Book 2: What Happens Here - Chicago (What Happens Here Series)

Chapter 70 - Valentina

A week later, Valentina lay sweaty, naked and completely exhausted as Tomas, the only man that she'd ever allowed into her bed in Italy, lay beside of her. Valentina had met Tomas Giordano when they were teenagers, and although she'd allowed him to "pleasure" her body in many ways during that time, she did not want him to be her first. Valentina had wanted her first time to be with someone that had more experience, and when she'd voiced this to Tomas, he had been hurt, but that had not stopped him from showing her just how skilled he had been with the use of his fingers and his tongue. She had allowed him access to her body, but only when she had wanted it, because she'd felt that Tomas may have been developing feelings for her, which she had not shared.

It wasn't until she had broken things off with her therapist, after he had ruined things by expressing his "love" for her, that she'd finally allowed Tomas to become her lover. And he had not disappointed her. In fact, Tomas had been one of the best lovers that she'd ever had, which was saying a lot, because Valentina had most definitely had her fair share of lovers over the years.

Opening her eyes when she felt Tomas shift, right before he'd placed a kiss to her bare shoulder, she glanced over at him as he'd said, "Ti va di unirti a me sotto la doccia?" Hearing Tomas ask if she'd like to join him in the shower, caused a smile to play at the corners of Valentina's lips as she watched him climb out of bed, every honed and sculptured muscle on display, right before he'd extended his hand to her as if in invitation. Allowing her eyes to roam over his naked body, as she soaked in every defined inch of him, Valentina's eyes landed and stayed on his rigid length that was currently hardening with each passing second. Raising her gaze to meet his, Valentina gestured at his growing erection as she said, "Si, ma solo se lo porti con te." Gray eyes twinkled, right before a slow smile spread across Tomas's gorgeous face, as he pulled Valentina to her feet, and sweeping her up into his arms, he carried her into the shower, where he'd taken her roughly up against the stoned shower wall.... just the way that she liked it.

A few hours later, Valentina sat alone relaxing on a chaise lounge chair as she stared into the crystal blue waters of her private pool. Her thoughts were of Ethan, or more to the point, Jasmine Ellis. A week ago, Valentina had made a call to the manager of the Indian restaurant that Ethan frequented and had given the bastarda one simple task. She had instructed Michael, or Mike, as he'd preferred to be called, to add a little "something special" to Jasmine's meal, and knowing that Ethan always ordered the same meal from the restaurant every week, she'd known which day he'd place the order. Shaking her head at just how boring Ethan could be at times, only confirmed just how much Ethan needed her in his life. She would break him out of those mundane habits of his and would add some very much needed excitement to his life. Lip curling at the thought of Jasmine, Valentina said, "Cosa ci vede in quella noiosa stronza."

Shaking her head, as she wondered what Ethan could see in a boring bitch like Jasmine Ellis, a second later, she'd flinched when she felt the sharp pain of her nails as they cut into her palms, as they broke the skin. Grabbing one of the folded towels from the table next to her, she patted at the red blood that rose to the surface of her palms. Her anger filled her once again as she thought of how Mike had fucked up her plans to finally get rid of Jasmine Ellis. When she'd called Mike, her instructions had been clear... "Get rid of her." But clearly, he did not have the backbone for the task, because while he had indeed added something to Jasmine's meal, it had not been enough to inflict the type of damage that she'd requested. And when she'd gotten a call from Roger Martin informing her of Jasmine's little trip to the ospedale, Valentina had been genuinely surprised at the creative method that Mike had chosen, but she'd become enraged when she'd learned that Jasmine had only developed a severe case of food poisoning. After ending her call with Roger Martin, Valentina had called Mike and demanded an explanation. Mike had informed her that he'd done as she'd asked, but he had drawn the line at doing something that he could "go to jail over." Valentina had informed him that not upsetting her would be in his best interests, and she'd even sent him several reminders of just what she'd do if he did so in the future.

Michael Phillips was a married man, with four children, and while his outward appearance was one of a "devoted family man", Valentina had seen the side of him that he'd tried to keep hidden. Michael Phillips was a man that liked sex, and not just your everyday, run of the mill, vanilla type of sex that he'd had with his wife Liza, over the course of their 17-year marriage, but the kind of sex that would cause the people who thought they knew him to view him quite differently, if they were to find out. Mike was a sex addict, who was into hard core BDSM. And while Valentina also enjoyed a little kink every now and then to spice things up in her own bedroom, the types of things that Mike was into had caused even her own brows to raise in surprise. And once Mike had seen the images that Roger Martin had managed to gather for her, Mike's attitude had completely changed, which had caused Valentina to smile.

Valentina reached for her cell, and scrolling down to the number that she was searching for, she typed a quick text.... "Do you have an update on Jasmine Ellis?"