Page 7 of Reckless Forever (Jennings Mafia Family #3)

Ivy

“Now, we’ll give the floor to our Emergency Management Specialist. Miss Ivy Montana will be giving us a proper action plan for the response to this crisis.

” The FaceTime connected just in time. I set the phone beside the laptop and turned on my camera.

Judah had been saying all week that he wanted to see exactly what I do for a living.

When I told him that I would be on a panel, he said he wanted to see it in action.

The phone connected, and his face came into view.

“Thank you, Mr. Cordova.” I smiled at the panel members before presenting the course of action plan that I had been preparing over the last week. I focused on preparedness, response, recovery, and communication.

I made the mistake of glancing at Judah while I was speaking.

I could barely hold it together. He was on the other end of the phone, making love faces at me.

I couldn’t do anything but blush and push through.

I gave the speech once in English and then translated it into Spanish for the non-English speaking board members.

Judah may have been funny, but it actually felt good for someone to think that what I did was interesting and want to know more about it.

Being a meteorologist is a pretty boring career, and nobody ever inquires about it. Mostly because they don’t understand it anyway, but I loved the fact that he wanted to know more about it. To know it was to know me. I loved everything about my career, and I had never felt more fulfilled.

“Thank you, Miss Montana, that was a very thorough action plan. That’s the kind of clarity that we need right now. Let’s ensure that all government agencies are on the same page and ready to proceed. Please send us that plan via email. We appreciate your time and expertise.” He said.

“Thank you for having me. I will be available should you have any questions,” I said as I logged off the meeting and looked at Judah.

The expression on his face made me burst into laughter. I had never met a funnier man than him. It seems like in just two short weeks, I had really met a good friend, and it was so crazy that it happened by chance.

“That’s dope as fuck, what if you had said they don’t need to do shit?” He questioned, and I almost fell out of the chair that I was sitting in.

“Then I never would’ve gotten invited back. I show up with solutions.”

“Me too, baby,” he said as he bit his lip and smiled at me.

“Goodbye, Judah,” I chuckled as I pressed the button on him to end the video call.

I sighed; Judah was literally perfect as far as I could see. He was handsome, seemed nice, funny, and successful, but he was off-limits.

I had seen way too many things happen when a member of the Cartel was crossed, and I wanted to protect him from that.

They spared nothing, and no one was safe.

I didn’t know much about the Mafia, but I didn’t want to be the woman who came into anyone’s life and flipped it upside down.

Or putting their lives at risk. But a bigger part of me than I cared to admit wanted to act on the attraction.

It was mutual since the day we first met, and it only intensified last night when he kissed me.

That kiss had been living rent-free in my head for the last couple of hours. Judah was going to be a problem.

Once the call ended, I took off my button-up shirt and pulled on my tank top again. That was my usual work-from-home uniform: business up top, party from the waist down. Just as I settled in, a knock came at the door.

I threw on a robe and tied it before walking over to the door and pulling it open. It was my godfather on the other side. I stepped to the side to invite him in. He walked in slowly and looked around my room, a look of worry etched in his face.

“?Qué tienes en mente?” (What’s on your mind?) I asked as he took a seat on the couch in the corner of the room.

“Tú” (You), he said sharply, causing me to slightly stand up straighter.

“Yenny, me dijo que te andas portando muy amiguita con los muchachos. ?Es que no entendiste la advertencia que te di?” (Yenny told me you have been acting really friendly with the boys. Did you not get the warning I gave you?) He snapped.

I got chills just at the mention of it. I thought we had been careful not to look too suspicious when we were around the house. But I guess we weren’t doing a good job. We went back and forth in Spanish.

“We’re stuck in the same house. We both respect you enough to honor your wishes.” I lied.

“I love those boys like family, but I will kill them. Your father was my most valuable soldier. He gave his life for me. He wanted me to-”

I groaned, “I heard this story a thousand times, Padrino. I know. And I respect that. Just trust that I wouldn’t do anything you disapprove,” I smiled as I lied through my teeth, and it made me feel bad because my godfather literally trusted me with his life, and I was betraying him.

