Alex Drakos: His Forbidden Love Read online

  At the rate they were going, she thought, as she hung the clipboard back onto its nail, she could lose it all in a couple of months. But Kari was a churchgoing, praying woman. And a fighter. She wasn’t throwing in the towel that easily. She was going to keep her promise to Nancy, and to as many of the maids as she could. But there was going to be disappointments, and lay-offs. No doubt about that. She could not possibly sustain her workload at the rate she currently had, with half the contracts. She had to chose carefully, with promises to bring each one of her employees back as soon as the workload increased. The economy improving would have a lot to do with it. Kari’s ingenuity would have to do the rest.

  “You got a fast car,” Kari was singing along with Tracy Chapman. “Is it fast enough so we can fly away?”

  Dezzamaine came into the storage room just as Kari was about to open a box and stock some shelves. “Get out here, Kari,” Dezzamaine said.

  “Why?” Kari asked, as she continued to sing with Tracy Chapman: “I remember we were driving; driving in your car. Speed so fast felt like I was drunk.”

  When Dezzamaine didn’t respond, she looked up. Dezzamaine, to her surprise, was already gone. Kari frowned, sat down the bottles of rug shampoo she had gotten out of a box, turned off the boombox, and headed up front too.

  As soon as she made it out of the storage room, down the small hall that led up front, she saw what her secretary was talking about. Standing in the small, storefront office was Alex Drakos, minus his entourage, looking so big and overwhelming, and so out of place in such a small space, that it shocked Kari to see him there. Dezzamaine was grabbing a dusty chair from against the wall and placing it in front of Kari’s desk, wiping it off with her hand, when Kari walked in.

  “Alex?” Kari was surprised to see him. She thought to smile. That was usually her fallback position. But she was too much in shock. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning, Kari.” Alex was a tad surprised to find himself there too. But last night, for some crazy reason, he went to bed thinking about her. Then he dreamed about her. Then, this morning, he woke up thinking about her. It was so unlike him to be that interested in anybody, that it was an aberration he couldn’t ignore. He got into his car, which he had ordered after he had wrecked the G-Wagon, remembered that she said her office was next to Lucinda’s Diner, and came on over. But as soon as he saw her face, he understood why he’d come.

  Although she wore those glasses again, and her hair could use a good brushing, there was something so wonderful about her that it made Alex smile. Before they discussed anything, he was glad he had come.

  With a hand, Kari motioned toward the chair that now sat in front of her desk. “Have a seat,” she offered.

  “Thank you,” Alex said. As he made his way to the chair, Dezzamaine hurried behind her own desk for a ringside seat. She wasn’t at the meeting last night, but had seen his picture in the morning paper. She knew who he was. The fact that he would be in their little office was perhaps the most exciting thing to happen to them since they first opened their doors. She wasn’t missing this!

  Alex did not sit down, however, until Kari walked behind her desk and sat down first. Then he sat down, leaned back, unbuttoned his suit coat, and crossed his legs. That man, Kari decided, had the capacity to be comfortable anywhere.

  “How can I help you?” Kari asked.

  “Not surprised to see me?”

  “Very surprised,” Kari admitted. She had a secret too. Last night, she actually dreamed about this man! And it was no sweet dream. It was a very sensual dream. “What brings you over here?” she asked. “I sent a crew back over to your house earlier. But the crew chief just left. I don’t think they got started yet. Is there a problem?”

  “Regarding the house? No.”

  “Regarding what then?” Kari asked.

  “How long have you owned this business?”

  Kari was a little hesitant to just give out information, especially to a man whose assistant all but told her the only thing he was interested in was sexual in nature. But his question wasn’t exactly a state secret. “Five months,” she said.

  He smiled. “What made you want to go into the house cleaning business?”

  “It wasn’t a question of wanting it. It was a question of finding it. I wanted my own business. I knew the lady who owned this one was moving out of state. So, I took over, at what I thought was a reasonable price.”

  “A good decision?” Alex asked.

  Kari hesitated. Alex saw her hesitation. “The jury’s still out,” she said.

