Page 110 of Between Desire and Denial
"She’s safe with me,” Jameson declared, and his voice was loud now too. But when his blue eyes met mine, I saw the genuine look there that I’d seen when he’d come to my mother’s funeral, the look of a friend and of someone I could trust.
I took a deep breath, knowing I was about to piss off the one man I didn’t want to, and touched Dimitri’s back. “Dimitri, just a minute.”
His whole body tensed, every single huge muscle, before he cranked his neck to look over at me. He was already shaking his head. “Don’t ask me to do this, Honeybee.”
“I have to,” I whispered out. “You need to let me have a moment more with Jameson.”
“I’m not going to hurt her, Dimitri.”
“I don’t trust a damn thing that comes out of your mouth.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out about ten swears before he pulled me close. “I swear I do things for you I would never do for another soul. You talk to your friend, and you let him know he’s not a friend after this.” Then he wrapped his hand around the nape of my neck and kissed me, dragging his lips over mine slowly and deliberately. “Don’t agree to anything either.” Jameson sighed as he watched Dimitri glare at him. “You got two minutes, Jameson.” And then he went inside, slamming the door.
Jameson chuckled. “Completely irrational and completely in love when it comes to you.”
I waved off his assessment, more focused on the text he’d received now. “If what you’re saying about my father and Earl and everyone is true, how do I get Knox out? How do we make this right?”
“You are going to do nothing for now. Act normal, stay safe”—he sighed and pointed toward the door—“with your bodyguard. As for Earl, we’re taking care of it. But you’re going to stop poking around. You’re causing concerns. We don’t need to tip your father off to anything more. You’re going to tell Dimitri to get in or get out, too. If we push through approval for his office, that comes with us aligning with the companies he has partnerships with. That means the HEAT empire is tied tothe Italian Mob and the Armanellis. The Irish will not be happy, especially after your father and Earl promised them an alliance.”
“I want my brother out of this.” I felt the roots I’d avoided planting digging themselves deep into Paradise Grove. “I’ll do whatever it takes. You can’t possibly want this type of home for Franny either. We have to make it better.” I touched my necklace and stared out at our street, at my community, at my home. “Sometimes you have to take the chance… and enjoy the dance.”
He sighed. And then he touched my cheek. “If you weren’t with that man in there, Olive, I’d probably kiss you for that. I had my doubts about you both at first. Wasn’t sure what either of you knew or what you were trying to do.”
I felt the blush on my cheeks as I chewed on my bottom lip. “It’s real,” I whispered.
“We’ll get through this. In the meantime, think about what you want with your dad. Once we figure out our plan with Knox, we’ll have to make a decision about him.”
“Don’t do anything about Knox without me. There’s got to be a way to get him out of this. He can’t possibly be thinking right if—”
“I know, Olive. I know.” He leaned forward still and kissed my cheek softly. There was a moment that passed between us as I looked into his blue eyes. They were full of ice-cold determination. Knox was a part of his family too. He wasn’t going to let anything happen.
He shifted his weight a little and a floorboard under him creaked, making me jerk back and look down.
He tsked at it. “This piece is going bad. You should replace it.” He murmured, “I’ll come over with some tools and work on it for you after this is all over. You’ll be here, yeah?”
“I will.” I said those two words with the most confidence I’d felt since I’d been home.
Chapter Forty-One
DIMITRI
I was only allowingthe interaction between Jameson and Olive because I knew I could watch every damn second of them out there on that porch. I pulled up my security system, but that’s when the first text from my family came in.
Izzy: So we should probably have a chat about this little mob issue going on with the Diamond Syndicate. Saw your girl just met with Jameson, Dimitri.
My sister was used to being involved in all this. I’d become accustomed to the fact that she’d married Cade, the brother of the head of the Italian Mob, and a man that essentially could hack into any system in the world. He’d promised he was reformed along with his brother, and so far, their investments with us had been clean.
He’d also helped clean up Dex’s mess. And smiled at every ounce of violence he witnessed. He was deranged and we all knew it. Still, he was family.
Me: Are you hacking security cameras again, Izzy?
Cade: Yup. My wife seems to think watching all of you is a great use of her time.
Izzy: So what if I am? Dimitri, you turned on these cameras before they were legal, so I am just being a good sister and seeing what’s so important over in that little Paradise.
Kee: Dimitri, you owe me a phone call about turning on those cameras. Are you watching Olive?
Lilah: Should we all stick to the matter at hand? The hubs says we’ve already partnered with Bane and Black Diamond Casino. It’s essentially the same thing as backing the Diamond Syndicate, so we should consider doing it. I also vote yes.
Izzy: Yeah. Probably best-case scenario doing that. You good with it, Dimitri?
