Page 9

Two weeks since the party, and two weeks of having Serafina make an obvious effort not to be alone with me. Which is difficult, because we work together. That’s what has made it so obvious.

Her attitude towards me has changed, too. She’s distant and overly polite, and it’s bothering me to no end.

I can’t figure out what I did wrong.

I’ve obviously done something to offend her badly. But what is it?

I keep running over that night in my mind, and while there were moments that might have caused issues—me almost kissing her, me dancing with Oliva after practically pushing Serafina away…

She was really upset when she got out of my car that night. Almost crying.

She didn’t say anything then and she hasn’t said anything about it since.

It’s driving me crazy not to know.

How can I fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong?

I miss her.

I miss laughing with her, flirting with her, and the tense but beautiful moments we used to share.

I’m still utterly obsessed with her, so having her withdraw from me has made her even more prominent in my thoughts.

But I’ve found a solution.

Arkady is sitting opposite me in the office chair on the other side of my desk. He’s sunk low, swiping through his phone, looking totally relaxed.

“I don’t know if it’s a good lead,” he says without looking up from his phone.

“The only thing we can do is go check it out,” I comment.

“Yeah, but that means someone has to go to New York,” he grumbles.

“I’ll go. I have a few clients up there, so I can go under the pretense of business. It’ll be a good way to look around without making it obvious.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Excellent. I really didn’t want to go—there’s a party this weekend, and Blacksmith and I don’t want to miss it.”

I shake my head. Typical Arkady. His priorities aren’t always straight, but he has a good heart.

“I’ll make the arrangements and head out tomorrow morning.”

Arkady pushes himself to his feet with a grunt. “Cool man, keep me in the loop.”

“Will do.”

He leaves the office, and I immediately get on the phone, booking hotels and making a few reservations—things that Serafina could do for me, but my plan is to surprise her with this instead.

Just after lunch, I’ve got the entire trip planned and arranged.

I walk into her office with a mischievous grin on my face.

She looks up from her laptop and smiles tightly at me. “Nico, is there something I can help with?”

“Actually, yes,” I say, sitting on the edge of her desk.

“Alright, I’m just finishing this e-mail, then I can—“

“You can pack a bag for a few nights in New York.”

I grin, watching the confusion flash over her face.

“New York?” she murmurs.

“I have some clients in New York that I want to check in with, and I prefer to do it in person. It would be valuable to have you join me. You can meet them. You can learn about their business.”

“Oh, wow,” she says, her brows raising and her eyes glittering with excitement. “I’ve never been to New York.”

She’s so beautiful when she’s smiling.

“I’ll come by your apartment tomorrow morning at six to fetch you. We can go to the airport together.”

***

New York is busy, colorful, and exciting, and Sera is loving every moment of it.

I’ve taken her to the fanciest restaurants, the most elegant boutiques, and spoiled her with designer clothing that she tried hard to say no to—but I insisted.

We’ve had cocktails with views of the Statue of Liberty and eaten exotic foods made by the world’s best chefs.

And through all of this, the moment when I saw her really, truly light up was when we walked into one of the biggest tech companies in the world.

They have a display in the lobby of their building showing off their advanced inventions.

She was enthralled. Her fascination peaked as she moved from one display to the next, asking questions and letting her curious mind run wild.

The expensive dresses and fancy restaurants didn’t impress her even half as much as this.

I chuckle as I watch her corner one of their staff and blast him with questions. Luckily, the guy is efficient and knows what he’s talking about, so he’s able to make her experience more enjoyable.

I follow just behind them, listening to her and loving the way she shines in situations like this.

“If you like this sort of thing, you should go to the Museum of Technology in the old city,” the employee remarks.

She looks at me with wide, excited eyes. “Can we?”

I laugh again. “Of course, we can. I’ve got to stop somewhere first, but I’m free this afternoon.” I’ve never known a girl who is so competitive.

She does a little happy dance, wiggling her hips in the cutest way.

