Ginny let out a breath. She needed his help, but she hated taking it. His helping her put him in danger and she couldn’t stand if something happened to him. Despite his confidence that he could take on Barkov, she had her doubts. Barkov’s ruthlessness was beyond her comprehension, and his resources were seemingly limitless.
But she was stuck. She had nowhere else to go, and anyway, this was probably the safest place for her. No one knew she and Tony had rekindled their friendship.
She looked up at Tony, old and new feelings swirling around inside her. She’d always suppressed her feelings for him—first because he was engaged to her sister and now because she was engaged to Barkov. She was scared of what would happen if she let those feelings free—the power of them might undo her. No, it was better if they stayed tucked away.
She and Tony could be friends. That’s the kind of relationship they could have—just a friendship, the same as they always had.
Except it wasn’t that simple, not for her, and it never would be.
* * *
“I got the message that the dress fitting was canceled,” Veronica said over the phone. “What the hell, Ginny?”
Ginny rubbed the bridge of her nose. Veronica must have just gotten off the phone with the wedding planner. Ginny herself had only hung up with her ten minutes earlier.
The wedding planner had called after she’d failed to show at the bakery this morning for cake sampling. Ginny had completely forgotten about it. She’d told the planner to cancel all her upcoming appointments. That resulted in a million and one questions from the planner, which Ginny politely but firmly refused to answer.
Some of the questions she had answers for, like when she wanted to reschedule. When hell freezes over with Fedor in it. Others, some perfectly innocent, like whether or not she was okay, she had no idea how to answer. She was far from okay, but somehow, being here with Tony made her more okay than she’d been since she’d gotten herself into this mess.
She’d hit rock bottom, but now that she’d realized the truth about Fedor, she could glimpse light, barely—she was coming out of the darkness.
But she wasn’t there yet.
“It’s complicated,” Ginny said. Damn, she was using that phrase a lot lately. But she certainly couldn’t tell Veronica what was going on. She damn sure wasn’t going to tell Veronica she was shacking up with her ex-fiancé.
Not that she thought of Tony in terms of Veronica anymore. Tony’s time with Veronica had been a lifetime ago. All three of them were different people now.
And “shacking up” was also a little misleading. That would imply there was something going on between the two of them, which there wasn’t. Tony was simply helping her out. As a friend.
She cringed, though no one could see her or hear her thoughts. Just keep telling yourself that.
The memory of their shared kiss from the gala several weeks ago warmed her cheeks.
And her heart.
It had been impromptu, passionate, and perfect.
Then when she’d kissed him at the Grekowski engagement party, she’d intended it to be a goodbye kiss. It had turned out to be anything but that.
So she and Tony were several kisses past the friend stage. But exactly where that left them, Ginny had no idea.
“I’m listening,” Veronica said.
Ginny paused, trying to determine her sister’s intent from the tone of her voice. It made her sad to have to dissect her sister’s words this way, but no matter how much Ginny loved Veronica, she knew her sister couldn’t be trusted.
“Fedor and I had a fight, so I’m laying low for a while,” Ginny said. Better to keep it vague. She’d done the same with her parents, saying she needed to take some time away. Her dad had grown panicky after learning he’d be flying solo at the office. He’d come to depend on her in such a short amount of time. She felt bad about that, but oh, well. It couldn’t be helped.
His reaction had made her stop and think—what were his expectations, anyway? Ginny hadn’t spent years in college earning an education degree only to toil away in the family’s financial firm. It was a great opportunity—it just wasn’t for her. She’d turned down a teaching job to help her family, but she hadn’t planned on staying forever. Heck, she hadn’t even planned on staying as long as she had.
“What was the fight about?” Veronica asked.
“Veronica, I don’t really want to talk about it.” Ginny rubbed her temples. The headache that had receded was quickly coming back.
“Okay. I guess.” Veronica sniffed indignantly, letting Ginny know it was most certainly not okay. Veronica had long ago perfected the guilt trip, but Ginny wasn’t falling for it this time, which was probably a first. “Mom said you’re not even at home.”
“Nope. Just taking some time away.”
“Can I come see you?” Veronica’s voice was hopeful and Ginny’s heart warmed.
Ginny hesitated for a moment. “No, I need to be alone for a while.” It killed her to say no to her sister when Veronica was reaching out and seemed to want to make the effort, but it was better this way. She also had Tony to consider, and she doubted he’d be thrilled to find Veronica in his home.
Plus, she couldn’t be sure of Veronica’s intentions. She’d been burned before.
As soon as Ginny ended the call, her phone rang again. This time, it was Fedor. She declined the call immediately.
That was the third time today. She would have to talk to him eventually, but first she needed to figure out what to say. Fuck off somehow didn’t seem appropriate. Though it pretty much covered everything.
She stood and stretched. Normally when she needed to clear her mind, she’d go on a run. She couldn’t do that, though. She didn’t escape Fedor just to expose herself. Maybe Tony’s apartment building had a small gym or something she could use. Except if someone saw her, it might get back to Fedor.
Damn it! She was a prisoner of her own making.
