“Alessia.”
His hand was rough but warm, and he held my much smaller hand for longer than was necessary. As he released my fingers, his thumb stroked along the back of my hand, sending tingles across my skin, cascading up my arm and down into the pit of my belly.
“Italian?”
“Yes,” I replied. “With the enormous family to prove it.”
He smirked, but before he could respond, the elevator jarred to life. Just as we started to rise, he lowered his hand and pressed the stop button. The elevator ground to a halt again, and my brows creased in confusion.
“Give me your phone,” he ordered softly, palm outstretched.
Later, when I looked back on the moment, I wondered why on Earth I had obeyed the man. He easily could have taken my phone so that I couldn’t call for help and assaulted me, but that thought never cross my mind. His words were like a whip, snapping me into action.
He arched a brow. “Unlock it, Alessia.”
My name on his tongue was the sweetest nectar I could have imagined—delicious, tempting, and dangerously addictive. The slightest twinge of fear pricked at the back of my neck. Somewhere deep down, I sensed this man had the potential to undo me—take me in, rearrange my insides, and spit me back out after I was unrecognizable.
I chided myself for overreacting. This was a five-minute conversation with a man in an elevator, not an arranged marriage. I needed to get a grip on myself. As soon as he pressed the button again, we would be on our way, and I would likely never see him again.
A buzzing sounded in his breast pocket. He pulled out his phone, began to type, my phone still firmly cradled in his other hand. “I’d like to hear more about you and your family, but it looks like our ride is almost over.”
He closed the space between us, and instead of handing back my phone, he reached over and slid the device back inside my purse, bringing us within inches of one another. His pulsing heat radiated off him, tugging at me to close the gap and press my body against his. My eyes leapt up to his, my mouth softly parted as I struggled to keep my wits.
“I’ll be in touch,” he rasped before stepping back and pressing the button behind him without severing our connection. The moment the doors opened, he was gone.
Holy fuck, what just happened?
It was like a scene from a movie—that crap didn’t happen in real life. Yes, I was an attractive woman, but that usually meant I got cat-calls from construction workers and hit on by slimy douchebags. Rarely was the attention wanted, and the feelings were almost never reciprocated on my end.
I only had a matter of seconds to gather my thoughts and collect myself before the elevator doors opened onto my floor. I had started my morning feeling good about my day. Now, I was positively beaming, unable to contain the wide smile on my face. Tuesdays were still not Friday, but they were a hell of a lot better than Monday.
My dad’s office was the only one along the wall of windows that was fully enclosed for privacy. It was on the opposite end of the floor as my office, so I didn’t run into him all that often. In fact, my job in marketing didn’t require a whole lot of interaction with the CEO’s position, but every now and then, I’d have a budgeting issue or some other business matter that needed to be signed off on by my dad.
On this particular occasion, I had budgeting paperwork that needed his signature. When I approached the open door, I heard my dad’s steady voice as he spoke to someone from within his office. I listened at the door for a moment to decide if I should wait or come back later.
“I called to speak with the concrete rep this morning, discovered the guy killed himself,” came my father’s voice.
“The Venturi kid? The one you met with last week?” I recognized that voice as well—it was my dad’s long-time best friend, my Uncle Sal. I wasn’t sure if Sal was technically related to me—he wasn’t an uncle but had carried the honorary title since I was little. He’d been a part of our family for as long as I could remember. He’d even been a pallbearer at my brother’s funeral.
“Yeah. Hung himself just a day after I talked to him. Not sure how that will affect my price negotiations. If that cousin of his takes over, it’ll be a nightmare.” My dad had never been particularly empathetic, so his comment didn’t surprise me.
“Frederico?”
“Yeah, that man’s a lunatic,” my dad grumbled.
I decided their talk wasn’t overly-sensitive, so I poked my head around the corner. “Excuse me, am I interrupting?” I cautiously cut in.
“Alessia—my favorite marketing pro!” called Uncle Sal. “You aren’t interrupting at all, come in.”
“Hey, Uncle Sal! What are you doing up here?”
“I was nearby and thought I’d steal your dad for lunch. How have you been?” He rose from the chair he’d been occupying and gave me a hug, kissing my cheek like he always did.
“I’m great, just had some paperwork for Dad.”
“Enzo, this girl of yours is going to run you out of a job soon!” he joked with a warm smile.
“We shall see—she has a way to go yet,” he said coolly. My dad had remained seated behind his desk, not including himself in our exchange.
Sal waved him away like my father’s comment was rubbish. “This one’s a hard worker. I have no doubt she’ll be sitting in this office soon enough.”
“Alright, let’s head to lunch before you have me forced into retirement.” My dad slowly rose and walked to where his jacket hung on the wall. “Alessia, you can leave the paperwork on my desk. I’ll have a look at it when I get back.”
I offered the two men a tight-lipped smile as they said goodbye. I had no delusions I would be invited to lunch. Whether it was because I was still a child in their eyes or merely because I was a woman, I wasn’t sure, but whatever the reason, I was not a welcome addition to their party.
