For Logan (Chicago Syndicate Book 5) (29 page)

“Don’t get mad,” Mary suggests, coming up next to me, following my line of vision to Logan standing at the bar. “Get even. That’s what I’d do.”

I release a tight laugh – the alcohol lowering my boundaries. Dominic catches my eye as he stares at me and I smirk. “I’m on it,” I say to Mary, whose lips quirk up.

“Dominic,” I greet him as if I never turned him down back in December. “Come say hi to everyone.” The champagne is flowing to my brain fast; I barely consume alcohol these days. Clearly, I’m getting tipsy.

I entwine Dominic’s hand with mine, causing him to frown at me, but I ignore it and put on my game face as I approach Luca, Fallon, Logan, and his girl. Logan can’t evade me any longer when I stop directly across from him and catch his fist clenching for a second as he glances at our tangled hands.

“Hey, this is Dominic,” I introduce him, giving my most radiant smile.

Everyone greets him politely, except Logan.

“I need a drink too,” Dominic comments, yet I’m focused on one person.

Logan speaks to Fallon and looks around warily.

“Here, take mine.” I thrust it into Dominic’s hand and keep staring at Logan, who seems hell-bent on ignoring me, which hurts even more.

“Thank you.”

Luca and Fallon are called away by my mother to meet other guests, and unfortunately, Logan and I are separated when his date takes that as her cue to edge him backward. He complies as if I’m nothing.

I snatch another glass from a passing waitress while making small talk with Dominic and stealing glimpses at Logan, but confusion flares when I detect Logan’s foul mood.
Why would he be affected by me and another man if it was all a lie?

All these emotions are giving me a whiplash. Furthermore, the unadulterated jealousy coursing through me because he’s with another woman is almost physically painful, and I keep drinking to try to drown it out. His usual playboy persona has resurfaced.

While dancing with Dominic, I actually forget about Logan for a second. Dominic pulls me close, and we misstep when we turn our heads to each other. Our lips brush accidentally, and we laugh but break apart when the music abruptly ends and my mother reveals, “Cam will be arriving in ten minutes. Please join us in the dining room.”

The entire party starts to move inside, and I stay behind after my mother signals me to assist her, making sure everyone hurries up.

I’m picking up a glass, shooing the last few people toward the door, when Logan hisses as he passes me, “Kiss him again and I’ll fucking cut off his balls.”

Shocked, I look around to see if he’s speaking to someone else. “Are you talking to me?”

“Is that sarcasm?” he states but doesn’t even spare me a glance and continues on toward the house.

“What do you think?” I retort.

“Are you drunk?” He doesn’t bother to crane his neck.

“I’m getting there,” I lie – because I’ve already switched to water – as he growls and turns the corner.

I relocate to the dining room where Logan settles into his seat, popping an olive into his mouth, and I sense him brooding in silence. The doubts that have been lingering inside me become stronger – that is, until he lavishes all of his attention on his date. Resentment then spears my heart.

Logan

––––––––

J
ames awaits me at the front entrance of his mansion and heaves a redhead into my arms. “Remember the rules; steer clear of Rosalia.” He turns on his heel.

My date tucks her arm into mine, and I escort her inside, going stir crazy from being controlled for the past week. I scour the place, shifting through the living room, toward the kitchen, and then into the garden, knowing this is my one chance to get Rosa alone. After tonight, James will guarantee she and I are always kept apart.

Looking out the window, I scan the group of familiar people, halting my gaze within seconds when I’ve reached her silhouette that’s meant to entice men. She’s undeniably dazzling in a strapless dress, her silky hair swept over one shoulder. After six days of missing Rosa with a force that’s devastating me, need slams into me and I curse my weakness for her.

When I step outside, she watches me persistently, which both thrills and pains me. Although I can’t look her in the eye, I sense the aggravation radiating off her. Especially when she starts to flirt with Dominic.

My date doesn’t waver from my side, but I’m concentrating on Rosa on the dance floor. When Dominic dances with her closely and his lips touch hers for a second, the tight leash I’ve kept on my emotions crack, and I make a detour toward the speakers, unplugging the damn music.

Thankfully, at that moment, Alessa orders everyone to join her in the dining room. So I wait until the last few people travel into the house.

