Page 51 of Of Desire And Deception

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” I took the containers and returned them to my desk. “I’ll bring you more.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Wynn protested, waving her hands. “I need to get back out there. I guess I’ll see you later.”

Before she could make it out, I put my body between her and the door, reaching out and placing my hands on her hips. She shivered at my touch, her face flushing pink. “I’m taking you home tonight. Don’t leave without me, goldilocks.”

I tilted her chin up and pressed my lips to hers in the most chaste kiss we’d shared, then stepped away. “Say, ‘thank you, Cosimo.’”

“Thank you, Cosimo,” she whispered, licking her lips.

I grinned and gave her a playful slap on the ass. “Now, get back to work. Wouldn’t want to upset the boss.”

She scampered away, and I sat heavily in my chair with a groan, running my hands down my face. Being in the same room as Wynn was like watching one of my brothers bleed a man out in front of me, but not being allowed to touch him myself. Soon enough, I would get to come home to her every night. Until death parted us.

Chapter Sixteen

I’d spent two weeks trying to avoid Cosimo, but string him along enough that he’d stay interested. The more I was around him, the harder it was to control myself. There was something about the way he looked at me, touched me, and the sound of his voice that made me want to bend over his desk and beg him to fuck me until I couldn’t walk straight.

“Wynn!” I jumped, startled by Zach’s voice. “Stop daydreaming and take the fucking orders!”

My face heated at his reprimand. “Sorry, I’m on it.”

“Make sure you are.” He was rarely frustrated, but we had a bachelor party in the club, and there was added pressure because they were part of the family. Only the best for those in the mafia, apparently.

I got back to work and attempted to shove any blood-warming thoughts of Cosimo out of my head. That was easier said than done when the object of my affliction stood twenty feet away, slapping the groom on the back and calling for another round of shots.

“Fuck,” I breathed when he turned, and his eyes locked on mine. The man prowled through the crowd until he stood at the end of the bar. I glanced nervously at Zach, knowing Cosimo would ask me to eat with him, but we were packed.

It had been like that every night he came to the club. He brought me food that should be found in a Michelin-starred restaurant, and I’d never eaten better in my life. Then there were the flowers. He’d awkwardly handed me a bouquet of pink peonies earlier in the week, and while beautiful, I had nowhere to put them, so they stayed on the desk in his office.

Then there were the kisses. That man knew how to make me go limp with pleasure. He would start slow, then build up until it felt like he was devouring me completely. By the time we’d finished, he’d be holding me up because I’d forgotten how to stand.

“Tell me it’s me who put that look on your face, goldilocks,” Cosimo purred when he stopped before me.

I blinked, avoiding his gaze. “What look is that?”

He smirked, adjusting his black leather jacket. I caught a whiff of the cleaner he always smelled like. “Your pupils are dilated, face is flushed. You were biting your lip.”

“Oh,” I said uselessly.

“So, tell me,” he repeated. “Was it me you were thinking about? Because if it was another man, I might just have to kill him.”

“That seems needlessly violent,” I sassed, pressing my legs together and hoping he couldn’t see. The truth was, his willingness to hurt another man to assert his interest was fucking hot. And it shouldn’t have been.

Cosimo shrugged and leaned against the bar casually. “Not everything in life can be rainbows and roses. Sometimes brutality and bloodshed drives the point home better.”

What was I supposed to say to that? And why was I missing another opportunity to record him? I needed to attempt bringing a listening device into the club if he was going to start saying incriminating shit. Madden was breathing down my neck about an update, but Cosimo never let anything significant slip.

While agents spent years training to spot lies and extract the truth, men like Cosimo were raised to lie and evade the law since they were still in diapers. It was a game of cat and mouse, and the longer I played, the more I felt like the mouse instead of the cat.

“You seem distracted.” He interrupted my thoughts, and I realized he wouldn’t walk away without some kind of interaction.

“We’re just busy,” I lied with a smile. “Your family is getting pretty rowdy over there, and we’ve got a full bar.”

His head turned to where members of the bachelor parting were whistling at the dancers and tucking twenties into their g-strings. “I’ll kick them out if it makes you feel better.”

I believed he would, too. “No, it’s fine. I just can’t sit here and chat all night.”

“How long until your break?” he asked, pulling out his phone and checking the time. There were no clocks out on the floor. Nothing to let patrons know how much time they’d passed in the presence of the dancers. It was a fantasy behind the walls in Deception.

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