I started crying. Like, really crying. Full on ugly cry. He released me immediately, God forbid I get my tears on that fancy tailored suit of his.
"Porca miseria!" He curse after he had jumped backwards. "Di-" He started and then shook his head. "I'm sorry. Italian is my maiden language, and often times it just...comes out." He tried explaining, as though that was my concern in this situation.
(This is an Italian curse. Where as we would say 'damn' or 'shit' they may say 'porca miseria' which translates to "misery pig")
I covered my face with both of my hands. Everything had just hit me at once it seemed. Nicolo was just too much now. All of this was just too much. I wasn't a journalist. It wasn't worth all of this.
After a few moments he took both of my wrists in his hands and pulled them away from my face gently. I was practically hyperventilating when he pulled the perfectly folded and pristine silk cloth from the breast pocket of his suit and handed it to me.
Under different circumstances I might have been confused, might have wondered if this was his way on consoling me, could the red imported silk have been some sort of peace offering? I might have thought twice about how expensive this shitty piece of cloth was under different circumstances. But under these circumstances, I pressed it right to my nose and blew. Hard.
He flinched and when I tried to offer it back to him declined.
When I finally calmed myself to mere sniffled and jumpy breaths I dared to speak again. "What does verme mean?"
He frowned and hesitated for only a moment before answering honestly. "Worm."
"You call him-"
"The worm." He said flatly.
"That's disgusting." I said and pushed past him. If the silk cloth was a peace offering I was refusing. He grabbed my wrist and spun me into his chest again.
"I will do my best. For your cousin." He said and immediately released me. I glared at him. That meant little towards his safety. I had watched Alessio shoot one of his best men without hesitation for what happened down here. I didn't want to see what he would do if my stupid cousin screwed up his actual business.
"That's not good enough." I said quickly. He raised a brow and I bit my lip. "Let him out of this. I know you can. You're the only one who can."
"It doesn't work that way, tesoro mia."
(my darling)
"It can, it does, you just won't let it!"
"We have a code, we have honor, our organization would be a joke if word got out that you could come and go as you pleased, word that we were careless in our hirings."
"Don't. Don't talk about this like it's some big special corporation. You're criminals. Nothing but criminals, you have no honor!" He blinked, unfazed. "I call genie."
"No."
"You said I could come to you three times! Three wishes!"
"And now I am saying no."
"Why the hell not!" I demanded. When he didn't answer I crossed my arms over my chest. "If you don't let him out then I'll tell everyone about this place. Every single person that will listen, I swear it."
He threw his head back and laughed for at least a full minute before dropping his head back into place with a grin. He stepped up to me again and I backed away until I bumped into his desk. He cupped my face in his hands. My instincts urged me to turn away but I wouldn't give him that satisfaction. "Ma, che sei grullo?"
(But how stupid are you is the actual translation but is sort of like "are you crazy?")
Having no idea what he said again I stayed silent.
"Are you crazy, Katherine?" He finally translated for me. "You aren't calling the shots here. Bella."
(beauty)
I wanted to swat his hands away but I didn't. I kept eye contact with him firmly as he continued.
"Are you a canary Katherine? I could kill you now if you'd like? Or I could kill you later. I could put your daddy in a cement coffin, take your uncle for a ride, put a pick through your precious verme's ear. Don't you realize how stupid you are? You don't talk, I'd get to you before you even thought of talking. You leave this place and you won't even be able to sneeze without one of my goons handing you a tissue. It doesn't matter where you go Katherine, where your family goes, if I decide to put a hit on you, you will be popped. You saw how much I could get on you in 6 hours without you even being above ground to make an appearance, you don't think I wouldn't find you up there? And let's for a brief moment, pretend that you did slip my headhunter, and ran to the G you'd better be damn sure that your federal savior hasn't been corrupted by my chief already. You understand me, Bella? The moment you walked through these doors you became mine. Ti possiedo."
(I own you)
Having enough, I tried to pull away. He slipped one hand from my cheek and gripped my waist, the other hand forced my head back up to look at him again.
"Or better yet, I'll just keep you locked down here forever, si? Then we won't have to worry about that pretty little mouth of yours getting you into trouble, eh?"
He leaned forward and I snapped my moist eyes shut.
"Do. Not. Test me." He whispered hoarsely into my ear making me shudder.
He let me go abruptly and I let out a huge shaky breath. Very slowly I looked up through my lashes, I realized I was sitting on his desk completely and he was standing between my legs. He must have noticed this too, that and my discomfort because he glanced down and smirked. He put a hand on my thigh and I jumped immediately. Disgusting bastard. He ran his hand up my thigh. "La tua pelle é come seta." His voice came out like velvet and he suddenly squeezed high up on my thigh making me jump and my body arch forward momentarily.
