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  ‘Barbara, you need to start having more respect for yourself.’

  Even in my fragile state my anger ignited at his words and I turned my head to look at the man properly for the first time since I’d arrived in his office. I found him leaning against the wall opposite the black Chesterfield couch I’d been picked up and placed onto, as if he was trying to keep as far away from me as possible.

  I swept my eyes up and down him quickly as I rolled my eyes at him trying to show my disgust at his erroneous words. But, all the action did for me, was to take all of him in. He was dark, brooding and so powerful looking he made my heart rate stutter.

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  I must be delusional.

  His presence was even more commanding than I remembered from our one and only previous meeting, which had been a very short encounter. The bits and pieces of gossip that I heard from other women that had come into contact with him more recently, certainly didn’t do the man justice. His dark hair was short, well-kept and held in place with some sort of product. He had a square, masculine jaw and his face was clean shaven, which showed off his cleft chin. His dark eyes which were firmly fixed onto mine were becoming more penetrating with every second that passed. They were framed by long, thick eyelashes that were as black as pitch and framed his orbs perfectly. Even in my weakened state I had to reluctantly admit that the man did things to me. He was power, sin, sex and lust all wrapped up in a beautifully presented package. He was dressed with impeccable taste, a three-piece, black suit, pale blue shirt which stretched over his well-defined chest, with a striped blue and black Windsor knotted tie. It had to be recognised, even by me, that the man carried a suit damn well, so well in fact, I believed he was a serious risk to all ovulating females. His arms were crossed over his chest as he waited for me to answer him, leaving me in no doubt of the anger he was concealing behind his eyes.

  ‘How dare you, I have respect for myself… you know nothing about my life.’

  ‘And that’s your first mistake… a lie… I know everything about you.’ The disappointment in his voice left me stunned.

  ‘Why? How do you know anything about me? Why would you want to?’ I was shaking my head from side to side as I reeled out question after question in disbelief at what he’d just said.

  Does Brody know that I’m back in this position?

  The humiliation I felt at his statement and my subsequent worry, caused an almost instantaneous reaction inside me. The pressure behind my eyes began to build until all my previously held in pain, terror and disgrace, began to run down my face in rapid, thick rivulets. I tore my eyes away from his and placed my hands over my face as I tried, to no avail to hide my feelings from him. A few minutes passed without anything more being said between us. Eventually, my tears subsided and comprehending that he hadn’t moved from his earlier position, I slowly rolled my head to look at him again.

  My tear-filled eyes met his and the air in the room changed suddenly.

  ‘Why are you that interested in me? No one is that interested in me, other than my feral cat and my neighbour…’

  ‘Pearl and you’ve called the cat Tiger; I presume because of his colouring.’

  The view that met my eyes was completely different to what I was expecting. The previous air of arrogant indifference that I knew Nico Morello was renowned for showing to the world, had been replaced with a look of concern. He pushed himself off the wall behind him and shrugged his broad shoulders out of his suit jacket, throwing it over his desk as he walked past. My eyes immediately jumped to the brown leather shoulder holster that had been exposed by his action.

  What the hell?

  Nico continued to cross the large room and finally, when he’d nearly reached me, he took hold of a nearby chair, twisted it around on one leg and straddled it. Folding his arms, he rested them on the seat back and looked down at me.

  ‘You don’t take care of yourself, Barbara. You’ve lost weight since I saw you last and judging by the way you passed out in here tonight, I would say you’re also dehydrated.’

  ‘You’ve been spying on me, why would you do that?’

  ‘Call it keeping an eye on you.’

  ‘I prefer spying,’ I retorted.

  ‘Call it what you want, I obviously haven’t done a good enough job, have I?’

  ‘I’m nothing to you, it’s not your responsibility to look out for me. So, I appreciate your weird concern, but I need to go home.’

  ‘Home to what? A cat and an older lady with a brightly coloured clothing obsession?’

  ‘You really have been spying on me,’ I spat out in disgust.

  ‘No.’ He shook his head, ‘Call it due concern.’

  I sat bolt upright and as my head protested, I quickly comprehended that I’d moved too quickly. Slowly, and reluctantly, I lowered myself backwards to the prone position I’d previously been in and started to take some deep breaths to calm my erratic heart rate. The deep breaths I was attempting to inhale were my second big mistake, the smell of the man permeated my nostrils. He smelt fresh and clean, like the ocean after a storm and the aroma of the man rapidly became something I needed more of. Fear of looking like even more of a loser in his eyes, I stopped myself inhaling through my nostrils and started to take in air through my mouth.

  ‘Is this the position you sit in when you interrogate people, Mr. Morello?’

  I wasn’t quite sure where my sassiness was coming from tonight, but maybe it was a primal instinct. I knew his reputation and felt I needed to fight fire with fire.

  ‘I want to help you, Barbara.’ I couldn’t believe what I thought my ears had actually heard.

  ‘I’m sorry…I… What did you just say?’

  A sigh left him and then he cleared his throat loudly, his previous look of concern was gone and replaced by his mask of arrogant indifference. ‘I have a proposition for you.’

  ‘Well as you’ve brought a gun to a tiddly wink competition, I can hardly not hear you out, can I?’

