Nightclub Surprise

by Michelle Love

  Goddamn you, Maceo Bartoli. Her dreams had been full of him—mostly a continuation from last night. Him stopping her before she left his office, reaching around and freeing her hair from its bun, tugging open the white blouse, tiny white buttons flying everywhere. Her pushing him into his chair and straddling him; his cock filling her …

  “Oh, goddamn you, Maceo Bartoli,” she whispered as another orgasm ripped through her. She’d woken up hornier than she had been in years—maybe even ever. For a second now, as she panted her way back to sanity, she wondered whether she should just go ahead and fuck him. Tell him no strings, no need to call. Just a sensational, mind-blowing fuck.

  She laughed out loud. “What is the matter with you, girl?” She dressed quickly in sweats and set out to clean the entire apartment, distracting herself. Mid-morning, she heard her phone beep and checked it.

  Made up your mind yet?

  She grinned. About the job? Yes. I’ll take it. Thank you.

  Good. See you Monday … unless I can persuade you to join me for dinner tonight?

  Yes, yes, yes. Mr. Bartoli, I don’t think that is a good idea.

  Take a risk ...

  Ori felt her heart beating hard against her ribs. Oh, I want to. You don’t know how much I want to … but she knew enough about powerful, rich men like Maceo to know that once she gave in to him …

  I can’t.

  Another time.

  She was both grateful and regretful that he didn’t try to persuade her.

  Later, after the apartment was clean and she was filthy, she took a long soak, reading her book, then went out to the market to buy fresh fish and vegetables for her supper. While she was cooking she called AJ and was happy to hear him sounding upbeat and positive.

  She went to bed early, falling asleep just after ten p.m. It was quiet outside, and she could hear the lapping of the water on the sides of the canal. It lulled her to sleep, but at a quarter of eleven, she awoke with a start. Someone was in the apartment. She could hear them moving in the other room.

  She slid out of bed, looking around for a weapon. She grabbed a vase from the dresser and stole to the side of the door, peeking out. She held her breath … but the fear was almost overwhelming, the memories of years ago when her stepfather was creeping down the hall to her bedroom.

  Never again.

  She drew in a deep breath then and, with a banshee howl, darted for her intruder. He picked her up easily, her size no match for his, and threw her across the room. Adrenaline made her leap back to her feet and she ran at his midsection, hearing a muffled oof as her head connected with his belly.

  “Fucking bitch …”

  His hands were around her throat then, squeezing, squeezing … until nothing. She could breathe again, and his weight was being pulled off her by someone else, someone shouting— a familiar voice.

  Maceo.

  The two men struggled as Ori tried to catch her breath. Then, with a roar, Maceo threw the man out into the hallway, and her attacker took off, cursing. Maceo locked the door behind him and came to her, wrapping his arms around her, calming her.

  Confused, scared, and discombobulated, Ori let him hold her until she had calmed enough to meet his gaze. Maceo opened his mouth to speak. Instead, Ori, driven by terror, lust, and chaos, pressed her lips to his hungrily. He took her face in his hands as he kissed her, and they only broke apart when they ran out of air.

  Maceo, his green eyes full of desire but at the same time questioning, spoke softly. “Are you sure?”

  Ori nodded, her body curving around his. In one easy motion, Maceo swept her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. Ori didn’t care that she was in her old ratty-but-comfortable T-shirt and shorts combo; all her attention was on the man above her. Maceo pulled his T-shirt off in one easy motion, and Ori saw the finely-honed planes of his body and his thickly muscled arms.

  Maceo pushed her T-shirt up, pulling it over her head. And then his mouth was on her breasts, sucking each nipple, teasing them until she was moaning, his hands slipping inside the waistband of her shorts to stroke her clit. Oh god, it was even better than she had fantasized about, the rhythmic stroking of his long, strong fingers making her pussy soaking wet, her skin electrified by his touch.

