Leave Me Breathless: The Black Rose Collection

by Dakota Willink

  “There,” Kristine pointed. “Three new deposits and two withdrawals.” Gino placed his hand over Kristine’s guiding the mouse, clicking on a transfer nearly a month ago. Gino kept his emotions in check as he read the name, his suspicions right on target.

  “Have you shown this to anyone else?”

  “Yes, Sully, but he said not to worry, he would take care of it.”

  Kristine swallowed hard as Gino continued to stare at the screen, his eyes flashing over the numbers again and again.

  “I don’t know what made me check the account tonight. Only after I finished paying your household bills, Giovanni, did I—” Kristine realized her mistake a second too late, slapping her hand over her mouth. Fear gripped her as Gino’s eyes slowly raised to meet hers.

  “I’m so sorry,” Kristine whispered, tears stinging the back of her eyes. “I’ve typed it a thousand times…” She’d been so careful to follow the rules, and now she’d broken the biggest one of them all.

  Gino wanted to hear her say his name again, bathe himself in the sweet way it dripped from her lips. “Two things, Kristine,” Gino spoke softly, reaching into the pocket of his slacks. “One, tell no one you’ve shown this to me. Two,” he removed his money clip from the cash in his hand, a payment he’d collected earlier that morning for the guns he’d purchased from Stavros. “Have any of the other guys shown you any gratitude?”

  “They say thank you, bring lunch and keys to the cars. But they do that for all the girls, not just me.”

  “And the hair,” Gino pointed at her blonde locks. “Did you pay for this, or did one of my men?”

  “Tony paid, but I didn’t ask him to. He paid for all the girls, but I gave Simone money for a tip.”

  Gino nodded his head, reaching down, he took her trembling hand into his. Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he placed a kiss in the center of her palm, and then folded her fingers around the cash. “Come to me when you need more.”

  Wanton need and horror warred within Kristine, the skin of her palm set ablaze from the kiss. Nodding her head, Kristine never broke eye contact with Gino until she reached the door to the stairs. Forgoing her aversion to the sports car, Kristine ripped the keys from her desk along with her purse, speeding back to the Waldorf. She’d said his full name, one of the ‘don’ts’ she swore to keep. Instead of the world falling in around her, he’d kissed her hand and gave her money. Perhaps this was his way of letting her slide, giving her a mulligan for being the new girl she reasoned as she readied for bed.

  Entering the office the next morning, Kristine’s rationale from the previous night flew out the window as she found her desk covered with shopping bags. Purses, shoes, and more clothes than she could wear in a lifetime awaited her. An envelope with her name scrolled across the front rested in her chair, inside was more cash, a black credit card with her name on it and a note.

  Allow me to show my appreciation and gratitude.

  -Giovanni

  12

  Gino watched Kristine from the security cameras he’d placed in her office last night, loving the look of shock on her face. He’d called Gazelle, promising her a week-long stay at his house in Sicily if she could pull together a wardrobe for Kristine before morning. A visit to the home of his bank’s president produced the bank card with her name on it.

  “She doesn’t have a clue, does she?”

  Sully couldn’t believe his eyes when he walked into the office and found his brother adding the finishing touches to Kristine’s desk in the form of a note.

  Gino reluctantly shifted his eyes from Kristine’s beautiful face to the quizzical one of his brother. “She’s a breath of fresh air in the middle of a polluted street.” Returning his gaze to the beauty who, in a single act of bravery, had captured his attention.

  “Nina isn’t going to take being replaced very well. Especially by a girl like Kristine.”

  “Nina is nothing more than a distraction; she’s known this from the beginning.” Gino roared back, his tolerance for this subject long since gone.

  “True,” Sully agreed. “But you have to admit she has a certain finesse when it comes to sucking dick.”

  Gino remained silent, taking more pleasure watching Kristine than bantering with Sully. Seemingly overnight he’d gone from the boy his father attempted to mold into the man his mother taught him to be; no longer interested in the game and wanting more out of life than a decent blowjob.

