Page 30 of No Promises
They made love again, slowly this time, gazes locked, hands caressing each other, until they were exhausted. They fell asleep wrapped around each other as the late morning breeze drifted gently over their hotbodies.
This wasdifferent from the nightmares she had been having since the shooting. In those ones, her shooter was a faceless figure, his gun oversized, and she always woke before he pulled thetrigger.
In this dream, there was no doubt who was coming for her. Destry. And he was chasing her through the cold, barren halls of a great house. No matter how fast she ran, he was always one step behind her. She was screaming for Christo, but he was nowhere to be found at first, then just as Destry grabbed her, she sawhim.
Tied to a chair, beaten, bloody. Destry pulled her back from him as she lunged for her stricken lover. Christo looked up, and she saw tears falling down hischeeks.
“I always knew,” he whispered, “I always knew he’d take you away fromme.”
She reached for Christo as Destry plunged a knife into her belly again andagain…
Noosh sat up,breathing hard. God, what a dream to havenow. Christo woke and was immediately by her side. “Are youalright?”
“Bad dream, is all,” she said, trying to smile. Her back ached, and her skin felt like it was on fire. She dragged a couple of deep breaths into her lungs, trying to stop her heart from beating so hard. Christo stroked her face, his gazeintense.
“Is it him? The man who shotyou?”
She nodded; there was no reason to lie. “I’ve been having these nightmares ever since. Usually, it’s just a replay of that night, but this one…you were there, and you told me you always knew he would take me away from you. Then he stabbed me to death in front ofyou.”
“Jesus.” Christo ran his hand through his curls, looking distressed. He pulled her into his arms. “No one will ever take you away from me. The only way I’ll let you go is if you, and onlyyou, ask me to let yougo.”
She rested her head against his shoulder, kissed his jaw. “I’ll never say those words to you.Never.”
His tension eased a little, and he smiled down at her. “You and me from nowon.”
“You and me,” Noosh agreed, “always.Always.”
Chapter Fourteen
Christo smiledover at her in the car as they drove back into Manhattan. “You have a sulkyface.”
Noosh grinned. “Just thinking about our little piece of heaven. That week went tooquickly.”
He touched her cheek. “Say the word and we’ll go there forever. Italy has radio stationstoo.”
“So tempting.” She sighed. “But I still owe Ally so much, and I need to fulfill my obligation to her. She’s really helped me so much, and she’s become like a big sister to me. I can’t just up and leave.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Ask me again in ayear.”
Christo grinned. “Don’t think Iwon’t.”
She chuckled as he pulled the car into the parking garage of his building. “I’m getting way too used to living inluxury.”
“No more than youdeserve.”
“Well, you see? I need to make my own money so we can have some kind of parity.Somekind,” she added when he rolled his eyes. “I know I can’t compete with Mr. Moneybags, but I need to contribute. I’m no gold-digger.”
“I know that,” Christo said as they got out of the car and walked to the elevator. They kissed on the way up to his penthouse apartment and were fooling around, teasing each other, as the elevator doorsopened.
Christo stepped out and stopped. Noosh moved around to his side, confused, and then she saw him. The older man who looked so much like Christo he could only be his father. Fogliano Montecito nodded politely to her and then turned his attention to his stony-facedson.
“Christofalo. I’ve come to talk toyou.”
“Then you wasted a journey,” Christo said coldly. He squeezed Noosh’s hand. “As you can see, I’m with my partner, and I have no wish to hear anything you say.Goodnight.”
“Please, son.” His father’s voice quivered with real emotion, and Noosh was taken aback to see tears in the older man’s eyes. “I have come to make peace with you – and your lovely companion. Hello, Miss Taylor. Your beauty has not beenexaggerated.”
Noosh looked with uncertainty at Christo, then spoke. “Hello, Mr.Montecito.”
“No, no, Noosh, it’sDonMontecito, don’t forget. Sweetheart, will you go inside while I deal with DonMontecito?”
