off. ‘I’ve already talked to Amos. He says you can move in here, if I can’t persuade you to move back in with me?’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t want this mess on your doorstep – Jared could destroy your family’s reputation, let alone the physical harm he could do.’
Flynt looked at her askance. ‘Let him try, Zea, let him just try.’
She laughed softly. ‘Would he come off worse with you or with Hannah?’
He grinned. ‘Oh, Hannah, definitely. She’s an animal.’
Zea chuckled. ‘God, I do love you, Flynt Newlan.’ He pressed his lips to hers.
‘As I love you, Zea.’
She pulled him down onto the couch and he gathered her to him. ‘All I need is you and me, Flynt, just you and me, from now on.’
He smiled down at her. You got it, beautiful. You got me forever.’
***
Bree was drunk out of her skull by the time she took a cab home. She fumbled with her front door key, waving away the cab driver’s offer of help, and staggered into her mother’s home. She knew she would never make it upstairs and so she lurched into the
living room – and stopped.
Her mother’s clothes on the floor. A man’s clothes. Bree grinned to herself. ‘Momma’s getting busy.’
She crawled up the stairs and along to the closed door of her mom’s bedroom. The door stood ajar and Bree couldn’t hear anything so she stuck her head in the door, wanting to check out just who her mother had taken to her bed.
The shock was ice cold. ‘Dad?’
Luca opened his eyes and sat up. When he saw Bree staring at him, he had the grace to look ashamed.
‘Hey, darling.’
Bree stared at him, as he shook Clem awake, then at her mother. ‘What the hell is going on?’
Clem sighed. ‘Darling, you’re not a child. This is between your father and me.’
Bree felt sick. She looked at Luca. ‘While the, and I quote, love of your life, rots away on the bottom of Elliott Bay. Classy, Dad.’
‘Bree!’
Bree turned on her mother. ‘And you! What was all that crap about Maximo?’
Luca was getting out of bed, pulling a sheet around his hips. ‘Bree, look, let us talk…’
Bree backed away. ‘You disgust me. Both of you.’
She slammed out of the room and went to her bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind her. How could they? Poor Emory. Poor Maximo. Both of them were better off where they were…
She fell onto her bed and all the heartbreak and betrayal of the day caught up with her and she sobbed her heart out.
Clem listened at her daughter’s door then crept back to bed. Luca was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. Clem hugged him.
‘She’ll be okay,’ Clem said. ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, Luca.’
‘I know.’ But he still wouldn’t look at her. ‘I know we didn’t but maybe she’s right. We shouldn’t be doing this.’
Clem sighed and sat beside him. ‘I know. I know.’
They sat in a strained silence then Luca said. ‘I miss Emory. It’s killing me, I miss her so much, I feel like my heart has been ripped in two.’
Clem leaned her head on his shoulder. ‘I understand, I do, Luca. I miss Maximo, even if what we had was nothing compared to what you had with Emory.’
Luca took her hand. ‘But, given time, it could have been.’
Clem nodded. ‘What are we going to do, Luca?’
But he had no answer for her.
She opened her eyes and drew her breath in little gasps. The room was dimly lit but she didn’t recognize it anyway. Her body felt like a strange thing, something holding her down, not her own. Her brain was foggy, slow and she began to panic as she realized two fundamental truths.
One: she had no idea where the hell she was, and two, she had no earthly idea who she was.
Emory Dutta stared up to the ceiling, lost, completely lost, and began to cry
EVERGREEN
An Alpha Billionaire Romance
Part #6: Ophelie
By Michelle Love
#6: Ophelie
Closed due to staff sickness. Jared stared at the notice on the diner’s door. He gritted his teeth, stepped back from the door, looked up at the windows of apartment above. The shades were still closed. He turned and strode home, wrenching open the door of his car and getting in. Fucking bitch. She was playing games with him even after he warned her what he would do. Someone will pay for your disobedience, Zea.
Teresa let the corner of the shade drop. Podesta looked furious, she thought with satisfaction. She glanced at the clock. Eight a.m., she noticed with unease, he was right on time. She picked up her cell phone and typed a text. Helen has gone to Troy. Teresa frowned, thinking, then added: Hooded Claw is pissed. She pressed send. A second later, Flynt called her back. He was laughing so much she couldn’t understand him at first.
‘Terry…what the hell?’ The sound of his laughter made Teresa’s eyes prick, it had been too long since she’d heard it. She waited until he caught his breath.
‘It’s a code, doofus. Zea’s gone into the city to escape for the day.’
Flynt was still snickering. ‘And you felt you needed to tell me that in code? And who the fuck is the Hooded Claw?’
Teresa blew a raspberry down the phone. ‘Podesta, dumbass. He just showed up at the diner. We put a closed notice in the window, he wasn’t happy.’
Flynt had stopped laughing. Teresa could hear his breathing, knew he was trying not to lose his temper. ‘Hey…calm down. I meant that to be funny. She’s well away from him, I thought you’d find it funny that he was pissed. Flynt?’
