Bow Down(5)

He looked back at me, a small smile on his face. “I’m sure that’s true.” He left then.

I leaned back against the wall, breathing hard, that kiss still fresh in my mind. I was dripping wet and desire rang through my core like a bell. I couldn’t believe I was having this reaction to just a kiss from some stranger, but it was happening. I had to breathe deeply for a couple minutes before I was finally back under control.

I wanted Wyatt Carter, and I needed him. This was going to be more complicated than I realized.

I slipped back into the building and left down the stairs, silently plotting my next move.





3





Wyatt





I was exhausted as I climbed into the back of my car. Ethan got in beside me, his nose buried in his iPhone like always. The driver nodded and headed off.

Those things always took a lot out of me. Some men were able to rub elbows with guys like that all night long, but it drained me to keep pretending to give a fuck about them and their stupid, petty problems. The ultra-rich were so far out of touch with reality that sometimes it sickened me. As the attorney general, I had to put up with that sort of shit, at least for political purposes.

But I hated them. God, at the end of the night, I hated them. When I was tired and the whisky was floating around in the back of my mind, I hated those white-haired privileged bastards and what they were doing to Chicago.

I grew up in the city. I loved the city like no other place in the world, and although my duty was to the entire state, Chicago got the brunt of my attention. I couldn’t help it; the city was my favorite place in the world.

But the rich were developing the fuck out of it, ruining whatever character Chicago used to have. I couldn’t do anything about that, and so I smiled and nodded when they talked about their plans, but I despised them.

I needed more power. Only then could I finally remake the city the way I saw fit.

The only thought that was even keeping me awake was the memory of Louisa. She hadn’t shown back up at the fundraiser, so I had to assume that she left. But there was something about her, something so damn alluring and special that I couldn’t help myself with her. She was dripping wet, I was sure of it, and all I needed was a little more time to get a taste.

Then there was the matter of her business proposition. She hadn’t gotten to it, but there seemed to really be something there. She didn’t seem like she was just making it up to get my attention, which intrigued me.

“Ethan,” I said.

He didn’t look up. “Yes?”

“Find out everything you can about the woman I was with tonight. Her name was Louisa.”

“Okay.” He continued tapping away at his phone.

I looked at him for a second. Ethan was much more than he seemed. At first glance, he was just some nerdy kid in a suit, but I knew he was much, much more than that. I’d been close with Ethan for as long as I could remember, from back at my Harvard days. Now, he was my closest friend and my personal assistant.

The car pulled up outside of the hotel not long later. We climbed out and rode the elevator up to the top floor. I had the penthouse, and Ethan was staying in the guest room.

“Drink?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “Work.”

“You’re always working.”

“What else is there to do?”

“Drink.”

He shrugged and disappeared back into his room.

I sighed, pouring myself a whisky. I loosened my tie and walked out onto the balcony, sipping my drink and looking out over the city.

Her lips came back to me. The way she kissed sent chills down my spine. I so badly wanted to finish what I had started.

It was a very rare woman that made me continually think about her. In fact, I’d never bothered to think about a woman past the time we spent together. I had a million important things that could take up my time, and I didn’t have the space to think about women.

Louisa was different, apparently.

After I finished my drink and went to get anther, there was a knock at the door.

I walked over and checked the peephole. I sighed and opened the door.

“Arturo,” I said.

Arturo Barone smiled at me. “Wyatt.”

He was an older man, rounding in the middle, but he still retained a strength to him. He stepped inside, shaking my hand.

I wasn’t in the mood to meet with the most powerful mafia boss in the city, but he was the most powerful mafia boss in the city. I couldn’t turn him away, especially since he had done me so many favors in the past. I wasn’t in his pockets, not exactly, but we had close ties. I liked him, to the extent that he wasn’t another snobbish rich man trying to control the world, but he was a thug. He could be very, very dangerous, and so I was very careful around him.