Chapter 5
Nico
When I woke up the next morning, Kennedy was lying beside me. I sat up with a jerk, forgetting myself for a few moments.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up beside a woman. It was usually—fuck and goodbye. But last night was different. We had sex and after that, we spent some time talking.
I realized that I liked watching Kennedy talk. She was lively and humorous and every time she laughed, it made something stir inside me. Eventually, she just fell asleep on the couch.
I’d considered leaving her there and going to sleep in my bed. When I was about to leave the room, I’d changed my mind. I carried her to my bedroom and laid her down on the bed. She slept peacefully beside me. She was still sleeping now and I realized I’d been staring.
I slipped out of my bed as quietly as possible. I didn’t want to wake her.
Under any other situation, this would have been a problem for me. For starters, she had spent the night at my place. I had a strict rule regarding sleeping with women. They needed to go as soon as the act was done.
Secondly, I had carried her to my bed. When I could have very easily left her sleeping on the couch.
Thirdly, I was now finding myself in no rush to get rid of her.
I put on a shirt and jeans and watched her some more as she slept. Her fiery red hair framed her face like a halo. It was spread out around her on the pillow. Her breasts heaved softly as she breathed. She was wearing her sexy lingerie, but that didn’t mean I’d forgotten what her breasts looked like underneath them.
She was mostly covered by the blanket, but I pictured her naked again. My cock moved. I was hungry for her already.
I turned from her with a jerk. I needed to focus. There was work to be done.
I’d already pissed off my dad the previous night by not getting the job done like he asked. Now, if I didn’t go to the permits office downtown and acquire the permit we needed; he would be in a complete rage.
This was not the kind of work I wanted to do. Greasing palms and surpassing red-tape was not the job I wanted, but my dad didn’t trust anyone else to do it. Always family; he repeated over and over again.
So, shit work like this fell in my lap.
The more construction our company undertook, the more money we could launder through the costs. Technically, that was our business. The construction of buildings itself was not as profitable as our real business was.
Once I was dressed, I ran a hand through my hair and walked into my bathroom. I brushed, washed my face and shaved—all of which I did while staring at the mirror. I was assessing myself. Trying to figure out if something looked different about me.
Because I definitely felt different. I didn’t know what it was, but I’d been feeling it since the moment I met Kennedy the previous night. It was like she’d cast a spell on me or something.
The sex was good. No, the sex was great. She had a beautifully feminine body and the way she moved when I was inside her, fucking blew my mind.
But I’d had great sex before. I’d slept with sexy women before. What was it about Kennedy that set her apart?
I dabbed a towel to my face to wipe off the shaving cream. What was going on with me?
I couldn’t bother with a relationship right now. We had sex once, which was fine, but if we had sex again, on another night; then it would become a thing. A sort of habit which would be difficult to break.
I was not in the space or the situation to start something serious at this moment. I needed to get my life sorted, figure this shit out with my dad. Having a woman in my life to think about would just end up complicating matters.
I walked back to the bedroom and saw Kennedy sleeping on her side. I needed to leave, like right now! But I didn’t want to wake her up either. She looked so peaceful, so angelic while she slept. She was like a dangerous warrior princess who could snap off your head when she was awake—but slept like an adorable baby.
I smiled and then quickly stifled that smile. I needed to stop having these thoughts about her.
I rummaged about for a notepad and a pen. When I found them, I quickly wrote her a note and placed it on her jacket. It was lying on the floor beside her. I’d deposited all her clothes there the night before, after collecting them from the living room.
I gave Kennedy one last look. I had to fight the gnawing urge to reach for her and touch her…kiss the tip of her nose.
No!
I needed to get a grip. I needed to treat last night like every other night with an attractive woman. Just because we had good sex didn’t mean it had to lead to something.
I walked away from her. It wasn’t just good sex, I’d felt a connection too.
I ignored that thought. I had a task to perform. My father’s orders. After that, I would have to figure out how to change my life around. Hopefully try and change the course of the family business.
I left my apartment without locking it and made my way to the car. I couldn’t help thinking about what Kennedy would look like when she woke up.
***
I arrived at the permits office, and when I walked in I was relieved to see Danny at the counter. I’d gotten to know Danny over the past few years. He was a cheerful enough easy-going fella who was sympathetic to the Rossi family.
Either that or he was aware of what my father was capable of if he didn’t comply. One day, he might just get a call in the middle of the night from his brother to say their home had been raided. Or he might hear his cousin had lost a leg. Some Italian looking fellas had come and beaten them up.
Whatever the reason for Danny’s friendliness was, he knew that whatever I was asking for, he could just easily give it to me and avoid trouble.
“Nico, my man!” Danny greeted me. There were a couple of people waiting to speak with him, but he ignored the queue and waved at me. I walked right up to the counter. I was pretty sure I was getting cursed at by the people waiting.
“Hey, man, how are you holding up?” I asked, pulling out the paper from my back pocket.
“The Missus has the flu, nothing serious…but it gives me an excuse to stay out late. You know? I still don’t see a ring on your finger,” Danny chatted away cheerily as I handed him the paper.
There was a wad of cash hidden underneath the paper which I handed him. Danny took it and I saw his hand move quickly under his desk. He wasn’t even going to count it. Whatever the Rossi family was giving him for the job was going to be enough.
“No ring. Not for the foreseeable future!” I remarked and Danny laughed, in his usual boisterous way.
The sheet of paper consisted of a request for a planning permit. We had a new construction site under the radar. The quicker we could get started on it, the more money we could launder through the books. That was the plan.
Usually, getting a permit for a construction like this would take weeks. Maybe even months. But Danny knew better than that.
“Lucky man. Keep it simple for as long as you can. Trust me, Nico. I used to look like you before I got married,” Danny laughed. He was stamping the piece of paper with much gusto. Not even looking as he signed it.
I laughed too. I couldn’t imagine Danny younger, or looking even remotely like me, but I indulged him.
“What did you do? Consume your wife in that belly of yours?” I asked, when he handed me the permit back.
“I’m not going to lie to you, man. Happiness added the extra pounds. What can I say? I wasn’t happy before I met Ethel. And now, I can’t stop eating,” he remarked.
I was still laughing as I left the office. Danny had a strange sense of humor, but at least he’d taken my mind off Kennedy.
I jumped back in my car. The job was done. It was easy as pie. Now I had to go back and face my father.