  Her hands fumbled at the zipper on his jeans. She could feel his cock hot and hard against the denim, and when she finally managed to make her trembling fingers free it from his underwear, she stroked the length of it, feeling it shudder and thicken under her touch.

  “Ori …”

  His eyes were fixed on hers, the desire in them making her head swim. Ori stroked his face.

  “Don’t wait, Maceo, please …”

  He ripped her shorts from her and hitched her legs around his waist. Ori felt his cock nudge at her cunt then as he plunged into her. She gasped at the sensation of him filling her completely, of their bodies rocking in perfect symmetry, his lips against hers. Right this minute she didn’t care about anything else but being fucked by this glorious, glorious man.

  He drove himself into her, both of them delirious with desire, until they both came, crying out, his hands pinning hers to the bed. He barely let her recover before his tongue was lashing around her clit, driving her crazy.

  Maceo Bartoli made Ori come four times before he finally let her catch her breath. Panting, she smiled up at him. “That was just a thank you, Mr. Bartoli, for, you know, saving my life”

  He grinned down at her. “Well, then, thank you back”

  They rested for a while, Maceo’s arm around her, her head nestled on his shoulder. Then he moved away, propped himself up on his elbow, and looked down at her. “Ori … who was that man?”

  She shook her head, her smile fading. “I honestly don’t know. I woke up and he was in the apartment. I attacked him first, so I could argue that he wasn’t violent until I was” She sighed and sat up, rubbing her eyes, totally at ease with being naked with this man. She smiled at him and touched his cheek. “Thank you, Maceo, really … but can I ask? Why were you here?”

  Maceo looked sheepish. “Call me old-fashioned, but knowing you were here alone … it bothered me. So, I just took a late-night boat ride”

  “I’ve been alone for a couple of days … did you do that last night too?”

  He nodded, looking up at her from beneath his thick dark eyelashes in a way that made her belly quiver with desire. “Forgive me”

  Ori wasn’t sure how she felt about his vigilance, but she couldn’t deny that tonight, it had saved her life. Maceo sat up now and kissed her shoulder. “I’m not sure this is the safest place for you,” he murmured, his lips against her skin. His long fingers stroked her belly, making it vibrate with desire. “Why don’t you come back to mine?”

  She was tempted, sorely tempted, but she shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean, I don’t want to give the impression that I can’t look after myself. Tomorrow, I’ll go get a deadbolt”

  Maceo sighed, running a hand through his dark curls. “Simpler to stay with me”

  She looked around at him and smiled. “Maceo, on Monday morning you’ll be my boss. I don’t think it’s advisable to be sleeping with the boss”

  Maceo was silent, his lips still on her shoulder, his light green eyes fixed her hers. Goddamn, he really knew how to work that whole smoldering Italian thing …

  “Fine,” he said suddenly. “But I’m staying tonight”

  Ori was strangely relieved. “Thank you. I’d like that”

  He pulled her back down onto the bed, on top of him. “And also, I’ll get my people to find out who your intruder was. If you like, we can go to the polizia. But I warn you, a case like this, they won’t spend a lot of time on it. That’s just the way things are here”

  He was trailing his fingers up and down her spine, which was distracting Ori so much that she agreed without even listening and soon his mouth was on hers, and he was rolling her onto her back.

  They made love long into the night an
d Maceo was both tender and rough, attending to every part of her body, challenging her to do things she had never dreamed of. Ori knew in her heart that she’d probably never have another night like this, with a man who awoke in her a primal need and a feral desire such as this. Maceo Bartoli deserved his legendary ‘swordsman’ status. His cock, huge and proud, plunged deep inside her relentlessly, making her crazy, and she gave herself up to him entirely for the rest of the night.

  Ori’s attacker, humbled and bleeding, knocked on the hotel suite’s door. He’d ignored the curious stares of the staff at reception as he had limped towards the elevator; the night manager had approached him, but he had warned him off with a don’t-fuck-with-me stare.

  A bald, gigantic henchman opened the door of the suite, smirking when he saw the man’s wounds.

