Love Me (The Elites of Cheshire shore #2)

34. Rome

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

rome

A nts under a magnifying glass have more breathing room than I currently have right now. Luca leans back in his chair, crossing his legs at the ankle on top of his desk. His deep, hearty laugh sounds like nails on a chalkboard and only makes me grit my teeth harder.

“What?” He gives me an incredulous look when he finally hangs up the phone.

“Honestly?” I scoff, shaking my head.

He throws his phone haphazardously on the table, letting it land like a paperweight on the scattered documents. “Can you fucking bang Flo already because I am getting sick of your moods. And quite frankly, you are in serious need of an afterglow.”

I keep my eyes on my screen. “I’m not banging Flo,” I mutter.

“That’s fucking obvious.” He snorts. “The question is, why the fuck not? You’ve loved her for forever, bro. And don’t think you were fooling anyone when you came strolling out of the shower, dick and all.”

I rub the throbbing ache in my temple, resenting for the second time today that my dad has now taken over my office and I’m stuck with Luca at the Founding Five office.

“I didn’t realize I could stick my dick on when I wanted. Here I was thinking it was a packaged deal.”

“I mean, all you needed was a bow around it?—”

“Luca,” I shout, cutting him off. Today is already a struggle without having my brother poking a deep dive into my love life. “Worry about your own dick and keep your thoughts away from mine.” I push my glasses farther up my nose, trying to concentrate on the email in front of me.

“See what I mean, a bit of afterglow would totally benefit you, bro. I can already see the wrinkles forming.”

I close my laptop with a bang.

“She loves you, you know.”

In an instant my anger dissolves. It’s more complicated than that , I want to say. She’s the woman you dream about, the kind you treasure and protect, who makes you realize no matter how shit life is, it’s better because she’s in it.

But instead, I say, “She’s like family, Luca, and if I fuck it up and break her heart, I break all of us.” I start to pack my stuff up; I’m already running late to pick Flo up from work and my travel today is even farther because of the new office.

Luca rests his arm on my shoulder. “Rome, if there is anyone on this earth who I trust with Flo’s heart, it’s you. I know you will treasure her, its why I can’t wait for you two to finally realize that you’re the end game kind of love.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Mad at my brother and my best friend for finding love? No, that would make me a real selfish bastard. Fuck no, I’m not mad.”

I bow my head, as all the muscles in my body turn to liquid. There was a part of me that was holding myself back, worrying what Luca would think, Flo and my relationship affects him just as much, and I would never want to do anything to jeopardize it. With Luca’s approval secured, I just need Flo to see that I’m not going to hurt her.

I tuck my hands farther into my pockets as I slump against the elevator. It’s not all that surprising my dad swooped in and tried to take over. Getting him to step back from the business as much as he has was challenging enough. But this move, coming in when shit is hitting the fan and playing the sorely missed leader. It’s straight from the Eduardo Venuccio playbook. The big question, though, is how the fuck he found out about all the issues we’ve been having? Short of making everyone swear a blood oath to not breathe a word of this to anyone, least of all him, all precautions were taken to keep the missing paperwork under wraps. Any information shared on it was on a need-to-know basis to prevent a leak of any kind.

Unless…no, he wouldn’t do that.

“Hey, you okay? You went somewhere else.” Flo’s warm hand on my arm, dragging me from the tile on the ground I’m focusing on. Flo twines our fingers together. The action makes my heart thump hard in my chest. I love the way she casually touches me now, like it’s completely normal to hold my hand and that she knows I want her to touch me. I fucking crave it.

“Yeah, shit, sorry.” I peel my eyes up to meet hers and scrub a hand down my face. “It’s just harder now that Dad’s put himself back in charge.”

“I can’t imagine how frustrating that must be. You, Luca, and Dante have worked so hard to bring this new project to life, and it’s really annoying that he can’t see that.”

She always knows the right thing to say. Instead of telling me to get over it, she’s actually letting me sit in my sad party, because sometimes it’s good to feel these feelings instead of building a wall around it.

The elevator doors open and we walk to our apartment. I leave my sullen mood behind me. This is my time with Flo now, and I don’t want to wreck it by being upset by something that is now tomorrow’s problem.

“Want one?” She produces one of her lollipops from the fridge. Of course I do, I now bloody love the things.

“Yeah, I’m now officially addicted to them, thanks to you,” I reply, giving her a smile. I pop the wheat stick in my mouth, giving it a few licks when the doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it.” I cross the small entryway to the door and accept the waiting parcel. “Oh look,” I announce, gazing directly at Flo. “It’s for you.” My mood suddenly lifts. I don’t bother to check the sender’s address as I recall my little late-night shopping spree. The awaiting gift is hopefully going to be fun for both her and me.

“Ohhh, I hope it’s the books I ordered.” She does an excited little dance and holds her hand out for the parcel.

It’s definitely not.

Flo is already ripping it open as I continue to casually suck on my lollipop, waiting to see her reaction.

“Now I know what—” I cut myself off when I see Flo pull out two books.

“Yes.” She fist-pumps the air, holding the books up like they’re trophies. Her eyes scan the room, looking for the perfect spot to place the bookshelf she is no doubt already planning.

