Page 22 of Nobody's Girl

Grant shrugged. “I like pain.”

Tamara traced the tip over his heart. She loved the power that she had over him, to know she could end his life so easily. “I’ve been thinking. I might open my own club. Specialist, exclusive. We could make a fortune, but better still, we could enjoy our particular peccadillos.”

Grant smiled. “Go on.”

She met his gaze. “There are always plenty of people who go missing every year in this city. Most of them are never found.”

Grant’s eyes were alive with arousal. “Those who would go willingly?”

Tamara half-smiled. “And some who we choose. They wouldn’t be willing, but I find that even more exciting, yes?”

“Did you have anyone in particular in mind?”

“Not yet. We’ll see who pisses me off the most.” She stopped talking to give a little cry and came with a long groan. Grant grunted, and she felt his semen mingle with Penn Black’s inside her. She climbed off of him and went to lay on the bed. “Let’s talk some more about this, then I will let you fuck me again.”

Grant obeyed without a word, laying down next to her. “I’m in. I’ll put up half the investment.”

“Good. I need to talk to my father to release some of my trust fund but that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Daddy’s girl.” Grant’s smile faded when she saw the anger in her face. “Hey, I was kidding.”

Tamara relented. “Fine. Now, before your dick gets limp, let’s play around. Business talk can wait for now.”

Sofia’s eyes were wide as the car drove up to the Zacca family’s private plane. Ivo grinned at her. “I know, it’s a luxury and we should think about the planet but, just this one time, can’t a guy try and impress his girlfriend?”

Sofia laughed. “The only thing you have to do to impress me is be you, Ivo Zacca. And be naked,” she added, laughing. Ivo pressed his lips to hers.

“Mom flew into Paris yesterday and so she offered it to us. I thought, seeing as this is our first trip away together, it wouldn’t hurt. I’ll have a thousand trees planted to make up for it.”

Sofia frowned. “Your mom flew into Paris…and we’re leaving?”

Ivo hesitated before nodding. “She has some business stuff to do. I’m sure she’ll still be around when we get back. She wants to spend some time with Clemence before the baby is born.”

Sofia’s heard thudded uncomfortably. She hadn’t called the other woman, not out of any other reason than she hadn’t had time, but she still felt a little jealous that Ivo’s mother would hang out with her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend. Don’t be a weasel, she told herself. It’s good that everyone gets along. She had liked Adria very much the brief time they had met but she knew she still had to build an actual relationship with her.

And this was all so new, Sofia felt as if her life was on a steep incline and she couldn’t stop the forward motion of it.

She felt Ivo stroke her air. “You okay? Worried about the interview?”

She nodded. “A little. The only experience I’ve had with the press is through my step-father. He was always in the society pages back home. God,” she shook her head in wonder, “I sometimes wonder how on Earth Mom and I thought we fit into that world.”

Ivo smiled. “I know what you mean.”

She looked at him askance. “Yeah, because having two superstar parents must have really made it hard to get used to the press attention.”

Ivo laughed loudly. “I see your point…but in my case, I meant as an adult. As soon as I could, I got away from that world – as much as I love Mom and Dad – because I hated the intrusion, the microscopic inspection of our lives. The lies they told.” He sighed, his eyes faraway. “When I started to make my name in the art world, I avoided most of the press. I didn’t want people to think I got my success by reason of my parents. I even changed my surname for a while.”

“You did? To what?”

He looked at her with a straight face. “Amory.”

For a second she fell for it, but then she mock-scowled at him. “Funny boy.”

He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. “No, just De Lucca. That was my grandmother’s maiden name.”

“And she wasn’t famous?”