Page 9 of Bound to Him

We’d met before, but only informally, a few times when there were business meetings between our families, and I stood to the side as underboss while Antonio did the talking. Today was a much more casual visit than that.

“Don Enzo, good to see you,” I lied, and we shook hands roughly.

Already bored and annoyed, I looked around for my reason to be here—Viola, so we could get this meet and greet over with.

“Drinks, everyone?” Enzo’s honeyed voice broke through my thoughts.

We all nodded, and I gladly accepted a crystal tumbler with seemingly very expensive whiskey swirling inside. After my first gulp, I noticed movement at one of the side doors.

“Ah! The lady of the hour,” Enzo said proudly, gesturing for Viola to enter.

Her thin, dainty frame appeared, confirming all the talk about her beauty. Her black hair reached her collar bones in an edgy, clean-cut, and swayed as she turned her head back toward the doorway. I only just noticed the tall bodyguard who positioned himself outside the door as she closed it and headed toward her guests.

“Hello,” she said clearly, though not enthusiastically, to the room.

“Please, Huxley, meet my daughter, Viola Romano.” Enzo put a hand on my shoulder when I stepped forward and his other on her back. His smile was wide and so very irritatingly pleased.

With a quick glance at Antonio’s stern expression, I smiled as politely as I could and reached my hand out. “Viola, I’ve heard great things. It’s good to finally meet you.”

Her eyes dropped to my hand, and the smallest moment of disgust flashed across her face before she reluctantly put her hand in mine.

Hmm. She ain’t so keen on the arrangement either. Good to know.

“Good to meet you too, Huxley.”

It was cold, indifferent, absolutely unbothered except possibly for the time she surely felt she was wasting here with me. I tried not to feel offended butmerda—her attitude just made the arrangement so much more uncomfortable. I’d been hoping that we could become friends or perhaps build a great sex life, at the least, if we didn’t like each other’s company. But she didn’t look the type to be good in bed. Not when she was clearly uninterested in me anyway.

“Shall we get to know each other?” Mia asked, stepping forward and saving us from the awkward silence that was engulfing the entire room. She gestured for us all to sit down, reminding me of the value of a woman in such a household. Enzo did what he could to welcome us, but Mia clearly had the ongoing situation underhand.

Seated across the room on hard, antique sofas, we stared at each other. Viola’s eyes were on me distastefully, and I wondered how the fuck we were going to go through with this. I understood the need for the joining of the families, but fuck, we would surely make a horrible union.

“Viola, I hear you and Fiona have met before?” Mia asked, knowing a lot more than I did about my own sister.

To this, Viola smiled. “We have! It was at that—” Fiona shook her head with widened eyes, signaling for Viola not to give her escapades away. “Ah, at that shop, right? The one with all the Italian jewelry…” She trailed off. There was a store like that—a place where our community’s crafts were sold as authentic Italian goods. However, I doubted that was where Fiona was.

I could see Antonio bustle with irritation. Fiona was his sister, not his daughter, but he certainly had to act like her father. Today, though, he tried to ignore her and focus on my shit.

“Don Enzo, thank you for initiating this arrangement. I think once they get to spend some time together, they’ll make a perfect couple.”

Yeah, right.

“I have no doubt.” Enzo smiled at Viola. “Viola is my sweet girl, and I know she’ll make a wonderful wife.”

I highly doubted every part of what he just said. The room was full of tension. Animosity between myself and Viola, fake friendliness between Antonio and Enzo, and pure nerves coming off Mia as she tried to make her husband's new deal work out. Fiona wasn’t helping either, looking around the room as though she was judging the fucking color of the carpets.

While the awkward conversations carried on between the dons and between the girls, I sighed inwardly, mentally rolling my eyes when movement at the other end of the room once again caught my eye.

I turned my head slightly, tuning out the ongoing conversation, and then I saw her. In the doorway, curiously peeking in, was who I assumed to be Viola’s sister. Olivia, was it?Maronna Mia!She was something else!

I felt shocked. When has a woman ever made me feel this fucking taken aback? God, Viola was beautiful, sure, but Olivia had something else about her. No wonder all the guys were talking about her.

Her eyes moved slowly across the room, assessing, not judging. Her hair was the same black hue as her sister’s but long and sleek, sliding over her shoulder as her head dipped and turned.

My eyes dropped slowly, tracing her slim, yet curvaceous body. How was that even possible? She had dainty limbs but her tits—holy fucking shit—they were dick stiffening round. Heavy looking but still perky as shit. Fuck, I hoped they were real. They had to be; she was still young. Her waist narrowed before bowing out to wide hips, meaty thighs, and strong looking calves. She had on jeans with a tight white sweater, and once my eyes hit the floor—fucking stunning heels, showing her pretty feet. This chick had class. Effortless, simple, gorgeous class.

Everything about her seemed to be in slow motion. The way her eyes moved so seductively, her lashes brushing her cheek every time she blinked or looked away. Her body moved purposefully—no flinching, no second-guessing. However, the very moment her eyes met mine, I could’ve sworn she faltered. For a second before she hardened, there was definitely a widening of the eyes, a stiffening of the spine.

Mannaggia! Baby, tell me you feel it too?

---