Page 90 of The Bonus

“Isn’t it?” The blonde smiles. “I just love the sun, I wish we had a beach in New York so I could work on my tan.”

“You could always work on your tan in the park,” Alessio replies. “Park tanning is a thing, you know?”

Good grief.

I inwardly roll my eyes; fuck…his pickup lines are so bad.

“Cold weather makes me miserable,” the blonde continues.

Who cares?

“Sounds like you need a big injection of vitamin D,” Alessio replies as he casually adjusts his cuff links.

I twist my lips; I know what vitamin D he’s referring to.

The one in his pants.

The elevator comes to a stop on level ten. “This is us.” The blonde smiles up at Alessio. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Ferrara.”

“Call me Alessio.”

She giggles on cue. “Okay…Alessio.” The doors go to close and he puts his hand out to stop them. “What is your name?’

“Misha.”

They stare at each other for a beat, and I exhale heavily. Hurry up, fuck it.

“Nice to meet you, Misha.” He dips his head.

The doors close and he smiles, all proud of himself.

“Seriously?” I curl my lip.

“She’s going to get it.”

“Vitamin D is the best you’ve got?”

“Works every time.” The door opens again and he smiles sexily. “Good afternoon, ladies.”

I roll my eyes. Ugh…here we go again.

We walk into the bar and see Ricardo is sitting at a table in the corner on the phone, and we make our way over to him. “Yes.” He listens and narrows his eyes at us as we sit down. “This is unsatisfactory.”

“Who’s that?” I mouth.

He clenches his fist and points it to his phone.

“Can I get you a drink?” the waitress asks as she walks over.

“I’ll have a mineral water, please.”

“Same,” Alessio says.

Ricardo holds his hand up in question and points to his beer.

“Some of us have to work, you know?” Alessio mutters.

Ricardo listens to the person on the other end of the phone. “Okay, I understand that.” He listens again. “I don’t believe that for a moment.”