A horrid feeling settled in her stomach as she realized she’d have to face the thing she’d been burying her head in the sand about—she needed to learn the truth about Veronica and Barry. She needed to know exactly what she was dealing with.
Please Veronica, she silently begged, don’t let it be true.
Chapter 13
Tony drove past Ginny’s parents’ house on his way to the office, his eyes on the sleek black SUV that was obviously doing surveillance from where it was parked across the street. Tony wasn’t surprised. In fact, he was expecting it. What he didn’t expect was how brazenly out on the open they were, not even trying to be discreet.
Fucking Barkov and his arrogance.
Ginny might have thought Barkov would just let her go, but Tony knew better. Barkov wasn’t going to give her up that easily. Tony gripped his steering wheel. They were in for a fight.
Tony circled around the block and parked. He’d cut through the neighbor’s yard and over the fence. He slunk through the backyard, avoiding detection with gritted teeth. He really wanted to announce his presence to those guys out front and beat the shit out of them. Hey, assholes, here’s a message for your boss.
But he couldn’t. Not if he wanted to keep Ginny safe at his place. And she was his number one priority. So he continued his mission like a damn suburban ninja.
The house was empty just like Ginny said it would be. He let himself in the back door and went straight to Ginny’s room. At first she’d tried to convince him to take her with him for this errand, but when he’d refused, she hadn’t fought him too hard. She’d actually looked relieved.
His girl wasn’t stupid.
But that left him alone in Ginny’s bedroom. Traces of her were everywhere—a worn paperback on the nightstand with a Post-It stuck in it for a bookmark. Her tattered running shoes on the floor next to the closet. A planner laid out on the small desk, open to an extensive to-do list.
He grabbed a suitcase out of the closet. Inside it was the toiletry case, just where she’d said it would be. He headed to
the bathroom and packed everything on the counter and in the top drawer on the right. Ginny’s obsessive organization made this easy for him.
Back in her bedroom, he repeated the same process with her makeup, then he turned to her clothes. He reached for the top drawer, then paused, his hand on the knob. Most people kept underwear in the top drawer. She hadn’t explicitly told him to pack that, so should he? It felt like a violation of her privacy to rifle through those.
He shook his head a little. Man up. Of course he needed to pack her underwear. What was she supposed to do—go commando for the near future?
On second thought, that might not be such a bad idea.
Keep your mind out of the gutter.
He took a deep breath and opened the top drawer. Without thinking about it too much, he grabbed a handful of panties and put them in the suitcase.
The next time he touched her panties, he wanted her to be in them.
He picked up a few bras out of the top drawer and tossed them in the suitcase. Her clothes were much easier. Jeans, shirts, socks, and two pairs of shoes to top it all off. Done. He zipped up the suitcase, then at the last minute opened it up again and threw in the paperback and planner. She might want those.
Then he headed back out the same way he came in. The whole process took five minutes.
He took an alternate route leaving so he didn’t have to look at Barkov’s men again. Kicking their asses was just too tempting.
Once at Adamo Enterprises, he took back stairwells to avoid running into anyone. He’d already been away from Ginny too long and he didn’t want to get held up any longer than necessary.
He wasn’t able to slip by Ingrid undetected, though. Then again, nothing got by her. She followed him into his office.
“You’re late,” she said. It wasn’t an accusation or an admonishment. It was more like a statement that demanded an explanation.
“I’m working from home this week.” He paused. “If I work at all. I’ve got some stuff to deal with.”
“Your father has already stopped by and called. What do you want me to tell him?”
He started to tell her he didn’t care what she told him but stopped. It wasn’t fair to put that on her.
“Just tell him I’ll be out this week. You don’t have to tell him anything else. He can take it up with me.”
She pursed her lips but said nothing. Aw, hell. He’d have to talk to his father himself because he knew as well as she did that his father would somehow blame her for his unexpected absence.
“I’ll talk to him,” Tony said with a sigh. Goddammit. All he wanted to do was get home to Ginny and now he’d have to waste time with his father when what he really wanted to do was tell his father to fuck off.
She nodded and held out a packet of papers. “Here’s your mail.”
“Anything urgent?”
“Not really. There’s the brochure for the security system. It goes along with the proposal that was sent to your email.”
Damn. He’d forgotten all about the security overhaul. Well, it would just have to wait. The existing security had done its job for the last twenty years. It would be fine for another week.
“Anything else?”
“Just all your meetings this week. Have you chosen a new marketing manager?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Promote Kara to marketing manager.”
“Kara? She didn’t even apply for the job.”
“No, because my father insisted we interview outside applicants. I don’t agree. We need to promote from within. Kara is just as capable as anyone I interviewed and she already has the trust of the team.”
Approval sparked in Ingrid’s eyes, and Tony couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of his decision to promote Kara or the fact that he’d gone against his father’s wishes to do so. Probably both.
He just wished he hadn’t wasted his time interviewing the other applicants.
“Reschedule my meetings,” he said. “If anything is truly urgent, I’ll try to make it work.”
“Yes, sir.”
