Beautiful Prey 2: The Storm Series (BWWM Romance) (26 page)

           
“Wait, my love. The club is right there,” he said, pointing across the street.

“Oh. Wow that’s convenient.” Natasha
said, looking up at the large marquee with bright dancing lights, and French
writing that read, “La Tempete Rouge.”

They crossed the street, hand in hand
and bypassed a long line of people waiting to get inside. The club was designed
to mimic an opera house with sheer red drapes hanging from box seats. On the
main floor, there were round tables and a huge stage. A beautiful woman with
long blonde hair was singing softly in French. Since all of the tables were
full and the bar areas were crowded, Natasha guessed that the people waiting
outside had no chance of getting in any time soon.

Gianni led Natasha through the club
and to an elevator that was guarded by a bouncer. He nodded and stepped out of
the way. When they entered, Gianni punched in a code and they ascended. When
the elevator opened, they stepped into what Natasha assumed was the VIP
section. There was a fully stocked bar, manned by two bartenders. The walls
were made of glass, floor to ceiling, and overlooking the entire club. There
were three waitresses on standby, but as soon as they spotted Gianni, two
scrambled to the bar and the other to Gianni. They sat at a table with a
perfect view of the stage. The waitress sat a bottle of champagne on the table
and spoke something to Gianni in French.

“Bonjour Chanel. Parlez–vous
Anglais?”

“Qui. Yes. I speak English,” she
responded to Gianni proudly.

“Good. Chanel, this is my wife,
Natasha.”

“Hello Madame Storm. What you like...
um... drink?”

Natasha smiled, thinking that
Chanel’s broken English was cute. “Champagne is good. Merci Chanel.”

Just as Chanel stepped away, Gianni stood
from the table, smiling. Natasha turned to see who had put a smile on his face.
Behind her were two men in dark suits. One was Francis Savelli, the man she’d
met in Vegas, and later found out that he was Gianni’s cousin. And the other
was as tall as Gianni, with short black hair and dark brown eyes. He would’ve
been quite handsome had he not looked like he was capable of killing someone
without remorse. Natasha knew that she was prejudging him, but, being a cop,
she’d seen the type before.

Natasha stood and turned around. She
was never comfortable with strangers standing behind her. Francis smiled and
reached for her hand. Natasha placed her hand in his. He gently caressed her
hand.

“Natasha, it’s nice to see you
again.”

“Hi, Francis. It’s good to see you,”
she responded, returning his smile.

“Call me Frank, please.”

Natasha nodded her agreement and
Frank released her hand. Behind him, the elevator doors opened and five women
stepped off, one of which was Coco. Before Natasha could roll her eyes, the tall
man took her in his arms and embraced her warmly. Natasha stilled, startled by
the man’s over affectionate behavior. The man looked down at Natasha and said,
“Welcome to the family Bella.”

Natasha relaxed a little. He was
family and he had a thick Italian accent. The man holding her must have been
Luca Savelli.

Natasha smiled up at him. “Thank you.
Luca?”

“That’s right! I’m your new cousin.”

“Funny, I have never seen you embrace
our other cousins this way,” Gianni said, walking around the table.

He pried Natasha from Luca’s arms and
hugged her waist from behind. Everyone including Natasha laughed at Gianni’s
possessiveness. Chanel brought over more champagne and they all sat at the
table and enjoyed the Parisian melody coming from the singer on stage.

Eventually the other women, including
Coco, migrated to their table. Chanel, along with the other servers, placed
shot glasses filled with clear liquid on the table. Natasha thought to herself,
‘What the hell, I’m in Paris’. She knocked back her shot. They danced, and
everyone that knew French sang along. Natasha was having a ball and, so far,
she was loving Paris. Eventually, Luca and Frank regaled her with stories of
Gianni’s childhood. She eagerly listened as they demolished more shots. Soon
after, the inebriation of the other women was starting to show. They began to
get seriously familiar with each other by kissing and rubbing each other in
intimate places. And when one of the women spread the thighs of the other and
feasted on her, Francis and Luca were clearly amused. The show in VIP was
apparently much more entertaining than the woman pouring her heart out in a
song. Whereas they were happy, Gianni seemed worried, unsure how Natasha would
react. Natasha, not wanting Gianni to feel bad, smiled and raised her glass to
Gianni. She downed her champagne and thought to herself, ‘to each his
own.’ 