  “Got your ass handed to you by a girl, did you?”

  “Shut the fuck up, moron. Is he here?”

  “Ready and waiting”

  The man walked into the suite’s living room. Tyson Janek was impeccably dressed, even at this late hour, in a Saville Row suit, a heavy glass of bourbon n his hands. He stood with back facing the room, but turned as the man greeted him. His steel gray eyes were cold.

  “Where is my stepdaughter?”

  “She attacked me, and then her boyfriend got involved. I thought it best to back off and re-evaluate”

  Janek’s face was expressionless. “My stepdaughter does not have a boyfriend, Mr. Harrison. Are you telling me that there was a man with her tonight?”

  Harrison nodded.

  Janek put his glass down on the table. “Filthy little whore,” he whispered, almost to himself. He was silent for a few long moments, then looked back at Harrison. “Find out who the boyfriend is and end him”

  Harrison—who had no trouble killing women, but balked at taking on men twice his size—looked alarmed. “Sir, I think that might be a mistake”

  Janek looked faintly amused. “You do?”

  Harrison kept his mouth shut, knowing this look of old. It was the calm before the storm. Janek would appear amused, then from nowhere would explode into a rage which made Hurricane Katrina look like a brief rain shower.

  Janek picked up his glass. “So, she has a boyfriend. I knew the blessed little virgin act wouldn’t last” He considered, then glanced back at Harrison. “Fine. Keep watching them, but I want to know everything about the boyfriend”

  Harrison was relieved. “Consider it done”

  When he was alone, Janek brooded, nursing another drink. He had come to Italy after a mutual friend had told him he’d seen Ori in the city— alone, the friend had told him. Tyson Janek had seen his political career collapse because of his affairs with the wives of his friends, but he was convinced he could turn things around in a year or two. After all, who would honestly care about it after the initial scandal? How many times had JFK fucked up? And yet he was still considered a god.

  Tyson went to his bathroom now and stripped off. At fifty-five, he was still hard-bodied and had the handsome, all-American good looks that had propelled his career so far. Even now, so near to the scandal, people were already whispering that he was so good-looking, who could blame those women for falling for him? Who could blame a red-blooded male for taking advantage of what was thrown in his path?

  Once Kathryn had—fortuitously, in Tyson’s opinion—died young of cancer, he had been able to focus all of his attention on Ori. On those nights he used to go to her room, force the door open, and see her cowering on her single bed, there was no one to hear him and stop him then. Nor would there be now …

  When she left home—practically the day she turned sixteen—Tyson had lost some of that control over her, but while AJ was still under his parentage, he knew he could still be sure that Ori would not tell anyone about Tyson’s particular peccadillos.

  Now AJ had left home and Tyson no longer had that assurance. Which was why, regrettably, his beautiful Orianthi would have to die.

  He stepped into the shower, cranking the hot water on. As he stood under the spray, he imagined the leverage that a tragic death in the family would give him. All sins would be forgiven as the courageous, devastated congressman bravely vowed to find out who murdered his beautiful stepdaughter. And now that she had a boyfriend, he suddenly realized, he had someone to pin it on, to frame when they found Ori’s broken, brutalized body.

  Tyson grinned to himself as he shampooed his hair. Perfect, he thought. Perfect. Now he just had to pick the perfect time to kill her. Harrison was willing, if not eager to do it, but Janek had turned him down. “As much as I admire your bloodlust, Harrison, I will be the one to end Orianthi’s life”

  He couldn’t wait.

  When Ori woke in the morning, the bed beside her was empty. For a long moment, she fought with both disappointment and acceptance. It’s for the best, she told herself. Maybe Maceo understood that this could not be a thing if they were to work with each other. She pushed the sheet back and swung her legs over the side of the bed just as she heard the door to the apartment open and his voice calling, “Good morning, beautiful”

  Ori flushed, her heart leaping with joy. She padded barefoot into the living area to see him dumping fresh breakfast rolls onto a plate, a jug of orange juice already on her table. Maceo switched her coffee pot on and grinned at her. She laughed softly.

