Freeing Him: A Hart Brothers Novel, Book 2 (17 page)

Her hands grab my face and she asks, “Can you come again?”

What is she asking me? My thoughts are so jumbled, I can’t decipher her question.

“Come for me, Kolson.” It’s not a question but a demand.

She bends over me and takes my lower lip in her mouth and sucks, hard. For a moment I’m lost in a sea of her scent all mixed up with the smell of her sex. Then she says, breathy, into my mouth, “Come for me. I need to feel your climax and I can’t hold back much longer.” She lifts up slightly, just enough for her hand to slip between us and she tugs on my nipple piercing. “I love you, Kolson. Everything about you. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

My brows knit as it fully registers what she’s admitted to me. “Yeah, I do, kea.” And I crush her lips with mine. I don’t care that my teeth bruise our lips. I don’t care that our lovemaking has just turned rough again. I don’t care that tonight will end and I’ll have to leave her soon. She’s just told me that she understands what I did and she still loves me and she’s handed me the world in the palm of her hand.

The reality of our situation comes full circle and I know I cannot live without her by my side. We have to be together in some fashion. And I’m going to make that happen. I don’t care if I have to kill my father to do it.

“Kolson.” Her voice brings me back. “Come for me.”

When I focus, her mouth is open and she pants, begs for me to move faster.

“Ahh, yes.” And though I don’t come with her, her orgasm sends me into one of my own. She collapses on me, burying her head in my neck, her breath hot against my skin.

“This is one of my favorite times. Right after you come, and you’re all quivery and relaxed. I love it when you wrap yourself around me and warm me, from the inside out. I don’t ever want this feeling, this completeness, to end. You are the most beautiful human being I’ve ever known, Gabriella Martinelli. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

She doesn’t respond, but I feel her trembling so I know she’s crying.

“Don’t. It’s going to be fine,” I tell her.

“Oh, Kolson, I’m frightened for you.”

I chuckle. “And I’m frightened for you! So we’re even.”

“Quit joking about this. When you leave here tonight, I don’t know when I’ll see you again.”

She’s right. I don’t know when I’ll come back.

“I’ll work on that bodyguard thing.”

“Won’t that be impossible with HTS’s security and the way they vet employees?”

“I wouldn’t be an official employee. I’ll talk to Sam and have him get me a uniform.”

We fall asleep and I wake several hours later, knowing I need to get out of here soon. It’s the last thing I want to do, but I loosen her arms and scoot out of her embrace, careful not to disturb her. I scribble a note and quietly leave. Getting out of the building before the early risers is crucial.

It’s still dark when I make it to Brooklyn. I sit in my usual chair and watch the sun rise. New plans need to be made. The ones I’ve begun are worthless. Langston is too volatile. He needs to be stopped and more quickly than I thought. And I’m going to need something much more substantial than what I have to take him apart. My problem is that I’m basically empty-handed. I don’t know what he has on my brothers or me. The last thing I want is for either of them to go to prison. I’m not sure of Kestrel’s involvement in the business or if Langston has any records of my involvement in Danny’s death.

I’m in way over my head, but I have to come up with something quickly before he harms Gabriella. I need to reach out to Case too. Jesus, what a clusterfuck. Gabby should be reading the note I left her any time now, and the only thing I’m sure of is that I want to be with her now more than ever.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Gabriella

My alarm goes off at six thirty, but I’m already awake. The spot next to me is cool and I hate it. I wish he’d have kissed me when he left. Maybe he did and I slept right through it. When I go to stand, my body is so sore in too many places, I can’t begin to count them. I need a hot shower to work out the kinks. Kink. Hmm. Interesting choice of words.

Sitting on the counter is a note.

I had to leave before the sun rose, gorgeous. God, I love you so much it hurts to think of you sometimes.
Watch your back and do not instigate anything with him
. Promise me. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants. I’m going to contact Case. If you trust him, it’s enough for me. I hope by the end of today to have a way for us to contact each other. I’ll work on the bodyguard thing. I’d like to think I’ll see you tonight, but no promises. I don’t want to risk too much and neither should you. BE CAREFUL at all times and know that I love you more than anything in this world. Burn this after you read it. Xoxo

I hug it to my chest for a moment before striking a kitchen match. I hold the burning note over the sink until it’s nothing but ash. Afterward, I rinse it down the drain. Then I go to the penthouse to get ready for work.

When I strip in the bathroom, I’m shocked to see the bruises scattered over my hips and pelvis. He really did mark me last night. My limbs grow heavy as my belly tightens at the thought of what we did. Glancing down, I see how the trail of purple smudges spans from my hipbones to the crease where my leg joins my sex. I flush as my body heats with desire. Thinking of his hands, how he touched me, and what he did with his mouth, makes me languid with need. My breath pushes through my lungs, and I decide I need a shower to relax. But once there, it reminds me of Kolson even more. I’m sore all over, inside and out, so I quickly wash and shampoo, but it does nothing to relieve my ever-expanding ache. Am I going to feel like this all the time? I move my hand between my legs and find that I’m wet, slick for Kolson. I could get myself off, but I’m afraid I’ll only stir things up and make it worse. Water off, I’m out and dressed, ready to go to work to take my mind off things.

Grumpy can’t begin to describe my mood. I snap at everyone, slam drawers, rattle things on Kolson’s desk. I’m even making Jack jumpy.

“Gabby, may I get you another cup of coffee?” he asks.

“No. Coffee can’t solve my problems.”

“I, uh, I think perhaps we should review the contracts HTS has pending, then.”

Jesus, who the hell am I kidding? I can’t function like this.

“Jack. I’m sorry. I didn’t get much sleep last night. The last couple of days have been rough. You know.” My voice cracks.

“You don’t have to explain.”