Gianni, visibly relieved, exhaled and
raised his glass. He seemed to have relaxed as he sipped his champagne. And
Natasha was relaxed as well, until Coco sashayed her skinny ass over to Gianni.
She seductively placed her hand on his chest. Gianni quickly grabbed her hand
and removed it from his chest. He said something and pointed in Natasha’s
direction. Coco waved her hand, dismissing Natasha, and whispered something
that put a disturbed look on his face. She stood on her toes, trying kiss him,
while rubbing his crotch. Natasha couldn’t

get across the room fast enough. Gianni grabbed her shoulders
and stepped back, but Coco persisted. She was determined to get her lips on
Gianni, that is until Natasha’s forearm was crushing her windpipe. Coco gasped
for air and reached out to Gianni for help. But Gianni had seen Natasha snap
before and he didn’t know if he would be able to calm her.

“Natasha... Baby... You’re hurting
her,” he spoke in a calm voice.  “Baby, let go.”

Natasha knew that Coco couldn’t
breathe, but she wasn’t sure that she cared. When her legs went limp, she
figured Coco was close to blacking out. Frank and Luca hurried over, but just
as they reached for Natasha, Gianni yelled, “Don’t touch my wife!”

Both Frankie and Luca stood back to
let Gianni handle Natasha.

Gianni shouted, firmly, “Natasha! Let
go!”

Natasha blinked, stunned by his tone,
since he’d never raised his voice to her.

She suddenly realized that he was
trying to prevent her from seriously hurting her. She slightly released her
hold on Coco’s neck.

“Don’t touch him again,” Natasha
warned, through gritted teeth, before releasing her completely.

Coco fell to the floor and clutched
her throat. She gulped desperately for air and stared up at Natasha as if she
were crazy. Natasha stepped back and grabbed another glass of champagne, not at
all feeling guilty. Although she guessed that Gianni was mad at her for making
a scene. Even the two pussies in heat stopped pawing each other, and were
staring at Natasha.

Suddenly, laughter irrupted. Luca and
Frank were the source. Gianni walked over to Natasha, placed an arm around her
and mumbled, “You just made their night.”

Luca motioned to the bouncer that was
standing by the elevator. He hurried over to Luca. It was obvious that he
didn’t know how to handle the boss’ wife choking another woman, damn near
unconscious. He didn’t move until he was instructed.

“Get her out of here,” Luca said
through laughter, pointing at Coco.

“And you, young lady...” He chuckled,
pointing to Natasha. “I think you are much more of a Savelli than a Storm.”

Frank clutched his chest and roared
in laughter, as the bouncer scraped Coco off of the floor and escorted her to
the elevator.

“Ha ha. Well, she
is
a cop,”
Gianni defended.

Frank roared, “No! She is Soldati!”

Natasha chuckled. Their laughter was
contagious, and Natasha, being a cop, was well aware that Frank was calling her
a soldier in the Italian Mafia. She turned to Gianni.

           
“I’m sorry that I choked your girlfriend,” she muttered sarcastically.

“You should apologize to Luca, since
he’s the one that brought her.”

Natasha ignored the laughter around
her and placed her hands on Gianni’s chest. She became serious and looked him
directly in the eye.

“I’m really sorry, Gianni. I have
anger issues,” she admitted.

“It’s fine. I know how I would react
if a man was all over you. I’m just happy that you didn’t choke me out.” He
chuckled. “I’m sorry that she was here.”

“No, Gianni, as beautiful as you are,
there are going to be a lot of women all over you. I can’t just go around
choking all of them.”

“Again with the beautiful?” He
shouted, lifting Natasha from the floor and swinging her around. Natasha was
giggling like a school girl when she heard Luca shout, “Toast!”

Gianni put Natasha down and poured
more champagne into her glass. After filling his own, he raised his glass.
Frank and the other women joined the toast.

