Thrust: Bad Boy Racing Romance (Fastlane Series Book 2) (19 page)

He thrust with ferocity again, like his life depended on it.

Just ahead of his climax, our breathing and grunting found a synchronicity, a primitive rhythm. Soon I felt his entire body flex above me, hardening like stone. With a final vicious thrust, he plumbed me to new depths and let loose with a visceral cry.

My eyes fluttered closed and my limbs went limp.

Marco flooded inside of me, heated jets of his passion coating my walls. He pulsed within me, over and over, each time the rapture draining more from him. At last, when he could go no longer, he leaned forward, leaving a trail of tender kisses across my upper back before collapsing next to me.

DANI

We arrived back in Monaco, refreshed from our short stay in Italy.

Marco and I spent the next day relaxing in between bouts of
not relaxing
in his bedroom. After dinner that evening, Marco slid the key into the lock of his penthouse front door, opening it immediately after. I walked inside, he closed the door and passed by me, heading in the direction of his bedroom.

“Dani, come with me.”

I turned and followed. Entering the bedroom, he disappeared from sight. I walked in a couple of seconds later but didn’t see him anywhere.

“Marco?”

There wasn’t an immediate response, but it wasn’t long before he reappeared from his walk-in closet.

“It’s time,” he began, holding a pen in one hand and the signature page in the other. “Are you ready?”

I looked at him in disbelief. Even though the back and forth with him over the agreement hadn’t gone on for very long, in some ways it seemed like a lifetime.

“Yes,” I replied, struggling to restrain a smile. “Of course.”

Marco laid the signature page flat on a desk in his bedroom and hunched over it. Then, with two quick swipes of his pen, he signed it. Marco clicked his pen closed, dropped it on the desk and turned towards me, extending the signature page in my direction. I swallowed, reached for it, and grabbed it, pinching it between my thumb and index finger. However, when I attempted to pull it away, Marco resisted. Confused, I looked at him.

“I feel like I can trust you, Dani,” he began, his gaze locked on me. “You’ve proved as much to me.”

With that, he let go of the paper.

Before I could respond, he added, “Don’t make me regret doing it.”

Frowning, I took the page from him.

“Why would you say something like that?”

Marco shrugged.

“I just don’t want there to be any secrets between us, Dani. That’s worth far more than the amount of money that agreement represents.”

I nodded.

“Well, thank you very much for believing in me. For what it’s worth, I feel the same way towards you. I hope you believe me.”

Without speaking, Marco smiled, leaned in and kissed me once on the cheek. He pulled away slowly. His lack of a response puzzled me.

Was the kiss an agreement or… a warning?

Uncertain, I reached for my purse, swinging it around in front of my body and opening it. I folded the signature page and tucked it inside. Afterward, I looked at Marco once again and he raised his eyebrows. A smile curled to one corner of his mouth.

“This calls for a toast, Dani. Be right back.”

Still in disbelief, I swiveled my head and watched him walk out of the bedroom. Now alone with my feelings for the first time since arriving in Monte Carlo a couple of days earlier, a flood of thoughts ran through my mind. Most of all, how would this change my relationship with him?

I had no idea.

I reached down and squeezed the purse. Once I handed the signature page over to Bernard and Leopold, that would be it. My struggles would finally be behind me. I’d grown so used to fighting for everything in life, I felt a sudden strange sense of hollowness at the idea I might win, at last. It was hard to explain. I exhaled, partly out of relief and partly out of uncertainty.

Just then, I looked away from the doorway and noticed the strong box on top of Marco’s dresser. Readjusting my purse strap over my shoulder, I walked towards it. I stopped in front of the box, seeing the set of keys on top of it. In the distance, I heard the sound of Marco in the kitchen.

Without thinking about it, I reached for the keys and held them in my hand. They looked every bit as old as the box itself. I ran the tip of my finger along one of them, tracing the angles and grooves of one of the keys. With my other hand, I grabbed hold of one of the locks at random and looked to see if I could figure out which key went with it.

“Hmm…” I muttered, looking back and forth between them.

Without realizing it, I quickly became absorbed and lost track of time, not to mention, my surroundings. A minute went by, maybe more.

“Dani?”

I gasped, clutching my chest and snapping my head in Marco’s direction.

“Oh! Oh my God, Marco, you scared the hell out of me.”

Expressionless, he stood there with his hands on his hips.

“What are you doing?”

I frowned, shrugging at the same time.

“N-Nothing,” I began, holding the keys up for him to see. “I was just looking at them. Really.”

Marco’s expression darkened.

“Give them to me,” he snarled, stepping in my direction.

“Okay,” I said, sensing his growing anger. “I’m sorry I-I didn't mean anything. I was just looking.”

