He sighed into the phone, and I wondered if this was his way of breaking it off.
“Okay...okay, I’m here to stay as long as you’ll have me.”
Trying to hide the anxiety I was feeling, I asked. “Then why do I sense you’re pulling back?”
“I’m not. I just want to be sure that this is what you want.”
Biting my bottom lip, my heart thundered in my chest. “I want you, Midnight. No other Sub.”
“Good,” he said.
Furious that I’d so easily dropped my guard with him, I put the invisible mask back into place.
“Don’t call me again and do not text me. Because you broke the rules, I will tell you when you can see me again. Until that time comes, you sit and wait. Is that understood?”
“Yes, my Queen.”
I could hear the barely suppressed tension in his tone, and it pleased me.
I clicked the phone off.
It pleased me that his desire for me was growing to the point where he was losing control. Calling me without permission, his need to see me outside of our schedule spoke volumes about his feelings for me. Regardless of what Maeve said, I planned to have this man wrapped around my finger. And it was only a matter of time before I had him right where I wanted him.
Although I knew it wasn’t a good idea and knew nothing about Midnight’s public life or private life outside of the club, I was growing attached to him. My feelings grew stronger with every meeting, and no matter how hard I tried to stave them off, it wasn’t working.
Turning my attention back to the warehouse, I realized that the men had closed the warehouse doors. The gentleman in the car was pulling out of the bay, while the other two stood a while longer.
They appeared to be having an argument based on the animated body language being expressed by the taller of the two, who was the driver. The shorter one threw his hands in the air, shook his head, and walked back towards the front of the van.
“No!” I cried out, tears springing to my eyes.
Just as I dialed the second one and was ready to push the call button, the driver lowered the gun, walked around to his side, and climbed in. The passenger of the vehicle never noticed what happened. And for that, I was thankful but couldn’t help but wonder as they drove away if something might come of it later.
I resumed my shower, ready now more than before to go to sleep.
CHAPTER 12 – DANTE
Too much time had passed since I’d spoken to or seen my Queen. Three weeks and not a peep from her. It was driving me insane. I’d gone to the club with the intent of meeting up with some of my other partners whom I’d not been with in over two months.
Yet, once I arrived, my appetite died down, preventing me from going through with any commitment. Sulkily I left the club each time, only to return home frustrated and confused. I wanted Queen, and nothing could whet my appetite or desire for her.
“Darling, how much longer are you going to hold out on me?” Nadine asked, running her hand down my arm and clasping her fingers with mine.
Pulling them free, I kissed her on her temple and moved away. “You’re impatient, my dear.”
“You’ve been so busy with the vineyard lately and the shipping that you’ve not made time to play. Dante, my love, you’re all tense. I can see it in your jaws and shoulders. Just let me—”
“I said, no!” I barked harshly, instantly feeling bad when I noticed the way that she wilted.
Nadine moved away from me, sweeping the folds of her long skirt into her hands as she walked to the wide window behind my desk in my office.
“People are arriving, Dante. Please, just a quick minute, that’s all it’ll take for me to blow you off before we have to go down and be with the guests,” she begged, turning pleading brown eyes my way.
“Maybe later,” I lied.
Nadine wasn’t a girlfriend. Nadine was a really good friend who had worked hard to become the woman of my life. She was convenient to attend dinner parties, benefit auctions, and other social events where I needed an escort.
Nadine was one of three warm bodies in my bed when I needed a good clean fuck that didn’t entail the rules that came with the club. And for her, I was someone who relieved her sexual tension when she needed a good brutal fuck rather than just vanilla sex.
But no more. I was looking for something different and while I wasn’t quite sure what that “something different” was, I knew that I had it with my Queen.
I knew that I had no intention of being with Nadine. My Queen had spoiled me for all other women. Although she had yet to allow me to penetrate her, I knew that when we came together like that, it would be well worth the wait.
And only then would she learn who was truly dominant. For now, I would allow her to believe she was still the dominant, and I was the submissive. It was a mind game that we both enjoyed playing.
