“Good,” Mick said. “But I have. I had Danny track him down for me. And then I paid him a visit. He has since removed all of your images from the internet. It’s not a zero sum game, you understand. There are undoubtedly photos out there somewhere that will never be found. But it’s as close to perfect as we’re likely to get.”
Roz felt such a strong onslaught of emotions that she had to fight back tears to contain them. Mick had yet to tell her that he loved her. He, in fact, just verbalized to her that she was his lady. But his actions, once again, eclipsed his words. He walked the talk. She’d never met a man quite like him. “Thank you,” she said.
Then Mick smiled. “And I beat his ass too,” he added.
Roz laughed. “Even better,” she agreed.
And then she lifted up, leaned over, and kissed him.
After they ate dinner and left the restaurant, those feelings of joy remained with the couple. They sat in the backseat of the limousine, side by side, and held hands as Deuce McCurry took them on a slow drive back to Mick’s estate. They were both facing forward, with their heads leaned back. Mick had business that needed to be taken care of. There was never a time when he didn’t. And if this was any other lady in his limo, he would be on his phone the entire ride. But this wasn’t any lady. Rosalind was in his car. Yes, his Rosalind. He was too busy dealing with the fact that his feelings for her were growing with each passing day, and he had to deal with that. He was not a man who verbalized his feelings. Even when he was enraged, he didn’t discuss why. But he needed Rosalind to know.
He turned his head toward her. She turned her head toward him. “I have a friend. Reno Gabrini. He owns the PaLargio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.”
Roz could hardly believe the rarified air she now traveled. Her boyfriend was a friend of a man who owned the PaLargio. The PaLargio! Her boyfriend owned the Carson-Benning, which was a huge deal too, but the PaLargio was in a class by itself. And Mick just casually said that the owner was a friend of his. She actually pinched herself.
“Reno is a tough guy,” Mick continued. “I’m very impressed with him. They don’t make’em any stronger. He and I are a lot alike in that department. But he did something that I never dreamed was possible for guys like us. He managed to convince a lady, a great lady, to fall in love with him. Not in love with his money. Not in love with his dick. In love with him. And they’re a great couple. Reno and Trina. The best. They fight like cats and dogs, but they love each other.”
Roz smiled.
Mick frowned. “But it got me to thinking,” he said. “If Reno could be this lucky, maybe I can be too. Now I know there’s a difference. I know I’m harder around the edges than Reno, and he’s a man of honor, while I’ll never make that claim.” Mick gave Roz a hard look. “I know I’m not there yet, but my hope is that one day I’ll become the man you can respect and love the same way Trina loves Reno. I pray that one day you can look at me and declare me good, even though I’m not. But because you believe it, I’ll work my ass off to become that man. I’ll become that man. That is my dream of dreams, Rosalind. One day, I pray, we can get there.”
Roz stared at Mick and smiled a smile more fraught with the burden of reality than the levity of fantasy. She placed her hand on the side of his strong jaw. She looked at his thick swath of brown hair, his super long eyelashes, and his beauty. He was beauty and the beast. “You silly man,” she said with a shake of her head, her big brown eyes staring into his big green ones. “That day has already come.”
Mick’s heart squeezed with a kind of emotion that he had never felt before. He stared into her eyes, and saw so much love and caring there, that he realized he was living a dream. And he placed both his hands on the side of her gorgeous face, and kissed her.
Roz closed her eyes and moved into his kiss. Just to feel his mouth on hers was a powerful appetizer for the feelings she knew were soon to follow. Because just as surely as Mick was giving his all in his kiss, he was never so far removed that he didn’t know how to handle his business at the same time. He reached down to one of the buttons in his limousine as he continued to kiss her, and the blackout shades went up around the entire backside. Those eyes on the outside were prevented from seeing them now, as well as the eyes of the driver inside.
He slid her onto his lap, still kissing her, and cradled her in his arms. Roz was so into his kiss that she didn’t realize he had also unzipped her dress until it was slinging off of her shoulders, and her bra was being lifted above her breasts.