  Her answer made his decision tougher, but also easier. Tougher because he didn’t know if he wanted to take on some charity case. In his experience, failing businesses were usually failing due to poor management. He wasn’t sure if Kari had the right stuff, management wise. But it was an easy call because of Kari herself. He took the measure of this woman the times he’d been around her, and decided that she just might be somebody he could do business with: in and out of the sheets. He decided, after she turned him down last night, that he was going to bed with her. Sooner rather than later.

  “I want to talk with you about a job opportunity,” he said.

  This interested, not only Kari, but Dezzamaine as well. “A job opportunity?” Kari asked. “What kind of job?”

  “If the referendum is approved,” Alex said, “which I fully expect that it will be, I’ll need a cleaning service to keep my hotel and casino clean. Spotless,” he added. “I thought Maid for Mom might be just the company I can use.”

  Dezzamaine’s mouth gapped open. She could hardly believe her ears. They would have a contract that huge? She looked at Kari. Why wasn’t she jumping up and down and singing hallelujah yet?

  Mainly because Kari was too shock to move. She was staring at Alex. Was this man for real?

  It took a moment, but finally she spoke. “Are you telling me that you want this company, my company, to get the cleaning contract for your casino?”

  “And hotel, yes,” Alex said. “Of course, I’m not prepared to make the final decision here and now. There will be others in the running.”

  “I understand,” Kari said.

  “I’ll need to do my homework, and also talk with you further, before I determine if you’ll be on my short list.”

  “Yes, that would be smart.” Kari smiled. “I’m available now, or whenever you have the time.”

  “I have to leave the country on business,” Alex said, rising to his feet. Kari rose too. “But we can discuss it when I return next week,” he said. “We’ll discuss it over dinner. What do you say?”

  Kari felt trapped. She was excited. Beyond excited. If she won that contract, she’d be able to retain every maid she had and would need to hire a gazillion more!

  But she’d get the contract at what cost? Alex was a man who liked the ladies. He wasn’t going to just give her a deal like that for nothing. And she remembered what Priska said. If she turned him down again, he was not going to ask again. Did that mean he wasn’t going to give her that contract if she turned him down?

  But it wasn’t a crime to talk about it. Besides, a dinner with a man like him wouldn’t exactly be punishment. Alex was nice, at least what she knew of him. “Yes,” she finally responded. “I would love to discuss it over dinner.”

  He smiled, but she could see his eyes trail down the length of her body. It made her hot, but nervous too.

  Alex had a different feeling. A feeling that he was going to actually miss her while he was gone. And he couldn’t justify why. “I’ll be in touch,” he said, and left.

  Dezzamaine ran to the window as soon as he walked out, and looked out. “I knew it!” she said.

  “You knew what?” Kari asked.

  “He’s a traditional man. He’s husband material.”

  “He’s what? How would you know what he is, Dez?”

  “He drives a Mercedes,” Dezzamaine said. “Traditionalists drive Mercedes.”

  “Oh, girl please! I tho
ught you saw something.”

  “I did see something,” Dezzamaine said, walking toward Kari’s desk. “I saw a man who couldn’t take his eyes off of you. I saw a man who just might make us rich, Kari! A hotel? A casino? And you know it’s going to be big and boss, if he has something to do with it. That man is five-star all the way, no doubt about it. That’s a high roller. Do you know what this means for us?”

  Kari knew. That was why she was still in shock.

  She was so in shock that she had to sit back down before she fell down.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Danny Pataki took another drag on his cigarette and looked at Vito Visconni. They were at Danny’s restaurant in Chicago, and Vito felt honored to be sitting at Danny’s table. But that still didn’t negate the fact. “He was supposed to take care of it,” Vito said.

  “What can you say?” Pataki said, his hands constantly moving, and his shoulder hunching. “He tried and failed. That’s Scrub for you. He ain’t nobody you bet the farm on.”

