Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
“Yes, I appreciate it.”
“I’ll be leaving after dinner. I have a meeting and will be back well after you retire, so you can watch television in the main living area if you’d like to. I can show you where it is when I leave.”
“No, thanks. I’m just going to read on my phone.”
“Fine,” he grumbles and then leaves my room again.
Chapter Five
Alessio
Throughout the entire dinner I feel emotions bottle up inside me, ready to explode at any moment. I can’t explain what they are, though. My body temperature has risen several degrees as I watch her eat daintily. Her eyes lift up to mine several times, but I must look like a madman. Why is she interested in Dario? I could have sworn she wanted me the way she leaned into me.
I have to get out of here before I question what happened in the sitting room. “Excuse me. I have to get going.” I rise from my seat, dropping my napkin on the table.
“Okay. I’ll clean up.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I will. Dinner was wonderful. Thank you, Alessio.” She stands and takes our plates to the kitchen. I watch her ass sway as she walks, and I imagine that sight for the rest of my life. I’m totally fucked.
Rushing out the front door with my keys and gun, I hop in my vehicle and go for a quick drive before heading back to the estate. My eyes are laser-focused on the road ahead. I had avoided looking at her so I could maintain a semblance of control.
My oldest friend, a cousin and honestly a brother at heart, had become a villain in my eyes. He’d done nothing to me, but he’d garnered the attention from the one woman I’d finally shown interest in.
From the second I saw her at the agency, I knew she was special to me. As I readied myself this morning, I’d felt this shift in my chest and my pants. My cock had perpetually been rock-hard, and my heart nearly beat my ribcage to death. I used any excuse to stall her at the gate to speak with her since I’d already read her personal information yesterday.
However, she’d broken the first rule she’d been given—the rule over all other rules. I’d been clear about Dario not because it was pointless to hit on him, but because I’d actually been jealous. She had watched him swimming like a woman in heat, setting my teeth on edge.
Dario sends me a text asking where I’m at, so I drive back to the mansion, steamed. Rage and lust fill every inch of my body. Switching my car into fourth gear, I speed through the roads, racing back, wondering how the fuck I’m supposed to reconcile today’s interactions and get through the rest of my life.
Juniper Beaman had gotten under my skin, and I couldn’t just rip her out. Never have I wanted anyone or anything like I want her. She’s cute with claws, innocent and yet full of hunger, although that desire wasn’t for me. It was for Dario.
My fists clench several times before I force myself to exit my vehicle. I enter the house, and I’m immediately met with Dario. “What’s going on, Alessio?” he asks, stopping me in my tracks. For the first time in my life, I want to cold-cock him and lay his ass flat on the ground.
“What do you mean?” I ask, tilting my head. We’d been friends since we were boys, and I’d never felt any sense of betrayal from him, but now, even though he didn’t know it, he’d stolen my girl.
“You seem distracted today, bothered as fuck, and most certainly not yourself.” There’s nothing but sympathy in his eyes as if he’s truly concerned, and he is, but I’m mixed up at the moment and can’t tell my best friend and boss why I’m stressed.
“No, I’m good. I’m all here,” I insist.
“Are you sure? Mrs. Ricci informed me that you stayed to observe the new maid’s introduction. Why? Is there something wrong with her?” he asks. I can tell he’s ready to fire her if I give the command. Dario trusts me so openly and wholeheartedly, and yet I’m ready to pound his face in for her crush on him.
“No, she got here too early. I wanted to just assure myself that she wasn’t up to no good.”
“So that’s why you offered her a place in your home instead of letting her stay in one of the empty rooms in the east wing?”
“Yes. Plus we know how you feel after the last one.”
He nods. “Well, monitor her. Let’s get down to business in my office now.”
I follow behind him and then take a seat in my usual chair in front of his desk while he pours us each a glass of bourbon. “So we’ve been bleeding money with that stupid club on the west side. I want it dumped, but I have no intention of giving the other families room to move in. We need to get the area cleaned up.”