“Ms. Ricci, I don’t have time to play games.”
That’s rich coming from the master manipulator himself. He has been doing nothing but playing games since I met him. I’ve quickly come to realize that Carmine Moretti has this uncanny ability to simultaneously enrage me while also turning my center into a warm, open puddle.
“Is that so? See, I’m not sure you know this or not, but I’m not a fucking idiot,” I begin, and just as I am about to continue, he begins to cackle.This fucker.
Irritated, I drop the stupid necklace onto the table. As I release it from my grip, the clasp hits the glass next to it, making a loud echo, which only fuels his obnoxious laughter.
“Something funny?”
He rubs his eyebrow as his laughter begins to dissipate. “You. You are fucking adorable,” he says, and I can’t tell if he is being serious or taunting me. Either way, it’s only enraging me more.
He rises from his seat, walking closer to where I remain seated. “I never called you an idiot, those were your words. Now, please, the necklace,” he reminds me once more, now snatching the necklace from where it landed on the table.
He lowers himself so his tall frame is hovering over mine from behind where I sit as he leans into my ear. “Allow me,” he whispers, beginning to drape the locket around my neck.
The cool chain on my skin is a stark contrast to the warmth I feel in my center. The way his hands graze my skin causes my clit to throb with wanton need for him.
“That’s more like it,” he says, lowering his mouth to my ear once more.
Before I can respond, I hear the floorboards creak behind me in the direction of his desk.
I turn, still seated in the small bistro chair, and watch as he takes a seat at the chair of his desk.
“Please.” He motions for me to join him, as he places an unlit cigarette in his mouth.
I rise from my seat and move to the chair in front of his desk.
Just as I sit, facing him once more, a cloud of smoke forms between us from his freshly lit cigarette.
I hate smoking. Papa smoked for years, and the smell eventually took over the entire house. It took months after Mama and Papa passed to get the smell of his Black & Milds out of the upholstery. But there is something oddly seductive about the way Carmine sits back in his chair, lighting his cigarette. Watching his lips pucker around the filter as he inhales the fumes, there is a calm that overtakes him. It’s almost as if, as bad of a habit as it is, he does it to tame the beast inside of him. The brief relief it brings him and the way I can see his black eyes through the clouds of smoke ignites something in me, making me want to breathe in his smoke just to be closer to him.
His chiseled jaw tenses as his lips pucker around the shortening cigarette butt. I sit back in the chair in front of his desk, crossing my legs, in hopes that the slickness forming between them will disappear.
“So, what’s so special about this locket, huh?” I nudge with genuine curiosity.
“Nothing, until its owner wears it,” he says as smoke billows around his face.
“Me, being the owner?”
He takes another drag of his cigarette. “You are now. So …” he begins.
“So,” I repeat after him. “Why are we here and not at the gala?” I ask.
He leans back in his chair and tilts his head, staring at me. “Didn’t feel it was necessary to show my face there this year, is all.”
“Oh, that’s it.” I inch forward in my chair, locking my eyes on him. “Then, why did you mention how important tonight was for the company and have me wear this dress?”
He lets out a chuckle as he exhales the last of the cigarette before smashing it into the ashtray on his desk. “Tonight, is an important night for me and, well, the dress is one of a kind. Wouldn’t you say, Sen?” he says, toying with me.
“Why do you keep calling me that?” I demand.
Unfazed by my anger, he reaches for another cigarette from the pack of Parliaments on his desk. He takes his time lighting it, while his gaze remains on me. “Isn’t that a nickname for Sienna?”
“Yes, but no one calls me that anymore.”
“Oh, really?” He perks up. “Care to elaborate?”
“Nothing, it was just someone I used to know called me Sen.”
