Ella's Easter Eggs (BBW & Billionaire) Page 7

I stayed quiet as the huge jet took off into the beautiful blue California sky, rising above the ocean before making the turn back towards New York. It was going to be an interesting trip. That much was guaranteed.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  LANDING

  By the time we arrived in New York, it was already getting dark. My phone lit up with tons of text messages, which I checked on the way to the hotel. Some of them were congratulatory texts from friends in acting class, who were just getting the word about my big job.

  And six of them were from Carlo, who expressed a ridiculous amount of excitement over my visit. We made plans to get dinner that evening. The rest of my trip would be completely filled up with shoots and PR opportunities for the line.

  When I finally got to my luxurious, well-appointed hotel room, I was thrilled to see that a box full of various outfits and lingerie from the collection had already arrived.

  "Perfect timing!" I jumped in the air and did a fist pump.

  There was no one who appreciated good lingerie more than Carlo. I slid into a beautiful, sleek black set with matching pantyhose and a garter belt.

  "He is gonna lose his damn mind," I said to my reflection in the mirror, as I threw a little black dress over the ensemble and stepped into some heels.

  Then I did some simple makeup and let my hair down, using the curler to create soft, beachy waves. Completing the look with my favorite necklace, a heavy gold locket that was an heirloom from my grandmother, I was really happy with the look I'd created.

  My phone went off, indicating that Mr. Carlo Catelli was downstairs in his car. Carlo always had a "car" -- he refused to take taxis and the subway. And he didn't even really walk that much, which was odd for someone like him, who was so fit.

  When I walked through the lobby door, and out into the crisp New York evening, I heard a loud wolf whistle. It could be no one else.

  "YO! Ella!"

  Standing outside of the black town car was Carlo Catelli, looking even more dark, brooding, and handsome than ever. My heart started to beat wildly. Something about him was so unhinged and dangerous, yet still so gentle.

  "Carlo!" I cried dramatically, rushing into his arms.

  "I missed you," he whispered into my ear. "And I'm so proud of you. My girl, becoming this famous model and shit."

  He pulled me close to him and just held me for a few minutes, as the cars waited behind us. When a taxi driver honked impatiently, it took just one foreboding glance from Carlo to make him stop. People had a tendency to listen to him.

  When he was fully satisfied by our embrace, reaching down to brush my ass quickly, he opened the door and let me hop in before him.

  "Where are we going?" I asked, as the car sped away from the hotel.

  "Where else?!" Carlo joked. "Little It'ly."

  He always said it that way. It'ly instead of Italy. And I have no idea why, but something about it was so adorable to me.

  "Wonderful."

  "They say Little It'ly's dyin', you know, that all the Italians have moved elsewhere. But not the way I see it," he said, pulling me in for a quick kiss. "They still got one good restaurant."

  "Then, by all means, we should go to that one restaurant."

  "Indeed," Carlo grinned. "That's my lady."

  It was funny how Carlo had made it explicitly clear that we were not exclusive, yet he was always a complete gentleman whenever we went out, totally focused on me. It was a strange relationship, not unlike an old-fashioned love affair -- pure passion but no real brains to our operation.

  As always, the restaurant he had selected was excellent. My pasta was ridiculously delectable, and the wine flowed freely. All of the staff seemed to know Carlo, which didn't surprise me. Everyone always seemed to know Carlo. After enjoying our tiramisu, it was time for the next portion of our evening.

  "So..." Carlo whispered, taking my hand and leaning closer to me in the intimate booth. "We have several options for this evening. We can..." He caressed my hand softly. "...go out and hit up a few clubs, get some bottle service...Or..."

  I cut him off. "I'm already more interested in 'or,' Carlo," I said in a low whisper.

  It was so much fun being with him. Every moment was like a Fellini film.

  "Then I guess we'll have to go back to my place," he said, quickly signaling the waiter to bring our check.

  "Sounds like an excellent plan," I nodded.

  Our bill was ready in a flash, and before I knew it we were back in Carlo's car, locked in a passionate embrace in the backseat.

  "Oh my God, those pantyhose," Carlo groaned.