A subtle knock at my door alerted me to the presence of one of my staff.
“Come in,” I said.
“Mr. Bianchi, your guests have arrived,” Lynnette, my housekeeper, announced with a subtle bow.
“Thank you. Miss Valentine and I will be down shortly.”
Lynette bowed once more and pulled the doors closed behind her, leaving Nadine and me alone again. Nadine was back in my face and all over me within seconds of the soft whooshing noise of the wooden doors being pulled together.
“Now, where were we?” she asked, dragging her nails down the front of my shirt and to my crotch.
Nadine quickly unzipped my pants and grasped my dick in her hands. Unfortunately, he wasn’t responding.
Kneeling before me, she placed her lips around my cock and began bobbing her head up and down. I was surprised at the low-level response my body was giving off. It had never been like this before, and it was pissing me off now.
Clenching my hands at my sides and closing my eyes, I tried to focus, tried to concentrate. But Nadine was making that hard as hell as she tried to talk to me around a mouthful of dick. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, I began pushing her head back and forth, ramming my junk down her throat.
Tears streaked down her face, smearing her mascara. Finally, she shut up, unable to speak another word with the way I plundered and pillared her throat like it was the middle of a battlefield in enemy territory. This pale ivory beauty kneeled at my feet with her scarlet red lips and her expensive bosom spilling from her cerulean blue gown’s neckline as if they were trying to escape entrapment.
Yet, in my mind, it was an espresso-colored woman with an abundance of curves, strong thighs, and soft, delicate skin that was the one performing this salacious act while I had a houseful of guests. In my mind, we were back at the club, and she was at my mercy, my command, and her only will was to please me.
And when my orgasm erupted in a volatile series of missile forces designated to blow up enemy landmines, it was my Queen’s throat that I was shooting them down. In my mind.
But in reality, when I opened my eyes and stuffed my dick back into my underwear, it was Nadine who was licking my semen off her lips. And it was Nadine who allowed a drop to slip from the corner of her lips onto her heaving cleavage. And it was Nadine who took a crimson nail and scooped it up and slipped it into her mouth before winking an azure blue eye at me.
Holding out a hand, she continued smiling. I reached down and helped her to her feet.
Guilt instantly filled me. Shame about using Nadine as I’d done many times in the past and hadn’t given a thought to, and guilt over being unfaithful to a woman that I wasn’t committed to or didn’t even know beyond the walls of the club. A woman who was already involved in a relationship to my knowledge.
“And tonight after the guests leave, you can have fun spanking me and stuffing me in the ass. It’s been sooo long, Dante, and I need you as much as you need me,” she purred, running a finger down my cheek.
It wasn’t a dismissive or callous attitude that I was attempting to display when I turned my head away from her kiss, which la
nded on my cheek. It was nothing more than an action to deter any hopes she might gain.
Because if nothing else were true, I knew that Nadine would not be sharing my bed tonight. It had been almost two months since she’d lain in my sheets, and I was determined that she never would again.
“Why do you even bother with these boring ass people?” Gerhardt asked, tossing down another glass of the vintage wine I’d brought out for this occasion.
“Because dear brother, their checks and entertaining them is what helps fund the foundation,” I said with a cynical smirk.
“Then there’s that,” he said with a slight lift of his eyebrow at a woman passing us by. “I’d like to fund her.”
My brother, two years my junior at thirty-five, was a married man but unfaithful. He had a roving eye that kept him straying from his marriage bed into beds of other women. Older women. With money.
The sad part was that he didn’t need any of it. The women, the affairs, or the money. Our family was wealthy. Bianchi Logistics was an offshoot of Bianchi Express, our parents’ company, which my father inherited from my grandfather and him from my great-grandfather.
Bianchi Express was a logistics company with a focus on ground transportation. I’d made my money by branching off that into the shipping industry, and Gerhardt had done the same with air transportation.
