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“Shit. I’m so late. I’m going to be held in contempt. I have to go, Gabriele. Can we talk about this later?”
“Yes.”
I stand and roll down my sleeves. I grab my suit coat from where it’s hanging over the back of the chair I originally sat in. We leave the office where we met in the building Mancinelli Developers owns. We next to never come here. It’s only when we need a respectable place to meet people. There are other companies that rent suites here, so the building doesn’t stand empty.
“Did you drive?”
Sinead looks up at me as we get in the elevator.
“No. I don’t have time to find parking in Midtown or near Foley Square. I took the subway.”
“I won’t tell you not to take the subway, but you need two guards with you if you do.”
“Two?”
“It’s always crowded. You need the eyes watching what’s going on. And if something happens, you need one guy to deal with whoever or whatever threatened you and the other to get you to safety. I have a car waiting outside. The driver will be one of your guards, but he can’t do it today. I’ll take you to the courthouse, but I can’t go inside with you. No one can see you with me right now. Not until I set your safety detail. But I will wait outside until you’re done. Then I’ll take you wherever else you need to go today.”
She looks at the button panel, then the floor. She looks at the door and the ceiling. She looks everywhere but at me. I’m unprepared for what she says when she turns toward me.
“Who’s going to protect you?”
ChapterTwo
Sinead
From me.
I want to pounce. Gabriele is beyond hot. I don’t even have words for it. It’s not just his face and body. It’s the sex appeal he exudes. I know most women wouldn’t see it that way. Good. But he’s the type I’d let take down my hair, fist it, and devour me. The type I’d say “yes, sir” to. Most women would call him intimidating. I’d call him whatever the fuck he wants as long as he’s naked, and we’re fucking.
Get your fucking self together. He’s your client.
“From you?”
He grins as he stares down at me. Huh? Oh, I just asked a question.
“Do you need protecting from me? I get the feeling you’re pretty fierce.”
I smile back. He was joking. But my brow furrows. That wasn’t what I meant at all.
“If I’m in as much danger as you say, then doesn’t that just add to yours? I mean, if someone might go after me, then they’d be going after you, too. Someone obviously has ill intentions toward you to begin with. Add me as a target and us having to meet and that makes you even more tempting prey.”
When he turns to face me, I see just how enormous he is. We stood in front of each other for just a moment before he pulled out my chair, then we were walking side-by-side. He’s a fucking giant.
“No one is going to approach me. That’s why whoever is trying to frame me did it like this. They did it behind my back rather than confront me. They know they wouldn’t win. They need to—”
He snaps his mouth shut. I wait for him to pick something else to say, but he doesn’t. I can guess.
“They need to live long enough to do their job.”
“Is it just me?”
“Just you what?”
“Whose mind you can read. It’s disconcerting. Only my best friend can guess what I’m thinking, and that’s because we’ve known each other for twenty years.”
“I watch people for tells. I can usually guess from those. But you've had none you didn’t intentionally want me to see. I just know.”
“Intuition?”
