One Way Out (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1211) (Silhouette Intimate Moments, 1211) Page 9

  “Thank you, it does,” Rhea said, then went to Nicci’s room to check on him. He usually napped for three hours every afternoon, and counting on that, Rhea left the penthouse focused on her mission.

  Outside in the hall, she faced Norman Gates with a sweet smile pasted on her face, and told him that she needed a few things from the grocery store. Some personal items she would prefer to attend to herself. Norman hesitated, then said, “I can’t let you go unless you agree to take Murphy and Willard with you, Rhea.”

  “Oh, that’s no problem.” Rhea smiled at the two men who resembled WWF wrestlers, then stepped into the elevator, shouldered between the two bull-necks.

  * * *

  Joey was in his office with Lucky and Jackson when he got the call from Gates that Rhea was missing, and that her bodyguards had been scrambling to locate her for twenty minutes with no luck.

  Afraid that Carlo had struck hard and fast before they had gotten a chance to take action against him first, Joey sent Lucky in one direction to aid in the search and Jackson in another. Then he went to grill Gates on the chain of events that had led to Rhea’s disappearance.

  There had been no mention of Niccolo, and knowing how protective Rhea was of their son, he was surprised to find Opal Carvino in his home, knitting beside the bed while his son took his afternoon nap.

  The discovery of Opal explained why Rhea had felt comfortable leaving the penthouse, but not what had motivated her to do so. That is, until Joey spied the glass of scotch on the bar with the miniature microphone settled on the bottom.

  It took him another hour and a half, and fifty-four men tearing Masado Towers apart, before Lucky called and told him to meet him in front of the Stardust. When Joey stepped off the elevator he was expecting to see Rhea with his brother, but the only one waiting for him was Lucky, wearing a heavy scowl.

  “Where is she?” Joey demanded. “I thought you said two of the men found her.”

  “They thought they had her. But it’s not her.”

  “What do you mean it’s not her?”

  Lucky motioned to the woman who had been detained by his two men in the corridor. “Blond, beautiful, wearing jeans and a black sweater. That’s the description Gates gave us. I don’t have to say more, do I?”

  Joey eyed the pretty blonde wearing jeans and a black sweater. “Maledizione! Pay her off and get that picture you took of Rhea in Florida blown up and circulated so the men know who the hell they’re looking for.”

  “I’ll get right on it.”

  Joey rode the elevator down to the lobby with Lucky. He wanted to believe that Rhea wouldn’t do something stupid, but he couldn’t be sure, and that’s what was bothering him the most. Frank had told him that she was well aware of the danger she and Niccolo were in, and yet she had left the protection of the penthouse and his men. Why? What was she up to?

  It was after Lucky had left to retrieve Rhea’s photo, and Joey was contemplating his next move, that he noticed a woman wearing a black sweater leave the front doors of Silks and head for the elevator corridor.

  He turned to study the woman, whose black hat hid her eyes as well as her hair. He was sure that he had lost his mind thinking it might be Rhea, until he began to study the woman’s walk. And that wasn’t hard to do, the way the short black skirt showed off a beautiful pair of long legs and a magnificent behind.

  After a few seconds of watching, Joey swore, then punched in a number on his cell phone as he slipped into the crowd to follow the lovely behind. “Lucky, call off the dogs. I’ve got her.”

  His cell phone back in his pocket, Joey picked up the pace, as Rhea headed for an elevator. She looked like one of the hundreds of women who daily shopped the boutiques at Masado Towers. He stepped into the elevator along with a half dozen women loaded down with colorful shopping bags, aware that Rhea was trying hard to keep herself hidden behind a large woman who carried a purse the size of a Volkswagen.

  One by one, the women exited the elevator over the next four stops, the last climbing off at the fourteenth floor, and leaving Rhea in the corner with her head lowered.

  He noticed that the next stop was the twenty-second floor. Why Rhea had chosen that floor, he had no idea, but it really didn’t matter. As soon as the elevator took off, he reached out and hit the stop button on the panel.

