by K. A. Ware
I had no idea what I wanted to do now that school was over. I considered a graduate degree but I was burned out on school, at least for the time being. It only took me about a week after getting back from New York to start crawling the walls, begging Carlo to give me something to do. If I was going to be home for the foreseeable future he might as well put me to work.
Apparently Carlo liked the idea of keeping me around to work for him because within the month I was overseeing all of his legitimate businesses. Each firm had its own president, while I directed each of them at a high level and managed the parent company. Really, it was mostly reviewing reports and handling the portfolios from each of our lines of business. I was on a bit of a learning curve but I picked things up fast, much to the relief of Nicky, the old man who currently ran things for Carlo. The poor man walked with a limp, using a cane for support. His weathered skin was tan and etched with wrinkles, his hair thinning and snow white. He had deep set watery eyes that were the lightest blue I’d ever seen. When he smiled his entire face scrunched up into a mass of lines causing his eyes to be completely consumed by thick wiry eyebrows.
According to Nicky, he had wanted to retire years ago but Carlo wouldn’t let him until he found a successor that could handle things as well as he did. It was kind of sad seeing as Nicky was about a hundred years old and well overdue for retirement. I understood Carlo’s hesitation to let Nicky go, the old man was still sharp as a tack and his other men weren’t exactly the CEO type.
Glad to be of use, I dove head first into the work. It gave me purpose and a sense of direction. I could see myself doing this long-term, it felt like I was finally pulling my weight and contributing to the family. Another plus was the fact that the men were starting to look at me with more respect, and less like a child they were forced to babysit.
By the time Gina checked out of rehab, I was fully entrenched in the business and Nicky was well on his way to a happy retirement. I still called on him for help from time to time but he spent less time at his office in the city and more time at home with his grandchildren. I had opted to set up shop at the house, commandeering my own office. I also kept an office in the city, where I had a full staff, for when I absolutely had to be present to handle things or take meetings. But I had been away for so long I preferred to work from the comfort of home.
…
Exhaustion weighed heavily on my shoulders as I walked the short distance from my office to Carlo’s. I had put in long ours this week in preparation for my week long staycation with Gina. It was two o’clock in the afternoon and I only had an hour before she would be here. I needed Carlo’s approval on a few changes so I could send them off to the main office and power down for the day.
I had been slowly making changes to some of the procedures and streamlining the management of the businesses so it was easier to oversee at a high level. While Nicky had been good at his job, he was old school. Just converting the various businesses to the same software was going to be a year-long process but it would save so much time when it came to reconciling at the end of the year. The new software would also make it easier to hide the money we were laundering from the illegitimate business dealings into the legitimate ones.
I walked into Carlo’s office but didn’t see him, then I heard the shower running in his adjacent bathroom. Why the man needed a full bathroom in his office when he had one right upstairs in his room I had no idea. Normally, I would have just set the file on his desk and left, but I didn’t have time to wait. I walked over to the bathroom door which was ajar, with every intention of letting him know I was waiting for his approval on these drafts and he needed to hurry his ass up.
All my good intentions were shattered, however, when I reached the entrance to the bathroom and saw his reflection in the mirror through the crack in the door. He was in the glass shower stall opposite the mirror. His forehead pressed to the stone wall beneath the showerhead, the stream of water pounding his back. He was gorgeous, all ripped muscle and tattooed olive skin, but what caught my attention was his hand wrapped around his incredibly hard cock.
My heart started to race, my breaths coming faster and my nipples tingled and tightened. He was working himself at a furious pace and then he groaned. Oh. My. God. I squeezed my legs together, Jesus, I didn’t think I had ever been this turned on before. I didn’t even think it was fucking possible but I was pretty sure I just had a mini orgasm. His speed picked up and his shoulders tightened, his ass clenching, and just before he came he groaned out again.
“Mia,” It was rough and strangled, but it was most definitely my name. I froze as he climaxed and slowed his movements, milking every bit of his orgasm, his breath coming out in ragged pants.
All of a sudden, rage traveled through me. That MOTHERFUCKER! He wanted me. That much was obvious, but how long? I was pretty sure my lust for him was written all over my fucking face and he just left me hanging, looking the lovesick fool.
Oh, hell no.
I quickly backtracked and headed to my office before he could notice I had been there. I shut and locked the door. I was going to torture him. Then, I was going to fuck some goddamn sense into him. I threw the file on the desk and turned towards the mirror behind it. I unbuttoned an extra couple of buttons on my shirt and adjusted myself so you could just barely see the top swell of my breasts and if I leaned just right, the top of my lacey bra was visible as well. Thank God I took up Carlo’s proclivity for dressing up for work even if it was just in the house.
Next, I twisted my long dark hair into a bun and secured it with a pen, pulling out a few strands to make it look like it had been that way for a while. I admired my handiwork in the mirror for another minute and headed back to his office. I was done playing the good girl. The second he said my name in the shower he gave me the green light. I was going full force, he wasn’t going to know what hit him.
