She did as he asked, giggling as he tickled her gently, then, as he grabbed his tie, she raised her eyebrows at him. “Oh, yes?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Implicitly.”
“Good.” He grabbed her wrists and bound them together behind her back. Ori chuckled at him.
“Kinky.”
“Just testing your limits, bella.”
Ori wriggled on top of him, feeling his cock growing hard underneath her. She was completely turned on by the feel of silk tie tight around her wrists. Maceo smiled at her.
“Now, I’m just going to touch you,” and he smoothed the palm of his hand over her belly and her hip. With the other hand, he pinched her nipple, gently at first, and then harder when she gave a little gasp. “God, you’re beautiful, Orianthi Roy.”
She moaned softly, and he lifted her easily and impaled her on his diamond hard cock. “Fuck me, little girl,” he growled, and she obeyed, slamming her hips against his, his fingers digging into the flesh, so soft and malleable under his touch. He reached between her legs to massage her clit as she moved above, reveling in the ecstasy on her lovely face as she came once, twice, three times. As he reached his peak, he freed her hands, and she tightened her vaginal muscles around his cock as it pumped warm cum deep into her.
He gathered her to him and kissed her, murmuring, “How about we just stay here forever?”
If only they had, Ori thought now, all these weeks later. The ache she felt in her chest and not being with Maceo was agonizing, and finally, she let herself cry out all her sorrow, for Maceo, for AJ, and for herself.
He almost marveledat their arrogance. Moving Orianthi out of state; Bartoli locked up and so, so sure she was safe. She was never safe; he’d proved that. The day he’d killed Janek was also the day he’d comeso, soclose to killing Ori too. He’d had to hold back and remind himself.Not yet. Not yet.She was unconscious, and her T-shirt had ridden up, and the warm gold skin of her belly had been too much temptation. He had placed the knife tip against the skin then. Just to appease his almost overwhelming bloodlust, he’d pushed the blade into her, just a centimeter or so, enough to watch the flesh sink under the steel, then split. Enough to spill her precious blood without ruining the anticipation of the actual kill, the murder, the horrific death he had planned for her.
And the blonde girl? Benoit’s lover … he grinned to himself now. Masterstroke. Now they thought it was all about their lovers—allof their lovers, not just Ori. It deflected any suspicions they might have. He’d had the blonde followed; found out she was going to Africa, had someone take the photo then. He grinned to himself. He had no interest in the blonde, but if it kept The Midnight Club angry and fearful—all the better.
His thoughts returned to Ori. So lovely and yet so vulnerable. He hadn’t finalized his plan to kill her— the where or when—but it would be talked about for years, afterward, in hushed tones.That poor girl,they would say,you would not treat an animal that way.
Do you know, Ori? Do you sense that I’m close? Do you think about me, how I’ll kill you, how I’ll make you suffer? Can you picture Maceo’s grief?
Soon, my love. Soon.
Kate Garcia feltanother wave of nausea come over her, but she swallowed hard. Maceo, sitting next to her, exhausted and drained, shot a glance at her. “You okay?”
Kate tried to smile at him. She had to be okay. Today was Maceo’s bail hearing, and by the looks of him, he’d reached the end of his tether. She knew how desperately he wanted to be with Ori, that sending her away with Alex had killed him. If they could get the judge to set bail, Maceo could get some decent sleep, in Ori’s arms.
The trouble was not with her case, which as far as she and her boss could see was pretty open and shut, but with Kate herself. The past few days she had felt so ill, so sick, that even Nikos had noticed.
“You should stay home,” he’d said, but Kate shook her head.
“No way. I’ve never taken any time off sick, and I’m not about to start now.”
Sitting here in the stuffy courtroom, she was beginning to regret her stubbornness. Thankfully, the judge arrived. Kate argued her case, the prosecution argued theirs and finally, the judge granted bail in the sum of one million dollars. “And you are to surrender your passport, Mr. Bartoli.”
Maceo nodded somberly. “Of course, Your Honor. Thank you.”
Afterward, in the car with a very relieved Maceo, Kate told him what she’d found out. “They have no case, Maceo. Nothing. They needed to make an arrest quickly because of who Tyson Janek was, but they have nothing on you. No forensics. The artist in Queens wasn’t the only one who saw you at his place or at MOMA. I’ll be surprised if this case ever sees the inside of that courtroom again. The DA is pissed.”
Maceo sighed and leaned his head back against the headrest. “That’s good to hear.”
“Do you want to go back to the hotel and get some sleep?”
“I’ll go back to the hotel, but only to take a shower. I want to go to Vermont tonight. Lisander is waiting for me.”
At the hotel, Kate, telling herself it was just to make sure Maceo checked in okay and not,absolutely not,because she wanted to see Lisander again, went with him.
Lisander was waiting in the suite, a table full of sketches in front of him. He and Maceo hugged for the longest time, then, as Maceo went to shower and change, Lisander smiled at Kate. “Thank you.” His rich, heavily accented voice made her belly quiver. “You have done a remarkable job.”
Kate tried to smile. “Not really, but thank you. They don’t have a case; it’s that simple.” She nodded at the sketches. “They’re beautiful.”
