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“Ezio, you shouldn’t do that.”
He nuzzled her neck. She resisted as long as she could not to tilt her head back.
“You’re my wife. I’ll enjoy you when and where I like.” He moaned against her throat. She shivered. “I thought maybe you weren’t feeling well.”
She leaned back to see his face and saw genuine concern and a question. Butterflies danced in her belly. “I’m fine.”
The area between his eyebrows bunched. “Are you sure? Maybe you should see your doctor and get a check-up. We’ve been together three months, and you never know.”
Guilt attacked Shakarri. Ezio sounded hopeful, and she knew why. He hoped she would tell him she was pregnant or that the doctor would surprise them both with the news that she was expecting. Unfortunately, it wasn’t likely. She’d been back on the pill for a while, but she kept the fact a secret from Ezio.
“I’ll make an appointment,” she lied, and the guilt escalated.
This is the only way, so stop feeling guilty. You know you’re leaving as soon as you save enough money. Get it together.
Her emotions refused to calm, but Ezio accepted her promise to see her doctor. “Stay as long as you like,” he said. “Come in when you’re ready.”
He turned to leave but then walked back toward her. In two swallows he drained her glass.
“Just in case,” he said and disappeared inside the mansion.
Shakarri slumped against the stone railing and sighed. “He can be nice when it comes to his heir.”
Shakarri slipped her feet out of her shoes and wriggled her toes. She raised her chin to a gentle bree
ze that stirred in the garden. After some moments, she hoisted her dress and sat on the stone railing. That was more like it.
You don’t have to feel bad, Sha.
Ezio had brutally taken Cat from her mom, and for all Shakarri knew, he would do the same when he got tired of her. She would find herself jumping through hoops to see her baby. Well, he could forget it. There wouldn’t be a baby.
Maybe she should just leave him, slip away in the night or when he left town on business. If she saved enough to hire someone to help her disappear, it might not be so bad. Sure, she would have reneged on their contract, but she wouldn’t have taken all his money and run either. This plan might be easier to live with.
Where would I even find someone like that, who wouldn’t take my money and leave me dead in a back alley?
Before she could get her shoes on, one of the servers Ezio had hired came out of the house carrying a tray with a glass on it. He presented the beverage with a flourish, and Shakarri discovered it was apple juice. Beside it lay something wrapped in a napkin. She opened the bundle to discover two pain pills. Yeah, sometimes he wasn’t so bad.
She popped the pills and downed the juice then set the glass back on the tray. The server nodded and disappeared. She got down from the railing and looked around for Dean. He stood near one of the pillars not far from her.
Shakarri picked up her shoes and stepped off the patio. The grass beneath her feet was soft and luxurious. She made her way around to the side of the mansion, and by the soft rustle behind her, she knew Dean followed. Voices reached her as she came to the end of the building toward the front. She peeked around the corner.
“I apologize,” Ezio was saying to one of his guests. “Shakarri isn’t feeling well, and I must take care of my wife.”
The older woman he spoke with frowned. “I’ve never known you to give too much concern for anyone else if it wasn’t in your best interest, Ezio.”
Where Ezio had been smiling graciously before this woman said what she did, at her words, his expression turned stony. The woman’s husband dragged on her arm. “Don’t be rude, Millicent. We’re always grateful to receive an invite to your parties, Ezio. An enjoyable time as usual.”
“I’m just speaking the truth,” Millicent complained. “Do you think he loves the girl? Not likely. She has a common look about her.”
Shakarri gasped. She started to go out there and tell the woman what she thought of her nose being stuck so high in the air. The frost coming off Ezio could freeze the entire front of the property, and that was saying something as it stretched several acres. Shakarri thought she saw him stir a bit, but she wasn’t sure.
Out of nowhere two guards appeared, and Mr. and Mrs. Millicent, or whatever their last name was, were shown off the property. The husband’s expression was that of a man going to the guillotine, and his wife looked triumphant. Shakarri would bet money they not only wouldn’t they be invited to the mansion again, Ezio might retaliate financially. She hoped he wouldn’t be that petty, but from what she had learned of him over the last few months, one couldn’t be too sure.
“Did he really break the party up for me?” she wondered to herself.
Shakarri leaned against the wall watching Ezio. For some reason, she couldn’t stop looking at him. He moved with the grace of a jungle cat and exuded confident. His melodic speaking voice teased her. While he had worked to minimize his accent enough to be understood by Americans, there was just enough left to make women fall at his feet and men wish they could be so exotic.
The last guest climbed into his vehicle, but Shakarri knew there were certain ones who would stay overnight. Ezio was conducting a business meeting at home this weekend. A few of his choice executives were staying along with their wives.