  He twisted his head slightly and his left eye narrowed on me as he took in what I’d said. I could have sworn that the corners of his mouth twitched with a grin he managed to supress.

  ‘Twenty minutes ago, I paid Antonio Barzini the money you owed him.’

  ‘WHAT?... Why on earth would you have done that?’ I sat up quickly in response to his words, ignoring the pain in my head. It was difficult to blink as my eyes felt dry after crying so much, but I forced my eyelids together in order to sever our connection.

  ‘Because now I own you, Barbara.’

  The chair creaked as he shifted his weight around while he waited for his statement to filter through to me.

  An incoherent noise left my lips, followed by a whispered, ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘It’s straightforward. Your life was in danger, and now it’s not.’

  ‘You could have fooled me… I’m here with you, and your reputation is far worse than Barzini’s.’ I emitted the words rapidly.

  Terror and a feeling of downright stupidity unravelled inside of me at the situation I had willingly placed myself into.

  Again, his head twisted to the side as he mulled over what I had just said. ‘That’s true, but I want to marry you, which is definitely not what Barzini and his men had in mind for you.’

  Chapter Seven

  Nico

  ‘I can’t marry you!’

  I could see she was still struggling. I could see the flight response captured in her bluey green iridescent eyes. The same eyes that had captivated me the moment she’d finally looked at me properly. The woman wanted to sit up, she wanted to stand and to run away. She wanted to escape the large room we were in and I knew why. I too could feel how the walls felt like they were closing in on us. The temperature in the room felt like it was increasing rapidly when it was normally controlled to the absolute degree, even I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. And, in probably what was the most important business meeting I had ever conducted, I appreciat
ed that I was staring at her breasts as her chest rose with each and every unpredictable breath she inhaled. The briefest glimpse of her white, lace bra showed each and every time she drew in a breath as her buttons strained and a small gap appeared between two of them. She’d lost weight everywhere else, but the man in me had already noted that her breasts were still beautifully round.

  ‘You don’t know what you’re asking,’ she stated after I made no reply.

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong, Barbara. I plan everything down to the last detail.’ I forced my eyes back up to hers once again, to make sure she understood the power behind my last sentence. She didn’t need to know that this plan of mine had only come into fruition less than an hour ago.

  ‘We can’t get married, we’re not in love,’ she uttered, shaking her head ever so slightly at me as she contemplated just what I was demanding of her.

  ‘That’s what makes this proposition that I’m offering you perfect.’

  ‘I don’t understand…’

  I sat up straighter and pushing my arms straight on the back of the chair, I leant backwards, pulling myself away from the woman who was drawing me in closer with each breath she took.

  ‘This is the deal.’ I started speaking, but when she jumped I realised that it was in a harsher tone than I would have chosen, as I attempted to widen the imaginary gap between us. ‘I’ve paid off all your debts.’

  ‘All of my debts?’

  ‘All of them… even the electric company.’ I watched her nod as she tried to take in what I was saying. ‘And I need to take a wife.’

  ‘Why?’ she shot back at me.

  ‘You understand what it’s like to be beholden to family members don’t you, Barbara?’

  She nodded just a fraction.

  ‘Well,’ I continued. ‘My grandmother, Nonna, wants me to marry to carry on our wonderful family.’ A loud laugh left my mouth at the ridiculousness of it all. ‘I will fulfil my promise to her, to make her happy, but I will never “marry” in the true sense of the word… and without a doubt I will never embrace a family that has my father’s faulty DNA in it.’

  ‘So, let me get this straight… you want us to marry to placate her?’ I could see the questioning look in her eyes.

  ‘Yes, it’s that simple.’

  ‘Marriage isn’t simple, I watched my parents’ marriage come crashing down around their ears.’ Pain overtook her features and I gripped my fingers into the back of the chair to stop reaching forward to touch her face.

  What the actual hell?

  ‘This marriage would be.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she answered and began to sit up again.

  I watched as she swung her legs off the couch, showing me her shapely legs, and placed her scruffy looking shoes onto the floor.

  She was making to leave.

  What felt like panic reared up inside of me. ‘Barbara… You have two choices.’ I deliberately spoke harshly this time, I needed her to understand that what I wanted was going to happen.

  ‘What?’ Her brow furrowed and her eyes found mine and stayed there for longer than she’d allowed before.

  I straightened my back and sat up taller, to emphasise what I was about to land on her.

  ‘Two choices. Marry me and be my pretend wife for one year or… well the phones on the desk, do you want to call Brody or shall I?’

  I let my words rest for a few seconds and then to add my pretend indifference to them, I swung my leg back over the chair I’d been sitting on and moved to stand in front of her, deliberately placing my feet either side of hers and effectively trapping her in. I wanted to make sure she could feel my towering presence while she thought over her choices.

  ‘I don’t want Brody involved,’ she whispered, and my heart rate accelerated in what felt like excitement.

  Again, what the actual hell?

  Knowing her eyes weren’t on me I shook my head at myself.

  ‘One year?’ she questioned and I looked down at her and took in how beautiful her naturally blonde hair was.

  ‘Yes,’ I replied. Look up at me.