  “Domesticated”

  Maceo laughed. “No, just a hungry man. I need some energy after last night. Come here to me” He held out his arms but Ori backed off, grinning.

  “Two seconds to brush my teeth, I have morning breath”

  He held up his hands. “I don’t care, but okay, go do what you have to”

  Ori scooted into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, trying to get a handle on what she was feeling. Thoroughly and professionally fucked, for one, she grinned to herself now, as she rinsed her mouth. Her thighs ached and her vagina throbbed from the pounding Maceo’s huge and ramrod hard cock had given it. Jeez … even thinking about it made her wet again.

  Her smile faded when she noticed the bruises on her neck and the clearly defined fingerprints. Jeez, what a whirlwind. One minute I was being murdered, the next fucked to within an inch of my life. Who the hell had broken into her apartment and why had he tried to kill her?

  An image of her stepfather flashed into her mind. No. He had no idea where she was … did he? Surely now that he was in disgrace, a lot of the contacts he could have used to find her had vanished—mostly because he’d fucked their wives. A wave of nausea hit her, and she gripped the side of the washbasin to steady herself.

  “Are you okay, bella?”

  Ori looked up to see Maceo watching her with concerned eyes. She smiled weakly at him. “I think the break-in just hit me”

  He came to her then, his fingers brushing her bruised neck. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Ori. I promise” God, she could get lost in his green eyes…

  Maceo brushed his lips against hers. He tasted of fresh air. Ori closed her eyes and reveled in his kiss, his tongue gently massaging hers, his hands dropping to her waist and pulling her close to him. She could feel his erection through his clothes, hot and long against her belly. What this man does to me …

  She gave a little moan, which seemed to spur him into action. Pulling her T-shirt over her head in one swift motion, he lifted her up so her buttocks rested on the sink. Ori kept her mouth on his as he eased her shorts off and tugged her legs around his waist. And then he was inside her again, impaling her on his long shaft. Ori cried out as he fucked her hard, his thickly muscled arms lifting her small frame easily, his mouth rough on hers.

  He took her again in the shower they shared, pressing her against the cool tile as he thrust into her from behind, murmuring her name again and again until she was almost crying with pleasure.

  They devoured the breakfast rolls hungrily afterward, and Maceo told her some more about her new job. “I think we will be working together very closely,” he said with a wicked g
rin. “I need someone to travel the world with me, to go and scout the cities while I deal with the red tape and business side. It is regretful that I cannot make the time to see all the galleries—that is my first love—but it’s not what made me a billionaire”

  Ori was curious. “Do you come from a rich family?”

  Maceo shook his head. “My mother looked after me on her own and gave me a good upbringing, but we did not lead a wealthy life. It made me determined to give her everything. I am glad I got to spoil her before she passed”

  Ori felt a wash of sympathy. “I’m sorry she’s gone, Maceo”

  He nodded, comfortable with his emotions. “What about you?”

  Ori shifted in her chair. “My mom died a few years ago. I have a younger brother— well, half-brother, AJ He’s the love of my life, really” She was grinning now, thinking of him, and Maceo smiled at her.

  “I can see that. Lucia tells me your stepfather is a politician”

  Ori’s smiled faded and unconsciously, she touched the bruises at her neck. “My mother is dead. He’s no longer my stepfather”

  Maceo covered her hand with his. “I understand, bella” He leaned over to kiss her. “Now, by your own logic, I’m not your boss until Monday morning, and it just so happens that I have the weekend free. Would you spend it with me, Ori? I would like to show you my Venezia”

  Ori smiled at him, grateful for the change of subject. “Yes, Maceo, I would like that very much”

  A little while later, when Ori had excused herself to use the bathroom, Maceo pulled out his cell phone. In a low voice, he instructed his private detective to find out everything he could on Tyson Janek. “I want to know where he is, what he wants … and what the hell he’s been doing to his stepdaughter”