Page 35 of Tainted Princess
CHAPTER NINE
Francesca
The towering hotels of the Las Vegas strip got farther and farther away as Enzo drove us out of town, heading north in the morning sunshine. I was grateful for my over sized sunglasses, because after getting almost no sleep last night, my eyes had more bags than a housewife coming home after a Black Friday shopping spree.
Enzo and I had laid side by side like a pair of corpses, neither of us wanting to move for fear of getting closer to the other. The whole thing seemed ridiculous, considering that he had been inside me the same night he met me, but hey, who was I to judge our awkward feelings?
The thing was, I was having a hard time hating Enzo like I wanted to. Sure, he was an asshole most of the time, but I was used to guys like that.
What I wasn’t used to was a man who actually saw me when I entered a room. A man who looked at me and appreciated my presence for more than just looking at my tits. When Enzo stepped into the apartment last night, I could feel the difference in the way he looked at me standing by his stove compared to the way he looked at me when I stood in front of him at the church. Like he was surprised that I was being kind to him. Like he appreciated my actions.
And I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that.
I let my thoughts simmer on that for a while, and before long we were pulling up to a large warehouse in a very industrial area. Looking around, there were other buildings that housed things like a trucking company and even a cheese manufacturer, but the building Enzo parked at was fairly plain, just gray concrete walls with very few windows and a small sign out front that readTaste of Eden.The logo showed an apple with a serpent wrapped seductively around it.
How…biblical.
“I thought we were going to see your lawyer?”
“We are,” he answered curtly. Apparently, he hadn’t slept any better than I had last night. “And this is where he is today.”
“What is this place?”
“It’s one of my businesses.” His hands clenched on the steering wheel in frustration, and I noticed he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring. The fact that the realization came with a distinct pain in my chest only served to annoy me.
I curled my own hands, setting them in my lap, the right over the left so that I could hide the ring that I had yet to be able to bring myself to take off.
I couldn’t explain why.
Not paying attention to any of this, Enzo continued speaking. “Julian was going to be on site today to handle some other stuff, so he asked that we meet him here.”
With that, he launched himself out of the car, slamming the door behind him. I watched as he stalked to the front of the vehicle, running his hand through his hair with agitation. By the time I met him at there, he was scowling. Enzo huffed, clearly frustrated, and placed his hands on his hips. “Well, come on, then,” he said, then turned and briskly walked into the building, leaving me to follow or not.
We entered the lobby, a sleek looking reception desk taking up most of the space, all chrome and glass, with an equally sleek looking woman sitting behind it. It seemed Enzo had hired the same decorator for his business as he had for his apartment. There were several low black leather club chairs, square and boxy looking, as well as a few glass tables with random magazines spread across their shiny surfaces. The walls were hung with some abstract paintings, their swirled colors and bold shapes looking very erotic considering they were only made up of splashes of paint. Still, I got the feeling that they were supposed to make the viewer think of sex.
I certainly was.
The entire drive over my insides had been going haywire. Being stuck in a confined space with Enzo was hard on my senses. I could smell his fresh spicy scent, reminding me of the way he had smelled the night we were married, when he used my body in ways no one ever had before. Listening to his steady even breaths, remembering the way he had felt standing behind me, slowly unzipping my wedding dress, had my brain conjuring up thoughts I had no business thinking.
Turning abruptly from the paintings that were messing with my head, I found Enzo standing by the desk, the woman behind it gazing up at him like a desperate puppy. He was speaking quietly to her, and she was hanging on his every word. I rolled my eyes, completely ignoring the way her actions were mimicking my recent thoughts.
Yeah, no way was I ever going to bethatpathetic.
As Enzo continued to talk, and the woman continued to not-so-subtly squeeze her tits together with her arms, hoping he’d notice, I wandered over, no longer wanting to be on the outside of this interaction.
Just as Tits McGee started to giggle loudly at something he was saying, Enzo noticed me, his head coming up, eyes meeting mine.
“Francesca,” he said, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a flash if guilt in his eyes. “I was just telling Mindy that you’d be waiting here for a while.” Of course, her name was Mindy. “I have some things to attend to in the back, but I will come get you when Julian is ready for us.”
Smiling my best ‘sure, I totally believe you’ smile, I gestured to the chairs behind me. “Of course. I’ll just keep myself entertained while you do what you need to. Don’t worry about me.”
They both stared at me like they weren’t quite sure what to make of my response. I kept my smile in place, staring back at his confused face, not wanting to be the one to break first.
Finally, he blinked. “Right. Okay. Good.” He stared at me a beat longer, then turned and disappeared into the double doors behind the reception desk, the frosted glass preventing me from seeing what was behind them.
As soon as they closed, I dropped my smile, presenting Mindy with a very well-practiced resting bitch face. She gave me a fake smile of her own, running her eyes up and down my outfit. I was dressed in what I always wore, a pair of light gray wool pants and button up cardigan over a camisole, but Mindy looked at me like I was wearing a trash bag.
Of course, compared to her skintight sparkly gold halter top, I guessed my pale pink sweater was pretty lame. The glass topped reception desk allowed me to see her long tanned legs where they stuck out of her short black leather mini skirt.
