Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Fucking stop it.
I grunt and take a long pull to drown the hunger growing in my belly.
It’s Sunday evening and I’ve done nothing since she left my house but think about my personal assistant. Which isn’t ideal, considering I had planned on fixing a lot of problems this weekend. That redhead was going to be a brief distraction, a way of getting my rocks off and clearing my head. What was her name? Lacey? Linda? Doesn’t even matter anymore. The second I saw Deanna with her legs spread on my pool table, I lost my appetite for anything but her.
That’s a real god damn problem, because I use sex to keep my mind working right. The longer I go without that lovely taste of pleasure, the fuzzier my brain becomes, and right now I need to be sharp. This isn’t the time to get all fucking soft.
I grip my glass tightly and check my phone. A dozen different messages, half of them from girls looking for a date. I ignore them all. I could have a woman here in ten minutes if that’s what I really want, but the idea is like ash on my tongue.
Not since I sucked my stuck-up assistant’s fingers.
God, who would’ve thought? Stiff, prickly, stuffy Deanna, stroking her pussy on my pool table, and I’m pretty sure I heard her moaning my name. That’s what really broke me. That shattered my resolve.
Not that self-control is usually my thing, but still, I’ve been good when it comes to her.
It’s supposed to be business with that girl and nothing else. Doesn’t matter if her serious-office-lady routine gets my dick harder than iron and her constant scorn makes me want to fill her pretty mouth with cock. I don’t fuck where I work. Most of the time, anyway.
And technically, technically, I still followed that rule.
Tasting her and getting her off wasn’t technically fucking.
Too bad a technicality can’t get the memory of her shuddering breasts and the heavenly scent of her orgasm from my head.
“Ah, Mr. Spadaro, there you are.” A heavy gentleman with a bushy mustache appears at my shoulder. He’s got on a gaudy pinstripe suit like a TV gangster and his thinning hair is shoved across his skull in the worst comb-over I’ve ever seen.
“I appreciate you coming, Mr. Salerno.”
“Call me Ricardo if I can call you Prime.”
“Take a seat then, Ricardo. What can I get you to drink?”
The big man settles into the chair beside me and asks for a wine. We make small talk and I force myself to banish the thought of my personal assistant from my head. For once in my life, I have real work to do.
“I’ll be straight with you.” Ricardo holds his glass perched in his meaty fingers. “Mr. F is curious about your offer. We spoke at length about the parking lot business, about your real estate ventures, about how you’ve expanded your territory, and he’s very impressed.”
“I appreciate that.”
“However.” He holds up his pinky. It’s a weird gesture. I want to reach out and snap it sideways. Maybe rip that ugly mustache from his smug face. He cringes with an apologetic smile. “Mr. F is a very busy man, and while your proposal was very interesting, he isn’t going to follow through with further talks.”
I mask the sudden ring of failure and anger by taking a low drink. Even approaching Augustus Fontana with a simple business proposal was like walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope. The man’s famously paranoid and rarely, if ever, gets involved with other crime families. It took a lot of work, dozens of favors, and hours of dogged persistence to get a single message across his desk. It’s a minor miracle even this low-level member of his organization is sitting here speaking to me in person.
For all that effort to end like this?
It’s brutal. Fucking devastating.
And I will not accept it.
“I understand Mr. F’s attention is always at a premium, however we both know our organizations have mutually beneficial operations. I can offer better terms if that would interest him more, or we can look into alternative structures—“
Ricardo shakes his head regretfully. “That’s not the problem at all. You were more than generous with your terms and everyone in the outfit can see the wisdom in working with you. Unfortunately, the issue is slightly more… awkward, if you’ll permit me to put it that way.”
I bite back a sharp retort. Quit playing coy and suck my dick or don’t you fucking prick. Instead, I nod thoughtfully and play the serious businessman to the best of my ability, even if most of my seriousness and business-ness comes straight from Deanna keeping me from self-imploding. Without that girl, I’d be awash in pussy, liquor, and worse.
With her, I’m keeping my head above water.
“Please, I’d appreciate any honest feedback, no matter how strange. There are no hard feelings here. If it’s something I can change, we might be able to have better news to take back to your employer.”