Page 17 of Of Desire And Deception

“Goodnight, goldilocks.” I left her sputtering about the amount of my tip and headed downstairs to my dungeon. I needed to clean. Then I needed to hunt.

Everything would feel normal again, and I could get that woman out of my head… and the other places she threatened to lodge herself.

Chapter Six

Fidelity. Bravery. Integrity. Justice for my late partner. And now—sacrifice. In human form.

After a week at Deception, I’d realized something. Cosimo Neretti seemed to have taken an interest in me. In a non-professional manner. He’d been sitting at my bar every night, drinking anything I made him as long as it didn’t include whiskey. We played a long game of twenty questions, where he’d casually ask something small, and I’d answer and ask a question of mine.

I’d hoped he might let something important slip, but so far, all I’d learned was that he was fiercely loyal to his family, and he viewed his dead mother as a saint. He missed his twin, though he wasn’t outspoken about it; his tells were in the little things, like how he stared into his drink too long if I brought up Niccolò. He liked classical music, sometimes whistled it, and had an affinity for black.

Occasionally, he leaned close enough for me to catch a whiff of his scent—leather, herbs, and something fresh, almost sterile, that made my nose tingle. Some evenings the last smell was more potent, like maybe he’d been cleaning the bathrooms. It didn’t make sense since the staff cleaned, but I wasn’t about to complain about a man who valued cleanliness, even if he was as far from godliness as a person could get.

I tried to keep that reminder fresh in my head because while I was shifting tactics slightly, I had to keep my head on straight. If Cosimo found me attractive, I was going to play into it. After all, women had brought down empires. Why couldn’t I bring down the Neretti organization with womanly wiles?

Pulling tight black jeans from my dresser, I slipped them on and found a black lace push-up bra. While I had to wear the black patterned vest as my uniform, I could sure as hell give Cosimo something to stare at when he sat at my bar. My boobs weren’t terribly large, but they practically spilled over the vest when I put it on. Getting stabbed by an underwire was worth it if it got me to my goal.

I licked my lips and selected the bubblegum pink lipstick I’d worn the time I’d orchestrated my first meeting with Cosimo. He hadn’t been able to resist brushing his lips against mine. A little current pulsed through me at the memory of his rough, possessive touch. He was dangerous in so many ways.

But I’d been trained to face any danger, and this was simply another hurdle I had to jump over to reach my destination. I just hoped I didn’t have to jump his bones in the process.

No.

I couldn’t think about that. I was only human, after all, and I certainly wasn’t blind to the fact that Cosimo was a near-perfect specimen of a man. He liked to roll his sleeves, exposing his muscled forearms and the tattoos that ran down his left arm to his fingertips. It was a strange design I hadn’t seen before, black vine-like whorls twining together intricately.

He’s a criminal, Remi.

A murderer.

I snapped my mouth shut and pursed my lips, wiping a stray smudge of pink from the corner of my lips. My near-platinum hair hung down my back; the upper part pulled back into a braid so it wouldn’t get in the way of my work at the bar. I was ready for another night of work.

All those pole dancing classes seemed a waste, given my shift in employment. At least my ass looked amazing. I turned and admired it for a minute before putting my shoes on and covering my top with a coat. It was drizzling outside, and I had to walk to the bus stop. I snagged my purse on the way out the door and ran over my game plan on the way to Deception.

Flirt with Cosimo.

Endear myself to him.

Seduce him.

Fucking take him down.

I smiled as I pushed through the doors at Deception, giving the bouncer a wave and heading back to the staff area to drop off my coat and purse. The club staff used a different room with lockers and a full bath than the dancers, but I ran into Poppy while adjusting the top of my vest.

“Hey, Wynn!” she greeted me, looking completely different from when I’d met her. She wore a black sweatsuit, and her face was bare, making her look younger than her twenty-one years.

“How’s it going?” I returned with a smile. Sometimes I wondered if the girls dancing wanted to be there, but they all seemed to enjoy working at Deception. Bubbles told me once that working for Cosimo was probably safer than most other jobs because he was serious about protecting the girls. If patrons ever overstepped, they were barred from the establishment and never returned.

“Another day, another dollar,” she said with a laugh. “I got the most adorable red lace number, and I can’t wait to show it to my regulars.”

“Sounds amazing.” I tried to hype her up. “I’ll be watching from behind the bar. Blow me a kiss, yeah?”

She puckered her lips like a duck as she opened the dressing room door. “Always, baby.”

I wondered briefly what everybody would do when Deception closed its doors. That wasn’t my problem, however. It was no secret that Cosimo was part of the notorious Neretti crime family. They knew who they were working for. Still, a part of me felt bad that they would be collateral damage when the Neretti kingdom fell.

I shoved those thoughts aside and joined Zach behind the bar, where he was already slinging drinks. I washed my hands and started taking orders, making the drinks I knew and passing others along for Zach. In my off time, I’d been researching all the drinks I could memorize. There was no doubt in my mind that my fellow bartender didn’t believe I had the experience necessary to do the job, but he’d been kind and patient with me. And he hadn’t ratted me out to Franco or Cosimo, so I liked him.

It didn’t take long to get caught up in the Friday night rush; the later the hour, the more patrons filled the place. I put on my best smile and leaned over just enough that the men were momentarily distracted from whichever dancer was on stage. They tipped generously for it.

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