  "You're a real leg man, aren't you?" I giggled.

  "You know it," he smiled, gazing at me with those liquid chocolate brown eyes. "You're so gorgeous, I'm not at all surprised you got this big campaign. It was only a matter of time."

  "Thanks. It's gonna make my life a million times easier, so I'm happy for that."

  His hand creeped up my thigh. "Before you know it, you'll forget all about me, and move onto some bigshot."

  "Carlo! I could never!"

  It was all part of our game -- the illusion that our trysts were part of something bigger. Like a non-stop vacation.

  "Eh, someday you'll get sick of me. But we've had a lot of fun, haven't we?"

  "Why are you being so morbid?" I had to ask. "What's going on?"

  "Oh, nothing." Carlo was uncharacteristically quiet as he stroked my back. "Just got some crazy stuff going on at work."

  "Well, then I'll have to make you forget about that, huh?"

  "That's right, baby," he grinned. And the old Carlo was back.

  We barely made it into his apartment with our clothes on. As various items continued to fall to the floor, I found my body engaged, but my mind still wandering. What was going on with me? An evening with Carlo Catelli was usually all I needed to forget the world.

  But it turned out that something serious was brewing for him, too. As he pulled me in for a sweet kiss, he shocked me with a distinctly un-Carlo like question.

  "Babe, do you mind if we just cuddle for a bit?"

  "Uh...what?"

  "Just cuddle. You can wrap those gorgeous legs around me, and we can fall asleep...I want you to hold me."

  "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my sex-crazed, horndog friend named Carlo?" I asked jokingly.

  "I just...that work stuff is still bothering me."

  I'd never seen his chocolate brown eyes look more vulnerable, and I pulled him in for a big hug.

  "Of course, baby. Of course. Let's just set an alarm so I get up in time for work tomorrow."

  Carlo set the alarm, and I settled into bed with him, removing my dress and putting my locket on the nightstand so it wouldn't scratch him. He spooned me from behind, and we drifted off to sleep together.

  As we started to doze, I made an observation.

  "You sure are pretty stressed out for someone in construction."

  Then, in an equally exhausted voice, he replied, "Baby, you and I both know that I don't work in construction."

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

  The loud alarm buzzed throughout Carlo's bedroom, waking me up with a start. I had no time to go back to the hotel, so I decided to proceed directly to the shoot. But I'd have to shower first. Gingerly, I exited Carlo's bed. As always, he was sleeping like a baby.

  Full of the most amazing bath products ever, Carlo's shower was a treasure trove. The guy took great care of himself. I hopped in and adjusted the settings to my liking, enjoying the feeling of the hot water splashing all over my body.

  A couple of minutes later, I heard the bathroom door open. Through the shower door, I could see Carlo Catelli strolling into the bathroom, buck naked. He opened the shower door and groaned loudly as soon as he saw me in all my glory.

  "Luscious! DAMN! You look even more luscious than normal! Do you need some help soaping up in there?"

  I could see his impressive cock, which was growing bigger by the
second.

  "You can join me if you want, but I gotta leave in like two minutes."

  He stepped into the shower, grabbing the bottle of shower gel and starting to spread it all over my body.

  "Not used to you being such a busy business gal," he smiled, rubbing my breasts with the soap. "It's kind of hot."

  "Yup, too bad someone just wanted to cuddle last night," I smiled back, letting the suds wash over me. "I'm a hot commodity now."

  "You've always been a hot commodity," Carlo groaned, leaning over for a quick kiss.

  "Enough! I have to leave!"

  "Alright, I'm just gonna stay in here and jerk off for a bit."

  "I love your honesty," I replied, shaking my head.

  Carlo was definitely ridiculous, but he was my kind of ridiculous.

  I grabbed a towel and ran back into his bedroom, quickly changing into my outfit from the previous evening. Two minutes later, I was hopping onto the subway, on the way to my shoot. New York is truly amazing.

  It thrilled me to arrive twenty minutes early to the shoot. Debra and Dash, along with a whole host of other people, were already there.

  "Gotta love not having to deal with the L.A. traffic!" I smiled at both of them.

