Casanova In Training (27 page)

“Jaydee, wait,” he said.

“No, I have to get going. Again, I’m sorry to have disturbed you. Good luck on your quals.”

Before the first traitorous tear could escape, she shut the door, blocking out his image. She walked calmly to her bike, past the convertible Mustang parked beside Gio’s car, and left. When she reached her destination, the sun had begun to set in the sky. She waited for the gate to open then drove through to where a man waited. After talking to him, she signed some papers and climbed into the back of a waiting taxi. Two hours later, she walked with Lexy through the airport, one black leather bag in hand.

Chapter Seventeen

Gio stared at the door after it shut. A small sniffle yanked his attention from the sound of Jaydee’s motorcycle engine. Michelle’s eyes had large, dark circles underneath them.

“Michelle, what are you doing here?” he asked, brushing some of her hair behind one ear.

“I missed you,” she said softly. She rested her head against his bare chest.

“I’ve missed you too, but what are you doing here? Did you come for Mike’s memorial?”

Her arms gripped him and he sighed when she burst into tears. With care, he held her close while she cried. Even as he stood there staring out of the window he realised he had to go after Jaydee. Had he known she was coming over he wouldn’t have slept, for he was just too tired to have kept her from leaving.

“Let me get you something to eat, Michelle.”

Gently he prised her away from him and led the way to the kitchen. He gave her a Coke from the fridge and detoured to his room to grab a shirt and button the fly on his jeans. He paused and stared at his reflection.

Damn, I look rough.

Remaining barefoot, he made his way back to where his guest waited. As much as he loved Michelle, right now he really just wanted her to vanish so that he could go after Jaydee.

He pulled out some chicken salad and set some crackers down before her, then grabbed some flatware and joined her. “Help yourself.”

They ate in silence for a bit then he leant back in his chair and sighed. “What’s going on, Michelle?”

“Do I need an invitation to come see you? I never did before, when Mike was alive.”

Guilt ate at him. “No, of course you don’t. You’re always welcome here. You know that. But it doesn’t tell me why you’ve come.”

“Who was she?” Michelle asked instead of answering his question.

It didn’t escape his notice that there was a slight bite to her tone. He cocked an eyebrow and stared at her. She met his gaze head-on, defiance blazing in her eyes. A sinking feeling grew in his gut. She couldn’t…

“A pilot. Now answer me.”

Her lower lip quivered and he steeled himself against his instinctive reaction towards her. “Daddy is just so angry. I couldn’t take it and had to get away.”

“So you came here.”

“Yes, just until they finish painting my new place. I want you to come see it.”

“Of course,” he replied automatically. “And Mike’s stuff?”

“I’ve rented a storage locker and once my things are out of it I’ll have his moved in. That way I can go through them at my own pace and they won’t be here as a constant reminder.” She took a drink. “I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get my shit together, Giovanni. It’s just that I still feel so empty without him. I mean, he was my twin.”

“I know, and he was my best friend. It will take some time to get past this tragedy.”

“And the girl?”

He shook his head. “Let it go, Michelle.”

“She’s something special to you then, isn’t she.” It wasn’t a question, not that he’d have answered anyway. “I know Mike and Daddy always wanted us to get together. And so did I.” She lifted her head and pierced him with her green eyes. “I admit I was even a bit jealous when I got here and saw that woman in your house, especially with you only wearing your jeans. Unbuttoned, at that.”

He opened his mouth but she shook her head. “Let me finish before I lose my nerve. I’m sure I gave off some vibe that told her you were mine and I’m sorry but all I could see was myself losing you like I lost Mike. I wasn’t ready to face that. Still not ready. But I saw the way you stared after her once she’d left. In all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen that look in your eyes. So despite what
I
want—hoped for—I know you will only ever see me as a younger sister.”

Her expression appeared pained and hurt. However, she met his gaze square on.

“I never meant to lead you on, Michelle. Ever.”

She gave him a small smile. “I know. It was my own fanciful thinking. I just don’t want to lose you.”

