Page 76 of One Secret

'You're frisking us for weapons now?' he asks in confusion.

I feel my stomach drop into my feet. When we left our room, Cyrus had been kitted out like Stallone under that blazer.

'Not weapons,' Lana reassures with an apologetic smile.

'We wouldn't be foolish enough to try separating a master from his tools,' Felix adds.

Lana nods.

'We're only checking for bugs. Anything that could have recorded us.'

Oh, shit.

'Fine,' Cyrus lifts his arms, surrendering himself to a body search. 'I'm not foolish enough to try and spy on my future employer.'

Double shit.

Rocco is approaching me with far too eager an expression on his face. With hands already up at his chest, he looks like an over-eager teenager anticipating his first boob grab.

'I'm sure you've nothing to hide, bella mia...' he says, adopting a chivalrous little bow of contrition. 'But a job's a job...'

Steeling my nerves, I take a step towards Rocco before Cyrus's hand clamps down around my wrist. He tries to pull me back.

'If a search is necessary, Lana can see to her.' Cyrus appears totally unaffected by his own inspection conducted by the blonde bombshell now working her way down his legs and up his inseams.

Remembering Lana's loyal little smiles towards Felix, I highly doubt she'll take kindly to the little fob of plastic hidden in the ankle hem of my pants. Recalling Rocco's eagerness and how many glasses of wine he'd put away at dinner, I make a hard and fast decision.

'Baby, it's just a quick frisk,' I say, patting Cyrus's hand and disengaging his fingers from my wrist. Shifting each finger is like peeling back straps of steel. I adopt a teasing expression and a pout. 'You need to learn to share.'

Once free, I move in close to Felix's cousin, careful to set my hip at an angle so that it brushes up against his. I expose my neck and let my hair fall to one side in flirtatious encouragement.

'All yours, Mr. Benediti-Caruso...' I purr with a smile.

Color flooding his face, Rocco clicks his tongue like he might with a favorite pet.

'"Rocco", por favor bella mia...'

'Rocco...' I repeat with a soft nod and lifting of my arms.

Starting with following the seam of my halter top around the back of my neck, Rocco works his way down to my cleavage. At first, he brings his palms together, working the sides of his hands between my breasts and over my belly; just as police officers are trained. I'm careful to keep a soft smile on my face until he abandons protocol and presses the flat breadth of his palm against my skin.

I stifle the need to gut-punch him and just raise a teasing eyebrow.

As he works hands around my ribcage and starts to fumble down my sides, I let my arms naturally fall about his shoulders. When he bends at the knees to work over my hips and crouches to feel along my legs, I play with a few strands of this thick hair. From my lofty vantage point, I can see the corners of his mouth turning up in pleasure and he's quickly distracted on his journey south. Instead, his fingers reach higher up along my inner thigh.

I force a giggle and pin his hand between my legs.

'Just what are you expecting to find up there, Rocco?' I tease.

He leers at me from his knees.

'Just being thorough, signorina.'

I nudge him with my foot, my fingers still in his hair. Forgetting that he's only checked to halfway down my calves, Rocco follows my lead without resistance and rises to his feet. His hands fall to my hips.

I raise a reproachful eyebrow at him.

'You do your job any more thoroughly and we're going to have a scandal on our hands.' I jokingly glance over my shoulder at Cyrus and almost lose grip on my persona entirely.

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