“I’ll have the heads of them and everyone they love. I will wipe their whole bloodline off the map, and their existence will only be a memory if I have to. Don’t disobey me.” He held a shaky hand in my direction. As he looked me in the eye, the weight of his words stuck better.

I sat next to him and kissed his cheek, throwing my arms around his neck. “I understand, it’s nothing. Trust me.”

After my godfather left, I exhaled deeply and flopped across the bed on my back, staring up at the ceiling.

The conversation still hung over me as I thought, we were both playing with fire, but only one of us would end up burned: him.

It wasn’t fair. Despite the tension, I tried to gather myself and head downstairs.

I hated the housemaids, if that’s what he wanted to call them.

They always ran back and reported every single thing to him.

And I know that they were probably only doing what he had asked of them, but damn, no one thought to cut me a little slack around here.

I was tired of being under constant surveillance.

I grabbed my phone and pulled the strings of my robe tighter. Before I went down the stairs and toward the kitchen. I could hear music playing in the distance, which meant that my godfather was probably occupied with his harem.

When I made it to the living area, I could see Yenny sitting in the barstool across from Judah, who was ignoring her.

I chuckled because that’s why she was so quick to go back and tell.

She wanted him, and he wasn’t the least bit interested in her.

As I passed by them, I chuckled to myself.

He finally looked up from the phone, and his eyes trailed me from the entrance of the kitchen to the fridge.

She noticed it too because she got up from the chair and stomped away. He shrugged, and it made me giggle.

No sooner had she disappeared than he got up and walked around the island, backing me into a corner.

“So, you don’t want me to come into the room tonight?” He asked in a low and sexy voice.

I pushed him back to put a little bit of space between us and rolled my eyes playfully. “Friends, Judah, last night we lost that element.” I reminded him.

His hand slowly snaked around my neck as his thumb guided my face toward him. The slight pressure on my neck and eye contact were making my panties wet.

“If you want to call it friendship, that’s cool. But that kiss wasn’t friendly. That was just you giving in to what you really want.”

I bit my lip before it spread into a smile. Then I swatted his hand from my neck and tried to go around him. He blocked me again.

“Judah!” I whined after he had blocked me for the third time.

I threw my hand on my hip and looked up at him impatiently.

He placed two small pecks on my lips, and then he let me go.

When I finally got around the mountain of his body, I saw that his brother had been standing at the entrance of the kitchen.

Leaned against the wall with his arms folded and shaking his head.

I could see the amusement all over his face, which was a complete contrast to how he had been the entire time he was here.

They were like night and day. Jaxon hardly ever spoke or made jokes, while you could barely shut Judah up most times.

“You want to tell me that nothing happened again, my nigga?” He asked as he stood from the wall and walked deeper into the kitchen.

“We’re just friends.” I blushed, embarrassed.

“Nah, Ivy. My Moms told me as long as I have two brothers, I don’t need friends, Shorty.” He said, making me holler out with laughter and shake my head at him as I grabbed an apple from the counter and kept walking.

I was just out of earshot, but I could faintly hear Jaxon grilling him and reminding him to be careful.

It was a reminder for me as well because Jaxon could have been anybody coming into the kitchen and seeing us in that situation.

I was going to make it my business to stay confined to my room and steer clear of him during the rest of his visit.

With my signing off on the emergency action plan, I knew that more resources would be available to help drain the water and expedite the process of getting them back to the States.

I had been enjoying his company, but with the tension growing, it wasn’t going to be safe to continue like this.

I was putting up the best front that I could, but I could only fight for so long.

Because he was right. It was exactly what I wanted, too.

For the last three nights, I had been sleeping alone, and I hadn’t let Judah in my room since we kissed.

I didn’t respond to his messages either.

Only the two when he asked me if I was okay.

When I told him that I was fine, I didn’t respond to any of his attempts to hold a conversation.

Then the messages just stopped coming altogether.

With the rescue efforts continuing, I knew that they would only be here for another day or two.

So, I was just going to wait it out until they left.