“You never will, honey. We’re family.” He reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

She released a heavy sigh and gave him a grin. One with a bit of sorrow in it, but a grin nonetheless. “Now, tell me about the woman who was here.”

He had to admire Michelle. She wasn’t a person who whined or threw tantrums. She had told him up front how she felt and accepted he didn’t feel the same. Well, not in the same vein as she would have liked.

“That was Jaydee Amos, a fellow pilot.”

“Uh-huh.”

He lifted his gaze to find her giving him a look identical to the one Mike used to level at him when he disagreed with whatever Gio was saying. Her green eyes twinkled as she laced her fingers upon the tabletop and asked him another question.

“What would you have told Mike about her?”

* * * *

Gio drove towards Jaydee’s apartment building, his mind full of the stuff he’d told Michelle before she cried off to crash. There were no more excuses, or anything like that. He loved Jaydee—that was the bottom line.

He parked his car and dashed inside the brick building, heading for the stairs, unwilling to wait for the elevator to return to the ground floor. As he stepped on to the second floor, he breathed a bit easier.

She would hear him out. He wouldn’t leave until she did. On the way over, he’d tried reaching her by phone only to be sent immediately to her voicemail. Her floor was silent.

Night had fallen and he didn’t expect to see her other neighbours. At her door, he knocked. No answer. He knocked again. Still nothing.

Biting back a frustrated groan, he reached for the knob and turned. He breathed a sigh of relief as it spun easily under his touch.

“Jaydee,” he called out, not wanting to scare her. “I’m coming in, sweets. We need to talk.”

He stepped through into the dark and a tingle went up his spine. Something felt wrong. He didn’t like it. Sidestepping to the left, he flipped on the light switch. A warm soft glow enveloped the room but did nothing to stop the chills from converging on him.

The apartment was empty.

He blinked a few times, hoping,
praying,
it was nothing but his mind playing a dirty and devious trick on him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be so. The reality of the situation smacked him head on.

Jaydee was gone.

And not in the ’I’ll catch her at work tomorrow’ gone sense. There was no trace of her. No items lingering around that indicated she would be back. Ever. Nothing remained aside from bare floors and walls. No furniture, either.

He hurried back behind the opaque blocks to where her bed had been. Also gone. The place was so sterile it looked like it had been scrubbed.

“Shit!”

Back in her open kitchen, he leaned against the countertop and tried to find his lost breath. Lexy’s words streamed like a mantra in his mind.

By the end of her time here, she’ll look in that box that contains her feelings for you, sigh, and delete it. Then she’ll move on.

“The hell she will.”

He stormed to the exit, shut off the lights, and closed the door behind him. Trying hard not to think of the click as being something so final, he paused before the elevator. Ivan lived here.

Back on the first floor, he checked mailboxes and got the number to Dr Vinokourov’s apartment. Three A. Gio paced in the elevator as the machine took him up to the third floor. He tried her number one more time. Same result, her voicemail.

“Jaydee, call me when you get this message. We need to talk.” He hesitated. “Please.”

Shoving his phone back into his pocket, he rapped sharply on Ivan’s door. No sound could be heard so he pounded again, louder this time.

“Yes?” Ivan asked as he swung the door open.

Gio stared at the man and anger churned in his gut. Ivan wasn’t your typical geeky lab rat. No, his luck wasn’t that good. He couldn’t be faced with a skinny, pale guy who barely looked strong enough to carry his books. Of course not. Ivan stood before him in nothing but a pair of sweats, and it wasn’t hard to tell that the man was in very good shape.

“Where is she?” he bit off.

Pale blue eyes narrowed at him and Ivan crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the pilot. What do you want?”

“You know damn well what I want. Don’t fuck with me, Doc. I can guarantee you won’t like the end result.” He clenched his hands into fists so he wouldn’t touch the man. “Now answer my goddamn question!”

Ivan barely blinked at the blatant threat. “Where’s who?” he asked, leaning indolently against the doorframe.

His control slipped another few notches. “Jaydee. Her apartment is empty.”

