Page 82 of Fortress of the King

I lean forward, my elbows hitting the desk as I deliberately meet her gaze.

“No, Allegra, I’m not. You were married to my cousin, one of my best friends. It wouldn’t just be an insult to his legacy, it would bring shame on the family, you know this. You’re like a sister to me…”

“We fucked,” she reminds me curtly. “We fucked a lot before Roberto. We had something, Angelo.”

“Hadbeing the operative word, Allegra. You need to drop it, this isn’t good for either of us.”

“Why? I’m just telling you how I feel, like we’ve always been able to do with one another.”

I run a hand through my hair. “Why are you bringing this up now?” I demand, my temper flaring. “You’re trying to stir trouble where none needs to be stirred, and I don’t like it. You don’t need to complicate things.”

“I’m not trying to complicate things, Angelo. I care for you. I guess seeing you with…that woman from the gallery brought it all back up, and I began to wonder,” she says, her lip trembling slightly, and I know I’ve upset her. I don’t mean to, but she can’t talk like this. I won’t allow it. She’s Roberto’s widow. I almost shudder at the thought of it. “You’ve been single a long time, so have I….”

“What do you think Mario and the family would say?” I bark as she flinches ever so slightly. “Do you think that’s respectful to your dead husband and father-in-law?”

“Angelo, don’t act like you’re on some kind of high horse. You wanted it as much as I did, and I know we still have a spark. You can’t deny it. We’re one and the same.”

I take a sobering breath and try to calm myself. “The spark we had was back in college, before you met Roberto, and I was young and reckless. I’m not the same person I was back then. I won’t piss all over Roberto’s memory, Allegra, and you shouldn’t, either.”

Her eyes narrow. “You just won’t admit it.”

“I admit you’re a very attractive woman, but be smart, we can’t go there, Allegra. I willnevergo there. You need to accept that once and for all if we’re ever going to have any kind of friendship.”

She stares at me unmoving. “Fine. If that’s how you feel.”

“Thatishow I feel. It’s probably best you leave, I’ve got work to do.”

She looks crestfallen, but I find it hard to reach out to her. She’s clearly taken all of my rare bouts of kindness and concern with her as something else. I have never, ever hit on her after she was with Roberto or after he died. She’s family. I had no fucking clue she was still hung up on me, I thought that ship had sailed a long time ago.

“Angelo, don’t leave things like this. I wasn’t trying to stir trouble.”I go to stand, but she remains seated. “Don’t be mad at me, I couldn’t bear it.”

I don’t return her smile as she reluctantly stands.

“I’m not mad at you. I’m just confused. I don’t want there to be this strange thing between us.”

She reaches for me, brushing her hands up to the lapels of my jacket. “You always looked good in a suit.”

“Looked?” I note. “Past tense.”

She rolls her eyes. “You can’t blame a girl for trying, Angelo. You’re a handsome man, it would take a strong and competent woman to be able to give you what you need.” Her hands still rest on my chest.

She smells so fucking good. Like a rich woman. Like a woman who could take any man she wants, maybe we could have been something in another lifetime, but it won’t be in this one.

“After all, we’re cut from the same cloth, aren’t we?”

Something about the way she snakes her body closer to mine makes me recoil. My body stiffens as she moves her lips to my ear. “We both have needs that other people could never fulfill, Angelo.”

I swallow hard. “You’re making a mistake,” I mutter, my jaw clenched as her lips graze my jaw… “Allegra…”

“I don’t bite,” she whispers. “Let me show you how good it could be, don’t throw away our chance together because of what other people might think. Fuck me like one of your whores if you want to, bend me over the desk and punish me, it’ll be our dirty little secret.”

She rubs her pussy into my thigh as my heart races at her intrusion.

I don’t fucking want this.

“We don’t even have to talk.”

“Stop it.”

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