Page 38 of Blood & Loyalties
“Tonight,” I answered.
“Good. Everyone out. I want to talk to Jag.” Sal dismissed everyone except Vino.
I steadied myself, readying for what might come next. He knew I’d been staying with Catarina and with me leaving I was sure he had a lot to say.
“You tell my girl you’re leaving yet?” Sal asked as soon as the door had clicked shut. His eyes conveyed he wasn’t happy about this situation at all. That the thought of me hurting his little girl in any way pissed him off. Little did he know leaving her didn’t sit right with me either.
“I’m taking her to dinner tonight, and I’ll tell her then.” Even thinking of telling her gutted me. I wasn’t ready to leave her yet and after what happened last night it was horrible timing.
“I understand you’ve been spending your nights with her. Will there be any problems?”
Problems. Not for the business, but…
“No, sir. Everything will be fine.”
He lifted his chin in response, but I knew nothing would ever be fine again, at least for me. Not if I didn’t have Catarina in my life.
Chapter Eight
IT WASAN absolutely great day. The meeting that morning landed me another thirteen million to play around with. I would definitely double, if not triple, it in two weeks. I absolutely loved my damn job, couldn’t ask for anything better. Working with numbers and moving money around to make more was the biggest fucking rush. My company got one, sometimes two percent of any money made, which added up. It was all legit. Kiera and I had our ducks in a row, and we got to do something we loved daily. We played the stock market with other’s money, and we were damn good at it.
I applied liner around my eyes and dabbed pink gloss on my lips. Looking in the mirror, I gave another fluff to my hair, allowing the smile to fill the mirror.
While at the office, I had thought a lot about the man who’d slept in my bed last night. Not just that I was deliciously sore from the thoroughness of his workout, but the little things. The kiss he demanded before I left for work. The glint in his eye when he saw me after I’d gotten dressed and came to the kitchen. Hell, even his eyes on me watching every move I made so nothing bad happened to me. Everything.
It might be the stupidest thing ever, but I believed that woman he talked to on the phone was his ex. It was in his eyes when he had told me. Jag’s eyes didn’t lie and I trusted that. For some reason I truly did. When I had first heard her name I was too pissed and fired up, thinking of Antonio, to think clearly. After having time to sort through everything, I was a bit more clear-headed about the situation. Bottom line was, he was leaving and I needed to enjoy my time with him, because I didn’t know when it would come to an end. I trusted that he was a smart man when it came to me. If I could just get my heart to follow that logic, I’d be in a better place.
I took one last look in the mirror then slipped on my heels and headed to the main room of the house. All voices ceased as I entered, their eyes pointed at me.
“What?” I asked as I looked down at my body. I didn’t go fancy or anything, choosing skinny jeans, a tight wrap-around sapphire top, and heels. Nothing looked out of place.
When I glanced back up, Jag was stalking toward me with a predatory gleam in his eyes. His arms wrapped around my body, crushing me to him. His face instantly fell into my neck where he breathed in hard as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Automatically calm and peace washed over me as I closed my eyes and reveled in the moment. I took the opportunity to suck him in as well and I loved the smell.
“God, your eyes. You look fucking beautiful,” he whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my body and growing that special place in my heart that he’d weeded into.
“You don’t look half bad yourself.” I pulled away, eyeing him, a slight smile on my lips.
His black jeans hung low on his hips; his button up, black shirt was unlatched for the first couple of buttons, revealing sleek muscles. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, showing a hint of the tattoos that lay underneath, and his hair had some sort of gel in it, but that wouldn’t stop me from running my fingers through it later.
I smiled up at him. With a gleam in his eyes, his mouth came down on mine; fusing itself to mine and igniting that fire that burned beyond recognition every time I was around this man.
He pulled away, panting, his eyes closed. When they opened, something flittered across them that I was unable to recognize yet wanted to understand. It made me uneasy. I wanted—no needed—to know more about this man.
Then, like a wrecking ball slamming into a building, reality washed over me, and I shook my head to clear my mind. I didn’t need to know anything. That would be my downfall. It would lead to that connection, and like a row of dominoes falling, that connection would only lead me to heartache. Like picking up the fallen tiles, I would have to pick up the pieces of my heart. Yeah, two things I didn’t need were connection and heartache.
I straightened my spine, digging in to find the will to close my heart. That was what I needed: strong will.
“Ready?”
His soft smirk suggested that he could read the inner turmoil I was going through. It couldn’t be. He was good, but not that good.
“Absolutely. I may have to put you up on the table and eat you first.”
I flushed, wanting that, too.
“Don’t tempt me. I may just spread nice and wide for ya.” I winked then looked around the room. Shit. The guards were staring and listening attentively to our back and forth.
“Go on. We’ll watch,” Hulk said, completely enthralled.