I gasped and grabbed his shoulder automatically, after only a brief moment I flattened my palm against it and tried to push him back. "What? What did you just say?"
"It means..." He said ignoring my push and instead putting his other hand on my bare waist and hiking me forward roughly so our bodies collided. Another surprised breath escaped my lips before I could stop it and I wondered immediately what the gasp sounded like to his ears. Certainly not one of pleasure. "Your skin is like silk." He said and for effect very slowly brought his hand up my waist, to just below my bra-line, and then all the way down to my hips.
I chewed my cheek hard as his hands traced my curves. I hadn't actually expected him to answer me, and I certainly hadn't anticipated a compliment after all of that. Somehow I found myself curious about how many of the girls Alessio had slept with down here. Select women? All women? Were they, and all the men here, tested for STDs? Was it safe sex? An even better question, why was I even wasting precious brain function with wondering these sort of things?
As much as I had hated him speaking Italian to me before, there was something about it. Mysterious and smooth, caressing all of my senses and lulling my anger into something quite different. I wanted to hear it again as desperately as I wanted to punch him in the nose.
He must have been a mind reader before as his hand on my thigh etched up further he murmured against my cheek. "Amo farti caldo."
(I love to make you hot.)
"I- uh - and that?" I stumbled over my words as his hands stopped just at the hem of my underwear. Was it hot in here? And oh God, what was I doing. "What does that mean?"
"Sei eccitata?" When his lips found my shoulder I dipped my head back and nearly let out a moan but I quickly bit down on my cheek and swallowed it down. I forced myself to remember he was the enemy.
(Are you turned on?)
Wasn't he?
"I-I don't know what you're saying." My voice came out weak like air as he trailed kisses along my collar bone. The part where I meant to tell him to stop and go screw off somehow got lost.
"Il tuo corpo e bellissimo." He spoke with his mouth only millimeters away from my skin and in between sweet kisses. His breath against my skin was like gasoline to a flame.
(your body is hot)
I finally let out a moan. "I essentially said," He started and suddenly pulled away completely. I hadn't even realized I was arched forward, especially not to this extent until he'd pulled away. "I love to turn you on." He mused. "And your body is hot."
"Oh." I stammered and was suddenly beat read.
He smirked and pressed his lips very gently to my cheek. I let out a heaven touched sigh and he whispered. "Mi arrapi."
(You turn me on.)
"What does that mean?" I asked and turned my head into him, our cheeks connected and our lips were millimeters apart.
"That, I shall save for another lesson." With his cheek against mine I could feel his smile.
"Tell me." I breathed.
"No." He said simply. His no always had that tone to it. A tone like there was no choice. It was simply no. No questions, no discussions, just. No.
When I felt his head pulling away I put my hand to the back of his neck. "I call genie." I said and immediately cursed myself. Why did it matter so much what he said? I couldn't even repeat it! The actual words came out like mush to me. I couldn't remember a single syllable, but I knew I sure did want to hear them again.
"You what?"
I hesitated. I what? I repeated his question remembering that only some minutes ago I had called Genie to have the asshole release my cousin and he'd refused, and now I was already melting at his Italian mumbo jumbo and crooning for his touch? I had to pull myself together! "I...call genie. What did you say?"
He was quiet for a few moments and in the silence my senses came back to me. "I said...you turn me on." He admitted. This surprised me. "Voglio baciarti."He groaned and a hand snaked around my waist.
(I want to kiss you.)
"What about that."
"You already used your wish." He whispered. "Are you willing to give another?"
"If the price is right." I said without thinking and slid my hand up into his hair. Locks of perfectly sculpted hair twisted between my fingers and I tugged on them.
"Vieni qua piccola." He moaned and pulled me back against him hard. I could feel he was hard already and my heart must have literally skipped a beat at the thought. "Fatti penetrare." He growled.
(come here baby) (I want inside of you.)
"Did you just call me a fatty?" I whispered pulling away again.
At this he smiled. "I get carried away, mia cara. My tongue, it sometimes slips away from my mind." So...he did call me a fatty? "It means..." He stopped and looked down, dragging just the tips of his fingers along my thighs.
"It means?" I pressed on desperate for the answer.
"It means..." The anticipation was killing me. "It means it's time for you to go back to work."
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Things are getting pretty steamy around here. I've got to say I actually like the way this novel is going and I'm pretty stoked for the next few chapters. Were you right with you guess of what Kate did next? (;
Soo...
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