Having lost control of myself, I brush past Rosa before she crosses the threshold and growl, “Kiss him again and I’ll fucking cut off his balls.”

She stares at me in amazement. “Are you talking to me?”

“Is that sarcasm?” I snarl, not looking at her but making my way inside.

“What do you think?” she throws back.

I’m tempted to turn around and shake her, but I can’t blame her. Yet I do worry. She’s quickly getting drunk, and I know that’s my fault; her hurt is palpable in the vast distance looming between us.

“Are you drunk?”

“I’m getting there,” she replies.

I grunt, forced to proceed to the dining room before James catches me. Restlessness fills me while I need to be observant every second.
This is driving me crazy!

I claim my seat, and just to have my hands occupied so I don’t pull my gun on Dominic and the other men gawking down Rosa’s cleavage, I nab an olive and toss it into my mouth. My blood boils, but I fake indifference.

I watch James, who’s quite occupied when Cam and Adriano arrive, and his guards constantly. And every chance I get as the night wears on, I also observe Rosa with only goal; to get her alone somehow. I
will
find a window of opportunity.

“So,” James begins from the head of the table, “Cam, Adriano, can we know what you’re having?”

“We’re having a baby girl,” Adriano answers before he kisses Cam on the lips.

“
Salute
!” I cheer and raise my drink, viewing Rosa over the rim of my glass becoming emotional.

She’s happy for her sister, but I know the truth. She’s sad because she’ll never have children of her own, and I want to hug her and help her with Adam. My body longs for her touch, which I’ve been deprived of for far too long.

Thank God, conversation carries on, and at one point, I realize we’re consuming a Thanksgiving dinner in April. I’m confused as to what kind of party this is as I’ve barely had contact with Adriano or Luca the past week. Keeping it professional, I hide my depressed manner, making James think he has me right where he wants me, and it works – James seems fully engrossed with his guests.

To my utmost annoyance, that guy keeps on flirting with Rosa. I catch her watching me continuously, and one time, I raise a brow, giving her a warning glare.

With a tilt to her head, she mouths, “Fuck you.”

Well, that escalated quickly.

Yet inwardly, I smile. My first moment of happiness in a dreadful week. I’ve missed her banter, her bluntness. This night has proven to me that I won’t stay away any longer. The time to live with regrets is over for me, and coincidentally, I overhear the itinerary. We’re going to another venue after supper where Adriano has planned an over-the-top Christmas and New Year’s Eve party for Cam.

Perhaps that will provide me a chance to get Rosa alone without James’s relentless interference?

As dinner comes to an end, people disband to their cars, and James exits the room for the first time, so I focus on Rosa. When she stands up to step out into the hallway toward the kitchen, I follow directly behind her.

As I round the corner into the hall, I’m accosted by her sweet-smelling rose-scented perfume and grab her arm, spinning her around so fast that her black hair cascades over her bared shoulder. The second my fingers connect with her smooth skin, a flicker of lust arises.

“Don’t touch me!” She jerks free violently, puzzled about my behavior.

I peer around, but no one’s spying on us from the kitchen or foyer, so my words tumble out, “Listen to me. I just want to explain, Rosa!”

“No, I don’t want to hear it,” she shouts and adds on a whisper, “Not here and now. What are you doing to me?”

“You need to know—” Yet I leap backward when footsteps approach from where we just came.

Fallon and Cam observe us, and then Cam points her finger at my chest. “What the hell is going on between you two?”

Fuck!
Currently, I’m going into overdrive because they just crushed my chance with Rosa.

“Goddammit,” I curse. Patience has left my system. “This is between Rosa and me.”

“Don’t raise your voice to my wife,” Adriano interrupts. His imposing presence has everyone frozen in place. “What’s going on?”

“Yes,
what’s going on
?” Cam insists, looking back and forth between Rosa and me.

Adriano calms Cam by winding his arm around her swollen abdomen. “Cam,
calmati
. Why are you mad?”

“Because Rosalia’s infatuated with him!” she retorts, sending me a scowl.

“Oh, my God,” Rosa protests. “I’m not. Please just leave this alone. Nothing is going on between us. It was just a misunderstanding.”