Marco snatched the keys from my hand. Pointing towards the box, he raised his voice, “Dani, did you open it?”

I backed away from him, shaking my head.

“No, no. I swear. I was just waiting for you to come back. That’s all. I promise I didn’t look. Look, the locks are still closed.”

Marco grunted, turning away from me and walking back in the direction of the strong box. He slammed the keys down on top of them, startling me and causing me to jump. He stood there for several seconds, one hand on top of the box and the other on the dresser. I didn’t know if the next word out of my mouth would just upset him more, so I kept quiet until at last, he let out a deep exhale.

“Sorry about that, Dani,” he began, turning in place and looking at me. “I’ve been avoiding opening it and looking inside. I’m not even sure why. I need to just get it over with.”

Feeling relieved, I shook my head.

“It’s okay, I’m not upset.”

Marco nodded at me, his expression remained solemn.

“Marco, if I’d known that you would be so upset, I never would’ve gone anywhere near the strong box. You believe me don't you?”

He remained silent for a few seconds.

“I know, Dani,” he said, his tone turning soft. “You, um, you don’t have to explain yourself.”

He finished speaking and without any hesitation, snapped his fingers.

“Shit!” he exclaimed. “I completely forgot why I came in here. I was going to get us a drink to celebrate. In between, I decided I was a bit hungry. Do you want anything to eat?”

I shook my head.

“No, I’m fine and anyway I…”

DANI

Marco interrupted me.

“You know something, Dani” he said, waving his hand with a dismissive flash. “This… It’s gone on for too long. It’s time for me to just deal with it.”

Before I could respond, Marco turned around and snatched the keys from the top of the strong box. Working over the next thirty seconds or so, he managed to get one of the four locks open. Although he hadn’t said so, I started to feel like I shouldn’t be in the room once he looked inside. Without a word, I began to walk in the direction of the bedroom door.

“Marco,” I said, picking up the pace of my steps. “I’ll go wait in the living room and give you your privacy.”

Marco stopped what he was doing and turned to look at me.

“No, Dani,” he began, shaking his head. “This will only take a minute. Just have a seat on the bed. It’s fine, really, don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?” I replied, pointing towards the hallway. “I don’t mind.”

He nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.”

I smiled at him in return. I sat down on the mattress, just at the foot of his bed. Once I had, Marco turned his attention in the direction of the box once again. With every thirty seconds that went by, another lock opened. Marco placed each of them on top of the dresser with a thud.

While I watched him work, my cell phone started to ring. Looking down, I slid my hand inside of my purse and grabbed it. I pulled it out and noticed it was my mother calling.

I glanced towards Marco.

“Do you mind if I take this call in here?”

“No,” Marco muttered, without turning around to face me. “Go ahead.”

After the fourth ring, I answered, assuming she was calling to give me an update about my father’s condition.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Dani,” my mother blurted out, sounding like she was struggling for breath. “Where are you?”

“I-I’m on a business trip… out of the country, why? Is it Dad? Has something happened?”

She wasted no time in responding.

“Your father had a massive heart attack about two hours ago.”

I shot to my feet, gasping and covering my mouth.

“Oh my God!” I replied, feeling my own heart begin to pound at the same time. “What’s going on? Is he…”

“No,” she said, interrupting me. “He’s still alive, but he's in intensive care. At this point, there’s really no telling what could happen. It could be hours or days until he…”

My mother’s voice cracked. I heard the sound of her choking back a sob. My eyes began to water, I felt the inevitability of tears.

“Until?” I said, trying to get her to finish. “Until what? Are you saying he’s going to die?”

I noticed Marco turn around and face me.

My mother went silent on the other end of the phone.

“Mom? Did you hear me? What have the doctors said? Tell me!”

My mother let loose with a shaky exhale.

“It doesn’t look good, Dani. They don’t know how much time he has left. But the way they’ve explained it, he… his heart is giving out and that’s all there is to it.”

With those words, I felt the first rivulets of heat streak down my cheeks. I swiped at them with the back of my free hand, struggling to keep my composure. By then, Marco stood a couple of feet away from me, listening.

“How soon can you get here, Dani?” my mother asked.

I swallowed hard, drying my eyes as best I could.

“I-I don’t know. I’ll get on the first flight I can, though. I promise.”

Hearing my emotion, my mother struggled to keep her own in check.

“Okay,” she began, fighting through her difficulty. “As soon as you know when you’re getting here, tell me.”

“I will, I promise.” I replied, sniffling. “I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

Seconds later, I hung up, still clutching my cell phone in my hand. Numb at the thought of seeing my father in that state, I stared at the ground without blinking, almost as if I was in a trance. Marco stepped towards me, reaching for my upper arm.

“Hey,” he said, sliding his palm up and down my arm with soothing strokes. “You okay?”