  Arms crossed over his chest, he leaned against the wall and waited. Waited until she lifted her head before he said, “Nice outfit.”

  She pulled off the brimmed hat, letting her white-blond hair fall forward into her sapphire eyes. She shook her head, shoved the mass away from her face, then looked at him, her expressive eyes telling him she definitely had something on her mind, as well as a reason behind her little afternoon escapade.

  “What gave me away?” she finally asked.

  “The black sweater choking your neck.” Joey wasn’t about to mention the rest. It was the walk that had convinced him it was her. That, and the fact that he’d put her legs to memory three years ago.

  “Two hours and—” she glanced at her watch “—sixteen minutes. I guess your security system and your assistants aren’t infallible.”

  “That’s what this is all about? Testing my security?”

  She flashed him a look, part hurt, part anger. “You have to admit their performance today brings up a number of questions. Do they have what it takes? Can you really protect your son as well as you think you can?” She shrugged. “Should I go on?”

  Joey’s jaw jerked.

  “I guess more doesn’t always mean better. How many men are out searching for me, Joey?”

  “That was your objective? To bring my attention to the weak links in my organization?”

  She didn’t answer.

  Joey shook his head. “It’s an interesting theory, but I don’t think that’s why you’re out to jerk my chain today. No, I think it has more to do with that little gold microphone floating in the scotch glass upstairs.” He saw her stiffen, and he knew he was right.

  “If you wanted information, you should have come right out and asked, Joey.”

  “And you would have told me … everything? All I had to do was ask?”

  Silence.

  “I won’t tolerate secrets, Rhea. My house, my rules, remember? I planted that bug yesterday morning for a reason. I can’t protect what’s mine if I don’t know who my enemies are. If you continue to keep secrets, you’re going to have to get used to finding bugs in your pockets, darlin’. I do what I have to. I won’t apologize for how I live, or what I have to do to stay alive. The bottom line is to keep breathing, remember?”

  She hiked her chin. “We were breathing fine at Santa Palazzo. Why not send us back?”

  “It’s not that simple. Maybe if I had known the reason why you were there in the first place, I would have done things different. Fact is, you’re here now, and the wrong people know it. It’s too dangerous to send you back.”

  “It’s just as dangerous for us here, Joey.”

  “I’m glad you realize that. So, no more stunts like this one you pulled today, darlin’. Capiche?” Joey shoved away from the wall and reached for the bag she held. She gave it up without a fight, and he opened it to find a pair of jeans inside, flat leather shoes and a small red bag from Silks. So she’d left the penthouse in jeans, with the idea of altering her appearance once she’d ditched his guards. He looked up.

  “Say it, Rhea. ‘I agree there will be no more silly stunts. No more running off and scaring the hell out of me.’”

  “Joey Masado scared? I don’t think so.”

  He set the black bag down and reached inside for the package from Silks. “What’s in here?”

  “It’s personal. Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

  When he attempted to open the bag, she dropped her hat and made a grab for it. The bag ripped and the contents spilled onto the floor—a half dozen pair of sexy panties, and a black satin chemise.

  She swore at him, then moved away from the wall to rescue her
underwear. He’d been itching to get his hands on her all day, ever since he had admitted to himself and Lucky that Rhea’s confession wasn’t one-sided.

  As she bent down, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her up against him. As he backed her into the corner, he said, “Did you mean it?”

  “Let go, Joey.”

  “Did you mean it?”

  She dodged his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be trying so damn hard to avoid looking at me.” He gripped her chin and forced her head back so she would have to look at him. Still not willing to make eye contact with him, she closed her eyes. “Maybe you can’t look at me because it makes you remember too damn much. Is that it, Rhea? Are you remembering what it felt like when I came inside you three years ago? Do you remember how you begged for it? Begged for my mouth and my tongue. Yesterday you remembered, didn’t you, darlin’?”

  “Let me go, Joey.”