“To my new, cousin, Natasha ‘The
Bruiser’ Savelli...
Oops
, I mean Storm. Welcome to the family. Salute!”

Everyone shouted in unison, “Salute!”

Gianni watched Natasha as she slept, thinking how beautiful
she was. He wondered if she enjoyed her weekend. The past weekend was very
important to Gianni. His intention was to make her love it there, because he
was planning to ask her to quit her job and move to Paris. But, after her run
in with Coco, Gianni was afraid that she thought that his weekends in Paris
were filled with alcohol and women. When in reality, Gianni rarely left his
office when he working. And when Luca walked in with Coco, Gianni wanted
strangle him.

Gianni pulled the blanket over
Natasha’s shoulder, and left the small bedroom. He took a seat in the main
cabin and rang for the flight attendant.

“Yes, Mr. Storm?” asked Tyrece, his
new flight attendant, recommended by Jack.

“Bourbon. One ice cube, please.”

“Right away, sir.”

Gianni stared out of the window and
prayed that he had salvaged the rest of Natasha’s weekend on Sunday, when he
took her on a tour of the city. Normally, Gianni would’ve been bored to death
looking at things that he’d already seen a million times, but Natasha’s
excitement had sparked his own. She really seemed to appreciate the history of
the Chateau de Versailles. She marveled at the beauty of the gardens and danced
in the Hall of Mirrors. She was delighted by every piece of art in the Louvre,
and pumped when he bribed the operator to take them to the top of the Eiffel
Tower.

By the end of the tour, Natasha was
exhausted, so Gianni decided to take her back home for a moonlit dinner on the
patio. They had a lovely dinner, prepared by one of the best chefs in Paris.
They laughed and talked all through dinner, and made love all night. For Gianni
the weekend was pure heaven, but he doubted Natasha’s willingness to relocate.
If she refused, he’d have to learn to run his businesses from Chicago.

Tyrece returned with Gianni’s drink.

“Thank you, Tyrece.”

“Yes, sir. Is there anything else I
can get for you?”

“Yes, you can go in there and talk my
wife into moving to Paris,” Gianni mumbled.

“Sir?” Tyrece asked, confused.

“Never mind. That’ll be all, thanks.”

Victoria walked out of her office, holding her empty coffee
cup. She needed a refill, but she wasn’t quite comfortable asking Tyra, her
assistant, to fetch coffee for her. After all, she kept the poor woman busy
enough. She walked inconspicuously by her desk, but she couldn’t walk fast
enough in the pencil skirt and stilettos that Jack begged her to wear while
they were getting dressed.

Tyra quickly looked up.

She urged, “Mrs. Storm, please, let
me.”

“No, Tyra, I got it. Thanks. Do you
want a refill?” Victoria asked, holding up her cup.

“No. Thank you.”

“Okay, but please call me Vic or
Victoria,” Victoria insisted, for the hundredth time.

“Okay, Victoria,” Tyra chuckled,
finally relenting.

Victoria smiled and continued on her
way to the coffee room. She was halfway down the hall when she heard the voice
of Aaron, the director of IT for Storm Enterprises.

He had no problem addressing her by
her first name. “Vic!”

Victoria slowed her steps, so that
Aaron could catch up. She’d had a meeting with him earlier that morning about
internet security. When she took on the position of Director of Security, she
didn’t realize that she’d be so involved in cyber crimes.

She asked when he caught up, “What’s
up?”

Aaron walked with Victoria down the
hall.

“You won the bet. I found spyware viruses
from Vescorp. I owe you a twenty,” he said with a smirk.

“And don’t think that I won’t be
collecting,” Victoria chuckled.

She turned into the break room, and
Aaron followed her inside. She walked over to the coffee pot and filled her
cup, but before she could add sugar or cream, her cell phone rang. She pulled
it from the inside pocket of her blazer. It was Jack.

“Hi,” she answered, happy to hear
from him. She hadn’t talked to him since they got to work.

“Hey, beautiful. How’s your day
going?” Jack’s deep sexy voice resonated on the other end.

“It’s ok so far. Yours?”

“Fine. I need to see you and Aaron in
my office, right away.”