Another long silence then, ‘Yeah.’
Teresa waited. Flynt sighed. ‘So, did you two talk last night?’
‘Kinda. I think she’s reached the end of her tether with everything. She’s exhausted, and miserable and…’ she hesitated. Flynt picked up on it immediately.
‘Teresa?’ His tone was urgent.
Teresa rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the tension ‘I’m scared she’ll give herself up to him to save one of us. She feels hopeless.’
Flynt was quiet again. ‘Yeah.’ And Teresa heard the sadness mixed with love in his voice.
‘You’ll know what to do. Anyway dude, I just wanted to…’
‘Wait…did she say anything about Podesta? About yesterday?’
Teresa sat down. ‘She didn’t really…she really didn’t want to talk about him.’
Flynt sighed. ‘Okay. Okay. Well…I guess, we’ll just see what happens.’
Teresa showered, dressed and grabbing the bag of trash from the can skipped down the stairs. She yanked open the back door and yelped. Jared was standing outside, a cigarette in his hand. She hadn’t heard his car pull up and wondered how long he’d been there. Teresa’s insides twisted. Jared smiled pleasantly.
‘Good morning.’
Don’t antagonize him. Teresa smiled at him. ‘Hi Jared, how are you?
He smirked, not fooled. ‘Fine. Zea’s not at home.’
Teresa arranged her expression into one of cautious surprise. ‘Oh.’ She dumped the bag of trash into the garbage can, brushing off her hands on her jeans. ‘Well…we’re not open today but would you like some coffee?’
Jared said nothing, just narrowed his eyes. He flicked the cigarette at her feet. ‘No, thank you.’ He moved suddenly, strode away from her. Teresa released the breath she’d been holding. Fucking creep. She went inside and double locked the door, leaning back against. Something thudded hard against the other side and she yelped again. She heard him laughing through the door and she gritted her teeth.
Bastard. You’ll get what’s coming to you, Jared Podesta, I’ll make sure of it.
She had cried herself to sleep but now, as she woke, she sensed someone in the room with her.
‘Hello?’ Her voice came out in a raspy whisper and she heard a chair shift, and someone hover into her vision.
‘Well, now, look who’s finally awake. Welcome back, little one, we’ve been worried about you.’
The voice was a woman’s, soft and kind and now she could see her. A middle-aged woman, her brown eyes warm and her smile wide. The woman looked over her shoulder. ‘Dante? Our visitor is awake.’
Then there was a man, tall, dark hair, green eyes, smiling down at her. ‘Hey there.’
‘Where am I?’
‘We’re just outside Seattle, in my compound.’
She looked around her. An i.v. drip, machinery. ‘What happened?’
‘You don’t remember?’
She shook her head. The woman and the man, Dante, looked at each other and then Dante sat on the edge of the bed. ‘About six weeks ago, we pulled you out of Elliott Bay. You had been shot, and when we pulled you out, you were suffering from hypothermia and fading fast. You were conscious but all you said was ‘Don’t let him find me. Don’t let him find me.’ You lost consciousness and slumped into a coma. We brought you here, hoping to find out more. We were able to remove the bullet but we didn’t hold out hope that you’d survive. But you did.’
‘In your belly. It nicked your abdominal artery but the cold water actually saved you, we think. Who shot you, sweetheart?’
Something snagged in her memory, a flash of something she couldn’t grasp. ‘I don’t know. I don’t even know my name.’
Dante and the woman looked at each other. ‘We think your name is Emory - does that sound familiar?’
Emory stared at her. ‘I don’t know, maybe. My mind is so foggy.’
‘Don’t stress yourself, honey, we have plenty of time. Are you hungry?’
Emory realized she was starving. ‘Very.’
The woman smiled fondly, really, she had the kindest face Emory had ever seen – that she could remember – and left the room. Emory sighed. ‘Is this a thing? Memory lapses?’
‘Sure…although you’d have to ask a doctor. We have one who comes to see you every day.’
‘Why am I not in a hospital?’
‘You made me promise not to let anyone know where you were. Lucky for you, I could keep that promise – I had the means to treat you privately. Emory, the papers said your ex-husband shot you. Do you remember that?’
A lurching nausea began to rise in Emory’s stomach. Another flash of memory. ‘Oh god…’ She retched and Dante quickly handed her a bowl, rubbing her back as she threw up. Emory felt too sick to be embarrassed. Dante helped her clean up, his gentle fingers cool against her skin, then left the room to get her some water. When Emory was settled, she pushed back the sheet and pulled up the gown. To the right of her navel, there was a scar the size of a quarter, still pink but healing. She touched it gingerly but it didn’t hurt. Whomever had operated on her had done a great job, but along with that, were other scars, jagged pink things that looked recent as well. What the hell? ‘Quite the collection,’ she whispered dryly to herself.
Evergreen: An Alpha Billionaire Romance Page 16