by Gwyn McNamee
He squeezes his eyes shut and grimaces. “Shit. They’re going to kill me.”
“Paul,” I say, reaching out to lay my hand on his arm, “tell me what happened.” This is bad. This is really, really bad, but I try to maintain my composure so I don’t spook him more.
“I was in the office, going through the files, looking for the documentation you need, and Alonzo came in.”
“Shit.” Alonzo Mattuci is one of Domenico’s high-ranking lieutenants, and, according to rumor, is also his top gun. I heard he has over one hundred kills under his belt. If he caught Paul, it would be a death sentence. “Well, you’re here, so obviously he doesn’t suspect anything. We both know you would be dead if he had.”
Paul nods his agreement and chews on his nail. “He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was looking for a purchase order for one of the truck parts because we needed to replace it with the same part. He seemed to buy it, and ended up finding the order for me before shooing me out of the office.”
This is particularly concerning, considering the revelations of our last meeting. Abello has my name and now Paul’s been caught in the office. Still, we are both still alive.
“Did you get anything before he came in? Did you find anything about the meeting?”
Paul glares at me. Maybe I deserve it, but this story is my career. “Yeah, I did.”
He hands me a sheet of paper with the name of one of Abello’s construction companies across the top. It’s a bid on a construction project downtown—the new offices for the district attorney.
“I don’t get it. Why is this important?”
His hand shoots out and snatches the paper back, then he turns it around and points to a line. “See this? Look at the numbers. There’s no way they could do this job for that amount of money. They were awarded the contract. Do you know what they ended up getting paid? Almost triple what is on here. Who do you think arranged/approved that?”
There’s no doubt in my mind it was Dunne. “But, this doesn’t prove anything. We can’t prove Dunne did anything to get them the contract or that the overpayment was any form of a payoff.”
Paul growls. “Do you really think they would put that in writing?”
“Well, no, but there has to be something! Something with Dunne’s name on it. Do you think you can try again?” I ask, knowing full well the position I am asking him to put himself in. “Please, Paul.”
Shaking his head, he paces around me. “I don’t know, Danika. It’s too dangerous. I just don’t know if it’s worth it.”
Don’t back out on me now! Time to pull out my best logic.
“Paul, when you came to me, you said you wanted to help me because you know what a scumbag Dom and his goons are. You said you wanted to help end him and the corruption going on. I can’t do that without your help.”
“I know,” he says with an exaggerated sigh. “I know.”
“What about the meeting? Did you find out what it was for?”
Another clank echoes through the warehouse and Paul and I both whirl in the direction of the sound, searching in the darkness for any threat.
“I’m outta here.” He turns and runs off in the opposite direction before I even have chance to try to stop him.
Shit, I need to get out of here.
I turn and walk as quickly as my four-inch stilettos can carry me toward the door and my car, and I reach into my purse for my keys. Heavy footsteps thud behind me and I pick up my speed until I’m practically sprinting in my Loubs to stay in front of my pursuer.
Bad shoe choice for a clandestine meeting, Dani!
Just before I reach the door, a hand lands on my shoulder and I scream, turning toward my assailant with my keys in my hand as a weapon, just like my father taught me.
Where the hell is she?
The clock in the corner of my computer monitor does nothing to ease my worry. I clench my fists for the hundredth time today and try to take a calming breath. Danika was supposed to call me when she was done working today. That should have been two hours ago. It is almost nine, and still no word from her, not even a text.
The bumping base from the music downstairs rolls through the floor and into my body. Normally, it really doesn’t bother me, but tonight, it is adding to the headache slowly building in my skull.
She was supposed to call me when she was done so I could pick her up and we could go to my place. I need another night of her in my bed, in my arms. I crave it more than anything these days, even after only having it once.
A knock at the door startles me and I’m hoping it’s her and we just somehow got our wires crossed. “Come in.”
The door opens and Gabe walks in with a nervous-looking Nora, who doesn’t seem to want to make eye contact with me. I’ve done my best to steer clear of her, because, frankly, it’s a little awkward to be dating her sister and I’m not quite sure where to draw the line between boss and sort-of friend.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, instantly sensing the tension emanating from Gabe as he stands behind Nora, nudging her forward toward my desk.
Rolling her eyes toward Gabe, she steps forward and holds out her phone. I reach across my desk, grab it, and read the text message she has up on the screen from Danika.
> Car towed. Need ride. Pick me up at 3535 Florida Ave ASAP <
“What the fuck?” I slam my fist down on my desk, making Nora jump and shrink away. “Why is she down in the Industrial Canal area? And at this time of night?”
Florida Avenue is the dumps, literally. It runs along the canal that connects the Mississippi to Lake Pontchartrain. After Katrina, it became wall-to-wall warehouses and abandoned houses. Now, it’s housing for the homeless and crack addicts. They’ve been trying to clean it up for years, but with little success.
“I don’t know,” Nora replies, her voice shaking, “I just saw the text when I got off stage. Looks like she sent it about twenty minutes ago.”