I shake my head.

This girl will be the death of me.

I can’t get enough of her.

I need to look into the lead for Andrei, but I don’t want Sera involved in any of that, so I drop her off at the mall. She doesn’t look impressed as we pull up outside.

“I’m not going to be long. But I need you to please do this for me,” I say, handing her my credit card. I don’t need the new laptop I’ve ordered, but I do need to keep her busy for a bit while I follow the lead.

She scrunches her nose. “Is there no way to order it online? I don’t like malls. I’d rather come to the meeting with you.”

I grin and shake my head. “There will be plenty of meetings for you to join in the future. I don’t have time to attend the meeting and fetch the laptop.”

She nods. “Alright,” she sighs, a little sulky. What makes this funny to me is how efficient she is at being my assistant—normally, she wouldn’t question any work-related requests—but the idea of missing a meeting has made her very upset.

“You can walk around a bit if you finish before me. If you see anything you like, get it—just use my card.”

***

Unfortunately, the lead is a complete waste of time. A total dead end.

The guy whose name I was given clearly has no idea who Andrei is. He’s thick as a plank, and I don’t think he could put together decent mac and cheese, never mind orchestrate an escape plan for someone running from the mafia.

I’m frustrated, disappointed, and tired when I fetch Serafina from the mall. She packs the laptop into the trunk of the car and climbs into the passenger seat, smiling. “How was the meeting?” she asks, eager to find out.

“It was alright,” I say tightly, lost in thought about why the intel was so bad. I wonder who Arkady’s source was. Did they send us out here on purpose, some distraction technique?

“Nico?”

“Mm?”

“Did it not go well? You look upset,” she says, frowning.

“It was okay,” I say, shaking my head. “Uh, let’s go through to the museum place. Where was it again?” I’m distracted and worried. I don’t like being played like that.

“No, let's skip the museum today. It looks like you need a drink instead,” she says, reaching out and touching my leg. “You win some, you lose some, right?”

She smiles, trying to reassure me that even though the meeting I didn’t actually have went badly, it’s not the end of the world.

My heart melts a little, looking at the warmth in her eyes.

“I would love to have a drink with you,” I nod, pulling out onto the road and heading towards a cocktail bar at the waterfront next to our hotel. It’s a gorgeous place with great music and great views.

As soon as we sit down at the bar, Serafina orders two shots of tequila.

“It’s a bit early for tequila, isn’t it?” I muse, watching her lean against the bar.

“It’s never too early for tequila when you’re in New York,” she says with a serious expression.

She slides one of the shots over to me and winks, teasing me with her beauty.

Three shots of tequila and two cocktails later, we’re both laughing, sitting out on the deck. The early evening air is growing darker around us and my heart is happier and more relaxed than it has been in a very, very long time.

“But what made you choose this career?” she asks, her eyes glittering in the fading light.

“Mm. I don’t know if I chose it, not directly. It’s more accurate to say that it is the role I was destined to take in my family.”

“Why?”

Her curiosity has been the driving force of our conversation all afternoon.

“My siblings and I—we wanted to build something together. Each of us had a role to play, and this was mine.” I shrug.

I don’t want to accidentally steer the conversation towards my family's ties to the mafia. I specifically chose to work in a part of the business that didn’t include dealing with the mafia as much as possible.

My brothers deal with that side of things. I run the legitimate businesses.

“Do you have any brothers and sisters?” I ask, leaning back in my chair.

“Nope. I’m an only child. And I lost my parents in a car accident when I was pretty young.” She presses her lips together.

“I’m sorry. I never knew.”

“It was long ago. I still think about them often. I miss them all the time. But it’s okay.

I wish I had siblings so that I still had family, but growing up an only child wasn’t as bad as most people make it out to be.

Sure, I would love to know what it’s like to have a massive family, but being an only child had its perks, too. ”

I can tell she doesn’t want to focus on the loss of her parents, so I take her lead and leave that conversation for another time, if she ever wants to talk about it.

