Page 34 of Tease

I trusted Xav. He would never betray us. He knew who my family was and had told me he didn’t want to fuck with them under any circumstances. Guess being linked to the mafia had its benefits in that respect.

“Okay. I trust you.”

I looked up at him then. Arlo’s expression was tender. It punched a hole in my chest. Despite his initial objections to me being involved in all of this, he’d been accommodating with my request to come here today. He didn’t ask why, just brought me here after I told him and Zayn it would be necessary.

“So, you told your boss about us?”

I set my mug down and rubbed my hands over my thighs.

“He’s not just my b-boss, he’s m-my f-friend too.”

We’d become close in the three years I’d worked for him. I didn’t have a ton of friends as it was.

Arlo set his mug down and leaned closer to me. The smirk on his face had me swallowing.

“I must be special if you’re telling people you’re close to about us already.” He plucked my mug from my fingers and set that down too. Then he brushed his lips over mine. “Am I special to you,mia preziosa?”

I nodded.

“You’re pretty special to me too.”

I didn’t have a chance to reply because Arlo was kissing me, his hand diving into my hair to hold my head in place. My hands went to his shirt, gripping the collar of it and tugging him closer. We’d slept in my room together last night now that my mother knew about us. I’d had to stifle my moans in the pillow when he fucked me because it was so intense, I thought I might pass out from the pleasure. Now I was very tempted to throw work out the window and give him pleasure the way he did me.

He pulled away and smiled at me.

“Did you find anything useful?”

I shook my head and let out a sigh.

“There’s a lot of s-s-stuff on here, but not a-a-about that family.” I rubbed my chest. “I know it’s l-l-linked. I feel it in my gut.”

I’d also searched for the kid who hadn’t been killed in the bombing, but that was fruitless. There was no record of what happened to him. It made me incredibly suspicious, but maybe the case files would give us more. It had been a long time ago, so it was hardly surprising there wasn’t a ton of information, but it still frustrated me. I’d never had this much trouble finding things out. The need to discover the mystery had me in a chokehold. There was no way I couldn’t see this through. Not when my family was in danger because of it.

“I believe you. Guess we need to wait until your boss gets back to us then. Unless you can think of anything else you can look at here.”

I let out a sigh as Arlo straightened.

“I d-don’t like waiting.”

He laughed.

“I’m beginning to see that, considering you couldn’t wait to get me into bed with you.”

My face got hot again, and I shoved him with one hand. I had been impatient to get into bed with him, but I’d waited too long for us to happen. It’d been my dream for years. He was more than I ever imagined. It was still early days, but I hoped we’d work out even when Arlo went back to his normal life.

“Is something wrong,mia preziosa? You know I was only joking.”

I shook my head, having not realised my emotions were showing on my face.

“It’s n-n-not that.”

“Then what is it?”

He reached out and cupped my cheek, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.

“W-w-we’re spending so m-much time together b-b-because of this s-situation, b-b-but w-when this is over… I-I worry how things will b-be between us.”

Maybe it was way too soon to have this conversation, considering we’d only been together a couple of days. I trusted Arlo not to think I was being crazy or to dismiss my worries out of hand. He’d been understanding this whole time, so I figured I could tell him this without it being an issue.

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