“No, you’re wrong. I do. My behavior is unacceptable. I’m not some spoiled adolescent and I don’t usually act like this. You should know I’ve taken a leave of absence from my psychiatry practice and I think I may need a few days off here as well. That’s pretty lame seeing as I just began my role as an active member of this team, isn’t it?”

Jack is silent for a minute. “You want to know what I really think?”

Leaning back in my chair, I say, “Yeah. I do.”

“I think you’ve been handed the biggest shit sandwich I’ve ever seen. And to see you here, sitting at Mr. Hart’s desk, trying to run a huge corporation and hold it together, is a fucking miracle in my book. Honestly, if I were you, I’d be on a goddamn island somewhere, drowning my sorrows in a handle of Grey Goose and hoping I’d lose my memory of him in the process. He was so large … so dynamic. You just can’t sit here and not absorb that. And to be in
your
fucking shoes … to have
loved
him. I don’t know how you hold on the way you do.”

He stuffs a handful of tissues in my hand and closes the door behind him as he leaves. This time when I look at all the pictures, I do it with patience, to see what Kolson saw when he took them. I try to understand how he looked at me but there isn’t a single common theme. Happy, serious, comedic, passionate, intense, awe, all there for him to look at each day. I never knew it, either, but I wish I had. I wish I’d taken the time to walk up here, visit with him, share a lunch together, and laugh over something silly. But I didn’t. Not like he did. He brought me lunch and we ate at my tiny kitchen table while he asked me all kinds of questions. I rarely asked him anything. Was I selfish? Or was I so buried in my own issues I just didn’t give a damn about him? 

Something begins to grow inside me. It takes root and I can feel the tendrils reaching out from my soul, strengthening me, strengthening my resolve. This is where it all starts. Langston Hart has fucked with the wrong person. I’m going to find a way to take him down. I don’t care what I have to do but there has to be something I can dig up on Langston that will stop him. Case said the FBI has been trying to bring him down. There has to be a way, and I’m going to figure it out.

The tissues in my hand are crumpled up, but they’re still good enough to dry my face. I toss them in the trash and march to Jack’s office. The look of surprise when I walk in lets me know I must have evolved from that weeping mess into something resembling a Fury.

“Jack,” I begin as I take a seat across from him, “did Kolson ever discuss his father with you?”

“Not a whole lot other than he said Langston was dirty.”

“What do
you
know?”

“Again, not much, Gabby. The man you should be asking is Tom Barrett.”

“Where is Tom’s office?”

“Come on. I’ll take you and make the introductions.”

A few minutes later, we’re all seated in Tom Barrett’s office.

“Dr. Martinelli, Mr. Hart always gave me firm instructions to stay away from Hart and Sons Entertainment.”

“I understand. But Mr. Hart is no longer in charge here. Tom, Langston Hart came into my office yesterday and threatened me. I want to see him in jail. We all know he’s a criminal. I want to find out as much as I can about him. How hard would it be to tap into his computers?”

Tom casts a look at Jack but Jack doesn’t blink.

“Dr. Martinelli, what you’re asking is illegal.”

“Only if we get caught.”

Tom blows out his breath. “This is highly unusual.”

“So is being threatened in my office, Tom. We all know that Langston is dangerous. He all but said he’s paying off the police. They can’t help me. But you can, if you can get us any kind of helpful information that I can feed to the FBI.”

“I don’t know.”

“Think about it and let me know. And by the way, Kolson’s life could depend on this.”

I walk back to my office and Jack follows.

“That didn’t go too well,” I say.

“Don’t be so quick on that. Tom isn’t one of those guys who jumps when you say jump. He’s IT. Very analytical. You know the type.”

“Actually, I don’t know much about IT, but I am analytical. I’m the scientist type.”

Jack nods. “Well don’t be offended, but there are a lot of similarities. These guys are geeky. They like to look at things from different perspectives.”

“How many days should I give him before I seek help elsewhere?”

“A week. That’s how these guys work.”

“But I thought Tom was security.”

“He is. But he started in IT. Those guys have an attention for detail that’s beyond anything. He has a superb team behind him but he knows what he’s doing.”

“I don’t doubt that at all. If Kolson put him in that position, I know he’s the best.”

“Gabby, are you okay?” Jack asks.

“Yeah. Thank you for what you said earlier. It meant a lot. You don’t really know me …”

“Mr. Hart wasn’t very talkative about his personal life, but he talked a lot about
you.
From the start, Gabby. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was head over heels for you. He wasn’t the kind of man to allow himself to get distracted easily. From the very first, you were his sole distraction. I would know. I was with him every day.”

I bite down on my lip as I smile.

“There’s something else you should know. He avoided women when it came to business. And believe me when I tell you, they threw themselves at him. Unless it was a multi-million-dollar contract, he’d hand it over to me to deal with, if the client was a female. They usually became aggressive with him and he didn’t like that.”

It’s easy for me to believe that.

“That was one rule he never broke. And you can smile when I tell you this.”

I do. And then I laugh. It’s funny hearing this from Jack because he is an unassuming fellow. Not unattractive, but not someone you would take notice of, either.

“Jack, do you have a family?”

“A wife and two kids. A son who is nine and a five-year-old daughter.”

“I hope Kolson compensates you well.”

Jack laughs. “I do okay.”

“You want a raise?”

He laughs.

“Jack. I’m serious. You’re doing my job and yours. I think you’re overdue. Now I’m not sure what’s fair here and I haven’t even looked at the compensation schedules, but I’m pretty sure you’re a contract employee with stock or some kind of profit-sharing in the company. It’s obvious I need you. I don’t want you running off to a competitor, so I’ll make it worth your while to stay. I think it’s what Kolson would’ve wanted too. So tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.”