Wait what? Where the fuck is my parcel. It clearly says delivered .

“Are you going to get that?” Flo asks as I munch furiously on my lollipop.

“Huh?” I ask.

“The door, there is someone at the door. Since you were so enthusiastic about answering it.”

This time I hear the light wrap on the door.

“Oh shit, yeah.” I open the door. “Henley?”

“Unless the invisibility cloak I put on before I came down here is working, yeah, it’s me.”

I snort. “I would get your money back, bro, the thing doesn’t work.”

“Ahh, damn, it even said it was legit on the box.” He shakes his head. “Cloak side, I, ahh, came to talk to you.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah. We’re currently have some staffing issues, and the delays aren’t helping. It’s just a bit of a cluster dump at the moment. How’s the new office treating you?”

I sigh. News really does travel fast. “Pray tell, where did you hear this wonderful piece of news?” I mutter, running my tongue along my teeth. If my dad has gone ahead and made more calls behind my back, there is going to be a serious issue.

Henley pauses for a second, and replies, “Luca.”

Flo snorts. “Why am I not surprised by the gossip queen.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the reason Luca loves gossip,” Henley states.

“In all fairness, Flo and Luca are just as bad as each other when it comes to juicy gossip,” I reply, loving the way her nostrils flare.

“Hey,” I laugh, “I only speak the truth.”

Henley clears his throat, I almost forgot he was there. “I’m, ahh, just calling to tell you that I didn’t tell your old man anything. I don’t know how he found out. As far as Croft Racing is concerned, there are no hard feelings. Just make sure the next tanker arrives, because I won’t be able to keep the team racing if it doesn’t.”

“Thanks, Hen. Don’t worry, the only people who know the route of the next shipment is you, Luca, and me. I’m hoping this new route will either weed out whether it’s someone from inside Ven Industries or if you’ve just got some shit luck.”

“You think it could be an inside job?” Flo whispers.

I shrug. The thought has crossed my mind.

“Are you implying Brian Deeter has something to do with the missing cargo?” A hard edge forms in Henley’s tone.

“Well, I mean, no. Maybe. It is all on his port, and it’s all conveniently happening while Ven Industries is trying to acquire them.”

“And it’s all my stuff, which is being impacted, another Founding Five Group company. The dots seem to be connecting themselves, bro,” Henley mutters.

Flo clears her throat and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve got to admit, I agree with Henley.”

I blow out the breath I’d been holding. Listening to my best friend and my girl piece together the jiggered puzzle that has been set in my head. “I do too.” I just don’t know how to prove it, especially when we need Brian to sell us his port.

“We’ve got to sort this out, man. Oh hey, the mail room mixed us up.” He hands me a parcel. “This is for Flo.”

“Oooo, it’s my lucky day.” Her head perks up at the mention of her name. “Two parcels in one day.” She takes the parcel from my hand. “But I don’t remember ordering this. Oh shit, I think this is from Nanai.”

“Aw, is Nanai sending you tea again?” Henley asks. Not likely.

“No.” Flo scoffs, it’s more of a saucy variety. “Here let’s open it together so we can all laugh.” She turns on her heel, expecting us to follow. I cannot allow that.

“Well, thanks for bringing that by.” I smash my hand into Henley’s chest and push him out of the doorway.

“What the fuc—” The rest of his sentence is cut off when I slam the door in his face.

Flo stops, her brows furrowed. “Why did you do that?”

“To save us all if this is a repeat of the other present Nanai sent. It’s probably better just for our eyes only.” My pulse pounds at the base of my neck.

Flo rips the present box open, moves the tissue paper aside, and her jaw falls open.

“What is it?” I ask, taking a small step toward her.

“It—” She gasps.

“It must be really interesting to get this kind of reaction from you.”

“It’s—” She continues opening and closing her mouth, gasping for air.

“Priceless?” I put in. Because her face right now really is.

She pulls the sparkly butt plug out of the box. “What the fuck does she think I’m going to do with this?”

I smother my laugh with my hand. “Use it, lollipop. I think they’re intended to be used.”

“I mean, I love a good butt plug just as much as the next person, but she should know by now that this size is way too small for me.”

“What the fuck?” My gut burns at the thought of any man who introduced her to any single thing that is in that box of pleasures.

She looks up at me, a triumphant expression on her beautiful, smug face. “Ohhh, Rome. You made that way too easy. And if you think a box of fun things to play with is going to have me crawling into your bed, you really need to up your game.”

“Damn.” I sigh.

She pulls the vibrator out of the box. “But hey, this is just the thing I needed tonight with all the sexual frustration I’m experiencing. Pity no one is willing to take care of that for me.” I swear my knees nearly buckle with the restraint needed to not seal my lips over that smart mouth. She’s killing me.

The little minx tucks the box under her arm and leaves me standing there.

“How did you know it was me?” I call to her retreating figure.

“Oh, amore. Wouldn’t you like to know.” The apples of her cheeks pull tight. “It was the lovely little pierced dildo that gave you away. It reminds me of a certain someone’s…” Her musical laughter trails after her as she slams the door and my chances behind her.

I’m really going to have to up my game.