Love Me (The Elites of Cheshire shore #2)

25. Rome

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

rome

“ T hat’s the third shipment that’s been delayed.” I stare at the very politely worded email from Deeter Group followed by another one from Brian himself inviting me to present our proposal next week. I gnash my teeth together. It fits in nicely with the countless delayed shipments we have had these past few weeks. The high I’d been riding on from my weekend with Flo has officially come crashing down. The mind-blowing sauna sex now seems like it was an insignificant move on a chessboard. As once again we’re being sent on a wild goose chase.

Standing over my shoulder, Luca reads my emails. “At least we have a day now to present the proposal.”

I’m glad my brother is choosing to look at the glass-half-full side of this situation, I’m still stuck on the we’ve misplaced your shipment. How the fuck does one misplace a one-thousand-foot boat? And not only do it once but three times?

Ven Industries acquiring the port is huge, not only for our business portfolio, but also for the Founding Five, and if we don’t acquire it because Brian Deeter is having fun pulling strings, we’re going to have a serious issue.

“Who was in charge of monitoring the shipment?”

“Let me check.” Luca leaves my side.

I stop him before he leaves my office. “Whoever it is, have them here in the next five minutes. We need to have a little chat.”

Luca nods, leaving me to stew. I unlock my phone and quickly send off a message.

Rome

We need to set up this double date

Flo

Has there been another hiccup?

Rome

Yes

Five minutes later, Luca has the sorry asshole sitting in front of me. This situation doesn’t bode well for my rocky relationship with Deeter Group, nor does it look good to our clients. At this point, it’s looking a little too convenient, and we need to find out how this happened before we create more problems than solutions. My brother and I easily slip into him being good cop and me the asshole to weed out exactly how this could happen again, even when we put new structures in place to avoid it after last time. I don’t usually wear the bad guy mask, but that all changes as far as Ven Industries is concerned. Both my brothers and I have no problem being the asshole when shit hits the fan. And right now, shit has really hit the fan.

“We don’t know what’s happening, Mr. Venuccio.” Nathan’s throat bobs as he wipes his hands up and down his thighs. My gaze narrows as I watch him do the nervous action inadvertently for the fifth time in not so many minutes. I notice my brother focuses on the movement as well. His eyes flick up to meet mine as we share a silent conversation. Is Nathan lying to our faces—or is he just nervous that he’s sitting in the boss’s office being questioned?

Luca folds his arms across his chest. Nathan isn’t usually the nervous type. But today, you can smell the sweat pouring off his body. I roll my lips together and Luca gives a slight nod of his head. If you weren’t concentrating on him, you would’ve missed it. Nathan knows more, just how much, we need to find out.

“That’s the second ship carrying oil to be delayed, and you have no clue why?” Luca presses.

Nathan stares out the window behind me, not able to meet my eyes as he continues. “No, we’ve just received notification of the delay and the paperwork was stamped incorrectly.”

Paperwork not being stamped correctly might seem like a minor inconvenience, but it causes a significant loss to our client, who is growing increasingly frustrated. “Funny you mentioned that.” I lean back in my chair and cross my arms over my chest, feigning that this conversation is a lot more lighthearted than it actually is. Nathan’s body slumps in relief—he’s read my answer wrong. “That’s not the first time I’ve heard this. In fact, it seems this is becoming a semi-regular occurrence.” I don’t believe for one second it is a coincidence.

“We’ll handle it from here.” Luca dismisses Nathan, who gets up from his chair and practically runs out the door. The moment it clicks shut, Luca looks at me. “There is something going on here.”

I grit my teeth. “My thoughts exactly.” My legs widen in my chair as I sit on the edge of my seat. I rub my temple, already feeling the impending headache forming.

Luca pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Why the fuck do I have a calendar invite for Friday night, date night?”

“Oh good. She’s already done it.”

“Ahh shit. You guys were serious?” Luca sighs. As if we would be joking. Brian entertaining other offers is a serious issue, especially when we don’t know the other players involved, bar his godson.

“I would never joke about pimping you out brother.”

“Firstly, I see myself more as a high-paid escort?—”

“And our mom is so proud,” I cut him off.

“Secondly, how?”

