Page 12 of The Sicilian's Obsession
I snapped at him, "Yes, but they shut me down. Every time,no onelistens to me." I sat back, panting.
Arturo looked at me sympathetically. His line of questioning was causing me to panic. I could feel that there was something missing in my mind and I couldn't explain the feeling. I felt out of control—out of my body, out of my mind. The room was swirling, and I was feeling myself falling to the floor.
Arturo was leaning down in front of me. He soothed, "Just breathe, Katima." He ran a large hand up and down my back, then side to side, then in small circles. That pattern, repeatedly, gave me something else to focus on while I controlled the air flowing in and out of my lungs. I'd never had anyone even try to calm me down. Normally, they let my panic attack play out while looking uncomfortable, or even worse, leaving me alone. The worst was when my dad was in a meeting. I had a panic attack over something Rebecca had said. She berated me while looking down on me with disgust. I was choking on my tears, which made it even harder to breathe. I felt like a bug. She lorded that over me for weeks before my dad found out. That was the last time she could work in my space. Dad separated us, even though he didn't know the full story.
Arturo repeated his instructions and I gulped in big breaths. He was murmuring praise in my ear. The switch was instantaneous. One minute, I was gasping for breath like a fish out of water, and the next, I was squirming in my chair with my panties wet. I'm not sure what all he said, but I caught the wordsbaby girl, darling,andsweetheart.He didn't say it the way my dad did, either. There was something so sensual about his voice. It was husky and deep. I shouldn't be thinking of him like this. He was here to do a job, but never had a man looked at me the way he did. It was like he was on the cusp of taking all my clothes off. Just once, I would like to know what all the fuss was about. Nothing serious, because I doubt Arturo was a settle down type of guy, and if I was honest, I didn't think I would ever be able to have a normal relationship.
"Did my questions upset you, Katima?" His breath was tickling my ear and I was panting for a completely different reason.
I stuttered, "Y-yes." For once, I wasn't ashamed or embarrassed. I think the situation called for my stutter.
He murmured, "I'm sorry, honey."
I almost groaned in disbelief. No one had ever called me as many pet names as he had done in the last five minutes. Then I wondered how many women he called by these names and it was like a bucket of cold water was poured over my head. I pulled back. Arturo wasn't interested in me. The sooner I got that in my head, the easier our time spent together would be. He would never want me. No one did.
Arturo
I pushed her too hard and ruined brunch. Katima pulled away from me and went to wash her hands. Someone should beat me over the head with a sledgehammer. I was distracted. The sounds she made while she was eating were like a concert, and I had front row tickets, just me. The stadium would be empty because, fuck if I wanted anyone else to see her like that. She'd even gotten comfortable with me. She stopped stuttering and didn't look uncomfortable in my presence. If that wasn't trust, I don't know what is. Now she could hardly look me in the eye. I fucked up, too busy thinking with my dick than with my brain. How many times had my mama told me the little head is not in charge? I threw away our burritos and let Katima get lost in her work. The last thing she needed was me putting her on the spot again. She needed to be able to concentrate and she wouldn't do that if I was breathing down her neck. Besides, I had my own work to do. I needed to investigate her father and find out what he was hiding. It was clear as day that Katima had been traumatized. I even think her mother's death might have had something to do with that. I relayed all the information I had to Jake. That way, it would help in our investigations.
After emailing Jake, I set out to call our head of IT, to see how far they were with the housework.
He answered the first ring.
"Hey, Brendon, how is the work on the house? How far are you guys?"
"Good, this was a great property to do, because there aren't any neighbors. Point of entries are easy to reinforce. The cameras don't have any blind spots. We are almost done setting up in the bedroom Jake directed us to. I was wondering if you wanted extra monitoring from home base, or is this still a solo mission?" Brendan was clacking in my ear, so I knew he was still setting up in the bedroom. He tended to do the inside work and oversee everything outdoors.
"Still solo, but I may be pulling you soon. I'm not sure. I'm waiting for Jake. I also need some trackers from home base, car, cellphone, computer. I wanted to ask if you could come by the lab and upgrade their security. They are just using badges. I think her lab should have a retina scanner, don't you?" I was spit balling ideas. Mr. Sweets said to bill him for whatever and gave me carte blanche with price so I might as well fix everything while I was here.
"Depends. I'll swing by when I'm done to check out her office and the lab. We may do two different kinds of security for each, to stop anyone from even thinking they could get into both by using one." That's why I kept him on as the head of our team. He was always thinking outside of the box. Having preventatives in place went a long way to keeping the bad guy away.
"Agreed." I was just about to get off the phone with him when he thought of another idea.
"Boss, she needs more than the cameras. According to the file you shared, she's here alone all the time. She needs security to get in. Heck, I would even suggest building a panic room. I'm surprised they don't have one. A rich heiress, out here in the mountains with no protection, that is literally the best recipe for kidnapping."
He had a point, but I doubt I could take the liberties to just start doing work on the house. It wasn't my house. I chuckled, "I'll take it under advisement, Brendan."
"Roger that, boss. Over and out." Most people wouldn't laugh at this, but I do because Brendan has no military training whatsoever. I hired a ton of military, but I couldn't just put in the hiring documents that it was a requirement. That would be discrimination. So, when Brendan came to me for a job, I had to hire him. Of course, I made him take a ton of tests and Jake and I made sure he hit the gym in case he ever was in the field and it went sideways, but he had shown his worth for sure. He was an trusted part of the team. I wondered how many people were a trusted part of Katima's life. I thought there weren't many. She had trust issues, and not just the normal kind, but the kind that stemmed from something terrible happening in her life. I just needed to get to the bottom of it.
After I got off the phone with Brendan, I rechecked Katima's emails. She hadn't been in the office and I noticed she kept her phone far away from her while working. It was probably so nothing was contaminated, but also, I think she didn't want any distractions while she was working. I double-checked on her. Of course, she was bent over at that very moment, her lab coat covering that bubble butt I knew was hiding underneath those jeans. I felt myself growing hard and moved my dick around, to get more comfortable. I yanked my eyes away from her lush body and went to her emails. There were five more from the same person as last night.
You can't hide from me, little butterfly.
I'll always catch you, little butterfly.
I'm watching you, little butterfly.
Your screams will be so sweet, little butterfly.
I want to bathe in your blood, little butterfly.
This person sounded like an absolute nut job. They obviously knew Katima, and they were escalating. I needed to figure out how they were watching her. It could be a scare tactic, or they could really have eyes on her. I hadn't seen anyone following her around. She didn't really go anywhere. I didn't want to just brush these off, so I forwarded them all to me and to Jake. We needed to track the IP address. The first one wasn't traceable, but with this many, we should be able to find some kind of pattern. With this small town, it should be easy to find them. That was if they were here at all. I would think if she had a stalker, they would be here, but that is not necessarily the case with all stalkers. The questions I had were piling up. Who was this person? How did they know Katima? What did they do to her? I know for a fact her father would have the answers, but he was not being cooperative. I just don't understand how a man like him wouldn't want his precious daughter's bodyguard to have all the pertinent information needed in order to protect her. Maybe I could sweet talk Rebecca into giving me some answers. With that thought in mind, I left the office, removed my booties, and headed out to talk to her.
As soon as she saw me exit the lab, Rebecca straightened in her chair. She wiggled her shirt down, so it was lower than when I had seen her this morning. I ignored her, coming in when I grabbed brunch, but now I was going to have to charm her.
I smiled my signature grin and said, "Hey, Rebecca." Like they all did, she melted.
She rolled herrin exaggeration, "Arturo, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"