Chapter 19
Carlo
I was just fastening my cufflinks after my shower when a knock came at my office door.
“Come in,” I called.
“I have a few things for you to review before I send them off to the main office,” Mia said as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her. She wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes were focused on the contents of the file she was carrying, which gave me a moment to take her in. It looked like she had gotten warm while she was working. Her hair was pulled up exposing her neck and a few buttons had been undone on her shirt.
My heart started thumping harder and my dick twitched in my pants. I had been thinking about her all day after I caught a glimpse of her coming out of the pool from her morning swim. I had been so distracted I had to take a fucking shower in the middle of the goddamn day so I could jerk off and clear my head. Now here she was getting me all hot and bothered again. I wanted her here and I liked the fact that she had chosen to work from home most of the time but it was seriously fucking with my productivity.
She glanced up as she reached my desk. I had to sit down to hide the evidence of my erection. Without a break in stride she rounded the desk and sat on the edge as she laid the file in front of me. Leaning towards me she began listing all the changes that needed my approval. I knew it was important and I should be listening, but at this angle I could see down her shirt and the very top of her white lace bra. Nothing else in the world mattered more than that little bit of lace right now.
“Is it to your satisfaction?” Mia’s voice interrupted my wayward thoughts. Fuck! What the hell had she been talking about? The changes, right.
I cleared my throat, “Yes, this will be fine,” I said and risked a glace up at her face, hoping she hadn’t caught me ogling her. She was smiling.
Okay good.
“Perfect, you just need to sign and initial here and here,” she said pointing at the documents, my mind was still racing to keep up so it took me a second to realize I needed a pen.
“Uh, pen?”
“Oh, here,” she said pulling the pen from her hair, which caused her hair to fall in
soft waves framing her face and breasts perfectly and effectively cut off all oxygen from my lungs.
Jesus Christ, I am so fucked.
Using the last of the blood left in my brain I took the pen from her and quickly signed the documents.
“Thanks, I’ll fax these over to the office right away. I’m going to grab a quick shower and get ready before Gina gets here. We’re still going to dinner right?” she asked as she hopped off my desk and gathered the file.
Did she just say shower?
“Carlo?”
“Yes, of course,” I was acting like a teenage boy. She shouldn’t be able to distract me like this, I was a grown man for Christ sake.
“Okay, are you all right? You look flushed.”
“Fine, not to worry. We’ll leave for dinner at five.”
“If you say so. See you in a bit,” she called over her shoulder as she left.
So, so fucked.
Chapter 20
Mia
I couldn’t wipe the smirk off my face as I left his office, if I had even an inkling of doubt about his feelings towards me before I had absolutely none now. This was going to be so much fun.
…
I had just gotten out of the shower when Elena called up to let me know Gina was here. I threw on a pair of tight yoga shorts and a tank, figuring if I had to run downstairs I might as well take the opportunity to torment Carlo some more. After a quick onceover in the mirror I dashed out of my room and down the stairs. Gina was standing in the foyer, looking fantastic, rehab had done her good. I crashed into her, squeezing her tight. Relieved to finally see her.
“I missed you so much,” I said, burying my face in her hair.
“I missed you too, I’m so sorry Mia,” she sobbed.
“Hey, hey, hey, none of that okay?” I said pulling back and brushing the hair out of her face. “We are going to have so much fun this week, then you are going to finish school and everything will be perfect. Okay?”
She sniffled and nodded her head, “Yeah, okay.”
“Now come on, we need to get ready for dinner and I have so much to catch you up on!” As we turned to the stairs, I saw Carlo standing near the hallway entrance, eyes glued to my ass where I’m sure my shorts had ridden up.
Pfft, men.
Once upstairs I filled Gina in on everything, New York, my new job, finding Carlo in the shower and my subsequent actions. By the time I finished she was rolling on my bed laughing her ass off as tears streamed down her face.
“Oh my God,” she said when she finally caught her breath. “I knew it! I knew you two were into each other!”
“Shut up,” I said, throwing a pillow at her head.
“Oh girl, how long are you going to make him wait?”
“As long as I can hold out I guess. I mean, I’ve been lusting after him for three fucking years. He can suffer a little bit.”
“You are pure evil. This is awesome! So, what are you going to wear tonight?” she asked, bouncing up and down on the bed and clapping her hands like a fucking lunatic.
“Oh I’ve got a little something up my sleeve,” I said with a mischievous grin.
Chapter 21
Carlo
Here I was again, three years later, waiting for the same two girls to come down the stairs so we could head into the city for dinner. So why was I surprised that when Mia came down the stairs, and again, I nearly came in my pants like a fucking teenager?
This time she was wearing red. Again, her dress was modest, with long sleeves, the neckline coming down just below her collarbone, it was form fitting but not obscenely tight and fell mid-thigh. She had on heels that made her legs look incredibly long and could only be described as fuck me shoes. Just when I thought I was going to pass out she stopped a few feet in front of me and did a little spin showing of the back of the dress, or lack thereof. The back was completely open, all the way down to just above her ass, revealing a tattoo that I had never seen. The words ‘colei che resiste vince’ ran down the length of her spine, ‘she who endures conquers’.