  "You look well," Dash noted. "Interesting choice of wardrobe, though. Did you have a late night?"

  Debra, obviously sensing the tension, discretely rolled her eyes. I chose not to honor his question with a response, hopping into the makeup chair instead.

  The shoot with Patrick Duvall was everything I could have asked for, and more. I could see why he was such a renowned photographer. He made me feel beautiful, and the pictures reflected it. The hours passed by like minutes, and before I knew it, we were already finished with the shoot.

  "Alright," Debra said. "That's a wrap! See everyone at the party in a bit."

  "The party?" I was clueless.

  "Didn't you look at your itinerary?" Dash asked.

  "Uh, no, I guess not," I replied, trying not to sound too testy.

  "Oh, we have a little launch party, that's all," Debra said. "You're already wearing the right dress, and you're all made up, so you don't have to worry about anything. We have a car coming now."

  "Oh...cool." I supposed it would have been professional of me to look at the itinerary, but I'd been distracted by Mr. Carlo Catelli.

  The party turned out to be as amazing as the shoot. Less formal than our impromptu Easter launch, this party was more about making personal connections. As the evening progressed, and the wine continued to flow, I was pleased to notice that Dash seemed to be warming up to me again. I cornered him as he was walking away from the bar.

  "Dash, I'm really, really sorry about the other day."

  "Oh, it's fine, Ella," he said, starting to sound defensive for a second. "I don't want to mess up your thing or whatever."

  "Mess up my what?" I sighed. "I have to come clean with you. I did something stupid that morning, and now I'm afraid you won't like me anymore."

  Dash cocked his head. "As if I could ever not like you, Ella. Don't be absurd."

  "It's not absurd!" I exclaimed. "You got a text message, and instead of ignoring it like a sane person, I grabbed your phone and took a peek and it was from..."

  "Ronna Jensen!" he laughed, tossing his head back. "That's what this is all about?"

  I almost started to cry. "Yeah, and I'm so sorry I did that. Why are you laughing? Because now I seem as crazy as she is?"

  "No, Ella! God, no. It's just funny that she manages to screw things up, even when she's barely trying."

  "And then I heard that Ronna's kinda been stalking you, and I'm so, so sorry. Could we pretend this whole thing never happened?" I asked. "And you could forgive me?"

  "Of course," Dash sighed, pulling me in for a big bear hug and holding on for what seemed like forever.

  "I just...I got overwhelmed because you're so sexy to me, and I just, I freaked out."

  "I could say the same," he said, pulling back for a second and looking down at me.

  Although we were in a room full of people, it didn't seem like it. It felt like we were the only two humans on the planet.

  "So...make me feel better," I pleaded. "Tell me some crazy stories about Ronna."

  "Oh, there are so many," he laughed, pulling me in closer. "Where to begin...well, for one, she's the person who started the rumor about me trash talking plus-sized women."

  "Whoa...what?" I had to admit I was shocked.

  "Yeah, the girl I was seeing right after her was plus-sized, and I guess it just made her freak out or whatever."

  "Wow! A whole new dimension of Dash De Maio! You have a history of dating plus-sized gals." I couldn't hide my pleasure.

  "I have a bit, yeah," he grinned. "I just...I'm a lover of curves, so it's only natural..." He was leaning down and whispering in my ear.

  I felt like we were in front of his fireplace again. So many sensations danced through my body as he held me close.

  "Do you need company tonight?" I asked. "Not sure where you're staying, but..."

  "I keep an apartment here, and YES, I am desperately in need of company after this function."

  "So it's a date then?"

  "It's a date."

  "Okay, I'm gonna tear myself away from you and attempt to act normal again."

  "Good luck with that," he grinned.

  I began circulating around the room once again, until I was distracted by a text message from Carlo.

  *Luscious, you left your locket here last night! I'm out on the town and can drop it off to you wherever you are. I know you're prob working tonight. XO

  "Crap!" I groaned.

  Of course I'd left my locket at his place. How annoying. I quickly texted back the address of the restaurant, praying that Dash wouldn't see me when I went to retrieve it from Carlo. This was the last thing I needed, after reconciling with Dash. My favorite Italian almost-boyfriend wrote back right away, assuring me that he was in the neighborhood.

