She starts to bounce on my dick, and the visual of her pink-tipped tits bouncing in front of me is nearly enough to send me over. I grit my teeth and hang onto her hips. She throws her head back, letting out a low cry as her body squeezes me from the inside.
A blinding flash splits through me, and I come apart. Fuck, it feels so good to come inside her. I own her. She is mine.
Alexis leans over and kisses my neck as we catch our breath. The more the cool air settles on my sweat-slicked forehead, the more I realize how intimate this moment is. The more I realize I need to leave.
I guide Alexis over onto the bed and shift to the side. Her fingers land gently on my back.
“You don’t have to leave,” she says.
I do.
Without another word, I throw on my clothes and head out into the hall. As I close the door behind me, I swear I hear her sigh.
Silvano’s thin lips press together to look even thinner. He opens his mouth to say something and then clearly thinks better of it.
“What is it?” I ask, cocking a brow.
He fiddles with the cufflinks of his jacket absently, muttering, “You tend not to like it when I speak my mind.”
In all fairness, I did warn him at the fundraiser to be careful what he said to me. I would snap at Vito like that sometimes too, but he had the benefit of being my closest friend for decades and knew all about my various moods. I suppose one thing Vito had yet to teach his brother was that much as it may anger me to hear his opinion, his job is to provide it.
“Just tell me,” I demand.
Silvano looks at me from his seat across the desk, his features sharp, elfish almost. He has the sort of cunning cut to his cheeks and jaw that Vito did, and the twinkle in his eye makes it seem he always knows something you don’t.
“I just think it all seems a bit much, Gabriel,” he says. “What are you going to do if she fails?”
“Then I will know that I was right to push her out of my life,” I reply. “And that is where she will stay.”
“And if she passes? You’re just going to trust her again?” he asks quizzically. “Gabriel, the way I see it, you either trust this girl and love her, or you don’t. If you give her opportunities to disappoint you on a silver platter, you’re going to end up disappointed.”
“Or I won’t.”
He lets out a small sigh. “Or you won’t.”
I check my watch. It’s late enough in the morning now that Alexis should be awake.
“Okay,” I say. “Bring her in.”
Silvano leaves my office and returns a few minutes later with a sleepy, rumpled-looking Alexis. She is wearing a pair of my sweatpants and a tank top, and her hair is a bird’s nest on top of her head. I suppose that’s my doing.
“Good morning,” Alexis greets, though her expression is distrustful. “Is everything okay?”
Silvano leaves us, and I gesture for Alexis to take a seat across from me. As she does, I sweep the documents on my desk into a folder and tuck them into the top drawer. Alexis watches me, waiting for my answer.
“Everything is fine,” I say. “I have procured the services of a top-of-the-line OB-GYN, and we have an appointment there this afternoon. I can arrange for you to be taken back to your apartment and then picked up directly from there, or I will permit you to stay in the mansion for the day if you’d like.”
She brightens a little. “I’d love to hang around. It looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous day and—”
There is a sharp rap on my door. “Sir, it’s urgent,” Silvano calls through the wood.
“Excuse me,” I say to Alexis. “I will be right back.”
I leave the room before she has the chance to breathe another word, and Silvano and I walk down the hall to Alexis’ old bedroom, where my laptop is sitting open on the desk. On the screen, I can see Alexis sitting in the chair in my office. Her head is tipped back, as though bored, but she’s otherwise still.
“How long are we going to wait?” Silvano asks.
“As long as it takes.” I keep my eyes glued to the screen, waiting for the smallest indication that Alexis is thinking about the documents in my unlocked desk drawer.
If she peeks at them, she will find falsified bank records showing several large transfers to an offshore account. Some of the transfer dates should stand out to her since they correlate with meetings between my organization and the Cartel. There are also a couple of transactions from recent weeks. The first test is whether she opens the drawer. The second is what she does with that information.
Only, Alexis doesn’t open the drawer. The most she does is pick up the round glass paperweight from my desk and start tossing it into the air. At one point she drops it and has to chase it across the room, but then she hurriedly sets it back on the desk and sits down again.
Silvano chuckles. “Unless being a bit of a klutz is a fireable offense, I think she’s proven herself trustworthy.”
“Not yet,” I murmur, still staring at the screen, waiting for the tiniest sign of betrayal lingering under the surface.
Silvano looks at me, face flat. “This is what I mean. I knew this wouldn’t be enough for you.”
“No,” I admit, “but it’s a start.”
The doctor’s office is painted a sterile white color, with minimalist décor and a receptionist who smiles like her life depends on it. Alexis looks nervous when we arrive and holds Harry close even though I can tell she’s straining under his weight.
“Let me take him,” I offer, as a cheery nurse leads us to a private consulting room.
Alexis shakes her head. “No. He smells like sunshine.”
I’m not sure what that means, but it’s apparently comforting.
“It’s just a routine check, Alexis,” I say. “Everything is going to be fine.”
“I know, I know.” She sighs, kissing the top of Harry’s head. “I just get nervous anytime I get a checkup. This could be when I find out there’s something wrong with the baby.”
I stop her, lifting her chin so our eyes meet. “Or, more likely, this will be when the doctor confirms that everything is perfectly fine. Okay?”
She nods. “Okay.”
The consulting room is just as bare and elegant as the rest of the practice. All of the machines and instruments verge on futuristic looking, with white lacquer and chrome finishes.
The nurse settles Alexis on the examination table, and she hands Harry over to me.
“There’s a play area in the waiting room,” the nurse says. “Perhaps you and your son would be more comfortable there?”
I look to Alexis, and she nods.
“We will call you back in before the ultrasound,” the nurse says, and we head out to the play area. If you could call it that. The toys are all made of polished wood, with the emphasis being more on form than function. I sit cross-legged on the rug with Harry and hand him a wooden pyramid, which he has no idea what to do with.
“Me either, buddy,” I say. And then I begin to fly it over his head like an airplane, which has always been our favorite game.
I think about Alexis in the examination room, and a little of her nervousness seeps into my brain. I find myself glancing at the clock between maneuvers, wondering if everything is going okay.