Reckless With Their Hearts (20 page)

“Something
like that.” Carina gave a small laugh. “Anyway, their daughter recently got married. Nica. I don’t believe you have ever met her. But she’s going to be over that way later in the week and I have a few things that she needs to sign. I’m flying back to Milan the day after tomorrow or I would handle it myself…”

She bit her lip. “What do you need me to do?”

“Can I overnight everything to you and then you can deliver them to her? That’s all that I need, darling. She can look everything over, get her lawyers to make any corrections she needs and then you can pick them up and overnight them back to me or your grandfather…But if you are too busy I will understand…”

“Couldn’t you overnight them to her directly, Mom?”

“I could but I really would feel better if you could handle this for me instead. She’s a big client, darling. And with her mother being a friend of mine I would like to treat her a little more personally than just dump everything on her in such an impersonally fashion.”

Alexis sighed, for some reason dreading having to do this for her mother. She didn’t really understand her reluctance. Normally she would have jumped to do something like this for her mother. It was no big deal. She used to do it all the time… “Okay. Overnight everything to me. Is it alright if I wait until Saturday? I’m kind of swamped until them.”

“Saturday is perfect, darling. Thanks, Alexis. I really appreciate this, darling.”

“Good. That’s real good, Lexi.”

Sweat was beaded on her upper lip. Her back was screaming in pain, the muscles around her groin protesting. But she wasn’t about to moan and groan to the Dragon Man. Not after the last hour and half of physical therapy that he had just put her through.

“Again.”
He commanded and she just barely refrained from glaring at the hulky man.

Instead she squatted and held it for ten seconds before straightening to a standing. She had to use the bars to help her, but at least she did it. Before he could tell her to do it again she did it once more…

“AH!” She cried out and bit her lip as a spasm gripped her back and she nearly fell forward from the agonizing pain.

Dragon Man caught her easily and helped her stand. “Okay, just breathe. This will pass.
Deep breaths, Lexi.” She closed her eyes and leaned against him as she took several deep breaths. It was nearly a full minute before the spasm released its agonizing hold on her. “I think that we should start doing some massage therapy along with the physical part.” He said once she had stepped back a little. “I’ll talk to Dr. Bradford about it. But I’m going to suggest at least twice a week.”

All she could do was nod as she tried to get herself under control. The spasm was gone, but she was still in pain. Dragon Man patted her on the shoulder. “Good job today, Lexi. You are really working hard.
Progressing beautifully. But you have to stop being so proud. Curse me if you want.” He grinned down at her. “I’m use to verbal abuse after all the physical abuse I put my patients through.”

“No. I don’t want to do that.” She wiped her brow, using the bars to help keep her upright now. “But thanks for the offer.”

He handed her a bottle of water. “I think we will cut out a little early. I will talk to Dr. Bradford today and once I get his orders we will start the massage therapy tomorrow after our session. So be prepared to stay later.”

“How much later?”

“At least an hour.”
He took the half empty bottle of water from her and handed over her crutches. “Seriously though, Lexi. Good job. I have faith that you will be walking on your own in no time.”

She thrilled under his praise and even though she was hurting bad she grinned up at him. “Thanks, Dragon Man.”

His eyes brightened at her name for him and he burst out laughing. “I guess that suits me. It isn’t the worst I’ve ever been called…Certainly one of my new favorites. See you tomorrow.”

Alexis nodded and headed for the double doors. As she neared them one opened and there he was. She sucked in a deep breath at the sight of Jared once more in casual clothes. He wore jeans that must have been custom made for him because they hugged his hips just right. The charcoal gray shirt he wore stretched across his chest and shoulders in a way that made her envy the material as it caressed him.

His dark molasses eyes lightened when he saw her. “Lexis, dolcezza. Am I late?” His hand reached for her and grasped her upper arms. Before she could answer, or protest his touching her, his head lowered and he brushed his lips tenderly across her own.

Her heart stopped at the first contact. And then it was as if she had been struck by an electrical current. Her lips felt as if he had burnt her, but she only wanted to continue to kiss him, deepen it and taste him. Instead she stepped back, scared by how much she wanted this man who was a stranger to her.

“Are you ready, cara?” He murmured.

“Yes.” She mumbled and he held the door open for her to pass. “Thank you.”

“Lexi?” She turned when she heard Dragon Man call her name. He jogged over and completely ignored Jared as he handed her a piece of paper. “Here are a few stretches that you can do at home to help ease some of your spasms. Try a few before bed tonight and when you get up in the morning.”

She took it the paper, folded it and then put it in her purse that was hanging diagonal from her left shoulder to her right side. “Thanks.” She offered him a small smile. “See you tomorrow, Dragon.”

“Remember, at least an hour.” When she nodded he turned and left, obviously to get ready for his next session.

Beside of her Jared was glowering after the physical therapist.
“Dragon?” He muttered when he turned back to her, a deep frown on his face. “Your therapist’s name is Dragon?”

Despite her emotional impasse with this man that she was having with herself, his comment made her snicker. “His name is Chad, actually.” She told him as she continued down the hall toward the elevator. “But I call him Dragon Man. He can be kind of a hard ass…But apparently that’s what I need.”

“Apparently.” He grumbled half under his breath as he followed her and pressed the button to call the elevator. “Feeling up to some lunch?”

She bit her lip. She couldn’t trust herself to be alone with him, and the longer she spent in his company the more of a conflict within herself that she struggled with. Alexis knew that she should turn him down, ask him to take her home and perhaps even tell him she didn’t want to see him again. But just the thought of never seeing him again hurt. It hurt badly.