  “Listen, I dragged my feet making my feelings known to Kristine. I’m assuming based on the grand gesture going on downstairs you’re staking your claim. I have to ask; will you be sharing her like the others?”

  The cold stare on Gino’s face spoke louder than any words could to Sully. “Fine, fine,” Sully raised his hands in surrender, standing from his chair. “You should find her a place to live, if I can’t sample her, I won’t pay for her hotel room anymore.”

  Kristine pinched herself as stood surrounded by designer names she’d read about, but never dreamed of owning.

  “Holy shit, who’s attention did you steal?” Dani, one of the girls, questioned as she lifted one of the bags from the top of the mountain.

  Gino leaned over, turning up the volume on his computer as he waited for Kristine to answer Dani’s question. He’d shown one other girl this level of attention, her name he’d sworn to never mention again. The memory of her and how the Sicilian moon danced off her blonde hair was still as fresh as the summer it happened. He’d snuck out of the family home, equipped with a handful of cash and the legacy of his last name, which held the power to open even the most secure door. He’d spotted her outside a local bar, her head tossed back in laughter at something one of her friends said. Using charm he possessed in spades, he approached, bought her a new drink and then took her to a private spot on the beach. They met every night for the next month, gifting each other their virginity. Once the L word was exchanged, Gino arranged for the young girl come to his home and introduce her to his mother, but she made one excuse after another as to why she couldn’t attend. Frustrated, Gino turned to Luca, his mother’s bodyguard, for advice, who questioned the name of the lucky girl. Gino never forgot the pain in his chest when he and Luca stood on the same beach where he’d professed his love for the girl as she confessed she was the girlfriend of a local law official, who’d been recording their time together. In his young age, he’d sworn off relationships, turning instead to the whorish ways his father demonstrated. Gino hated blonde hair, forever associating it with the deception and pain he suffered.

  “Mr. Vitale,” Kristine muttered, the card still clenched in her hand. “Gino,” she clarified. “He’s being nice, is all, I helped him with a—"

  “Gino isn’t nice.” A collective chorus rang out from the crowd of girls who’d surrounded her, pulling her attention from the mountain of gifts to the honest faces of her coworkers. Until this very moment, Kristine would have agreed with them, but between his forgiveness of her breaking the rules and now this, Kristine couldn’t decide.

  Gino waited for the squeal which usually followed a showering of this magnitude, but was pleasantly surprised when Kristine remained silent, her tiny fingers drifting along the satin ribbons.

  “You can take everything you’ve given Kristine back, Sully. I’d prefer to take care of my girl’s needs from now on.”

  Sully smiled at his brother, crossing the room to offer his hand in congratulations. The pair watch as Kristine sat heavily in her chair, discovering the bow wrapped box in the center of her desk.

  “She’s beautiful, Gino, but not your usual type. What gives?”

  “I could ask you the same thing, Sully.” Gino leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest with a raised brow. “Just because I’m not in the office, doesn’t mean I don’t see what goes on.”

  Nodding, Sully began to walk around the office, “She’s not vapid. Or waiting like a tiny bird for the next feeding, ready to pounce like a hungry animal every time the door opens and one of the
guys walks in like the rest of them. She’s pretty, but not like the other girls in the office.” Turning in Gino’s direction, “Your turn, why this girl and not Felicia?”

  Gino held his brother's gaze, “You said it yourself, Kristine isn’t vapid or full of malice. She’s hardworking and honest, I could go on and on, but the biggest difference, had I given Felicia a gift like I did Kristine, she would find a dozen things wrong with each item, criticizing every stitch of clothing instead of being gracious and saying thank you. And before you turn this into something it isn’t, Sully, my attention is more than a curiosity of how tight her snatch is.” Gino turned from his brother, laid his chin on his fist, his focus on Kristine as she opened the cellphone he’d purchased for her. “She’d rather take public transportation than use the cars we lend her. She makes the lunch we have delivered last three days instead of tossing out what she doesn’t eat at one sitting. She’s here early and works well past the time the others leave. Besides, you said she checks out, doesn’t she?”

