Page 10 of Dangerous Attraction

“No, and believe me, I get how weird that is, but I had to decide what was more important—a phone or a place to live and the internet for school. School won, I’m afraid.”

“Fine.” I was already thinking of a way to include a phone as part of her employment. Something told me Madison would resist the offering. “We’ll work it all out tomorrow. Let me have my driver take you home.”

“That’s unnecessary. I can walk. It’s only twenty minutes from here.”

“No. I insist.” No way in hell I was going to let her walk home at this time of night. “As my employee, it’s my job to look out for your safety.”

She paused, contemplating whether to argue with me again. “Okay, thank you.”

Walking her to the front of the club, I noticed men ogling her as we walked past. Giving them a menacing glare, they quickly diverted their eyes. Being near her, a side of me I didn’t understand, rose to the surface. It was a complication I didn’t need right now, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to avoid it, especially with her working for me. After speaking to Oscar at the door, I turned to see her off.

“I’ll see you in the afternoon, Miss Hart.”

“Thank you, Mr. Anastasi. I can’t wait to start work.”

“Please, call me Massimo.”

Oscar’s eyes raised a fraction at my request. It was unlike me to allow the staff to call me by my first name. It was Mr. Anastasi or Boss, but never Massimo.

“Oh… okay. Thanks again, Massimo.”

I watched from the doorway as she climbed into my car. Everything about her screamed trouble. I never mixed pleasure with business. It was guaranteed to create headaches in the long run. As I watched the car pull away, my gut fluttered with the need to chase after her. Closing my eyes, I took a steadying breath.

I knew this girl would be my undoing.

six

MASSIMO

The club wasin full swing when I stepped back inside. Carlisle was running around behind the bar like a maniac, trying to keep up with all the patrons. I noticed he pulled Julie behind the bar to help him. I nodded to the fiery redhead holding her own with a bunch of drunk guys getting a little overzealous with her.

“How’s she working out for you?”

“She’s pretty damn awesome, actually.” Carlisle shot a smile in her direction.

“Good. Make her permanent back here. If she continues to prove herself, promote her to your assistant manager and keep her behind the bar.”

“Seriously, Boss?” Carlisle tilted his head in question.

I rarely made changes like this, but deep down, something told me things were about to change.

“Yep. In fact,” I sat down on a stool, “plan on hiring two more servers.”

“Oh?” Carlisle set a whiskey down in front of me. “Did you not hire the girl… what was her name? Madison?”

I sipped the amber liquid and sighed. “No. She starts tomorrow.”

“I don’t understand. Why hire more?” His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“This place is busy. I want all the help we can get. We can afford it, trust me. That way, if you need someone to fill in upstairs, we’re covered.” Shaking my head, I pushed the empty glass toward him.

“Do you need me to send you more resumes?”

“You handle it. You did good with Madison, so I trust you. Just give Alec a call so he can run their backgrounds. We need to make sure we don’t let a snake in among us.”

He knew what I meant. While most of the staff knew I was an Anastasi, they didn’t have access to the behind-the-scenes part of our business. Carlisle had earned my trust years ago, so I brought him in on that side of the business. If he was going to be my manager, he needed to know what was carried on in the basement. He provided cover for us when we needed it. Eventually, we’d have to bring Julie into the fold if she was going to be part of the management team, but she’d have to prove her loyalty a little longer.

“Let her know she’ll get a raise. You decide how much. Soon, we’ll have to swear her fidelity.”

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