He sat at his desk for a moment, his foot tapping the ground while he waited for the computer to load. The system was state of the art, but it still seemed to take forever.
Christ. Who was he kidding? He wasn’t going to be able to focus on anything here, not while Ginny was back at his apartment. She should be safe there—there was no reason Barkov would to look for her with him, but all the same, Tony felt better being by her side.
And that was more than just his protective nature kicking in. He simply wanted to be with her.
Wanted to see her smile, to hear her laugh, to touch her.
If she’d let him.
Either way, the hollow feeling inside wasn’t going away until he knew for sure she was okay and would stay that way. If he had his way, she’d be more than okay. He’d do anything to make her happy, keep her safe, make her feel like the treasure she was.
All things considered, she was taking everything well. He wasn’t surprised. While she had a sweet nature, Ginny was also tough and had grit. It made the situation with Barkov all the more boggling.
Tony stuffed his mail in his laptop bag and rounded the corner in the hall to the stairs that led to his father’s office, hating the delay it caused him in returning to Ginny. Although, chances were his father wouldn’t be in there. The man had the biggest corner office in the building, but he spent most of his time pestering the lab techs.
The door was cracked, so Tony raised his hand to knock—a courtesy his father never extended to him—but the sound of his father’s voice stopped him.
“It’s not ready for release. We still need to do tests and—” He abruptly silenced, but no other voice sounded. He must be on the phone.
Who the hell was he talking to? No one cut his father off when he was talking. The last employee who did that got fired on the spot, which pissed Tony off. Rob was a great lab tech.
“I will not release an inferior product,” his father said firmly, drawing Tony’s attention again. “You handle the business side of things and leave the product to me. That was the arrangement. Now stick to it.”
It sounded like his father slammed the phone down on his desk.
Tony backed away from the door slowly, not wanting his father to know he’d overheard. That had to be about B37.
Could his father be using Adamo resources to make deals on the side? It sure as hell sounded like it. Who the fuck was his father talking to?
Tony had half a mind to charge in there and demand answers, but it was a stupid thought. What did his he expect his father to say? “Gee, son, I’ve been selling some of our drugs on the side. But now that you’ve caught me I’ll come clean.”
It was laughable. If he went in there, the only result would be he’d tip his father off that he was on to him. Any evidence to be found would be locked down or disappear completely, just like the B37 file.
There was a shuffling noise in his father’s office, and Tony made the quick decision to hightail it out of there. He couldn’t face his father, not until he knew the truth. He couldn’t afford to lose his shit with him right now, and that was surely what would happen.
Tony said a silent apology to Ingrid and took the stairs down to the parking lot. He was going to steer clear of his father for the foreseeable future.
* * *
Tony swung by UPS on the way home to overnight the pill he’d found in his father’s safe to Phil. The line was so fucking long it took nearly thirty minutes. If it hadn’t been so important, Tony would have blown it off, but after overhearing that phone call, he needed to know what that pill was now more than ever.
And he needed to find someone who could decrypt the B37 file. Someone he could trust. Those people were few and far between, though.
When he walked through his front door, he found Ginny sitting on the couch, wearing nothing but his T-shirt and wet hair.
Despite her bruised face, she was still a knockout. A few cuts and bruises
couldn’t hide her natural beauty. She’d washed all the makeup off her face, and he preferred her this way—fresh-faced and utterly gorgeous.
Her breasts were full under the cotton shirt, and her wet hair had left damp spots on the shirt which only accentuated them. And were those her nipples, hard and tight?
Holy fucking Christ.
He hadn’t even shut his front door all the way and he already had a damn hard-on. Fuck, she affected him like no other woman had. He wanted to rip that cotton shirt off her and run his hands over every inch of her body. He wanted to put his mouth on her smooth skin. He wanted to make love to her until they were both sated and senseless.
And that’s not what she needed from him. She needed time to heal without him coming on to her. She wasn’t ready for what he wanted to give her. Not yet. So he’d have to give her space until she was.
But how was he going to keep his distance in his small apartment?
Tearing his gaze away from her, he sniffed the air. “Are you baking something?”
“Chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies. I hope you don’t mind.” She paused. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but your kitchen is unusually well-stocked considering you’re a bachelor. Are you a secret pastry chef or something?”
He stared at her, his brain having trouble comprehending her question and coming up with a coherent answer. He couldn’t get past her nearly naked body wearing nothing but his shirt.
For fuck’s sake, Adamo, snap out of it. His libido was on fucking overdrive.
“No,” he finally said. “There’s a service. I mean, I pay someone to stock the kitchen.”
She nodded, not seeming to notice his delayed response and gawking stare. “That explains it. I didn’t take you for the baking type.” The oven timer buzzed and she smiled. “The first batch is done.”
Her lean, tanned legs were tucked beneath her and when she stood, the shirt fell to the tops of her thighs, barely covering her—
He groaned and closed his eyes. Don’t go there, Adamo. Think friendly thoughts.
He didn’t know if he was capable.
It wasn’t just the physical attraction, though. They’d always had a connection, something deeper, but they had never been in a position to explore it.
Hold You Close Page 11