“Savannah found Nora’s number and I had Flo message her. With our presentation date now set, we need to pick Nora’s brain a bit about the other pool of people. How are you coming along with that?”

“So far, not well.”

I stand and cross to where my brother is seated and pat his chest. “Wear the gray tie, it really makes your eyes pop.”

“Now comes the new problem,” Luca grumbles.

“What?” I reply, not sure I can deal with another issue right now.

Luca leans back in his chair, resting his elbow on the back and manspreading his legs. “Who’s going to tell Henley his shipment of fuel isn’t coming in on time again.”

Fucking great . I need a coffee, preferably with alcohol in it, but I’ll settle for just the strong beans for now. “That would be me,” I reply. Sometimes being the boss sucks ass. And I get to tell my best friend once again the great news.

Pulling my phone out, I send a message to Henley to come to my office. He needs to know what’s going on, before word gets out and we’re responsible for Croft Racing team not having their fuel delivered for the second time, and right before one of the biggest races on the calendar.

I let the hot water from the four superjets massage my tense muscles and wash away the shitty day. My conversation with Henley runs through my head.

“Ven Industries is about to hit a PR crisis.”

Henley scoffs. “It’s a bit more than a PR crisis. Croft Racing is missing three months’ worth of fuel. And we’re in the middle of race season—that makes it now a huge problem.”

“And if we can’t figure out how and why this is happening, it will be a heck of a lot more.” Luca sits forward in his chair, loosely clasping his hands between his spread thighs.

Henley is beyond pissed after I told him about his shipment, not that I blame him. I slam my fist against the tiled wall. Ven Industries is going to turn into a laughingstock. So far, my brothers and I have done everything we can to keep a lid on this, but that silence won’t last long. If we don’t get this fixed, it not only puts our deal with Deeter Group in jeopardy, but it’s also going to affect the Founding Five and Croft Racing. It’s bad for business. It’s even worse for the company image, and it’s all happening on my watch. I slam my fist another time, my muscles still not tired. Two hours of sparring with Luca did nothing to take the edge off.

I hear a door slam from somewhere in my apartment. Flo must be home. My heart flutters in my chest. When I came home to find the apartment empty, I was disappointed, more than I care to admit. After my shitty day, I was excited by the idea of coming home to her. I hurry to finish my shower, washing the soap off my body before turning the water off. I grab the towel hanging from the rack and dry myself before securing it around my waist.

“Flo?” I call, opening the bathroom door.

“Yeah,” her faint reply trickles down the hall. The thickness in my throat starts to relax at the sound of her voice, the obvious reaction to her is a little shocking. My cock starts to swell remembering her coming all over my cock, right before there was a soft knock on the door, and Lottie’s voice told us we’d stayed past our session and she couldn’t keep Sof and Zander away for much longer.

Maybe I’m making a mistake entering into a fake relationship with her. She’s still completely off limits and having her under the same roof is like a matador waving a red flag in front of the bull. But for the first time in my life, I want to be selfish. My stupid dick managed to work something out with my heart, which was still recovering from the fear of almost losing her or my brothers if I screw up our relationship. I don’t want my family to have to choose between me and her. Florence isn’t just a woman; she is the woman. There is a lot more at stake than just our hearts. Now I get to torment myself with her sleeping in the next room for days on end.

I step into a pair of clean pants and a new long-sleeve top and pad into the living room. I cannot let my attraction to her ruin our relationship. My lips part when I see what’s waiting for me. Flo is at the stove, stirring something. Her tight yoga pants hug her curves, showing off her tight ass that I just want to sink my teeth into. Her long pastel purple hair is thrown up in one of her signature messy buns that is so perfected you would think she spends time getting it just right instead of just wrapping her hair around her wrist and through an elastic. I just want to bend her over my counter, tear her pants down, and drive myself into her. I tear my eyes away from her before I do just that.

“Heya, roomie, I hope you’re hungry.” She returns my grin. Something in my heart clenches as my stomach bottoms out. Fuck, Flo is stunning, but when she smiles, she manages to suck all the air from the room. I need to build a thicker wall between us before I do something stupid like bend her over the kitchen island and fuse my lips to hers permanently.