  “She’s clean as fucking glass, Gino.”

  “Then why wouldn’t I want to get to know her better? To spend time with a girl who appreciates me, instead of listening to Felicia bitch about putting a ring on her fucking finger. Our father may have this grand scheme of me wearing a fucking tux and standing at the end of an aisle in church, but I don’t.”

  The phone on Gino’s desk began to ring, a mega-watt smile splitting Gino’s face.

  “Hello, Beautiful,” Gino waved Sully out of the room. “Let me take to dinner, show you how a real man treats a lady?”

  Sully stood outside the closed door, leaning his body against the hardwood. He hated losing to his older brother, but this time seemed to hit him harder than the rest. He’d waited too long to make his feelings known to Kristine, something he hoped his brother’s history for averting relationships would rectify. She was too good for either of the Vitale brothers, but damn it, he wanted her regardless.

  His vibrating phone sent him further into the hall, afraid of what Gino would do if he found him lurking. Glancing at the screen, a hopeful smile graced his lips, he’d waited a long time for this call, sending up a silent prayer for good news before answering.

  “What have you got for me?”

  Sully listened as the male voice on the other end confirmed what he’d suspected.

  “You’re positive?”

  Nodding out of habit. “Thank you, I’ll have the other half of your money delivered this afternoon.”

  Ending the call, Sully jogged down the steps and into the garage. Climbing behind the wheel of his convertible, he tossed one last look at the building before pressing a button on the steering wheel, a female voice filled the tiny space.

  “Meet me in twenty minutes. I have news you’re never gonna believe.”

  13

  Kristine ran her fingers over the blue satin dress Gino had gifted her. The fabric felt both soft and sensual at the same time, however, the price tag dangling from the sleeve forced her to return it to the garment bag, choosing a pair of clean slacks and matching sweater instead.

  She’d promised him dinner, an opportunity to get to know one another better. While she would love to know this mysterious man, she found it hard to accept the truckload of gifts he’d given.

  Kristine didn’t miss the hushed conversations about how upset Nina would be when she learned of Gino’s interest in her. She’d tried all afternoon to call her, reaching her voicemail instead. She’d gladly give everything back and suffer Gino’s wrath if his kindness jeopardizes their friendship.

  Sliding her foot into her shoes, the new phone Gino gave her dinged with an incoming message, no doubt from him as no one else had the number.

  I’m downstairs, waiting…not so patiently.

  Kristine rolled her eyes as she shoved the phone in her purse, the notion of what her granny would have thought about Gino’s lack of coming to her door.

  Entering the lobby, Kristine is stunned stupid as she took in the man across the room, his head lowered and phone to his left ear. Even in this ordinary position, his charisma captured the attention of every warm-blooded woman in the room. When his eyes found hers, the memory of the day he fell from the treadmill flashed in her memory, eliciting a smile on her lips and a blush to her face. She had lost count of the number of times she’d climaxed to the image of the tattooed body under his pressed suit.

  Gino ended his call unceremoniously, Kristine’s smile stirring something deep inside him. Perusing her clothing, he hid his disappointment in her choice of wearing the clothing she arrived with. He’d give her time to adjust to his world, easing her into all the luxurious things he’d purchased already.

  “You look beautiful,” Gino stepped toward her, his eyes remaining on her beautiful lips and the smile which told him of more than her joy in seeing him, but of a secret she held.

  “Thank you,” Kristine looked down at her feet. “I would have worn one of the beautiful dresses you gave me, but—"

  “Next time,” Gino interrupted, placing his hand on the center of her back, gently leading her in the direction of his waiting car. “For now, I have something else to show you.”

  Kristine felt an odd sense of comfort walking beside Gino. It was more than his tall stature which towered over her or the confident way he carried himself.

  Gino wrapped his arm around Kristine as the automatic doors slid open, allowing the freezing wind to send a shiver down her body. Chivalry was a useless act in Gino’s opinion, a term better left in the dictionary. Being with Kristine made him rethink his opinion, wanting to do everything he could to keep her close.