A part of me desperately wanted my father to take me under his wing and include me in things like the occasional lunch with associates. My father had never guaranteed me any position at Triton, and there were times like this when I wasn’t sure he truly considered me an option to replace him. Unless he outright told me there was no chance, I wasn’t giving up hope I could rise in the ranks and would continue to do everything I could to make that happen.
3
Luca
I had never wanted to fuck someone in an elevator more than I had wanted to fuck Alessia. I wasn’t convinced she wouldn’t have let me. The way her lips parted, and her breathing became shallow when I was close to her had been ample evidence of how deeply I affected her. I hated to admit it, but her effect on me wasn’t far off.
The red dress she’d been wearing clung to every curve of her beautiful body like the glossy coating on a candy apple. I had wanted to peel back that layer and see the sweet flesh underneath—she promised to be delicious. There were no obvious panty lines. The image of her wearing nothing underneath had my dick swelling as if I was a thirteen-year-old kid again.
Alessia’s thick, dark hair, had been pulled up loosely on top of her head. The style drew my eyes to the delicate column of her neck, not helping the situation in my pants. Her eyes were dark brown and unusually expressive—I could see each and every thought and emotion as it crossed behind those wide, intelligent eyes.
The woman was sophisticated, gorgeous, and dripping with a surprising amount of innocence. That guileless innocence warred with her desire—she had clearly been torn—both drawn to and scared of me. She hadn’t let the fear win out. Most people, even when they had no clue who I was, withered in my presence. A part of Alessia had wanted to withdraw, to cower in a corner of the elevator and keep her eyes downcast, but she hadn’t. She stood tall, and even more intriguing, she had held my eyes. It was surprising how few women or men were capable of that feat.
The woman was even more enticing than I had expected.
Sure, she was gorgeous, which was why I’d zeroed in on her to begin with, but there was somet
hing else about her that called to me. She seemed to possess the unusual combination of backbone with a natural inclination to submit. I found most often women with fortitude had trouble surrendering control, and submissive women were often too weak to hold my interest. There was a sweet spot right in the middle where a woman was strong and confident but also able and willing to bend her will to a man. It made me naturally curious just how far a woman like her could be bent. She would probably argue with my assessment, seeing herself as a strong, independent woman. However, her instant response to my commands was more telling than any argument she could make—her innate tendency was compliance.
If I wanted to get close to a woman like her, I would need to play my cards just right. Too much force and she’d run. Not enough, and she’d lose interest. I would have to set the stage carefully to draw her in.
It was a good thing I loved a challenge.
Interrupting my thoughts, my phone began to buzz in my pocket. I hated the damn thing, but it was a necessity—I did most of my business over the phone.
“Yeah.”
“Our guy’s report came back—the handwriting’s a fake,” said Rafi, one of the few people I trusted in the world. He’d had it rough growing up, and I’d done what I could to help him, which meant he’d been my shadow ever since.
“It’s all connected—it’s got to be them,” I murmured. “We just have to pinpoint who he’s working for.”
“I’m not sure how much time you have before all hell breaks loose.”
“I’m on it.” I hung up the call and attempted to stretch out the tension that coiled in my neck. This job could make or break me. There were people at the very top expecting me to come through—disappointing them was not an option.
The last time I had to worry about disappointing anyone was when my mom had still been around. There was Ari, but she’d probably have thrown a party if I disappeared off the face of the Earth. Proving myself to her had never been an issue. Ma was different. There was nothing worse than seeing her eyes shimmer with sadness when I’d gone off half-cocked or failed in some way to live up to my potential—the potential she saw in me.
I’d been a dumbass kid who thought my mom would be around forever. In two seconds flat, that childish delusion had been shattered. One minute, I was a normal kid, itching to graduate high school, the next, my world became unrecognizable. There was no longer anyone to keep me in line.
The only thing that mattered was revenge.
Ma had been one of the good ones, and I had tested her patience at every opportunity. I spent far too many hours out on the streets with friends, especially during hours of the night when no good can come from wandering about. She raised Ari and me on her own, giving us every advantage she could scrape together. It hadn’t been much, but it was a hell of a lot more than some kids got. She was a hard worker, patient, kind, but also firm. She had expectations of us. That alone was a gift many kids never received, and one I hadn’t appreciated until she was gone.
Often, I’d look to the sky and wonder if she was watching. If she knew the things I’d done. For a while, it weighed on me—the guilt. Over the years, I’d come to terms with who I was and my role in the world. I’d shed my worries about her disappointment like an ill-fitting skin, sluffed off on the rocks, never to be seen again.
Times change, however. Just as my world shifted when my mom died, I could sense a new shift in my trajectory. For the first time in many years, other people were counting on me—watching and waiting to see how I’d perform. I may have fallen short where my ma was concerned, but this time, I wasn’t going to fail.
