Page 39 of Malevolent Secrets

“I should have said this before, but I don’t want to be just a one-night stand for you.”

I blink at her. This I hadn’t expected. “You’re here again,” I observe. “It’s my understanding that one-night stands last for just a night. Since we have enjoyed more than one night of fun, and you’re here, flirting with me, I think you can rest assured that you aren’t in any danger of becoming a one-night stand.”

“I’m not flirting with you.” She sounds indignant, and I almost smile.

“Oh? So you don’t want me to do more than look at you?”

“No, I mean yes…this isn’t going the way it’s supposed to.”

“Supposed to? Do you have a script in mind for how tonight should go?”

Her eyes widen and she opens her mouth, but I speak before she can.

“Leave us.”

I don’t have to look away from her face for my men to know that I’m speaking to them. They quietly leave the room and the silence stretches around us, enveloping us. I get up and walk to where she’s seated, bending until I’m level with her face.

“Does this script end with my face buried between your legs? Or my fingers coated in your wetness? Or my cock shoved down your throat?”

Her chest heaves as she looks up at me. Her eyes flicker and shift to my lips and then come back up to meet my gaze. Then she looks away.

“I…I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far.”

I smile at her. “Thinking is for business hours,” I say to her. “Feeling is for after-hours fun.” I learned two things about her immediately: she enjoys my dirty talk and she is a terrible liar.

I know that she’s probably here to glean information about Jeremy, but she hasn’t actually asked anything of me, hasn’t wanted to know anything about him or how I might know him. I would know if she was digging because of her terrible poker face.

I have to assume that she is still coming here to see me because she likes my company. I know that she likes what I can do to her body.

“Tell me Dani, why did you really agree to see me in the first place? Why are you here?”

She takes a long drink of her wine. I watch her throat move as she swallows, wishing she was swallowing something else.

She draws in a deep breath, and then she says something I never expected her to say. “I need a job.”

I stare at her, my mind struggling to catch up with her words. “A job?”

“Yes,” she says, her voice steady despite the slight tremor in her hand. “I need a job, Lorenzo.”

I can’t help but chuckle, the sound low and rumbling in the intimate space. “And why would you come to me for a job?”

She swallows, her gaze never leaving mine. “I just…I’m going through a big change in my life right now, and I need a fresh start. I thought you could provide that for me.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why would you think I would be able to provide for you, and even if I could, why would I want to? Because we’ve fucked?”

I know she’s playing a game right now. I just don’t know what the game is, I don’t know what the rules are and I don’t know what the end goal is supposed to be. It is frustrating how little I know of her and how much more I want to know.

“No. I’m not asking you to give me special favors because we slept together. I’m asking for a proper shot. I’ll do the interviews and everything if you want.”

“Is that so?” I step closer, intrigued. “And what makes you think I’d give you a job?”

“I’m smart, capable, and…I need this,” she replies, her voice firm.

I raise an eyebrow, curiosity piqued. There’s something more to this request, something she’s not telling me. “And what kind of job are you looking for, Daniella?”

---