“Shit.” Gabe gives me a knowing look and brushes past Nora to grab her phone from me.
“Don’t worry,” he says, handing her the phone, “we’ll go get her.”
Nora eyes Gabe and me skeptically. “Maybe I should just go get her.”
“No,” I snap at her and she recoils at my tone. “Look, I’m sorry, just…let me go get her. Okay? I promise I’ll make sure she’s all right.”
Nora considers me for a moment before sighing and shoving her phone into the pocket of the sweatshirt she has on over what I imagine is nothing on her top. Her long legs are bare except for a tiny string thong she wore on stage. “Fine, but make sure you let me know when you have her so I know she’s okay.”
“Of course.” She turns, and with a glance over her shoulder back at us, she disappears out the door.
Gabe turns back to me. He knows me well enough to know I’m fuming. “Are you going to be able to calm down on the way to go get her? Or should I go alone? I don’t want you coming along and having to listen to you lecturing her the entire ride back.”
Making my way around the desk toward the door, I look back at him. “I promise I’ll behave.”
His laughing snort is enough response for me to know he knows I am full of shit.
Seriously, what the fuck was she thinking?
My entire body is a mass of tense muscles as we drive toward the address on Florida. What the hell was she thinking, going down there at night? It’s like she has no clue she’s a fucking magnificently beautiful woman and there might be people out there who mean her harm.
When we pull up outside a dark, abandoned factory building ten minutes later, I see Danika standing on the sidewalk next to a man in a black security uniform. She scrunches her lips together in obvious frustration when she sees my car. She probably thought going to Nora meant she could keep this from me.
Not fucking likely.
I roll down my window. “Danika, get in.”
She glowers at me and storms around the car. When she slides into the backseat next to me, she keeps herself a
s close to the opposite door as possible. The security officer approaches my window and leans down.
“Your girl here was trespassing on private property. I didn’t call the police this time, but I had her car towed before I found her. You can pick it up from Melvin’s Towing in the morning.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate your help.” I shake his hand and we pull away with not a peep from Danika the entire time.
I turn to face her and watch her in profile. Her eyes are narrowed as she looks out the window at the dingy riverside neighborhood. “Care to explain what you are doing down here, in the middle of night, alone?”
I keep my voice as neutral as I can, not wanting to instigate an argument, but needing an answer from her for why she would do something so stupid.
She doesn’t respond. In fact, she doesn’t acknowledge I’ve said anything to her at all.
“Silent treatment?” I ask as we turn off Florida on the way back to my condo.
“Gabe,” she says, her voice perfectly calm and unwavering, “can you please drop me off at my place?”
Oh, I don’t think so.
“No, Gabe, take us home.”
Her head whips around and she gives me a blazing look. “Stop it, Savage. I was doing my job. I don’t need you to take care of me. Haven’t we had this conversation before?”
Swallowing my frustration, I take a deep breath before I respond, “Apparently, you do, and you are coming home with me so we can discuss this without an audience.”
Glaring at me, she slumps back into her seat and then turns her attention back to the street whizzing past us.
I thought the cold shoulder in the car was bad, but the silence of the elevator ride is stifling. Gabe hasn’t said a word and refuses to make eye contact with me. Seems he’s just as pissed with me as Danika. When she storms past me off the elevator and flings my condo door open without looking back, I know I’m in for a long night, and not the kind I had been hoping for.
Gabe pauses outside my door, glancing back at me with a raised eyebrow. “You plan on continuing your lecture when you get in there?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He leans back against the wall, crosses his arms over his chest, and smirks at me. “Seriously, Savage? Do you not know what you sounded like back there with her? You were like a father scolding an errant child.”
That’s exactly what she said to me last weekend.
“Bullshit, she knows I’m just worried about her, trying to protect her.”
“I’m not so sure she sees it that way. You haven’t been together very long, and I get there is this weird chemistry between you two, believe me. I’ve seen it and felt it, but you can’t try to control her, man. She isn’t Becca.”
Bringing her up is a low fucking blow.
“Of course she isn’t. Why would you even mention her?”
“Because it has been so fucking long since you’ve been with anyone, you seem to have forgotten that not every woman is meek and in need of protection. She was everything Danika is not, and if you don’t realize that and start acting like you have some fucking respect for her, you will lose her.”
With another accusatory look, he turns and opens his door, disappearing without another word.
Well, fuck. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?
He’s not wrong about Becca. She was always so easy, because she never spoke up, never questioned me, or anyone else for that matter. Until the day she left me, I don’t think she had ever done a single thing for herself because she really wanted it, or needed it. I can’t fault her for ultimately doing what she felt she needed to do. The way she did it sucked. I mean, really, really, fucking sucked. But, in the end, I was stronger because of it; I am stronger, and so is Danika.
Entering the condo, I’m greeted by silence.
Where’s Princess?
I check the kitchen first, with no sign of either of them, and then move to my bedroom.
Nada.
Returning to the hall, I pause and listen for any movement. I return to the living room and look around.