Victoria figured that he wanted an
update on Vescorp.

“Okay. I’m getting coffee. Do you want
some?” Victoria asked as she sprinkled sugar into her cup.

“No. Thank you.”

“Okay. Well, I’m on my way.”

“Thanks,” he said, before
disconnecting the call.

Victoria stuffed her phone back into
her pocket and stirred her coffee. She turned to find Aaron watching her
intently.

“It’s Jack. He wants to see us in his
office,” she said, as she left out of the break room. He caught up to her, and
after rounding a few corners, she wound up in Jack’s outer office. Mary was
busy at her desk.

Victoria asked, always happy to see
Mary,“Hi, Mary. How are you?”

“Hello, Victoria. I’m well. How are
you getting along?”

“I’m getting there,” Victoria
quipped.

“I hear you’re doing a wonderful
job,” Mary countered. “Keep up the good work.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Victoria said, walking
past Mary’s desk, and into Jack’s office.

He was standing in front of his
window, looking down at the busy city traffic. It was the true picture of
power, mixed with more sex appeal than one man should possess.

“Aaron, I have a decision to make.”

Aaron asked, “Sir, how can we help?”

“Well, I’m trying to decide whether
or not to fire the best IT guy in the business, because he keeps sniffing
around my wife.”

Victoria was shocked by Jack’s
statement. “Are you serious?”

           
Jack turned to face Victoria, and she instantly knew that he was. Victoria had
to admit that she was getting a lot of extra attention from Aaron. She also
noticed that he had a tendency to follow her around, but she had chalked it up
to innocent flirtation.

Aaron was petrified. “Sir, I... I...
“

Aaron was unable to form words, and
Victoria was embarrassed for him. But, Jack, obviously wasn’t at a loss for
words.

“You see, Aaron... I know that my
wife loves me, and I know that no man can take her away from me. So, no, in case
you were wondering, I’m not an insecure man. I am, however, a business man. And
if a man that works for me is bold enough to covet my wife, what’s to stop him
from coveting my business?”

Jack shoved his hands in his pockets,
and waited for Aaron to respond.

Aaron somehow found his words. “Mr.
Storm, I have nothing but the utmost respect for your wife. I swear, my
intentions are purely occupational.”

“We’ll see. You can go,” he said,
dismissively.

He muttered quietly, before leaving
the office. “Yes sir.”

Victoria would never argue with Jack
in front of Aaron. But once he left the office, Victoria turned to Jack. “Okay,
Jack. I understand what you’re saying. But please, just let me handle it.
Okay?”

“Not your job,” he said shaking his
head.

“I know, baby, but I would feel like
shit if someone lost their job because of me.”

Jack corrected, “Because of his
actions, not you.”

“Honey, please, let me handle it,”
Victoria urged.

“No. That’s my job. But, for now, I
won’t fire him. I will, on the other hand, watch him.”

Victoria nodded, settling on the
compromise, because Jack wasn’t the compromising type. After all, Aaron did
spend a little too much time staring at her ass whenever she walked away.

“By the way, I stopped by Jasmine’s
nursery after my ten o’clock and she wasn’t there. Do you know where they are?”

“No,” Victoria responded, shaking her
head. “Emma didn’t mention that they were going anywhere. I’ve asked her not to
leave without talking to one of us first. I’ll check into it.”

“Victoria, you’ll have to stop asking
favors of the people that work for you. You need to be comfortable with giving
orders,” he said sternly.

“Jack, we come from two different
places.”

“Yes, but, we’re in the same place
now. You’re a boss, and it’s time to act like one.”

“Jack, I’m getting real sick of you
chastising me. I’m not a child,” Victoria huffed.

Jack closed the gap between them and
cupped her face.

“I’m sorry, baby. I don’t mean to
come off that way. I just worry that you’re trying too hard to be everyone’s
friend. Just like Amy and myself, you are the boss. Please understand that they
will never look at you as one of them. Not as long as your name is Storm.”

“Okay,” Victoria answered timidly.

He reinforced with a smile. “Okay?”

Victoria nodded.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Jack kissed Victoria and pulled her
into his arms, and she was happy to be there.