  ‘Then we divorce and go our separate ways?’

  ‘Our marriage will be fake, but for all intents and purposes will look from the outside like a real marriage, my nonna won’t be fooled by anything else… But, yes, at the end of the year we will divorce and go our separate ways… I’ll make sure you’re well provided for.’

  ‘I want… well, I want more.’

  ‘More?’ I unwittingly reached out and placed two fingers under her chin to lift her eyes up to mine.

  The simple touch of my fingers on her soft skin set all the nerves in my hand and up my arm on edge, which took me by complete surprise, when nothing ever really surprised me. Then compliantly she allowed me to gently lift her head until she was looking demurely up at me with her expressive eyes.

  ‘More?’ My head was screaming at me to break the connection between the two of us, but it was as though my fingers were magnetized to her. I couldn’t release the tiny hold I had on her and even worse the pad of my thumb was caressing her chin gently as I held her.

  ‘I need help, Nico.’ Her eyes began to fill with tears once again and I exhaled. A woman crying was my kryptonite, it reminded me of my mamma.

  ‘What do you need?’

  ‘I need help to beat this addiction. I’ll marry you; I’ll pretend with you for one year, but I need help… please.’

  Relief swept through me. Then it was quickly and fleetingly replaced with an edge of disappointment when I reflected that was all she wanted from me.

  ‘That’s a given; I was always going to get you the help you needed. I’ll employ the best doctor to help you.’ I smiled at her in reassurance. ‘My wife can’t have a gambling addiction; she needs to be above all of that.’

  ‘But I won’t let you send me away… I can’t be sent away again.’ She started to shake her head vehemently. One solitary tear left her and started to run down her cheek.

  I felt my left eye narrow as I studied her. I knew her history, her parents splitting and her family being torn into two, perhaps this was why all the money Brody had thrown at her before to help with her addiction had never actually helped her?

  I lifted my other hand and gently brushed the tear away from her cheek with my fingertips.

  ‘I’ll be with you every step of the way.’

  ‘Then you have yourself a deal.’

  I smiled at her and then placed a kiss gently to the top of her head and allowed myself to inhale her vanilla shampoo.

  Standing still and caressing the woman who had agreed to be my wife set off a chain reaction inside me. Something clicked inside my head, my hand dropped away from her chin and I stepped away from her quickly, before thoughts of owning her in every way possible consumed me. That was something that I knew needed to be kept well out of this arrangement. Once my back was turned to her, I strode purposefully over to pick up my jacket from my desk, inhaling deeply as I tried to rid her perfume from my nostrils.

  ‘Come on, let’s get you home.’

  ‘My condo?’

  ‘Yes, at first… as you will have to pick up what you need and I’m sure you’ll want to tell Pearl the good news.’ I shot a questioning look back over my shoulder at her and took in the fear on her face. ‘Then to my home out at Red Rock Canyon.’

  ‘You know she’ll never believe me and what will I do about Tiger?’ I could hear the sudden panic in her voice and knew it didn’t all stem from the fact she was going to have to lie to Pearl and leave her beloved moggy behind. The realisation of what she’d agreed to do had hit her like a ten-ton truck.

  ‘I’m sure you can convince her, after all you’ve been lying to her about how bad your addiction was for some time haven’t you?’

  ‘She didn’t believe that either.’

  ‘Then we’ll have to try really hard to convince her, won’t we?’ I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of what we might have to do to convince her good f
riend.

  ‘You’re prepared to playact tonight?’

  ‘Technically the sun is rising and it’s a brand new day here in the city, and yes, I’m prepared to kiss you senseless, so you’ll be more than convincing as the blushing bride.’

  With her ass still planted on my couch, I watched as she swallowed deeply and felt my hand twitch at the thought of holding onto her neck as my mouth consumed hers.

  It was going to be a good day; I could feel it.

  Chapter Eight

  Barbara

  Driving out to my condo, which was situated in the cheap area of Sunrise, so early in the morning, was something I hadn’t appreciated in a very long time. It meant that Vegas was bathed in the red and gold light from the beautiful colouring in the sky. Various hotels shimmered under their metallic coverings and their colours bled into my soul, making me feel warm inside. This morning my heart felt just that little bit lighter as for the first time in what seemed like forever, I contemplated that I might have a chance at a future.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I took a look at the devastatingly handsome man sat beside me and then moved my eyes quickly back to the front. His reputation preceded him, but I couldn’t believe that the man who’d shown me so much compassion earlier could be all bad. Although, I was nervous at just what game he was going to play once we got back to my home. I continued to look over at Nico sporadically, and I tried to comprehend what I’d agreed to and just what it would involve.

  The man himself was quiet on our journey, occasionally singing the odd few words to an Elvis soundtrack he had playing quietly in the car. I felt he was probably contemplating the exact same questions as me, but I felt sure, having witnessed the corners of his mouth twitch on more than one occasion, that he was much happier or at least more comfortable than I was about the deal we had made.

  In fact, it appeared that he was almost enjoying our charade.

  ‘It’s beautiful, don’t you think?’ I asked trying to break through the silence.

  ‘The sunrise?’ he questioned.