Page 16 of The Mastermind (Mafia Rivals #1)

MADDELENA

Even before I surfaced from the restless sleep I’d fallen into an hour after Sofiya left my suite, I knew this visitor wasn’t friendly.

‘Your security are a bunch of dumbasses I ought to put right out of their pathetic miseries.’

For the second time in three hours, I screeched as the living daylights were scared right out of me. But this time I didn’t freeze. I dove towards my nightstand to retrieve my gun… and found empty space.

‘Looking for this?’

I pivoted towards the voice, my breathing choppy and loud in the silence as I surged onto my knees, primed for flight.

In the light coming from the French doors and curtains I hadn’t pulled completely because I didn’t like sleeping in pitch darkness, I caught the dull glint of my Beretta resting on his knee.

‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ I croaked.

‘I’ll get to that in a minute. First, I should say I love the fact that you sleep in the nude,’ he said, his voice deep and dangerously sensual.

Heat surged, rough and immediate, through my body. Then I gasped when I realised said body was partly on display, the covers having dropped off in my rush to grab the gun now in Cesare Salvatore’s possession.

I double-fisted the duvet and yanked it back over my body.

But it was too late. The sensation of his eyes on my skin coupled with the lurid dream of him he’d just so rudely interrupted, and the fact that he was here at all, in my hotel room, blended into a soup of lust heavily laced with peppery danger – which seemed to be just what my treacherous body craved – and turned my nipples hard, my pussy damp and slippery.

Casually, he set the gun down on the coffee table beside him and flicked on the floor lamp. Having Cesare bathed in light instead of lurking in the dark should’ve been a marginally good thing. I could see my enemy a lot clearer. Read his intentions better.

But all my stupid brain could compute was how indecently gorgeous he looked in another all-dark getup with a camel-coloured holster strapped over his shoulders.

The butt of his gun peeking beneath his left torso and the glimpse of tattoos at his throat, chest and arms ratcheted up the danger levels, and my fists tightened on the covers.

He looked utterly delicious, and my fingers yearned to trace the ink and the rough texture of his five o’clock shadow, beg for it to graze my inner thighs on his way to eating me out and sending me to heaven.

But then hell would inevitably follow, because while he might send me to heaven, discovery by my family would definitely send me to hell if I kept up with this insanity.

My breath shuddered out as I tried, and failed, to drag my gaze from his. ‘What do you want?’

‘I told you I’d get to the bottom of this.’

Fear overtook lust. I fought to regulate my breathing.

Cesare was right in his assessment last night. Lying didn’t come easy to me and I almost wished my instincts weren’t blaring with the strong warning that there was something shady going on in my team. That even the engineers were a little surprised with how well we were doing.

His gaze pierced mine from across the room. ‘It’s time to come clean, Maddelena. Last chance.’

I shook my head. ‘My answer hasn’t changed. I don’t know what’s going on.’

He sighed. I dragged my eyes off him, just to give my brain cells time to rejuvenate, and glanced at the door. I wasn’t going to bother asking him how he’d gotten in here. No doubt Fist had wreaked havoc again on his behalf.

But I was definitely having serious words with my men.

Sofiya was one thing. Cesare getting through a second time was unacceptable.

‘Yeah, you should really do something about that. Because I’m going to be supremely pissed off if it happens again a third time,’ he said, accurately reading the direction of my thoughts.

My eyes widened. ‘You want my people to take you out the next time you try to gain access to me?’

His lip twitch was chock full of conceit. ‘I’d like someone to at least try. It took Fist less than three minutes to lay them all out. I didn’t even need to get involved.’ His head tilted. ‘Maybe I should take care of that for you,’ he mused.

‘What? Hell no.’

After a moment, he shrugged. ‘Sure, I’ll leave it for now. We’ve agreed you’ll give me whatever access I need anyway.’

‘I didn’t agree to anything remotely close to?—’

He held up his hand like a king ordering a subject. My teeth set hard. ‘I’m not rehashing old ground with you.’ His leg dropped and he leaned forward, elbows on knees.

The force of his aura pushed me back onto my knees, the heels digging into my ass reminding me that a two-inch quilt was the only thing between my naked body and Cesare.

‘Your sister’s turned up,’ he said, almost conversationally.

My spine stiffened. ‘So? She’s here to support her family on what’s going to be another one-two win for the team.’ I crossed my fingers beneath the duvet, praying I hadn’t just jinxed us.

‘Is that so? It’s a little curious that the only Mancinelli family member without a clearly defined role should turn up out of the blue at this race, especially when she hasn’t been to a single race all year, don’t you think?’

