“Name,” he said once more. I got the feeling he was losing patience with me.
Why would he need the information?
I stood taller, teetering a bit in the heels, putting up a wall against all I felt since he touched me. “That’s none of your business. I might not know much about this situation, but I do know this. It pays. I came here to earn money. So do I get the job or not? My time is valuable, Mr…?”
“What would you be willing to do to get the job?”
“I thoughtyouwere the job I’d be doing.”
“Answer me, Mariposa.”
I licked at my lip, glad that it had started to clot. I knew it looked bad, though. He had kissed my lipstick off. “I’m here. That means… whatever you want me to. I heard the job pays well.”
“Ah,” he said, sounding Italian all of a sudden. “It pays very well. Millions. Plus perks.”
I didn’t suck in a breath, but I wanted to. Millions? Perks? Was he messing with me? No, Sierra had mentionedfor good. If the girl cared enough to count her cheese slices, she wouldn’t have messed around about this. Suddenly, her situation with Scarpone dawned on me. Had she broken up with him for this opportunity? It made sense, if she had.
“Sounds good to me,” I said. “Sign me up.”
This time, I felt it when he took a step closer. I was highly aware of him.Lightning searing against my personal darkness.I tried to take a step back, but he put his arm around my waist, pulling me closer. I stuck my hand to his chest, pushing, but he didn’t budge.
“Us,” he said. “Tell me about that. What happened in here, between us.”
“That’s a dirty word. Us. There is no us,” I said. “This is business. Whatever I do, and I meanwhatever, I do as a business transaction. Nothing is free in this life, not even love. I’m past being dirt poor. I have to watch out for me. So, you either give me thejob, or have one of those men escort me out, like you did to the girls who were flirting with the men in the main room.”
“You do me a service—”
“And you pay me,” I said.
“Nothing more,” he said.
“Not a damn thing.”
“For the record, Mariposa.” He came in closer, inhaling, his breath fanning over my neck. I closed my eyes again, trying my hardest to keep my heart from frantically beating. I knew he could feel it. “Never fucking cut me off while I’m speaking.”
I nodded. “Will do…boss.” The word sounded like a bitter insult sliding right off my honeyed tongue.
“I never said you got the job, Mariposa.”
His nose moved up my neck, touching my ear, then moved back down to my lips. He placed a chaste kiss on the side of my mouth, and then on my lips, right where the cut was. It burned, the area sensitive, but it was the only reminder that this was real. That he had existed.
The burn was still strong as my escort from earlier removed the blindfold—the other man, theboss, was gone. The feelings he left behind were as hot as the flames blistering the air around me.
After giving me a second to compose myself, the escort led me outside, no words spoken between us.
7
Capo
Out of all the clubs in the world, she had to walk into mine.
Mine.
She invaded my space without even knowing she had.
She looked completely different, but somehow, I remembered her.
The eyes. The nose. The lips. The shape of her face. She was my innocence,lamia farfalla, but she had matured. Became a woman in the span of years that felt like centuries to me. Seeing her brought back a rush of memories. I was a dead man reliving a life he had left behind.