  He settled his weight around her with no intention of letting her go anywhere. He would have chosen somewhere else to talk about this, but she’d picked the place, not him.

  She squirmed against him, sending enough heat-filled friction over his crotch and down the front of his legs to make him swear and groan at the same time.

  “I want to hear you say it. Tell me what you told Frank yesterday.”

  “You already know what I told Frank. Why say it again? So you can have an excuse to take more from me?”

  “I don’t need an excuse to take what’s already mine.”

  She swore at him, then tried to get her knee up.

  This time Joey was ready for that, and he slid his hand down her thigh and gripped her leg just above the knee. Jerking her knee to the side, he slid his leg between her thighs, then curled his fingers along the seams of the tight black skirt and yanked it up.

  “Joey, no! Not here!” She renewed her fight.

  “Si, right here. Right now.”

  He lowered his head and kissed her hard, driving his tongue between her teeth and into the heat of her mouth. And in that instant, she stopped struggling. Seconds later he heard the moan, the one that told him she was his.

  Quickly, he slid his hands up her body to cradle her head and soften his kiss. She responded by whimpering and arching against him. Then she moved her hands inside his suit jacket to slide her arms around his waist.

  The knowledge that she wanted him—loved him—had Joey on a mission. Groaning, he settled his hands back on her thighs. Slower this time, he hiked up her skirt, then lifted his knee until it made contact with her heat. The action spread her legs wider, forced her skirt higher.

  A few more tugs and the skirt was hunched around her waist. Joey’s hands slid over her backside to bring her more fully against his knee. The act teased another moan from her, and she clung to him until they were both breathing heavily.

  He stepped back and looked into her stormy blue eyes. “You know what’s going to happen, don’t you? What has to happen.”

  “Yes.”

  He kissed her again, then his gaze drifted down her body to her lavender panties. Cut high on her hips, they made her legs look like they went on forever, and he ached to feel those shapely legs wrapped around him.

  Their destination set, he leaned in and took her lips once more. He wanted to linger, to feast on her delicious mouth for hours, to take his time—but there was no time. They had already been in the elevator too long, and his men would be scrambling to find out why it had stalled between the sixteenth and seventeenth floor.

  He thought about calling Gates, but there was no time for that, either. Rhea was ready for him and he was past ready. He bent his knees and kissed her belly. His fingers slid around her hips and he hooked his thumbs into the elastic of her panties and pulled them down past her sexy knees. Hungry for her, he brushed his lips over her, then dipped into her center, stroking his tongue against her until she was writhing on the wall and arching for him.

  The scent of her desire drove him wild, and he moved on her again and again, his mouth sucking and his tongue stroking until he felt her fingers in his hair, heard her little cries of ecstasy.

  He backed off to touch her with his hands, to thread his fingers through her blond triangle of curls, then dipped inside.

  She gasped. Arched. Clung to him.

  Sensing how ready she was for him, Joey quickly came to his feet. He felt her hand brush over the front of his pants, and her desire to touch him nearly undid him. He loosened his belt, then unzipped his pants, while she bent down, shoved her panties past her ankles and stepped out of them. On the way back up, her hand slid into his pants and she cupped his sac through his underwear and squeezed.

  Joey heard himself groan when she slid her fingers upward, running the heel of her hand over his thick shaft. “Si … that’s good. So damn good,” he muttered, then reached for her. No longer able to wait, he clasped her around the waist, cupped her lovely bottom and stepped closer into the corner to rest her shoulders against the wall. “Bend your knees, darlin’, and curl yourself around me,” he whispered.

  Overdue to be sheathed inside her, the minute she did as he asked, he sent his pulsing length into her, impaling her harder than he had intended. She cried out, then buried her face against his neck to muffle her cries of rising passion.

  When her body began to convulse and stretch, she moaned and settled around him. The pleasure of it all tugged him deeper, and as a delicious heat exploded around him, Joey bucked his hips and began to set a rhythm.

