Jimmy gets out, opens the back door and stands out of my way as I lay the dark-haired beauty on the leather seat, then shrug out of my jacket and use it for a pillow, placing it gently under her head.Jimmy slides back into the driver’s seat and I get her situated to leave room for myself.His eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror.“Enrico texted.Desiree left with some shmuck while the guys were busy with you, boss.”
My jaw tightens.So much for her going home and getting to bed safely tonight.That woman is on a mission of hell-bent destruction.“Have someone follow them, put the stupid fucker on ice and get her home safely and discreetly before she makes a fool of herself and a mockery of us all.”All I need is for my father to hear that she’s been out fooling around and bringing disgrace to the Roselli name.
The dark-haired beauty coughs and rolls to her side as I shift in my seat and close the door.I grab the only thing in sight, tilting her head, and then holding her hair in case she heaves her drug induced nausea into the bottom of my Italian leather briefcase.
She manages to swallow past the feeling, slowly clearing the haze that had her caught in its web.Her eyes, earlier alight with joy, are now dim and confused and she’s not moving her arms, or anything.The woman is completely helpless which makes me want to pound the fuckwad who did this to her over and over again, rendering him helpless as well.I focus my attention back to her though because she looks panic stricken at her inability to move.“You’re safe, but it’s going to take a little time before you can move or speak coherently.”
Her eyes watch me warily, clearly not sure if I had anything to do with her present state until I take her delicate smooth hand in my own, massaging it, and then her arms, never touching her anywhere else, just trying to get the blood to flow.It calms her until enough time has lapsed and she’s slowly able to move her limbs.Thirty minutes, and the dark beauty hasn’t taken her eyes from me once.Confusion, fear, and mistrust, all mingling emotions until the drug begins to lift and instead of pulling away her fingers when it does, she grasps onto my hand as though it’s a fucking lifeline.
The electricity of that touch should be a warning, but instead it sends a signal of red-hot desire straight to my dick.I blow out a breath.Everything about this young woman is fascinating.Why wouldn’t her touch sear my fucking skin after four damn months of celibacy, for nothing but a goddamn charade wedding that’s not likely to happen.Not when I’m working my ass off to find a way out of it for both me and Desiree.
I help her to a seated position when she’s ready.I don’t think intoxication had anything to do with her state, but I have to ask.“How much did you have to drink tonight?”It’s hard to hide my amusement as her eyes flash.She’s coming out of her haze very nicely.
The young woman’s cupid shaped lips purse with disdain.“Lime water, that’s all I had.I’m designated driver.What happened?”she asks hoarsely but something from the look in her eyes tells me that she already knows or at least suspects something foul has taken place.
My eyes meet her still highly dilated ones.“You were drugged.I intervened.Who gave you the drink?”
Her eyes narrow and she swallows daintily as she contemplates what I’ve asked and then answers as though she doesn’t quite believe it herself.“The bartender.He was the only one who gave me a drink.The way he looked at me…” she almost half whispers.
My blood heats with white hot rage.“Could anyone else have had access to it, could someone else have slipped something into it?”I ask her this, but I already know the answer.I’ve had my eye on the fucker since the grand opening a few weeks back, knowing something was off, but unable to put my fucking finger on it.By the end of the night, he’s going to be missing every single digit on his primary hand.No one uses a Roselli club for their own illicit gain, especially snatching women in my fucking club.And he’ll walk through life with the proof of that for everyone to see.
She shakes her head.“No, my friends were with me, but they never touched my glass.”She swipes at a lone tear.“You’re right.I must have been drugged.Thank god I didn’t finish my drink.How strong was it?”
My jaw clenches tight.If she had finished it, she’d probably be comatose for the next twenty-four hours.Long enough to get her transported a long fucking way without needing to deal with any opposition at all.
She’s acutely aware that’s exactly what happened now and probably just how bad it could have been.“I felt fine one minute and then so, so fuzzy.What would have happened if I had finished all of my drink?The guy that kept me from falling down in the hall?He wanted me to go with him, and I tried to tell him no, but everything just kept spinning and the words, they just wouldn’t come out….”
The tip of my finger finds the warm moistness of her lip.“Shhh… It’s over.You’re safe.”
When I’m done with the fuckers, they’re going to wish they had never touched her drink or let anyone lay hands on her skin.“What’s your name?”I ask, hearing the huskiness in my voice, still unable to keep my eyes from her creamy skin or the allure of those big brown eyes framed with dark lashes that seem to magnetize my own.
“Sophia,” she says quietly.“Thank you for helping me.”
“You’re welcome, Sophia.I’m going to have someone round up your friends since you were designated driver.Jimmy is going to take you all home while I deal with some things here at the club.”I pull a business card from my wallet and scratch my first name and personal cell number on the back of it.“Call me if you need anything.”
I open the car door needing to put some distance between me and the beautiful young woman with light in her eyes.I’d offer to take her home myself but I’m far too eager to get hands on my fucking bartender.“Stay with her until her friends arrive and then take them home, Jimmy.”
Sophia doesn’t even look down at the paper that she’s scrunched into her hand.“What’s your name,” she asks softly, touching the back of my hand, causing the current of sexually charged energy to flow while I’m still half in and out of the car.“Massimo.”
It’s with effort that I leave her side, closing the door without answering the next question on her lips, opting instead to go in search of the prick who dares to run a snatch and grab in my fucking club and put hands on Sophia.
I’ll find the dark-haired beauty who sparks a fire deep in my soul, causes my blood to race and my cock to throb with unprecedented desire as soon as my life is less complicated.
She can fucking count on that…
4
Sophia
The minute Jimmy drops my friends off a troubled feeling settles into my bones.Just because he’s been nothing but nice, doesn’t mean that he’ll stay that way now that we’re all alone.I sit back in my seat, ready to use every trick I’ve learned from years of self-defense training if he does one thing that I don’t like, even knowing the drugs in my system have made me weaker then hell.But Jimmy doesn’t try a thing, as I call out a left, or a take a right at the next light, he simply does as I ask, slowly weaving through the heavily tree-lined roads that lead to the outskirts of Jersey and our villa nestled into many acres.
Jimmy makes a turn onto the winding road leading from the main road to our gatehouse where the perimeter soldiers reside.The sound of the car, maybe the lights, or both, alert the family guards to our approach, and four men with semi-automatics suddenly appear right in front of us.
This is not going to be good.In fact, hardly anything could be worse than arriving home, when no one knows I’m out, with a strange guy my father will probably order to be whacked.“I’ll handle this from here.Leave as soon as I get out of the car, and thanks for the ride, Jimmy.”I get out of the back seat and stand in front of his window until he backs out and guns it down the road.Just in case our soldiers have itchy trigger fingers tonight, or someone has told them I was missing, and they suspect the poor driver of that car.Because then, they’ll kill him themselves, no order needed.Papa would expect it.
Papa’s soldiers glare at me.“Who the fuck was that?”one of them asks.
My first instinct is to tell him to mind his own fucking business.I’m twenty-three years old but with him, there’s only one way to get him to keep his mouth shut.Loyalty, not to my father, but to his team.“If you don’t want my detail to get fired, you’ll keep this to yourself.No harm, no foul.I just needed a ride, the guy gave me and some of my friends one, that’s all.No cardinal sins committed, okay?You’re just going to get Delz in trouble for letting me sneak out.”
