Page 33 of The Midnight Club
He had almost reached the door when she caught up with him. “Alex, wait.”
He looked down at her, his eyes curious. Her expression was serious for once.
“Alex … you know I loved Viola, right? Like, she was the perfect person for you, and she was like my sister?”
“I do,” he said softly, nodding. “I do.”
Netta nodded. “She would want you to be happy, Alex. Try and find her again. Viola would want that.”
Alex smiled, but there was no happiness in his face. “I can’t, Netta. Not until I know. Not until I know who did this to her. I can’t.”
Alex made it back to his car before he broke. He pummeled the steering wheel and screamed out his pain, knowing that in the underground parking garage where he was, no one could see it.
He wouldn’t be able to do as Netta asked until he got Viola out of his head. An idea had been forming in his mind for the past few weeks, but it was so crazy, so out of character, so wrong, that he had kept shoving it away.
Viola.
Ori …she looked so much like his lost love that he could not stop thinking about her and yet … he could see that Maceo—playful, boyish, good-hearted Maceo—was deeply in love with the young woman. Could he really break his brother’s heart by going after Ori? By trying to seduce her? He had no doubt that Ori loved Maceo as much as he did her.
God, what a fucking mess. But over the next few days he couldn’t help returning to the idea that maybe, just maybe, if he could make Ori his, then maybe he would be able to get over Viola.
Am I cracking up?One morning, a week after his lunch with Netta, he gazed in the mirror and paused, mid-shave.You’re obsessing over your friend’s lover. Stop this.He told himself over and over to stop thinking about her …
When he got into the office that day, he nodded to his assistant who had brought him coffee, when she asked him if he need anything. “Yes,” he said, and his voice was steady. “I need an open-ended plane ticket.”
His P.A. took out her notepad. “Where to, boss?”
He hesitated only for a beat. “Venice. As soon as possible.”
When Maceo had suggesteda week in the south of the country, Ori had readily agreed. A secluded villa on the cliffs overlooking Naples had been their base for the past two days and now, in the late afternoon heat, Ori lay stretched entirely naked on a lounger on the little balcony. She was half-dozing, her head resting on her arm, but she felt his presence as Maceo came out onto the balcony. From the pause, she knew he was gazing at her, taking in her naked body, and she couldn’t help but feel wildly sexy because of his scrutiny. A second later she felt something drop between her breasts. Scented oil. It snaked down her belly and into her navel.
She smiled and opened her eyes as Maceo followed the trail of the oil with his fingers. Over the last few days, his swarthy skin had tanned to a deep copper, only accenting the lightness of his green eyes. He was mesmerizing, and mesmerized in equal parts as his fingers smoothed the oil over her skin. Ori met his gaze and slowly spread her legs so that he could follow the oil trail down. Maceo grinned almost triumphantly as he found her clit and rubbed it gently between his finger and thumb. He was wearing only a pair of white pants, and she could see the bulge of his erection. She slid her hand over it, feeling the heat from it in her palm, stroking him through his pants.
Maceo’s middle finger slipped inside her, caressing, and he bent his head to kiss her breasts, her belly, his tongue circling her navel and dipping into it as it quivered under his touch. Ori unzipped his pants and Maceo stood to remove them, standing in all his priapic glory. His cock stood proud, thick and long against his belly.
“You want me?” he said softly, and she nodded. He covered her body with his, tugging her legs around his waist and gently sliding all the way into her, filling her cunt until she gasped. He smiled down at her. “Do you like me to fuck you, pretty girl?” He thrust his hips hard and pinned her hands above her head.
Ori gazed up at him as they made love, the oil on her body making it easy for them to move even on the cramped sun lounger. Maceo got rough.Goddamn, she loved it when he did this, wrestling her onto the sunbaked tiles and fucking her again and again until she was completely at his mercy.
It was nighttime by the time they finally rested. Ori, catching her breath, grinned over at Maceo. “You drive me crazy, Maceo Bartoli.”
He laughed. “Caro, voglio essere sempre dentro di te.I always want to be inside you.” He rolled onto his side, propped himself up on his elbow, and looked down at her. “Ori, marriage is never something I have aspired to, nor perhaps even believed in—until now. I’m not asking yet.I don’t want to frighten you off or rush things. But is it something you desire?”
Ori was taken aback. “Maceo ... the only way I can think to answer that is to tell you that I wantyou. A piece of paper or a ceremony won’t change how I feel about you or us. I love you. That is all I need.”
He bent his head to kiss her. “Then I am happy. Still,” he said. “I would like to make a commitment to you, just a gesture to tell you that I belong to you.”
Ori smiled. “Just your words are enough for me.”
Maceo laughed, but shook his head slightly. “You are not like other women, Orianthi Roy.”
“I hope not.”
But it was later, when Maceo was asleep next to her, that she began to wonder what he really meant.Not like other women.Did he mean she was broken? Was he with her out of some misguided white-knight thing? She hoped not, and she told herself it was just night terrors that were bugging her. She sighed and rolled onto her side.Don’t be paranoid.But she couldn’t but be wary; years of her stepfather’s abuse made her question any man’s motives. She stroked Maceo’s dark curls.Asleep, he looked 10 years younger than his 39 years. She brushed her lips gently against his. “Ti amo.” And she did love him, completely.
She just wasn’t sure in her heart if she trusted him.
He checkedto see how many hits the website had, and grinned. No doubt, they had seen it. Good. Now they knew to be terrified. He assumed, when Maceo had found Ori unconscious but alive, he had done the right thing by leaving her alive. The temptation to stab her to death right then had been overwhelming, his blade slicing into her tender skin, seeing the agony in her eyes, the horror, the blood.
