Twisted Desire (17 page)

Roman’s eyes immediately darkened, making Fiona sit back in her seat a little. “Are you suggesting I leave my other guests, Fiona? That would be very rude. I also promised my dear Penny that I’d watch over her until Tag returns.”

Fiona just shook her head, obviously realizing her mistake.
 

“Good,”
Roman told her. “I will forgive your lapse in judgment this once. You know I am an excellent host and would never excuse myself before the night was over, unless there was an emergency.”

The only word I could come up with for this evening was bizarre. Two women were cat fighting over Roman, and Tag had been sent off the yacht. I was relieved that the two women hadn’t seemed to notice Roman’s creepy glances toward me all evening. I wanted no part of their venom for vying for him.
 

Roman sat back in his chair, addressing me. “Penny, I’m so sorry, dear. How are you enjoying your evening?”

I gulped, hating that he was now including me in his conversation. I lied through my teeth, knowing it was the safest option, and answered softly, “I’m enjoying myself, thank you.”

That seemed to please him by the nod he gave me. “Good. I’d hate to hear otherwise.”

SanRisa turned to face me. “So, Penny, tell me what you do for Roman.”

I froze in my chair, my dinner threatening to come back up. Before I could answer, Roman took care of it.

“Penny is my guest, SanRisa. She doesn’t work for me.”

SanRisa’s eyes grew big. “Ohhh, a guest, I had no idea. Well, that is even better. Are you enjoying yourself on board his yacht?”

I saw Roman’s eyes squint as he took a swallow of his water, looking at me. He was waiting to see how I’d handle her question. Did he really think I’d tell her the truth?

“Very much,”
I lied. I didn’t miss the faint dash of surprise on Roman’s face. “Who wouldn’t love sailing around, not having a care in the world?”
 

I hated myself so much for pretending to be okay with this. But I knew I had to lie. Without Tag by my side, I had no idea what to do, other than pretending everything was great.

SanRisa smiled big, reaching over to put her hand over mine. “You are so right. Not many get to do that. I am very jealous.”

Fiona cut in with a laugh. “I wouldn’t be jealous if I were you.”
As if realizing what she said, her eyes grew wide, and she immediately looked at Roman. His eyes were darkened in anger and a red sheen had come over his face.

SanRisa looked between them. “Am I missing something here?”

Suddenly Roman stood up, making his chair topple over behind him. “If you will excuse me and Fiona for just a moment,”
he said, grabbing her out of her chair and practically dragging her out of the room.

I watched in horror as they left the room, my stomach suddenly even sicker. What was he going to do to her?

“What the hell was that all about?”
SanRisa asked. “Is there something going on I should know about?”

Hell, no, girl. Get out of here while you still can.

I shook my head, playing oblivious. “I have no idea,”
I said, playing with the fork on my plate. “I hope everything is okay.”

“More wine, ma’am?”
a server asked out of the blue. I jumped; I had no idea he had come in the room.

Wanting to stay sober, I shook my head. “No, no, thank you.”

SanRisa lifted her glass, not even waiting to be asked. The server filled it and left the room. She took a long sip, and a part of me regretted turning the wine down.

“Well, when Roman is mad, you better watch out,”
she told me. “Whatever she said, she will pay for it.”

That’s what I was afraid of.

Roman came back then, without Fiona. He rubbed his hands on his pants, then planted a large smile on his face. “Please accept my apologies, ladies. It seems as though Fiona has come down with a headache and begged to go straight to bed.”

The pounding of my heart told me that was so not the case, but there was no way I’d question it.
 

“Sorry to hear that,”
SanRisa replied, a half smile on her face. “She did seem a little off tonight, if I may say so.”

Roman sat down and took a hold of his glass. “She did, didn’t she? Well, I gave her some pain medication. I’m sure she’ll be fine in the morning.”

As we continued to sit there, I didn’t talk as I listened to them. It seemed as though SanRisa and Roman had a long history together. Just as I was about to give in and ask for another glass of wine, a large thump sounded at the door, making me and SanRisa jump in our chairs. Roman immediately stood up and started to walk to the door, but before he took more than a few steps, it opened, and Tag and Theo tumbled inside.

Chapter 17

The first thing I saw were Penny’s frightened eyes, and it took all I had not to go to her. Roman demanded our attention. Theo stood up, limping to a chair.

“What happened?”
Roman asked, clearly not pleased.

“It’s nothing,”
Theo replied. “I just twisted it.”

“Everything went well,”
I informed him.
 

I felt Penny’s gaze on my back, making me start to tap my foot. Roman nodded and continued looking at Theo. “Let’s go to the other room.”

Theo and I followed him, turning to face him as he shut the door. Not being able to go straight to Penny felt like a dagger in my heart, but I had a job to do. Roman followed in behind us and sat at his desk, folding his arms on top of it. “Talk.”

Theo nodded to me to start. I explained how we’d arrived at the warehouse and found only one guy sitting on the ground in front of the main doors. He stood up, and after conversing for a few minutes, let us inside. We walked to a back room and saw the shipment on a table. What surprised me, though, was the girl sitting beside it.

