AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m eager to hear what you have to say and see if it aligns with my own thoughts.” I cross one leg over the other. Better, I think, to keep my guard up high. To not jump straight into anger at the heavy hand he uses on me.
“You’re still stuck on going it alone, huh?” I press. “The car ride didn’t change your mind.”
He scoffs in the back of his throat. “Of course I am. I have multiple thoughts on the matter, and in all of them, you are not involved. Rather, you are involved in only the smallest amounts. We’ve seen what happens when you go your own way.”
“I’m involved because there is a man out there who believes he owns me and poses a threat to us. If you want to patronize me, then do it on your own time,” I reply.
The longer we sit there, the more antsy I feel. The sensation digs its claws into my insides and refuses to let them go.
“You’ve always thought the worst of me,” Ricardo says, clucking his tongue.
I shrug. “You’ve presented your ass multiple times.”
“I’m not trying to patronize you. I hope you understand that.”
“Then you have a lot of work to do on your tone.” And we’re getting nowhere fast, talking in circles the way we always do.
It’s been the same since the Vittorios approached my father with an alliance. They weren’t exactly new on the scene but their growth meant they either needed to establish themselves as friends or enemies.
Enter Ricardo.
The chemistry was there and palpable from the start, desire always lurking beneath our skins like beasts ready to burst through. Then, one or both of us would come to our senses and reel it back. Mostly Ricardo. Nine out of ten occasions where the flirtation turned into banter, acidic or sexy, he was the one who pulled back and reminded me he didn’t want me.
Last night, something changed between us.
We took a step in a different direction. My life took an abrupt turn as well, and I wonder if Ricardo remembers that I’m personally affected by whatever happens or if he sees me as a burden, a problem to solve.
Sarah returns with a tray before he has a chance to say something shitty back, and he lifts his head to her with a knowing smile. “Thank you, darling,” he murmurs.
She sets him with a heated grin in return. The gesture sours something in my stomach like milk left too long in the sun. All the women in the club know him, yes, but some of the looks go a little beyond appreciative.
Ricardo is a good-looking man. I know it, he knows it, anyone who looks at him from an outside perspective sees it immediately. But watching the way the women watch him doesn’t help me feel any more settled. It only pisses me off.
Until I glance down at the glass Sarah sets in front of me and see a bowl of fruit and some chocolates beside it.
My assessment of her sharpens as I lift my chin to meet her gaze. This time, she winks at me before setting down both cups of espresso.
“Anything else you need, boss?” she asks Ricardo with a purr.
“No, thank you, Sarah.” He gestures for her to leave, and she click-clacks away from us, the roundness of her ass catching even my attention.
Ricardo stares at the fruit on the tray rather than her ass. “I shouldn’t have let you go hungry. I won’t make that mistake again.”
It takes every bit of effort I possess not to lunge at the fruit like a starving animal and shove every bit into my mouth at the same time. Instead, I force myself to take a sip of rich, dark coffee before lifting a piece of melon. “I’m a human being. I have needs.”
Ricardo only inclines his head and falls silent through my first few pieces of melon. Shit. My stomach growls the longer I take to eat, but with him watching…each bite is deliberate, slow.
“I know you want to help, Isabella, but this is the sort of situation requiring not only diplomacy but ruthlessness,” he says when I’m halfway through. “It’s not your scene.”
I swallow over the bite I just took. “I’m well aware.”
“There is no need to take it as an insult. I wasn’t trying to be insulting.”
“Then stop making everything you say sound like one. You think I have no grasp of the situation? I didn’t know accepting a bracelet that is fucking mine would start a war. In a neutral spot.”
My nanny had meant the world to me in so many ways, often a more involved presence than my own mom. And when she gave me that bracelet…doesn’t he get it. I never thought I’d see it again, or her.
“Which is why you’re ill-equipped to go in and bring down the operation,” he insists with equal blandness.