“Is that so? What kind of perks?” I ask.

“I never had to share my chocolates on Easter,” she laughs.

I laugh, shaking my head.

“Ark used to eat all of his chocolates right away and then sneak around the house stealing everyone else’s. He was a nightmare.”

The hours roll by, and I find myself moving closer and closer to her. The longer we sit here and talk, the more intimate our interaction becomes, until our chairs are right next to each other and she’s sitting with her legs between mine, my hand on her thigh.

She’s a little tipsy, not drunk, but glowing and relaxed.

All I want to do is kiss her.

It’s all I’ve wanted to do for the past hour as the tension between us builds.

“I think we should get going before they start putting away the chairs and kick us out,” I joke.

“I am a little sleepy. Thank you for a fun night, Nico. I haven’t laughed that much in—goodness, I don’t even know how long.”

I leave my car parked where it is, and we walk across the street to our hotel.

Our rooms are on the same floor.

Standing in the foyer, waiting for the elevator, I’m staring at her. She’s wearing a beautiful short blue dress that floats around her hips beneath her navy coat.

Her leather boots are long, reaching up over her knees, looking sexy as fuck as she leans forward and punches the elevator button again. She’s impatient, and it’s making me smile.

The doors slide open, and she giggles, stepping inside and leaning against the far wall.

I step in after her, press the button to take us to the top floor, and then turn towards her.

She looks up at me, her eyes are seductive and inviting.

All reason melts away as I wrap my hand around her waist and pin her against the mirrored wall.

She gasps against my lips when I press my mouth over hers.

Finally, after fighting the desire for far too long, I kiss her.

Her hands run up my back, flooding me with electric spikes of heated lust. I thread my fingers around the back of her neck and deepen the kiss as my cock throbs, rock-hard against her.

She’s making the most beautiful sounds, little moans that escape her mouth and touch my lips.

Lifting her, I wrap her legs around my waist and grab her ass, letting my fingers slip between her legs and brush over her panties, delighted by the soft warmth of her.

She moans again, a little louder, pushing me closer over the edge.

I tug her panties aside, my fingers brushing over her pussy, warm and wet and ready for me. I slide my finger into her, and she gasps for air, rocking her hips forward to encourage me.

The elevator doors chime and slide open.

I don’t put her down. I keep her in my arms, my fingers inside her as I walk down the hallway towards my hotel room.

She is moving against my hand, holding on to me with her arms locked around my neck while she kisses me with urgent, feverish lust.

I practically kick the door down trying to open it, savagely desperate to get her inside where I can do things to her that I have been dreaming about since the first day I set eyes on her.

The door closes behind us, and my hands tug her coat off, letting it fall to the floor before I drop her onto the bed, immediately lying over her and pinning her gorgeous body beneath mine.

Leaning back, I look down at her. She takes my breath away and leaves me speechless. I can’t believe I finally have her.

Serafina’s eyes flash with tension.

“Are you okay?“ I ask, worried.

“I’m a virgin.” She blurts out her confession in a panic, her eyes darkening as she shifts beneath me, trying to get away.

This is the last thing I expected her to say.

And the most divine words that could have fallen from her lips.

“You’ve never been with anyone ?” I ask, my voice thick with a dark streak of possessive desire that is consuming me. She’s untouched? A virgin? I can’t believe this. Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly be more turned on than I am. My cock aches to take her, to be the first man inside her.

“I’ve never—I’m just—“ she stammers nervously.

I wrap my hand around her jaw and kiss her again. How is it possible for her to be any more perfect?

She melts against my mouth, letting out a soft breath of air.

But then she tenses again.

She’s nervous, hesitating.

And the last thing I want to do is force anything on her that she’s not ready for.

I stop, rolling to the side, but keeping my arm around her. I’m so reluctant to let her go, even if we aren’t going to have sex; I want her near me. I want her all to myself.

She has nothing to be embarrassed about.