“Girl?”
Roman asked.

I nodded. “Yes.”

Roman squinted his eyes, tapping his fingers together. “Well, who was she?”

“Said we only need to know her by the name Jamille.”

Roman cursed under his breath. He obviously seemed to know who the girl was, but I didn’t ask. If he wanted us to know, he’d tell us, and the faster I could tell him what went down, the faster I could get to Penny.

“What happened, Tag?”

I went on to tell him about how she told us all about the goods and asked us to tell him hello. It was a smooth job; we got in and we got out. We didn’t learn anything more about the girl.

“What did she look like?” Roman asked, a nerve twitching on his forehead.

“Curly blonde, chin-length hair, bluish-green eyes, very tall.”

He cursed. “How old would you say she is?”

I glanced at Theo and then back to Roman. Shrugging, I said, “I’d say twenty-one, twenty-two.”

“Excuse me a moment,”
Roman said, abruptly getting out of his chair and storming out of the office.

Theo and I looked at each other, having no idea what was going on. “What the hell was that about, man?”
I asked him.

He shrugged. “I have no idea, but whatever it is, it’s got him pissed.”

When Roman hadn’t come back five minutes later, I headed to the door. “Screw this,”
I told Theo. “I’m going to go see how Penny’s doing.”

Theo got up and followed me the best he could. It was too bad he didn’t have an awesome story to tell about his twisted knee. The guy was getting old as he twisted it while carrying one of the boxes of our shipment. I’d give him shit about it for a long time to come.

I walked out of the office, and my eyes immediately found Penny’s. She was still sitting at the dining table, talking with some chick. It hit me then that the other chick from earlier wasn’t with them anymore.

I walked to Penny and knelt down in front of her. Her scent assaulted me, and I barely stopped myself from groaning at how good it was. She looked so damn good, I couldn’t resist putting my hand against her cheek as I asked her a question.

“How are you? Did things go okay while I was gone?”

Her eyes turned tender when she looked at me, and also relieved. I fought the urge to kiss her. “I’m okay now that you’re back. I was so scared something would happen to you,”
she whispered so no one else would hear.

I started to stroke her cheek with my thumb. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and I wanted her again. We needed to go back to her cabin so we could be alone. Roman could go to hell.

I stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of her chair. She gave a little yelp of surprise, catching her step to stand next to me. I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her close.

I looked over to Theo and caught his eye. “I’m taking Penny back to her cabin. Please tell Roman he can reach me by my cell if he has anything else.”

Theo nodded, staying seated at the table. The lady at the table started to say something, but I just walked off, Penny beside me. I couldn’t care less what she had to say and could care even less who she was.

I just wanted to be alone with Penny.

We reached the elevator and when it opened, I dragged her inside and pushed her against the wall, my lips slamming against hers. Her arms immediately wrapped around my neck as she gave a low moan, her tongue delving into my mouth before mine had a chance to. I pressed my hands against the wall on each side of her head, slanting my head to deepen the kiss. Our tongues danced together as if our lives depended on it.
 

I wanted her, needed her, again. Again, and again, and again.
 

“Tag,”
she said against my lips.

Pushing her against the wall, I shoved my hand into her hair. “Hmm?”

Turning her head so she could talk, I just did the next best thing and started kissing along her jaw, down to her neck.

“Aaahhhh,”
she breathed out. “I can’t concentrate when you do that.”

I smiled against her delectable skin. “That’s the point, querida.”

I felt her hands push on my shoulders, making me step back. I looked at her, wondering what was so important that she had to stop. Her eyes were heavy with desire, making me grin. “What is it, Penny?”

“What happened tonight? Where did you go?”

I took a deep sigh. There was no way she could know anything about the job. No way I’d put her in any danger, let alone break the honor of the cartel, no matter how much it annoyed me.

“You left me,”
I heard her whisper.

My head jerked up to look at her. I brushed my hand through her hair, then cupped her cheek, my thumb going back and forth on it.
 
“I know, and I’m so sorry. I had no idea Roman was planning that. It killed me having to leave you with him.”
 

“I hate him, Tag,”
she told me, making me feel even worse.

“I know, querida, I know. Me too.”

Her eyes looked straight at me then, and it felt like they were piercing my soul. “Do you really?”
she asked.

Part of me was baffled that she’d ask, but another part understood. Even though we’d just been together in the most intimate way possible, I was still working for him, her abductor. She was still going to be so confused, torn.

“Yes, Penny,”
I answered. “To be honest, I always have, but that’s all I want to say about it right now. I don’t want to think about him or the cartel, just you.”

“What about me?”

The elevator had reached our floor, and the doors had opened. I took her hand and led her to the cabin. Unlocking the door, I let her inside and followed. I immediately removed my jacket and threw it over a chair. She stood in the middle of the room, looking up at me, the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.

I walked toward her, stopping right in front of her but keeping my hands to myself. She still looked at me, clearly wondering what my next move would be. Still not touching her, I bent my head a bit, looking right at her.

“You, Penny Santoro,”
I started, keeping her gaze on me. “You are a gift from heaven.”