It would’ve been scary how much he knew about my family’s affairs if I didn’t know mine were equally rabid about knowing the ins and outs of Salvatore business.

‘You should see a doctor about that overactive imagination of yours. And while you’re at it, get some help for those obsessive tendencies too. ’

His teeth gleamed in the dark, and even though I knew he wasn’t amused, the transformation on his face snatched the air clean from my lungs.

Jesus, he was breathtakingly sexy.

‘Bluff and bluster won’t get you out of this, bedda . You know something is going on, even if you’re genuinely blind to it. Are you?’

My skin tightened as the urge to deny it swept over me. But, dammit, I couldn’t commit to the lie. And I knew the second he saw that.

He exhaled slow and steady. ‘Good, now we’re getting somewhere.’

Rising, he crossed the room to the drinks laid out on the cabinet. Examining it in detail, he plucked a bottle of Louis XIII Cognac from the selection and poured a finger.

‘Drink?’

My glare drew another amused twitch of his mouth.

Drink in hand, he turned and leaned his hip against the cabinet, his gaze sweeping over me in blatant appraisal.

‘Let’s cut through the bullshit. Have you directly or indirectly given the authority for someone to infiltrate my team?’

‘Regardless of what you think, I have a top-class team of engineers and aerodynamicists who’ve built an exceptional car.’

‘By copying almost frame by frame from mine,’ he replied. ‘But I get that most teams steal from the best. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all. But you didn’t answer the question, Maddelena.’

I hoped the relative darkness covered my shiver when he said my name with that rough timbre. I scrambled to recall his question, then shook my head. ‘No. For the hundredth time, I haven’t given anyone approval to spy on your team.’

He stared at me for an eternity, then nodded. ‘That doesn’t take you out of my crosshairs, but I’m prepared to take a different tack when it comes to dealing with you.’

Outrage dimmed my arousal. ‘Excuse me?’

‘No, you’re not excused. But we’ll get to you in a moment. First things first. Make sure your sister stays out of my way.’

I frowned. ‘Why would you want Sofiya to…?’

His eyes narrowed on my face, and I caught a hint of surprise before it disappeared. But with it, I sensed that I’d missed something. Something he thought I knew? Maybe about Sofiya’s true role?

‘Second. You come when I call. You ignore my call, even once, and I break my silence and let your family know you’re helping me find the mole in your own team. I expect they’re not going to be happy about that?’

‘What next? You expect me to service you in bed, too?’

Dear God, Maddie, you did not just say that!

A feral glint lit his eyes, but he grinned and again I felt the blow to my solar plexus. ‘No, baby, that’s a bonus you earn for doing what I say.’

I huffed to hide the chagrin tumbling through me. ‘You’re delusional.’

‘And yet your nipples are hard. I bet your pussy is wet too. Should we find out?’

I clutched the duvet tighter, knowing for damn sure he couldn’t see his effect on me unless he had X-ray vision. ‘Fuck off.’

‘No, baby, I’d rather fuck you.’

My breath puttered to a stop.

My eyes locked on his and he… he wasn’t joking.

I shook my head, but the image of me pinned beneath Cesare, that beautifully inked gladiator’s body, and the thick cock whose imprint I still remembered all these years later, pounding into me wouldn’t dissipate.

His wicked laughter writhed through me like live electricity. ‘You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?’

He strolled over with measured strides, the glass dangling from his fingers.

He stopped a foot from the edge of the bed, studied me with sizzling ferocity.

‘Do you want me to fuck you, Maddelena? Finish what you started in that warehouse that night?’ His voice was a husky rasp, shrouded in hot, dangerous promises.

I swallowed so hard, a cringe-worthy glurrk sound left my throat. ‘No. Absolutely not.’

‘Liar.’

My thighs trembled with the urge to remain in place in the middle of the bed. ‘Finish whatever you have to say and leave. I have an early start tomorrow and a race to win.’

His gaze dropped to my death grip on the clump of sheets. ‘So damn sure of yourself, aren’t you?’

I started to shrug but the gesture froze when he slowly lifted his glass and took a sip. ‘Do you always drink before a race?’

‘Usually? Nah. But looks like you’ve driven me to drink too.’

A small bark of disbelieving laughter fell out before I could stop it. ‘Yeah, right.’

‘You don’t think so?’ I watched, helplessly and completely mesmerised, as he dipped two fingers into the amber liquid, my eyes widening when he reached out and swiped the alcohol over my lips.