So this is what a heart attack feels like.
“How do we look?” she asked, peering over her shoulder at me.
“Beautiful, as always,” my voice sounded choked, even to my own ears. I had no idea how I was going to make it through this evening without throwing her on the table and fucking her senseless.
…
By some act of God I had been able to restrain myself through dinner. I just had to keep it together on the ride home. Then I could lock myself away in my room with a whole slew of new material for what was bound to be an awfully lonely night. We could have stayed in the city and I could have called one of my regular girls, but over the past few years they had become less regular and since Mia’s return from college, non-existent.
Sure, I could have a body to warm my bed and release some pent up tension but that’s not what I really wanted. I knew it would just leave me unsatisfied and even more wound up than I was to begin with. Nope, over the past three months I had come up with a rigorous routine of working out, cold showers and jacking off like a teenager with his first playboy to keep me sane. Sooner or later something was going to give, and after tonight, I was starting to think Mia was fucking with me.
First, there had been the way she showed off her dress, something she would have never done before, but I had chalked that up to her new found confidence. Then, in the limo when she had sat across from me and repeatedly crossed and uncrossed her long, toned, and tan legs. Finally, after dinner when she moaned after every bite of her tiramisu. All that, along with the ping pong eyes from Gina as she watched us like a hawk had me thinking that Mia just might be trying to seduce me. If that was the case she had a rude awakening because I wasn’t going to stand by and allow her to toy with me. Two can play at that game.
First, I had to find out if my suspicions were correct. I sent a quick text to Angelo before we got home.
Me: Need you to put an audio bug in Mia’s room.
Angelo: Why?
Me: Because I fucking said so, do not question me. Do it now before we get home. You have 15 minutes.
Angelo: Okay Boss.
I sat back and shot an inquisitive look at Mia over my glass of scotch. She was huddled together with Gina on the opposite side of the limo. They were whispering to each other and every few minutes one of them would snicker at something the other said. My patience was wearing thin. I wanted to know what her angle was so I could plan my next move. My phone buzzed in my lap with an incoming text.
Angelo: Done.
Me: Good. Meet me in my office with the receiver. We’re pulling in now.
Angelo: Yes sir.
The limo stopped in the circular drive in front of the house. Climbing out first I held the door and helped Mia and Gina out following them into the house.
“Thanks for dinner, Carlo,” Gina said when we entered the foyer before turning to climb the stairs.
“Yes, thank you so much,” Mia said, leaning in to give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She lingered there and whispered in my ear, “Thank you for making tonight special.” Then she turned on her heel and sauntered, yes that was most definitely a saunter, up the stairs.
As soon as she was out of sight I made a beeline for my office.
“Where is it?” I demanded as soon as I walked through the door.
“Right here, sir,” Angelo handed over the headphones that were connected to a laptop on my desk, the recording app was already up and playing the live feed.
“Good, leave.”
“Yes, sir,” he responded, but not before he gave me an uncertain onceover. I didn’t have time for this.
“OUT!” I shouted at him.
He nodded and left the room quickly.
God what the hell was this woman doing to me?
I put on the headphones and turned up the volume, it sounded like they had just made it into her room.
“Oh my God! Mia, that was amazing! He was so worked up, I thoug
ht he was going to blow a gasket when you started moaning during dessert!” Gina whisper shouted, complete it with a squeal.
Mia laughed, “You don’t think it was too much?”
“No way, that man is going to be putty in your hands!”
My hands formed fists on either side of the computer, she had been fucking with me. What the fuck?
“I don’t want him to be putty in my hands, Gina. I want him to suffer.”
A deep sense of dread filled me. No way, Mia wouldn’t betray me, never.
“Well, he is most definitely suffering, did you see his hands shake when he poured that third glass of scotch on the way to the restaurant? Was that the third or fourth time you flashed him your panties?”
“Ha! Joke’s on you, I wasn’t wearing any panties. It serves him right, I mean all this time we could have been fucking each other’s brains out and he’s been holding out on me. Making me think that he saw me as a fucking sister?! I have been torturing myself for the past three years trying to push away my attraction and feeling guilty for wanting him. Ugh!”
Thank God. She wasn’t betraying me, she just wanted to drive me crazy. That I could handle. But what was this shit about her wanting me for three years? She was a child, she had to have known I wouldn’t have gone there with her then. Now, yeah now I would, but not back then.
“I am all about the teasing, you know that, but do you really think he knew? Maybe he thought it was one sided and was going through the same thing?”
“How could he not know? Everyone else did. I tried to hide it I did, but apparently I had lovelorn written across my goddamn forehead.”
“What do you mean everyone else did? I didn’t know. I mean thought I knew, but I didn’t think you knew yourself Mia.”
What the hell? This was getting confusing.
“Ugh, Al. He cornered me during our first Christmas here. Told me he knew I had a crush on Carlo. That everyone knew but Carlo, and I had better squash it or I would be in the shit.”