  “But what am I supposed to do? I took the hit. For six long years I sat up in that rathole prison. I didn’t rat on nobody. I took my lumps. All I asked in return was that I get my family back. That I get Kari back. And you telling me that motherfucker couldn’t even do that right?”

  “He tried, alright? He found her, and he went to Florida to send her a message. A message Pataki-style. Did he go a little too far? Yeah. Probably. But some fucking joker out of nowhere tries to save her. He nearly killed Scrub.”

  “And what did we do about it?” Vito asked.

  “Nothing we could do, Money. What are you talking? He’s big. Real big. We can’t get into no war with him. He’s too big.”

  “Who? I thought you said he was a nobody. A joker.”

  “That was a figure of speech, geez. You’ve been gone too long.”

  “Who is he?” Vito asked.

  “Alexander Drakos. In the flesh. He’s down in Florida trying to get his gaming license. Or, at lease, he’s trying to get that town to vote to give him the right to build a casino and hotel. When Scrub realized, the next day, who her rescuer was, he brought his ass back home. It was not up for discussion that we’re going to get into it with that billionaire.”

  “A billionaire,” Vito said. “What a billionaire wants with her ass?”

  Pataki smiled. “Same thing you want with it. To fuck it. Besides, he’s got family ties that worry me.”

  “What kind of family ties?”

  “His old man.”

  “What, he’s Mafia?”

  “I wish. That would make it easier. He’s Greek. And his old man is the biggest of the big in our particular line of work.”

  Vito exhaled. He knew what that meant. “Okay, it won’t be easy. But that’s my family. At least Kari is. I want my family back. I want everything back like the way it used to be before I went away. I didn’t rat on nobody. I did my time like a man. I deserve that, Danny!”

  Pataki took another drag on his cigarette, and looked at Vito. “What you want to do?” he asked him.

  “Go get her,” Vito said. “Fuck that billionaire and go get her. What else?”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Jordan Grant looked up from playing a game on his iPad when his mother entered their small living room. At first, he glanced at her, and then looked back down at his iPad. But then he did a doubletake. Was this his mom? “Wow,” he said.

  Kari smiled. It wasn’t what she was going for, but she’d take it. “I look okay?”

  She wore a red, sleek, oriental-styled bodycon dress, complete with a mandarin collar and a modest slit on the side. His mother had been wearing so many jeans and blazers that he had forgotten she had curves. And man, he thought, did she have curves!

  And her hair wasn’t in that ponytail tonight, the way she usually wore it, but was thick and rich in waves of bounciness down her back. With her stiletto heels, and her makeup, she looked downright pretty. Jordan was impressed. “You look great, Mom,” he said.

  “Good. Move,” she added, as she moved his feet aside and sat on the sofa with him.

  “So where are you guys going?” Jordan asked her.

  “To dinner,” Kari said. “A working dinner.”

  “A working dinner?”

  “That’s right.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s where two people discuss business while they eat. We’re going to discuss a possible business arrangement.”

  Jordan’s brown eyes stretched. “You, my mom, is going to go into business with a billionaire?”

  “It’s not that simple, Jordan. He said he’s considering Maid for Mom. Nothing’s set in stone yet. We haven’t even discussed any details or anything like that. I might not like the deal.”

  Jordan smiled, and then laughed.

  “What?”

  “You’ll be a fool to turn down a billionaire, Ma! You might not like the deal? Any deal is better than having no business at all! Any deal is better than nothing.”

  “No, it’s not,” Kari said firmly. “And don’t you ever think it is. I did a deal with the devil before. Yeah, I was young and dumb, but I should have had enough sense than to fool with a player like Vito. But I did it. That deal was supposed to be better than nothing too.”

  Jordan looked at his mother. A sad look appeared in her big, brown eyes. “I’ll take nothing before I go down like that again,” she said firmly.

  Jordan knew exactly what she meant. Vito Visconni. The man who put them through pure hell. He understood fully what she meant. He stared at her. “He’s out.”

  “I know, son. But don’t worry, Jordan. He’s over us. At least I hope so.”

  “I hope so, too. Because I don’t want no stuff.” Then he smiled.