  Halting in her steps, Kristine took in the sleek car idling against the curb. The silver, iconic cat perched on the hood as if ready to pounce. “Wow, new car?”

  Gino smiled as he opened the door, “Yes, do you like it?”

  Kristine briefly studied his face, she could be honest with him and say the one he drove this morning looked fine to her, or she could skirt the parameters and tell him yes. “It’s nice, congratulations.”

  Gino rounded the front of the car, sliding into the driver’s seat and pulling into traffic. “I’m glad you like it,” he paused, the anticipation of her reaction eating at him since he’d purchased it. “Because it’s yours.”

  Kristine’s breath caught in her throat, her hand gripping the seat belt across her chest. “Mine?”

  “I told the guys not to give you a loaner anymore. I’d prefer you to have a more reliable car.” The lie felt heavy on his tongue. He had no qualms with any of the other girls going to jail if they were pulled over by the cops, he couldn’t stomach the same thought of Kristine.

  At a loss for words, knowing the rules gave no room for argument, Kristine smiled and said the only thing she could. “Thank you.”

  Kristine tried not to feel overwhelmed as she walked down the aisle of the restaurant with Gino. He’d taken her hand as she climbed from the car, leading her passed the hostess stand and toward a roped-off table she assumed was reserved for celebrities.

  “I’ve taken the liberty to order for you. The Pasta Fagioli here is some of the best I’ve ever tasted, and Nina mentioned you have a fondness for it.”

  Kristine loved Italian soup. She and her granny made a batch every Christmas with the little holiday bonus she was given from the Coop, eating like kings for days off the heavenly meal.

  “She’s right, I do love Pasta Fagioli.” Kristine agreed, her nerves making their appearance as she opened her mouth to clear the air. “Speaking of Nina,” Kristine paused, clearing her throat. “I overheard the girls talking today, they mentioned how upset Nina will be when she finds out you’re paying attention to me.” Readying herself to leave the table, hoping like hell she would still have a job if she got up and left. “She’s my friend—"

  “Nina knows the rules better than anyone,” Gino interrupted. “I spoke with her this afternoon when I picked up your car. My brother had the same concern, but I rem
inded her of the limitations of our relationship.”

  Nodding, Kristine remained silent, understanding why her repeated calls went to voicemail. While she loved the take-charge and protectiveness Gino’s alpha persona dictated, he was clueless to how much in love with him Nina was.

  Gino leaned his arms on the edge of the table. “Tell me something about yourself, Kristine. Something no one else knows.”

  Caught off guard by his question, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “After my granny died, I found a box full of baby pictures.” Reaching for the chain around her neck, pulling the delicate piece of jewelry from inside her sweater. “And this ring.”

  Gino reached across the small table, “May I?”

  Removing the chain from around her neck, “Of course. There’s an inscription inside, but the letters are too worn to make out what is written.”

  Taking the ring between his fingers, Gino recognized the crest immediately. “It’s beautiful. Any idea who it belonged to?”

  “No, my granny never married and had no living relatives. I’d assumed she found it at a garage sale or something, maybe put it away and forgot about it.”

  Gino flipped the ring, the engraving had indeed faded, but it was a phrase he knew well. “You’re right, too faded to tell.” He lied handing the ring back to her, relishing the feel of her skin against his.

  Kristine slipped the chain around her neck, looking around the room for a sign for the bathroom. “I need to use the lady's room. Can you point me in the right direction?”

  Gino stood from his seat, pointing to the left of their table. “Down the hall, last door on your right.”

  He waited until she was far enough down the hall before pulling his phone from his pocket. “Hey, I need to ask you something about one of your friends.”

  Kristine’s shoulders slumped as she took in the length of the line to the lady’s room. Pulling out her new phone, she laid her thumb on the screen, still amazed she had such a sophisticated piece of technology at her fingertips. Using the wait to peruse her favorite social media to avoid uncomfortable conversations with those in line around her. Kristine lands on a post from the city of Middleton, a photo of the general store with the caption of store closing soon.