“Something light?” She murmured, still at war with herself. All she knew was that she wasn’t ready to push him completely away. Not yet. Oh, Gabs! I really need you!

“Your sister is lovely.”

Jared’s head snapped around at her softly spoken words. He was busy driving through LA traffic in his Lexus LFA. His full attention had been on the road ahead of him. But the silence had been just a little tense and she had needed to break it or scream. So she had said the first thing that had popped into her head.

“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce the two of you last night. Zaria was more than a little peeved that I hadn’t. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight when I first approached you and your brother…I had no idea that he was the infamous Vince that you had told me all about.
Although if I hadn’t been so eaten up with jealousy at seeing you with some guy I would have taken a moment to think.” He turned his gaze back to the road and moved forward when the light changed to green.

That he had been jealous before he had realized that she had been with Vince had been evident, but that he was admitting it to her sent a little thrill through her. But she attempted to keep that hidden. “I told you about Vince?”

“Yes.” He shot her a mock scroll as he maneuvered through the lunch time traffic. “Actually I think that you have told me everything about the man to the point that I feel as if I grew up with him as well. My favorite story that you told me about him is the time that he beat the living hell out of some boy for making you cry when you were a little girl. And that is quickly followed by my second favorite story in which he broke his arm getting you out of tree that you climbed at some park.”

Well…Wow! To her Vince was her idea of the greatest guy in the world. She was sure that when she was younger that she had compared all guys that she might have been interested in to her brother. He was her hero and she adored him; faults and all. Vince was her best friend, second only to Gabriella. That she had told Jared all about him spoke volumes to her. She would never have spoken of him to anyone who she felt was undeserving in knowing her beloved brother.

“My brother is an incredibly special person in my life.” She murmured.

“I know that baby.” He reached out and clasped her hand, linking their fingers. “I have a somewhat similar relationship with my brother and sister. Although for a little while Ricco wanted to kill me…” His jaw clenched and he turned left at the next light. He didn’t speak for a long moment, and she saw that his hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white.

Alexis turned her gaze out the window. Ricco, his brother that had recently gotten married to the woman that Jared himself had been engaged to just as recently. She didn’t want to ask about it, even if she was dying for answers. She wasn’t sure that he would give her the truth…

“So, Zaria…Are you older than her, or younger? I couldn’t really discern an age from where I was seated last night.” She asked after a long moment in which the tension became unbearable.

“Zaria is younger by three years. She’s twenty three.” He sighed, sounding a little tired. “Actually we share a birthday. Irish twins, as some would say. February twenty-first.”

“That’s pretty cool.” She noticed that they had reached a block with several restaurants on it. When he pulled to a stop right in front of her favorite place to get a salad she turned to him in surprise. “How..
?!”

His smile was a little sad.
“You. You told me.” He murmured and got out.

That was when she decided that until she talked to Gabriella she would give him the benefit of the doubt. She wanted—desperately needed—to know more about this man. Her heart skipped a beat as he assisted her out of his car and walked with his hand on the small of her back as they entered the vegan restaurant.

She wasn’t a vegan by a long shot, but she was in love with this place and every time she was on the West Coast she stopped in at least once to have a salad here. They were quickly seated and when the waitress offered her a menu she shook her head and told her exactly what she wanted. Jared shrugged and told the girl that he would have the same.

“Thank you for bringing me here.” She murmured, reaching for her water glass.

“I realize that you don’t remember me or our time together, Lexis. But I have always strived to give you what you want.”

--

He was pulling into the driveway in Malibu when she finally asked the question that had been bothering her for a while. “Am I taking you away from work? This is the second day that you have missed because of me.”

“The only thing on my plate right now is the merger that your father is handling for me.
So no,
dolcezza
. You are not keeping me from work.” He put the Lexus in park and turned off the engine before turning to capture both her hands in his own. “In truth I was coerced into working on this particular business deal by my father. If I had had my way I would have been in Connecticut weeks ago.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that. Did that mean that he had been planning on going to Connecticut for her? Why hadn’t he gone sooner? Where had he been for the last six months while she had been fighting to walk again? To come to terms with the fact that she...

No! She wasn’t going to go down that road right now. She had decided to wait for answers. Maybe he would tell her the truth without her having to ask…Without having to grill Gabriella for all the answers to the puzzle that had been her life all those months ago.

“Little did I know that what I needed so desperately was about to fall back into my life.” He leaned forward, using his hold on her hands to pull her toward him. The heat of his breath on her lips made her ache. She found herself leaning into him without his having to coax her. The first brush of his lips against her own made her addicted.

Jared devoured her mouth and she let him, meeting him with her own desperation as she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and tasted him fully. His fingers where in her hair, combing through her short locks and holding her tightly at the angle that he wanted. His free hand skimmed down her neck, causing her to sigh in pleasure.

All too soon he was pulling away. His forehead rested against her own, his breathing ragged. “Have dinner with me tonight?”

“That would be great.” She leaned into him for a moment. “But nowhere to busy…I’m kind of tired.” Not a lie, but the real reason was that she didn’t want to have to keep seeing the looks people sent her as she walked with her crutches. It made her feel like everyone was looking at her, finding her lacking because of the crutches, and wondering what someone like her was doing with the Adonis that was Jared Giordano.

“I could pick up some takeout and we could just relax at my house.” He suggested, dropping a series of kisses along her jaw. “I loved seeing you in my house the other day. It was something I had been dreaming about for a while now.”