While all three companies worked in tandem to suit the needs of vendors, merchants, and customers, they were still three separate entities.
Aside from Bianchi Logistics, the shipping company I ran, I also had my vineyard, Casa di Rosso, the winery, Casa di Bianchi Winery and Resort, and Bianchi’s Cucina I, II, III, and IV my restaurants located in Venice, New York, San Francisco, and right here at home in Sunset Harbor, North Carolina.
Gerhardt, on the other hand, dabbled in the arts. He had three art galleries, one in Paris, one in Rome, and the other in New York. Construction on a new gallery was occurring in Los Angeles.
“Careful,” I warned my brother as his eyes remained trained on the older woman. “Carina’s vicious. She likes young lovers, but she eats them up and spits them out without spending a dime.”
“She hasn’t had me,” Gerhardt said cockily.
“Nope, she hasn’t, and she won’t.”
“Like to make a bet on that one?” he challenged.
“I don’t have to, little brother.”
“Why not?” he asked, turning his eye towards me.
“You see that sexy young thing she’s talking to right there?”
“The woman in the red fitted gown with the thigh showing? Yeah, what about her?”
“That’s who will be laying in her bed tonight and eating Countess Cara von Kühn’s pussy tonight, brother dear. Not you. She chases the same shit we do,” I said, chuckling at the disappointed look in my brother’s eye.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Not at all. In the five years that I’ve known her, I’ve never known of a dick sweeping through her confines unless it had a battery or was attached around another woman’s waist,” I said.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he replied grimly.
I didn’t get my brother at all. His wife, Sancia, was a beautiful, sexy lady whom he adored. There wasn’t anything that he wouldn’t do for her or give to her, except his faithfulness. However, I suspected that if she put her foot down, my sister-in-law just might receive that, too. But for some odd reason, she seemed to be just fine overlooking my brother’s many indiscretions.
Patting him firmly on the shoulder and giving it an encouraging squeeze, I said, “I have someone else that I need to schmooze with while you scope out your next victim, fratellino.”
Moving through the crowd, I stopped at several guests and made small talk until I ended in Jessica and Luis Meyer’s presence. I smiled at Jessica, who insisted everyone call her Jessi.
“Good evening, Jessi...Luis,” I said, hugging and kissing Jessica on her cheek, then shaking Luis’ hand.
They were real estate developers and always looking for a worthy cause to donate to.
“How’s business, Dante?” Luis asked.
“Making me a very rich and happy man,” I joked.
They laughed with me as was expected.
“We’ve scouted out some property near your San Francisco restaurant recently. It might be a very good prospect for another vineyard. I think it’ll be a great compliment to your restaurant,” Jessica said.
Sipping from my glass of wine, I listened as she prattled on giving all the property details with Luis nodding his agreement.
“As enticing as that sounds, I’m not quite ready to open another vineyard. The one that I have here in Sunset Harbor is more than sufficient for my needs. I don’t have the time or inclination right now, but I’m sure in another year or so that I’ll be ready to venture out into something else.”
I always had to keep their interest piqued in my next ventures, especially if I wanted to foster the connection that I needed for our foundation.
“That property may not be there in a year or so,” Luis stated.
“You’re right, but I do not doubt that you all will find something just as profitable that suits my needs,” I said with a confident smile.
“You’re right about that, my love,” Jessica said.
“Jessi, Luis, how are you?” Nadine said, magically appearing at my side, wrapping her arm around my waist.
“Wonderful, my dear. When will you two be announcing impending nuptials?” Jessica asked, turning my stomach sour.
“Hopefully soon,” Nadine cooed, looking up at me.
“Everybody isn’t in a rush to get married, dear,” Luis said.
“Who’s getting married?” Judge Atkins asked, walking up with his wife, Wanda.
“No one,” I replied at the same time that Jessica said, “Dante and Nadine,” while Nadine replied, “we are...eventually,” she added after receiving a scowl from me.
“He hasn’t even popped the question yet,” Luis said, quickly hiding behind his comment with a sip from his wineglass.