Where the hell are they?
That’s when I notice the patio door is cracked. I make my way over there slowly, until I can see her sitting in the dark on one of the lounge chairs with Princess on her lap.
I slide the door open and approach her with more than a little trepidation.
She knows I’m here. No way she didn’t hear the door, but she doesn’t react to my presence. Princess, on the other hand, jumps from her lap onto mine the second I stop next to the lounge chair facing Danika. She’s facing the water and doesn’t even acknowledge my arrival.
Sliding my fingers through Princess’ silky fur, I take a steadying breath before I start. “Danika, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be such a dick.”
She scoffs, never looking away from the water.
I’m so screwed here. I just need to tell her the truth.
“You may not believe me, but I’m just worried about your safety. That’s it. It has nothing to do with your capability as a reporter. I think you are fucking brilliant at your job. It’s just, I know you have to deal with some unsavory characters at times, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
She finally moves her eyes to meet mine, and I see the anger still lingering there, along with affection, which makes this even worse.
“You have to stop treating me like a child just because you don’t have control over everything in your life anymore.”
I recoil at her words. The truth fucking hurts, and she has managed to see through my bullshit in a matter of weeks. “I’m that obvious?”
Dropping her head back against the chair, she stares up at the night sky and frowns. “Truth be told, Gabe and I had a bit of a talk last weekend.”
That traitorous asshole!
“Oh, really? And what did my so-called best friend have to say about me?”
“Nothing I hadn’t already figured out for myself. I asked him if you had always been like this.”
She doesn’t need to explain what “this” is. I get it. I’m a fucking control freak.
“And what did he say?”
Turning her head back to me, she gives me a sad smile. “He said you got worse after the accident.”
Did I?
There’s no denying I’m demanding by nature. I don’t settle for second best, in anything. I’ll devote any and all of my power to ensuring I get the best out of people, and sometimes, yeah, it makes me come across like a real grade-A asshole. But have I gotten worse after the accident? I don’t feel like I’ve changed, but self-exploration isn’t exactly my thing either.
“Well, if Gabe says it, then it’s probably true. He knows me better than anyone.”
She slides forward in the chair until she is sitting cross-legged in front of me and takes my hand in hers, sliding her warm palm along mine. “He loves you, and he didn’t say much, even though I may have pried…a little.”
I grin at her admission. “Why were you prying?”
A sheepish smile spreads across her face. “Because I wanted to know everything about you.” She stands and reaches down to grab Princess from my lap. After setting her down on the deck, she slides onto my lap and wraps her arms around my neck. “Because I knew I had already fallen in lust with you and I needed to know who you really were, at your core, and he is the best person to ask.”
In lust with me?
I’m not exactly sure what that means or what I’m supposed to do with that.
Her warm breath skates across my ear as her lips skim my cheek. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her fully against me and turn my head to her. “Aren’t I the best person to ask?”
“Probably.” Her reply barely leaves her lips before I cover them with mine. The need to claim her, to prove to her and myself we are meant to be here, like this, overwhelms me. I need her to realize everything I have said, or done, has been because I care about her, more than I probably should at this poi
nt.
She responds in kind, curling her fingers into my hair and sucking my tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers. She’s undulating against my very hard dick and moaning in a way that has me almost coming on the spot. I can’t get her off the deck and into my bed fast enough, but as I pull away from the kiss to move to the door, Princess jumps up and shoves her way between us.
I drop my forehead against Danika’s, both of our breaths coming out in short pants. “Shit, she needs to go out.”
She smiles and kisses me slowly before she slides off my lap. “Go quick. I’ll meet you in the bedroom in five minutes. I need to take a shower anyway.”
“Five minutes…then, you are mine.”
Turning back to me from the doorjamb, she grins. “I already am yours.”
My heart somehow manages to make it up into my throat.
Fuck, I hope she means it.
The room is dark when I enter. A sliver of moonlight shining on the bed illuminates Danika’s perfect body—her perfect, naked body.
My cock reacts, hardening while my heart races uncontrollably. I need to get my shit together. We can’t have a repeat of the first night she stayed over.
I’ve managed to avoid the situation again, too afraid of a repeat performance, or should I say non-performance, to even risk letting her get that close again. But tonight, all I want to do is bury myself in here—everywhere.
No matter what I have to do, it’s happening tonight.
I can’t wait any longer. Jerking off just isn’t cutting it anymore.
The moonlight makes her pale skin glow, and she crawls across the bed until she’s lying horizontally across it. While I approach the bed, she never looks away from me.
She grins at me, and even in the darkened room, I can see the desire burning in her eyes. I never thought a woman would look at me like that again, that a woman would ever want me like that again.
Thank fucking God for small miracles, or huge ones, in this case.
“Hurry up.” Her whisper carries across the short distance between us, and I realize I stopped moving halfway to the bed.
“Impatient, aren’t you?”
She giggles and rolls onto her back, hanging her head over the edge of the bed and looking at me upside down. “Aren’t you?”