  The scent of her filled his nostrils, and he closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the craving he’d had for her ever since he’d first seen her at the hospital.

  Unable to ever get enough—that was what he had thought years ago. And now, that feeling was back. He gripped her bottom and pumped faster. Deeper. She panted and strained, and clung to him as she took his hard thrusts. Seconds later, she came over him in a series of violet spasms, her ragged cry sending him rushing to meet her in a savage climax that nearly took him to his knees.

  * * *

  At first Rhea thought the ringing was just in her ears, but as soon as Joey swore, she came out of her euphoric fog and realized it was some kind of alarm.

  She lifted her head and saw a light flashing on the elevator panel. “Joey…”

  “That’s us. Come on. We’ve got to get you put back together before we get company.”

  Rhea unwrapped her legs from around him as he eased out of her. She was glad for the wall at her back when her feet touched the floor. Leaning against it, she felt shaky and spent, but there was no time to bask in the moment.

  Focused on what she needed to do before the elevator doors opened, she accepted the handkerchief Joey thrust into her hand. Her cheeks would have shown her embarrassment if they weren’t already full of color.

  She turned away to use the handkerchief, then yanked the tight black skirt over her hips, then wrapped the evidence of her wild behavior into a ball and buried it in her fist.

  When she turned back, she found Joey leaning against the opposite wall, holding her hat and watching her. To her annoyance, she realized that no one ever would have guessed by looking at him that he’d just participated in a record-breaking round of elevator sex. His clothes had been restored to perfection, and his expression was as cool as his eyes.

  The bell was still ringing, and the light on the panel was still flashing.

  “Ready?”

  No, she wasn’t ready. How could he think she was ready?

  “Rhea…”

  She lifted her chin, then held out her hand for her hat.

  He handed her the wide-brimmed black hat, and she took it, but she didn’t put it on—she would regret that later.

  He reached for the panel and pushed a button. The bell stopped ringing immediately, and after the flashing light blinked twice, the elevator took off.

  Seventeen.

  Eighteen.

  Nin
eteen.

  Rhea suddenly remembered she wasn’t wearing her underwear. She began to scan the floor, frantic to find her panties. She would die if she left them behind. Besides, she was naked beneath her skirt. She couldn’t very well leave the elevator wearing no underwear.

  The elevator slowed.

  Twenty.

  Twenty-one.

  Joey took hold of her arm and pulled her toward him just as the doors began to open. His hot mouth grazing her ear, he whispered, “They’re in the bag.” Then the doors opened, and Rhea found herself staring into the scowling faces of over a dozen bull-necked bodyguards disguised as businessmen, each with one hand inside his suit jacket.

  Rhea didn’t think she would be able to move without falling on her face. Her knees felt weak and she wasn’t used to high heels. But she knew she couldn’t just stand there looking like a dazed fool, giving Joey’s men time to consider what had been keeping them between floors for ten minutes.

  Hoping her legs held her up, she took a step, then another, until she was past the collected men and their questioning eyes.

  She saw Lucky, saw him motion for her to come to him where he stood beside the glass elevator. The elevator that would take her to the penthouse. She had never imagined that she would be relieved to see Joey’s brother, but just now she was, and she headed for him as quickly as her shaky legs would go.

  She felt Joey’s hand reaching for hers a second later, and in an instant he’d uncurled her fingers from around the white rumpled handkerchief and buried the evidence of their union deep in his pocket.

  Rhea studied the elevator, wishing it were made of steel instead of glass. She wanted to disappear from sight, the sooner the better. She heard Lucky whisper something to Joey. His reaction to what his brother had said was to swear crudely. She entered the elevator, and as she turned she found Norman Gates stepping in behind her. His usual smile was gone, and he was carrying her shopping bag.

  Joey glanced at her briefly, and she managed to keep her breathing steady. Then he turned, nailing the guards still standing in the wings with a kick-ass glare. It was followed by “All of you, come with me. The security around here is unacceptable. We’re going to fix it, even if it takes all day and all night.”