But not to anything lasting like Roman was implying.
I was infatuated with her.
I was addicted to the challenge of conquering her.
And it wasnotsomething I’d discuss with them. Sooner or later, she’d bend. She’d snap to the slow-burning and consistently building tension between us. Then I’d know what it was like to have her and that would solve that enigma.
“What I meant was that good things come to those who wait,” I said to change the subject. “You all called me out on being a workaholic to find that mole. And I did. I bided my time and I got him.” I lifted my glass. That was something I’d drink to.
“Maybe,” my father said before carrying Owen toward Claire.
I scowled at his back, annoyed that he remained skeptical whether Yusef had been the mole at fault for selling intel. Yusef had been going through my things. He had to have been the mole. Perhaps I could’ve questioned him, but I had been certain and acted on it.
Besides, the interference with our drug routes and shipments had ended. Without our information being provided to Roberto Giovanni, he was at a loss for trying to meddle with our business.
“You know, I had been hearing some chatter that Emilio Ricci was hacking into our database,” Roman said. “I was assuming he was the mole.”
I shook my head. “No. I walked in on Yusef going through my things. And since he’s been dead, no intel has been shared.”
Roman smirked. “Yeah. But you hardly ever leave out papers with details anyway.”
He had me there. I wasn’t prone to handling incriminating paperwork at all. Photos were a necessity at times, but those could be digitized and saved too. I did most of my correspondence digitally, and a couple of months ago, I had been on the same train of thought, that the mole was likely hacking into my system somehow.
“Hey, as long as the motherfucker’s dead and the problem is over,” Sergei said with a nod at me.
Agreed.
As far as I was concerned,thatproblem was over. No one could give me shit about being distracted by Sofia.
I left the party shortly after and sought her out in my building. Because I was a bachelor and prone to working more than relaxing, it seemed stupid to even have a maid full-time in the building. Renee could handle my needs for cleanliness, and I seldom got enough rooms and floors of my residence dirty enough to warrant a second maid.
It was evident in how little work there was for Sofia to do. She seemed idle, often enduring excuses for chores to clean things that didn’t need to be cleaned.
I won’t complain.
The more idle she was, the more attention she could giveme.
Finding her on the balcony outside the dining room, I closed the doors behind me as I joined her.
She jerked up from reading on her phone as I arrived. I’d discovered how much she liked this spot several days ago, and since she kept coming back to relax here, I took it as a sign that she didn’t mind my company.
Her phone fell onto her lap, and I bit back a groan at how she’d already changed. Instead of her black-and-white maid’s outfit, she was wearing lightweight loungewear. Short shorts and a T-shirt that left nothing to the imagination.
Oh, fuck me now.
I sat next to her and sighed, wondering how long I’d last out here in her presence before needing to go shower and jerk off to the dream of her.
When I lifted my arm to put it around her shoulders, she shook her head and got up. Giving me a view of her ass as she moved from one side of me to the other, she teased me cruelly.
She settled on my good side, aware that lifting my arm all the way was still painful from the wounds on my other shoulder.
“How was your day?” I asked, almost chuckling at the lame line to break the silence.
Dancing around each other like this was getting tiresome, but not a bore. I knew she wanted me. She made sure to sassily remind me after every stolen kiss that she wouldn’t be seduced.
It left us here, in the middle, stuck under tension and aggravation to hold back on our mutual desire.
“My day hasn’t changed since a few hours ago when you visited the pantry.”
