Page 61 of His Beautiful Revenge
Orlando. She smiled.Feeling a smidge like a third-wheel. Otherwise, good.
I can come get you. Ferma’s at yet another sleepover. I swear that girl has more friends than I have hairs on my head.
Zulika giggled.Then I accept …but I’ll take a cab.
No way. I can be there in twenty.
Zulika hesitated, then laughed softly.Okay …but I’ll come down. Norah’s asleep
Gotcha.
Fifteen minutes later, she had scribbled a hasty note to Norah and Giacomo and, sneaking back into her bedroom, she managed to grab her washbag and a change of clothes. Norah and Giacomo were asleep, Norah wrapped protectively in Giacomo’s arms, and Zulika couldn’t help watching them for a few minutes. They looked so contented, so together, that it made Zulika’s heart hurt. The only time she felt like that was …
With Orlando.She knew then that she was lost, that she loved him completely, and when she saw his email as he drove up to the sidewalk outside her apartment, she knew she had to tell him.
She got into the car and he leaned over to kiss her cheek. She deliberately moved so that she could kiss his lips. He looked surprised, then responded, his fingers coming up to cup her face.
“Zul?”
“I’m tired of waiting, Orlando. So tired. I mean no disrespect to Carmel, I promise you ...but I’m in love with you. I think I have been from the start.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head. “Please let me finish this before I chicken out. Lando …my cancer has spread. Now, it’s not hopeless by any means, but there is a risk I might not make it. I want to be upfront about that, and so if you have any doubts—any doubts—I can get out of this car right now and we’ll call it even. I don’t want to put you through that pain again if you feel anything for me like I feel for you. So, cards on the table. I love you and I want to be with you. I might have limited time left. I don’t know.”
By the time she finished speaking, her voice was shaking. For a long moment, Orlando gazed at her, then quite deliberately started the car. Zulika took a shaky breath in and he smiled at her.
“Let’s go home, baby,” he said in a low, tender voice. “Let’s go home.”
Back at Orlando’s house, no words were needed. He led her straight to his bedroom and began to strip her slowly, kissing every piece of exposed skin. Zulika shivered with pleasure as she felt his mouth on her clit, his tongue teasing her.Yes. Yes. This was right. This was meant to be.
Orlando lifted her onto his bed and stripped quickly, Zulika admiring the thickly muscled arms and shoulders, the slim hips, and the firm thighs. She reached down to stroke his already hard cock and heard his soft groan as she touched him, cupping his sensitive balls.
“Zulika, you are my love,” he murmured and she smiled through her tears.
“I love you so much, Lando. So, so much.”
He thrust his cock deep inside her and she wound her legs around his waist, willing him deeper and harder into her, her fingernails digging into his back as they moved together. They made love slowly at first, then as the intensity between grew, with a kind of feral need. Something had been forged between them and they were clawing at each other, desperate to consume as much of the other as possible. Zulika moaned his name as he fucked her harder, his fingers caressing her clit as his cock slammed into her cunt over and over. She gave herself over to him completely, every part of her body on fire. When she came, she cried out his name, losing herself completely in the moment with absolute pleasure, absolute love.
They fucked again, Zulika on top, almost straight away, continuing until both of them were exhausted and panting for breath. They lay facing each other, Orlando brushing his lips against hers. “Zul …I think it’s time to tell Ferma about us. I think she’ll be okay. I really do. She adores you.”
Zulika smiled. “I hope so …but I need to make it clear that I’m not replacing her mom. I could never,wouldnever try. But I do love Ferma. I hope Carmel would have approved.”
“She would, baby, I swear.” He sighed then. “Of course, we will have to run the gamut of her relatives.”
Zulika nodded. “Listen, after my relatives, they’ll be a cake-walk.”
Orlando smiled, but three hours later, when the police came to tell Zulika that her step-brother was dead, they were no longer laughing.
“Lucian is dead.” Norah softly repeated it to herself again as she dried herself after taking a long, hot shower. She could barely believe it herself. The whole world had seemed to shift on its axis when the police told her and Giacomo, as if her life before Giacomo had never existed and that Lucian, the man they were talking about, had been a stranger to her. She felt relief for herself, sadness for what might have been if Lucian hadn’t gone off-the-rails, and concerned for Zulika.
Hollister Bean was coming to see them in an hour and Norah didn’t know how to feel. They had precious few details other than Lucian was dead.
When Hollister told them Lucian had been murdered, Giacomo and the detective exchanged a glance. “Tara?”
“We think so. We have a warrant out for her arrest, but to be honest, without Lucian Hargity’s evidence …”
Giacomo cursed under his breath, glancing at Norah. “Then it’s settled. We’re leaving the country. I’m taking Norah to Italy for the rest of her recuperation.”
Hollister nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”