Her reply splinters my soul into pieces. I might lose her forever if I don’t do damage control tonight.

Adriano lifts a brow in silent communication. Although I’m unsure what he means to convey, I get the feeling that he knows about Rosa and me and is maybe telling me to trust him?

Cam asks Adriano, “Did you know?”

His response confirms that he
is
offering help since he kisses Cam’s temple and says, “No, but I did suspect something was up between these two.”

All at once, more people crowd the foyer. I plow both hands through my hair, and Rosa adopts the haughtiest expression she can muster, warning me not to disclose anything.

I pace away, ignoring my date, now that James isn’t around, and hurry to my convertible toward the School of the Art Institute in the Loop. I’m running out of time. This night will be over in a couple of hours.

***

T
he elegant ballroom that’s decorated in nineteen-twenties grandeur is also decked with a Christmas tree, and it looks like Adriano spared no expense. But I can’t enjoy the classical surroundings as Rosa is always with her parents. Once in a while, we lock eyes, but she never holds my gaze long enough for me to relay a silent message, and apprehension clamors inside me as the night progresses. At least she isn’t with that guy.

Around midnight, I’m nursing a scotch at the bar while observing Rosa with her family, becoming more pissed every second she’s in my sight and I have to live with this distance between us, along with the hateful glances she’s casting my way. It’s gutting me while my mind is hazing from the alcohol.

Suddenly, everyone starts a countdown.

“Another one,” I order the bartender, slamming my glass onto the bar counter.

Then red fucking balloons drop from the ceiling and a collective
oh
reverberates around the room.

Adriano ends the night by presenting a box with a sparkling ring to Cam. “Will you marry me?”

She flings herself into his arms. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Cheers erupt, and their family closes in on them with James in the middle of the throng, finally paying no attention to me.

As the music plays in the distance, I catch Rosa’s caramel eyes and hurriedly jerk my chin toward an opera balcony on the second floor. She stares straight at me with a guarded look, wondering whether or not she should take the chance with me – again.

In the space of a few agonizing heartbeats, I wait.

Eventually, she whirls around, ascending the polished mahogany staircase. My heart pounds in my chest as I walk behind her into the empty hallway and she turns to enter one of the gilded balconies. I step through the thick, jade green curtains that are drawn back with gold cords and stop. She pauses an arm’s length from me, and I fold my palm around her neck, angling her head up before pulling her closer.

Her fingers wrap around my hand to shake me off, but I don’t budge. “What’s wrong with you? Why do you suddenly want to talk to me?”

Apparently, I’ll jeopardize everything to be with her again. “I can’t stay away,” I confess to reclaim what’s mine and cradle her face, tracing her dimple with the pad of my thumb before I slice my tongue along her full lower lip and fuse my mouth with hers, taking her violently with pent-up passion.

Groaning, Rosa brackets my waist, meeting my tongue. It’s a kiss that trembles with longing as we sink down to the floor on our knees without drawing our lips apart. Rearing backward, I yank the gold cords of the draperies free so that we’re concealed in privacy before I fervently crash my mouth over hers again. With a great deal of effort, I right my world, setting it back properly on its course.

But she halts me, pushing against my chest. “No! Logan.”

However, I’m pooling in despair, so I rest my hands on her ass, rocking her into my swelling erection. And I give her a possessive squeeze, nuzzling her throat, breathing in her familiar fragrance.

“Logan...” she pants, gripping my hair and yanking my head back.

“Kiss me. I fucking need you, cricket,” I demand, threading my fingers into her satin hair to push her mouth against mine.

Our tongues dance and we become lost in each other. Hurriedly, I bunch up the skirt of her gown and trace my hands up her smooth thighs, toward her behind, and underneath her panties.

“Oh, Logan,” she mutters against my lips.

I deftly unfasten my pants, and Rosa reaches inside my boxers, stroking me twice while I’m already rock hard.

“I miss you so much,” she moans.

In reaction to her gratifying statement, I can only claim her lips again. And then I spin her around, so her palms shoot out onto the railing of the balcony. On my knees, I scoot forward until I’m pressed up behind her, nudging her panties aside just enough to tease her and rubbing her swollen pussy, my lips brushing her cheek as she arches against me.