  Kari smiled too, and ruffled his soft hair.

  They both heard a car drive up at the same time, and they both got up and went to the window at the same time.

  A big, black, brand-new looking Mercedes-Maybach S650 sedan had pulled onto their driveway. The classic kind, as Jordan saw it, where the Mercedes emblem was on the hood of the car rather than in the grill. The lights were still on and they could see Alex inside the car on the car phone. It all seemed so rich. Everything about it seemed surreal to both of them. Kari knew the G-Wagon had been damaged, but not nearly enough to ditch it and buy a new car. He lived in another world to Kari.

  Jordan even looked at his mother. He was worried about her, too. “He’s a different kind of dude, Ma, isn’t he?” he asked her.

  Kari wasn’t exactly nerves of steel herself. She nodded. “Yep.”

  “A billionaire. Dang, Ma. I’ve never even seen a millionaire before, and you’re going on a date with a billionaire?”

  “It’s not a date, Jordan,” Kari corrected him. “It’s a working dinner. Don’t get it twisted.”

  “A working dinner. Yeah, okay. That sounds like somebody who sings for a meal. Is he going to come in, or is he waiting for you to go outside?”

  “I’m not going outside, I know that.”

  “But if it’s not a date, what difference does it make?” Jordan asked.

  Kari had to smile. “Whatever, boy,” she said, and Jordan laughed.

  But when Alex finally finished his phone call and got out of his car, both of them were impressed.

  Especially Jordan. “Dang, Ma,” he said, “that man is big!”

  “Big? He’s not that big. He has muscles, if that’s what you mean.”

  “That’s exactly what I mean.” Jordan was small for his age. “You’re used to a man like Vito, who was skinny. This guy could crush you if he holds you too tight.”

  Kari laughed, as the doorbell rang. “I doubt that,” she said.

  “Don’t let him hold you too tight,” Jordan said.

  Kari looked at her son. Was he serious? Or was he just scared to death that she would fall for this guy, and get her heart broken again? Get crushed by his hold, as Jordan saw it.

  She went to Jordan, and gave him a
hug. “You have nothing to fear, pal,” she said, kissed him on his forehead, and then headed for the door. “Finish your homework,” she said as she went. “And don’t let anybody in this house.”

  “Don’t worry. Some of the kids are going to meet up at the arcade later, but I told them I couldn’t.”

  Kari smiled. Jordan was well beyond his years. And she opened the door.

  When the door opened, and Kari stepped out, Alex, like Jordan, would have given her a doubletake too. But he couldn’t take his eyes off of her to begin with. It wasn’t because her hair was down, or that dress was smoking hot on her body. He’d been with too many world class beauties to be blown away by a nice-looking woman.

  But it was her eyes. Her big, expressive eyes weren’t as intense as he’d seen every time he saw her. She looked more relaxed. Happy even. And Alex felt good to know that she didn’t appear so burdened down. And she was smiling that angelic smile he was growing quite fond of. He was looking forward to this evening, a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

  “Good evening,” he said, when she stepped out beside him.

  “Good evening,” Kari said, still smiling. “Don’t you look nice.” She caught herself and scrunched up her face. Why in the world was she commenting on this man’s appearance when this was supposed to be a business meeting?

  But Alex didn’t mind at all. It had been a long time since somebody gave him a compliment. Most women he dated were all takers. They expected him to compliment them. And to feed them. And to drive them. Even the sex was of benefit to them. They expected him to do everything for them. They never bothered to do anything for him. “Thank you,” Alex said. “You look great yourself.”

  Kari smiled. She was still mortified that she had gone there. But it wasn’t as if it was a lie. In that suit he wore, and the way he carried himself, made him a very attractive man. She couldn’t deny the obvious.

  What was not as obvious was how she felt about her own looks. The fact that Alex returned her compliment didn’t help. It seemed gratuitous to her. Just a compliment because one was given to him. Jordan thought she looked great, but Jordan loved her. He was biased. She didn’t necessarily believe either one of them.