  "Just going out for a quick breath of fresh air!" I assured Debra on my way outside.

  "Good idea," she replied. "It is getting stuffy as hell in here."

  He wasn't joking about being close to the restaurant. Two minutes later, Carlo Catelli's car pulled up to the restaurant.

  "Luscious!" he cried, getting out the town car. "You look like a million bucks! How do you do it?"

  I looked around, paranoid that someone would leave the restaurant and see us. But no one did. The coast was clear, but I still had a strange feeling that I was being watched.

  "Thanks so much for bringing me my locket, Mr. Catelli," I smiled. "Means a lot to me."

  "No worries. Turn around so I can put it on you."

  "Okay..."

  Carlo whipped the locket around my neck quickly, closing the clasp. I was turning around to thank him when I heard it.

  BANG! BANG! BANG!

  "Oh my God!!!" I shrieked, as I felt Carlo's body slump into mine.

  And the only thing I remember after that was hitting the ground.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  AWAKENINGS

  "Hey." Dash's voice was the first one I heard, as I felt myself stirring into consciousness again.

  Where the hell was I? Terrified, my eyes flew open and I looked around.

  White everywhere. I was in a hospital.

  "Oh my God, what happened to me?!?" Snippets of the last moments of my evening began to play back in my head.

  "Shhh, it's okay," Dash comforted me.

  He looked like an angel in the hospital light, his copper hair set ablaze by the fluorescent bulbs directly above us.

  "Oh God," I started to cry. "Am I going to be okay? Is Carlo okay?"

  "You're fine," Dash said, stroking my hair. "Just a little concussion. Carlo got hit by some of the bullets but he's in stable condition right now."

  "What the hell? He got hit? What happened?" It was starting to drive me crazy.

  "Carlo Catelli is one of the biggest mobsters
in the New York area," Dash groaned. "I don't find it as shocking as you do. He's notorious."

  "What?" I was still confused.

  "His family pissed off the Graziano family. There's been talk of an impending mob war for weeks now."

  "Ohhhhh," I sighed. "I was kind of hoping it was your crazy friend Ronna. But it was my crazy friend. That's why I almost got shot. Okay."

  Dash laughed. "Alright, you're making jokes. My Ella is back."

  "Are you mad?" I asked, still choking on my emotions.

  "I'm not mad," he replied, sighing. "It's that...I've fallen for you, Ella. Okay? And I'm just confused by your choice of friends, to put it mildly."

  His words touched me deeply.

  "I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say...except that I've fallen for you, too," I cried, leaning closer to Dash's chest as he pulled me in for a hug. "I fell for you the moment I saw you, and I promise not to hang out with any more gangsters."

  He seemed more pleased that I'd ever seen him.

  "You don't have to say anything else right now, hon. I'm so relieved that you're okay. Just work on getting better. If anything had happened to you, I would have..."

  "You're up!!!" the perky female voice called out from the doorway.

  It was Debra.

  "I come bearing gifts!" she grinned, holding a pile of newspapers.

  And boy was I shocked when I saw them. The headlines stuck out to me first.

  "NEW DASH DE MAIO MODEL GETS GUNNED DOWN BY GRAZIANOS"

  Then there were the accompanying photos. The first one showed Dash and me embracing at the party, shortly before the shooting. Who had even taken that picture? It was supposed to be a private party.

  "PLUS-SIZED MODEL ELLA DATING BOTH DASH DE MAIO AND MOB BOSS CATELLI -- WHO WILL WIN?"

  "THIS PLUS-SIZED PRETTY BREAKS HEARTS AND TAKES NAMES...BIG NAMES"

  "Oh, God..." I groaned.

  Could I have been any more embarrassed?

  "Why are you upset?" Debra chirped happily. "No one's dead, and this is the best silver lining possible. We couldn't have even paid for this amount of publicity for the new collection."

  "It is true," Dash agreed reluctantly. "Obviously, it would have been better if it had never happened in the first place, but here we are..."