His: Tony: The Sabatini Family by Fiona Murphy (mystery books to read .TXT) 📗

brown leather sofa against one wall with a table on each end of it. Matching wingback chairs in brown leather are on opposite ends of the sofa, facing each other. A glass coffee table gleams in the center.

I make it to the chair opposite him, my legs give out from me as I lower myself into it.

“Tell me, Ms. Teller. What are you doing here?” The words are few, I want more, his voice is addictive.

Working to take a deep breath, I remember Lisa’s instructions: Enough of the truth for it to sound real. I stare at his hands steepled in front of him, wondering what is on the top of the signet ring on his right pinky. How are his hands so elegant when he’s done so many dirty things, killed so many people with them? “I need a job and a place to live. Somewhere and something not too demanding. I’m on my last five hundred dollars and rent is due in two weeks. Lisa is an old friend of mine; she suggested this. She loaned me the five thousand for the first month’s rent.”

“Why do this? You’re an intelligent woman with a degree as a nurse, Lisa mentioned. Why are you not making use of your degree and experience?” There is no accusation, simply curiosity.

Damn it, I should have asked her everything she told Tony about me. “I’m not ready to go back. I had some...things happen. I don’t have it in me to take on the emotional and physical demands it requires. For a little while, this is all I can do.”

“Have you done this before, fucked men for money?” How odd. His speech is so cultured even the word ‘fucked’ isn’t grating. I’m aware he speaks Italian. I wonder if it’s why his voice is sexy yet there is no trace of an accent.

I can’t stop the bitter smile his words cause. To stop from staring at him, I focus on the swirling sapphire blue of his silk tie. “I was married. Apparently, as far as my husband was concerned, I was. Even though I had no idea until the end.”

“Did he force you?” The words are dangerously soft.

All I can do is shake my head; my throat is too tight.

I blink, and the scary moment is gone. “How long were you married for?”

“Six years.” I focus on my hands even though I would swear he is urging me to meet his eyes.

“Lisa mentioned the ending of your marriage was one of the things that led you here. Did it end acrimoniously for him? Will he come here looking for you?” Deep smoke is curling all around me. Craving surges inside me for him to whisper in my ear, for the heat of his breath against my skin.

Stop it! Stop it, right fucking now. Focus, damn it. Forcing a deep breath, I shake my head. Annoyance at him and myself has my voice sharper than I intend. “What’s with the twenty questions? Isn’t it enough I’m here with the money?” Shit. I’m supposed to be sweet and smiling and enticing. Not a cranky bitch. Damn it, nothing is going the way I planned. “I’m sorry. I just don’t understand. Lisa kind of said this was pretty straightforward.”

His eyes roam over me from my hair down to my forehead, over my nose, my cheeks, lingering at my mouth. He does it slowly, as if he has all the time in the world. It scares me so badly I fight not to tremble. Those eyes stop at the base of my throat where my pulse is pounding so hard I wonder if he can see it. He continues down over each breast and damn my body for betraying me as my breasts swell and my nipples tighten to the edge of pain. Down they finally move, allowing me to gasp air into greedy lungs. The bastard, I’m clenching my thighs tight, shame flaring inside me as I wonder if he can smell how wet I am from across the room.

When he speaks, at last, I struggle to focus on the words and not what they do to me. “Most women in this building earn ten thousand dollars a month, some almost fifteen thousand. Men come here for the assurance of privacy. Women come here for security. For me, and my men who work here, the women are the number one priority. They are safer here than anywhere else. The women keep far more money than they would working anywhere else.”

He waves a hand my eyes cling to as I wonder how it would feel on my body. Stop it.

“I don’t give a fuck what they do or with who, as long as they pay their rent on time and they keep their nose clean. No drugs are allowed here, aside from ecstasy, and weed and even that is kept to a minimum. I don’t want it stinking up the place. In any given week, I’m approached by as many as five women asking to work here, some of them willing to pay more than the five thousand a month.”

I had no idea. Lisa didn’t mention that.

His voice hardens, the lines on his forehead deepen. “Every woman is vetted. I need to ensure you aren’t bringing trouble with you. I asked you if your ex will come here looking for you if he found out you were here because he wouldn’t be the first man who walked away then came back angry when he finds his ex is selling herself. I’m asking you questions because I need to know who you are and why you’re here.”

I open my mouth, but he doesn’t let me speak. He shakes his head.

“You speak of this as a for now kind of thing. I prefer women who aren’t passing through. The more a woman sees this as their home as well as a place of business, the greater respect they have for me as well as my crew who protect them. Whatever