“I’m sure it’s coming soon,” Wanda added.
Clearing my throat and turning to Judge Atkins, I asked, “Did you get a chance to tour the facilities, your Honor?”
“Actually, we did, and Wanda and I were pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and lovely the facility and the grounds were,” he said.
My nonprofit, The Francesca Teresa Bianchi Foundation, was founded by Gerhardt and me in honor of our sister, Francesca. She suffers from a rare blood vessel disorder, Moyamoya disease.
Francie was diagnosed with the disease at the age of eight and suffered from seizures, paralysis in her face, and on the left side of her body, developmental delays, and impaired vision and speech. She also suffered from a series of strokes over the years.
My beloved sister continues to struggle with the disease and battles depression. She still lives with my parents, who hired a caretaker for her to remain in the home. Vivian, the caretaker, resides on the property full-time and assists my mom with Francie’s needs.
The foundation was developed to find a cure and create facilities for patients who cannot afford the care Francie has. One hundred percent of the proceeds from our annual benefit dinners, such as the one tonight, go to the foundation.
It was the one night of the year that my entire family put on our best behavior, schmoozed with our constituents, including those we barely tolerated the rest of the year. There wasn’t anything that we wouldn’t do for Francie.
As Judge and Mrs. Atkins continued to discuss the wonders of the facility with the Meyers, I excused myself when I spotted a good friend in the presence of a woman I’d always found myself mysteriously attracted to.
Moving away from the small group, I slowly weaved through the other guests until I ended at Maeve’s side.
“Hi, beautiful,” I greeted, kissing Maeve on both cheeks that she proffered to me.
“Hey, yourself, handsome. Where�
��s your other appendage?” she asked, wryly looking all around.
“If you’re referencing, Nadine, hopefully out back drowning in the swimming pool,” I said, as my eyes rested on the dark beauty standing a couple of feet away from her.
As I’d made my way to Maeve, the woman had been waylaid by a couple of donors, who happened to be business owners in the area. I’d seen her the last couple of years quite often, but never in person. And although Maeve and I were good friends, it was Miss Scott that I wanted an introduction to, not small talk with Maeve.
Yet, that’s what I had to settle for while I waited for her to dismiss her present company. She looked briefly in our direction. Flashing dark eyes took me in and then quickly turned away, almost in a dismissive nature.
An emerald green mermaid gown comprised of beaded lace with sequins clung to her erotic curves, so tempting and sensuous. Her scooped neckline dipped low enough to make me want to lick one of those perfectly delicious gilded apples dipped in exquisite chocolate. I wondered if I took a bite if it would satiate the sweet tooth I’d just developed.
There was something about Miss Scott that intrigued me and whetted my appetite like it hadn’t been in some time. Something startlingly familiar about her that had nothing to do with her local celebrity status. But I pushed it aside because my Queen was never far from my thoughts. And she was popping up again tonight.
To be attracted to any other woman other than her felt like a mild form of infidelity, although we had no such commitments beyond the club walls.
“Miss Scott, I don’t think that I’ve had the pleasure of making your acquaintance before tonight,” I said, turning my attention from Maeve to her friend, our local news anchor who’d just joined our side.
The endearing smile on her face dropped, and her eyes widened just a few seconds before she plastered her smile on her lips once again. It wasn’t genuine; I could see right through it. What I wasn’t able to determine was what I had done wrong to place that guarded look in her eyes.
“Forgive my manners, Dante. After all, you are our host. Dante Bianchi meet my best friend and our local news anchor, Miss Indigo Scott. Indi, this is a very dear friend of mine, Dante. Dante is the owner of Bianchi Holdings, which includes Bianchi Logistics International, Cassa di Rosso, Casa di Bianchi Winery & Resort, and Bianchi’s Cucina,” Maeve stated with a smirk and a lift of one eyebrow.
The Scandal : A BBW ALPHA MALE BWWM ROMANCE Page 7