Page 21 of Complications

If I expected contrition out of him, I was sorely disappointed. There was nothing apologetic about the man standing in front of me. His perfect, pouty lips were twisted into a smirk, and his hooded brown eyes met mine before they deliberately dropped to my already throbbing cock.

“Going to invite me in?”

I stepped back and gestured for him to come inside. His swagger was slow and deliberate, giving me plenty of time to watch his body as he brushed past me, close enough that I caught the scent of his aftershave and felt the heat of his presence in my home.

“We can talk in my study.”

“We can do lots of things in your study,” Elio added with a wicked grin.

His sultry response forced me to swallow a bark of laughter because this man never gave up. It was the part I loved, and hated, about him. His rashness. His sexiness. His willingness to throw himself right into the middle of everything. How his family, including his uncle, didn’t see him that way baffled me.

When I stalked into my study, I tried to tell myself that I didn’t care whether he followed me or not, and refused to turn around to check.

But I knew he had.

My body was too aware of him to lose track. Rather than put my hands or my mouth on him, I forced myself to walk to the far side of the room and sit in my desk chair. Elio followed a few steps behind, moved around the edge of the desk, and sat on it. His proximity was the sweetest torture. Heat radiated from him, and I had to pretend I couldn’t feel it.

“What happened?”

Between his rolled eyes and heavy sigh, I learned nothing useful.

“Answer the question.”

Still nothing.

“Answer me. Please.”

Elio’s pretty brown eyes almost imperceptibly softened.

“I wasn’t trying to interfere, but I’m not going to let some asshole throw his weight around.” Elio’s eyes flashed with fury, but I still had no damned idea what had actually happened to create this much of an issue that Matteo was actively worried about him.

“Okay, so who was it?”

“Joey brought in a few guys this year. I thought they were all right in the beginning, but one went with me to the store and was being a dick to the guy behind the counter.”

“And that was enough to blow all this up?”

“The new one started running his mouth about people he knows and that the guy might need to start paying for security.” Elio shook his head, disgust written all over his face. “What the fuck does he think he’s playing at? Matteo sure as shit isn’t out there doing shakedowns.”

“So then what happened?”

“We got back to the house, we had words, Joey laid into me about knowing my place, and then I left.” As Elio spoke, the anger gave way to something else, but I wasn’t sure what to call it. Anger, yes, but maybe shame too? “It was the same one I got into it with before.”

“Mind if I ask a personal question?”

The tension had slipped from him. When he nodded, I asked, “Why aren’t you more involved with Matteo’s business?”

“Do you know what that is?”

“All I need to worry about is that sometimes his employees need a bandage…or something.”

“Or something,” Elio snorted. “Technically, Matteo is my great-uncle on my mom’s side, and my dad worked for him. It was just Dad and me, and after he got sick, Dad made Matteo promise to protect me. Protect turned into not letting me do a damn thing.”

“Does anyone know what the guy was saying besides you?”

“Nah, Joey shut my ass down.”

His frustrated tone made my fingers twitch to touch him. Soothe him. Comfort him. His sigh rang out, and my urge couldn’t be ignored anymore.