I was ten years older and a hell of a lot wiser. Wise enough to know that tangling myself with Alessia probably wasn’t the brightest move. I needed an in, and while I could have chosen someone a little frumpier and less appealing, I’d convinced myself the moment I’d seen Alessia that she was the one.
She would make the job far more enjoyable—where was the harm in that?
Two birds, one stone. I was all about efficiency.
It had been weeks since I’d gotten laid. I wasn’t the indiscriminate teenager anymore who fucked anything in a skirt. Whether they knew better or not, women regularly offered themselves up to me on a silver platter. I’d learned over the years that the old adage, quality over quantity, had merit. Any guy with a dick could stick it in a hole—there was no satisfaction in that. The pursuit of something far more refined was infinitely more appealing.
Alessia was the definition of refined.
She would be the perfect quarry, and the hunter in me was clawing to start the chase.
4
Alessia
I had tried not to obsess over the elevator incident, watching television and playing games on my phone that evening, trying to clear my mind. But when I’d laid down in the darkness of my bedroom, all I could think of was the soft curve of his lips and how they’d feel pressed against mine. By morning, I was little more than a puddle of female hormones.
I hadn’t expected to hear from Luca immediately, but I was still disappointed the next morning when my phone showed no missed calls or messages. He didn’t strike me as the type to engage in silly games, but he also didn’t seem like a man who would be desperate for a woman’s attention. He said he would be in touch, and I believed he would, in his own time.
Until then, should I run into him at work, I wanted to make certain he knew what was at stake. I spent a solid hour on my hair alone that morning, ensuring every detail of my appearance was perfect. I may have been a hot mess emotionally, but I was one damn good-looking hot mess.
When I crossed the marble floors of the lobby on my way into work, my eyes were drawn straight to Luca. I wondered if I’d ever get used to the sight of the man. Each time I saw him, he rendered me breathless. He wasn’t just attractive; he was animal magnetism personified. He was every crush and craving, each desire and fantasy, all rolled into one. Something about him called to me on a visceral level, and I was powerless to deny it.
He stood with two other men near the center of the room, listening to one of them talk. Another day and another expensive suit, this time accented with a simple black tie. Compared to the two men he was with, Luca was a formidable presence. Where others were simple evergreens crowded in a forest of trees, he was an ancient redwood, statuesque and imposing. It wasn’t merely height that made the man stand out, it was the powerful aura that surrounded him. People stepped out of their way to give him a wide berth while their eyes were drawn his direction, unable to look away from the man who exuded power from his every pore.
My hands tingled in anticipation at the sight of him, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing how he affected me. Instead of walking over to say hello or letting him catch me staring, I turned my head just before he began to look my direction and took the escalator without a backward glance. Inside, I may have been a teenager fangirling over her celeb crush, but on the outside, I forced an impervious air all the way to the office.
Work was infinitely more enjoyable without Roger there. We had a quick staff meeting in the morning, and I was able to catch up with a couple coworkers I hadn’t spoken to in a while, which made the morning pass quickly and kept thoughts of Luca from occupying my mind. When I finally returned to my desk, I had a text waiting for me.
I saw you watching me.
My body thrummed with excitement at receiving his text. I thought about admitting the truth, but I decided there was no way he could have seen me staring at him. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
His reply was almost instant. Don’t lie to me, ever.
The words sent a shiver prickling down my spine. Had he truly known I’d been watching? How? And how did he manage to be domineering even over a text? I felt like I was back in school, being reprimanded by a teacher, and it automatically elevated my defenses. I’m not making any promises.
I didn’t ask for promises, just honesty.
We
ll, damn.
When he put it that way, I felt like an ass for resisting. Asking for honesty wasn’t so unreasonable—it was a far cry from demanding the truth. Funny the difference a few words could make. Alright, I’ll do my best.
There was no response for several minutes. His other replies had been immediate, and I wondered where he was and what might have his attention. I debated putting the phone down and getting back to work, feeling foolish for staring at a screen, waiting for a reply, but the conversation dots appeared before I could force the phone from my hand.
Let me take you to dinner.
I noted the absence of a question mark—yet another command. Did the man ever ask politely for anything, or was every word out of his mouth an order?
I had an intrinsic reaction to his domineering behavior in person, but over text, I felt more in control. No, I don’t even know you.
Take that, Captain Pushy Pants. Let the man work for his dinner. He may have been above playing games, but apparently, I was not. Plus, Luca was clearly a man who would lose interest in a woman who fell at his feet. No doubt, he had plenty of those in his life.
Isn’t that how we get to know one another?
Yes and no. I usually only go out with people I have a connection to. You could be an axe murderer, for all I know.
How has that been working for you?
Well, fuck.
He was right. I hadn’t had a decent date in months. The last man I’d been out with was an accountant my mom set me up with—the son of some friend of hers. He’d sent his food back three times, complaining about too much garlic, used an inhaler halfway through the meal, and refused to leave a tip because of the imaginary garlic. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Touché. I’ll think about it.
Don’t think too long.
Forever Lies (The Five Families Book 1) Page 3