“Yup,” she says, shrugging, like me wearing nothing but a robe in Rem’s house is no big deal. “He said something about Netflix, popcorn, and giving each other pedicures.”
I stare at her, unsure I heard her correctly. “Everything about that sentence is ridiculous.”
“Especially the part that it came out of Rem’s mouth. But I swear on my grandmother’s pie crust recipe that’s what he said. Verbatim.”
Something about Bianca’s sudden presence and the rom-com day Rem has planned for us sets off alarm bells. “I can’t leave the apartment, can I?”
Ofcoursewalking out the front door wouldn’t be as easy as I naively thought. Not if Rem is really who I think he is.
Bianca gives me a sympathetic look. “Not without the ten-digit code for the front door lock and a way past the armed guards outside, no. It wasn’t on his suggested itinerary. But that’s just because he’s wants to keep you safe. Not because you’re a?—”
“Prisoner?”Hostage? Captive? Sex-slave?Though I’m to blame for the last one. I was the one who sat my ass on his desk last night, practically begging Rem to distract me with his mouth.
Bianca ignores my comment and holds up a bag from clothing store on the Magnificent Mile. I’ve never stepped foot in the place; even the air in there is too expensive for me. “As I see it, you have two options. Both of which involve hanging out with me. We can do the whole movie and snacks and hanging out thing, as Rem suggested. Or you can put this on, and we can have a very safe, very well-guarded escape to a fabulous little cafe I know. Because, as it happens, there’s also a second elevator just down this hall that takes us straight from the apartment to the private parking lot in the basement. Rem rarely posts guards there because he never uses that elevator. It makes him claustrophobic. From there we can hop into my armored car, drive three blocks to another private lot, and get ushered through the rear entrance of the cafe by my giant of a bodyguard. No one will see us. No one will find out.”
I blink, taken aback by Bianca’s suggestion. “You’re going to help me leave?”
“I’m going to get you out of the house for a fabulous cappuccino and an even bettercornettoand then return you unharmed with Rem none the wiser. We’ll be gone an hour, max.”
“But…why?”
Bianca approaches me by the bed, carefully setting the bag of clothes on the pristine bedspread. She takes one of my hands and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Because I’ve been where you are.”
She catches my startled expression and rushes to explain. “No, not shot at or threatened by an infamous Russian hitman. But I’ve been swept up into the intensity that is life in the Cerreti Family, and I know how hard it can be to get your bearings. Johnny, Rem, his brother Ari—these men are fierce. Fiercely protective, fiercely loyal. And fiercely focused on having things happen their way. And sometimes, when they’re so focused on doing what they think needs to be done in theonly way it can be done—their way—they forget that we ladies might need a moment to come to terms with our new reality. That falling for a man from this family, while intoxicating, means you sometimes need to catch your breath—away from the intoxicating scent of their cologne.”
“Falling for…?” I shake my head, trying to correct Bianca’s mistake. “No, I’m not—I haven’t fallen for Rem. We’re not together. This”—I wave my free hand weakly at my near-naked body—“it isn’t what you think.”
“No?” Bianca lifts one perfectly groomed eyebrow. “The two-ton rock on your finger and hickey on your chest say otherwise.”
“Hickey?” I pull away from Bianca and rush to the bedroom mirror. My robe has gaped open and, just like Bianca said, there is a mouth-shaped mark on the skin above my left nipple. I can almost feel Rem’s lips on me, his hands stripping me. The two orgasms he sent ripping through me.
I haul the robe closed but not before Bianca catches the blush that paints my entire chest red.
“Nothing to be embarrassed about, Lena.” Bianca starts pulling clothes out of the shopping bag and laying them on the bed. Beautiful, soft sweaters and woolen trousers to match. A pair of buttery leather boots lands with a soft thud on the floor. “You’d have to be a nun to say no to an orgasm from Rem Cosenza. And even then, you’d be seriously tempted.”
“Wait, have you…?” I spin, caught off guard by how jealous I am at the idea of Bianca having ever been with Rem. “Have you two hooked up?”
“What? No!” Bianca laughs, her surprise genuine. “I’m merely extrapolating based on what I’ve heard a few girls say and the rumors that have gone around over the years. Rem would never kiss and tell, but I’ve seen the dazed look on a girl or two after they’ve come out of a private room at the club after being with him. There’s only one thing that makes cartoonstars swirl around a woman’s head like that, and it’s orgasming good and hard. And more than once. Am I right?” Bianca winks at me, humor brightening her eyes.
I mumble something, embarrassed that she can read me so well and horrified at the explosion of jealously I feel at the idea of Rem pleasuring any woman other than me. Or, worse, any other woman touching him.
Fuuuuuck,I grown inwardly. Bianca’s right. I have to get out of here, try to regain some semblance of sanity before I’m the one locking myself in Rem’s penthouse.
Lena, Lena, Lena, you’re missing the point!What’s left of the rational part of my brain is shouting at me. Bianca is my ticket out of the apartment. My best shot for actually escaping is to sneak away when she isn’t looking. If I’m going to run far away from Rem Cosenza, this is my chance.
I pick up a sweater and pair of pants. “You’re right. I need to get out of here, even if it’s just for a little bit. Give me five minutes to get ready?”
“Yay!” Bianca gives a little gleeful clap and I smother the tingle of guilt that I’m planning to betray her. “I’ll be in the hall. With Bruce.”
“Bruce?”
“He’s my bodyguard. Johnny insists he come with me everywhere. But don’t worry, I’ve bribed him withsfogliatella; he won’t tell the boys that we’ve gone out and he’ll keep us safe. If there’s one rule I’ve had since getting together with Johnny, it’s this: you shouldn’t let being married to the mob and the occasional death threat get in the way of eating excellent pastry.”
On that utterly surreal statement, Bianca gives me a cheerful wave and leaves the room, closing the door so I can change in stupefied silence.
14
LENA