“I know that. I supervised the moving of her things while she was at work. I’m not in a place to tell you where she is or is not.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Tell me,” he growled.

“No. I do hope that, wherever she is, she’s considering my marriage proposal.”

Ivan’s sentence was issued with that lingering Russian accent and the condescending manner of a person who hated spending any of his time around those he felt were inferior to him. And Gio knew that Ivan considered him to be in that pool of substandard people.

His restraint snapped and he lunged at the man, grabbing him and throwing him against the wall just inside the apartment.

“You stay the fuck away from her!” he rumbled in a low voice. They were damn near nose to nose, but Gio was a bit taller and he used it to his advantage.

“Going to hit me like you did her father?”

The taunt was palpable, and Gio didn’t know how he felt that Jaydee had shared that incident with Ivan. He snarled and shoved away from the man. Damn it all—Ivan didn’t even look remotely rattled.

“I was thinking of beating you into a pile of pulp. How about that?”

“I think it’s amusing how you turn to violence at the least bit of provocation. Is that
all
you know how to do?”

“I’m not in the mood, man. Putting my fist into your face is really seeming like a wonderful idea and each second you waste of my fucking time it becomes a better and better one. So why don’t you cut the shit, and tell me where the
fuck
Jaydee is!”

“I thought she came to see you today. Didn’t she tell you?”

“Obviously not or I wouldn’t be here indulging you in this stupid-ass game you want to play.”

“Hmm. Why should I tell you?”

“Aside from the fact I’ll kick your ass if you don’t?”

Ivan smirked. “You wouldn’t. Because I still wouldn’t tell you where she was and then you’d not only be out of luck but you’d also have to tell her why you did that, if you ever got to see or talk to her again. I’m cooking so I don’t have time to waste. I’ll ask you again, why should I tell you?”

Gio stared at this man who had, at one time, slept with Jaydee. Who still had a relationship with her, granted a professional one. However, the uncertainty was there. Especially given how Lexy had said she would just move on. He knew what he had to do. With a sigh, he raked a hand over his hair and stared directly into those pale blue eyes.

“Because I love her. And she loves me.”

* * * *

Jaydee sat on her rattan sofa combination on the chaise, a glass of iced water beside her and a book on physics turned over beside her. The backyard of her property aglow with a mixture of the setting sun and the solar lights that were starting to come on.

The wind had picked up a decided chill but she was glad—she loved the differences in temperatures here. She wriggled her toes and sighed heavily as she leant back and closed her eyes.

She’d been home for two weeks now and, despite everything, it hadn’t been as easy to just pick up and go on as it had been in the past. It hadn’t been as smooth a transition as she’d expected to forget about the enigmatic Giovanni Cassano.

As was her wont, she’d put her memories of him in a compartment and basically tossed it. However, he hadn’t stayed gone. He’d taken to popping up at night and disturbing her dreams.

Night wasn’t the only time he reappeared. There had been plenty of instances at the lab when she’d just spaced out and stared off as she relived some of their moments together. And it wasn’t just the sex she experienced again, but all the occasions she’d spent in his company—at the base, talking at a picnic table about the flight. Working out with him. Hanging out at Kerrigan’s. How amazing it had been to be in the room with him as he’d cooked breakfast for her.

Damn it! She missed him. A hell of a lot. She dropped a hand to cover her belly and sighed. What were the chances? What was the probability that at this very moment she carried his child?

She worried her lower lip as she ran over percentages in her head. The time in the bomber would have been perfect for her to get pregnant, since they’d not used protection. In the medicine cabinet of her bathroom, she had a pregnancy test. In fact, it had been there for a week and still sat unopened.

A cold wind whipped up around her, making her shiver. She reached for the folded quilt and covered her lower body. As the sun lowered in the sky, she dozed.

She could see him clear as day. Those intense hazel eyes burning into her as he held her, kissed her, stripped her and…

Jaydee whimpered and shifted against the cushion. Her body felt aflame and she needed relief. She bit down on her bottom lip to snap herself from the haze of desire which hovered around her, waiting, tempting, and drawing her in.