Page 5 of Assistant to the Mafia

Thank fuck. Romeo straightened. “Actually, if you could text the technicalities to me. I probably have it all somewhere, but I haven’t even gotten into my office yet. Another email will just get lost.”

A moment passed before she replied, “Of course. I’ll get that right to you.”

He really wanted to stand around and keep her company, but his own words proved how bad a decision that would be. Hours had passed since he’d gotten to the office and he hadn’t even made it inside his own damn office yet. His office, which was much more private than this open lobby-like space, where there were walls and flat surfaces to choose from for indulging in all the things he wanted to do with the woman not five feet away.

Yeah, he needed to lock himself away for a while.

“I’ll be catching up if you need me, then,” he said, inclining his head before turning and striding to the still-locked door. I need to get a fucking grip.

Grace didn’t even hear Romeo’s door shut over the sound of her racing heart. She’d known she needed to prepare herself for working in his vicinity for a day or three, but even if she’d had all weekend to psych herself up for that she would have failed. The way he stretched out his tailored suits and the way his hair always looked slightly mussed and the way his whole face softened when he grinned at her—it was unfair. The man was lickable, and that was exactly what she wanted to do with him.

I really need to get a boyfriend.

In the meantime, Grace did her best to focus on the tasks in front of her. It was easy enough to transmit Romeo’s appointment information in text form, although the action itself made her feel stupidly giddy. Just for a moment. She’d had his number for a while, but she’d only used it once before, when Dante and Iris had been gone on their honeymoon. She’d actually never texted him. Not that it meant anything. She texted Dante several times a week, after all, and that meant nothing.

Her heart didn’t do a ridiculous jump when Dante texted her back, either. Which it apparently did with Romeo. That was great.

Grace set the phone aside once that was done and dove into the emails. She started with the ones Romeo had already tackled, per his request, and skimmed over those. She was less familiar with the specifics of a lot of the things going through his office, but she generally knew enough to keep up and step in. Particularly since the brothers worked so closely. That made it easy to do a quick and effective perusal, finding only one email where his impatience had probably made him sloppy.

From there it was her turn to fall down the rabbit hole. She didn’t know what Tina had done on her Saturday shift, but it sure as hell hadn’t involved email correspondence. She was startled when her phone went off again with another text, this one from her actual boss.

De Salvo, Dante: I’m headed out with Iris for lunch. Remember I need you in the next meeting. 2PM.

Grace felt a flicker of disappointment for not getting to see her friend, though she didn’t know if Iris had even come all the way up, but she pushed it down and typed out a quick reassurance. Then she set an extra reminder to make sure she didn’t get too absorbed in whatever she was working on.

It could only have been minutes later when Romeo emerged from his office, walked around to her side of the borrowed desk, and rested his tight ass almost on top of her tablet. “Are you still a worse workaholic than my brother?”

She barely held back a burst of laughter and instead turned slightly in her chair so as to lift her gaze up to his. “That is a question I cannot safely answer.”

The laughter in his blue eyes assured her he caught her meaning. “Then you must be starving. You have thirty seconds to finish up whatever that is, and then we’re grabbing lunch. No arguments.”

She opened her mouth to argue anyway.

He straightened, already walking back around the desk. “Clock’s ticking, Grace.”

Her throat constricted and she swung her focus back to the screen. What had she even been doing before? She’d gotten that text, and before that—right, yet another email. But this was just a confirmation of information. She only had to sign off and click send, which she managed to do barely a heartbeat before Romeo quite literally pulled the chair away from the desk while she was still sitting in it.

He spun her around, catching her with a steady hand at the armrest of the chair, the motion bringing him dangerously close. “I did warn you,” he said. His words were too quiet, hushed as if they were telling secrets, despite that he was grinning.

Heat pulsed through her and she fought the sudden need to squirm or lick her lips. “You never actually mentioned consequences.”

His grin only widened, so much so that the dimple in his right cheek peeked through. “Well, I’ll let you off with a warning this time, then.” He stepped back and held out a hand. “Come on. I’ll have you back in plenty of time, promise.”

It was a terrible idea. She did, actually, remember the last time she’d tried going on a date. It had been early December, after weeks of ignoring or declining messages on the dating app she should never have signed up for. The desperation had finally won out and she’d convinced herself to give whatever guy a chance. She didn’t even remember his name, only that she’d spent their entire stilted conversation regretting the choice. She’d gone home and deleted her account on the app that very night, because she knew what she wanted and why the decent-seeming guy had been so uninteresting. And if that had been a problem before, allowing her secret crush to take her to a non-business meal just the two of them would only make it worse.

Grace let Romeo help her from the chair and did her best not to blush. She scooped up her phone, reaching next for her purse, and he clicked his tongue.

“You can bring the phone, but you don’t need the rest. It’s a lunchbreak, and it’s my treat,” he said.

“You really don’t have to do that.”

“Already done.” He motioned toward the hall. “Shall we? Mo will have the car warm by the time we get down there, you don’t need your jacket. Unless you’re more comfortable that way.”

Grace pulled the Bluetooth from her ear, setting it beside the tablet, and started toward the elevator. “You already called something in, didn’t you?”

“Of course. Figured I was more likely to sway you that way.” He didn’t even sound ashamed of himself.

She waited until they were waiting for the elevator to climb back up to them and turned enough to give him a curious look. “What if I don’t like what you picked?”

---