Page 33 of Arturo's Temptation

“If you’re going to apologise for what happened this evening, I don’t want to fucking hear it. You’re lucky Arturo only gave you that shiner, but let it happen again, and I’ll give him permission to carry out whatever he promised you.” Mik’s gaze darted towards me as I shot him a wink, sealing Lorenzo’s words.

“It won’t, sir. I swear I won’t say anything about Isabella?—”

“You don’t get to speak her fuckin’ name!” I rose from my seat, closing the distance between us. “When you address her, you’ll address her as, ‘Boss’, you got that, sunshine?”

“I got it, Boss,” he murmured, clearing his throat. As I glanced behind me, Lorenzo gave me an amused look, it was safe to way he was impressed. Red was playing with a butterfly knife, trying to keep his chuckles to himself.

Satisfied my job was done here, I turned back to Mik and cocked my head to the side. “Good, ‘cause I’ll be watching you closely, so make sure you don’t fuck up again. Else it’s play time.” Flicking my eyebrows up, I patted my palm against his cheek before striding towards the door and holding it open. Mik immediately took that as his cue.

Closing the door with a click, I turned back to find Red holding my full again glass.

“Fuck, you’re good,” he laughed.

“He’s right, Arturo. These men need toughening up a little, you up for it?” Lorenzo asked, knocking his glass back.

“Always,” I smiled, downing my whisky.

13

I awokethe following morning feeling sore and pissed off. The previous night had been a complete shit show. It had all happened so damn fast. In hindsight, what I had done, shoving myself between them, had probably been stupid and reckless, but I wasn’t just going to stand there and watch them beat the living shit out of one another. It wasn’t my idea of fun.

I wanted to despise Arturo… hate him for interfering, but I couldn’t… not fully anyway. As I lay there, thoughts resurfaced about how badly I had wanted to kiss him. It was becoming all I could think about… day and night.

“Wakey wakey,” came a soft rap at the door.

Ugh, not now.

“I’m already awake, Arturo.” I groaned, throwing my arm over my face, praying he would just disappear, but to my horror the door flew open, revealing his tall muscular frame. “What the hell? I’m not decent! Get out!” I snapped.

“You’re always decent,” he winked, walking over to me. “How you feelin’?”

“Fine.”Liar.

“Y’know, Miss Ricci, I can tell when you’re lying,” he smirked.

“I can train, honestly, I’m good.” I threw my legs over the bed, glancing over my shoulder to meet his burning gaze. “You can go now,” I said, raising my eyebrows, but to my frustration, he didn’t move an inch. Rolling my eyes, I stood from the bed, underestimating just how badly I had hurt my foot.

Fuck!

Swallowing and keeping my head high, I paced over to my closet, desperately trying to hold in the desire to wince and hobble, but it was hopeless. He saw right through me.

“Fine, are ya?” he chuckled, closing the distance between us.

“It’s fine,” I gritted out, “nothing I can’t handle.”

His thumb brushed my cheek, causing my body to still. “Need a hand gettin’ ready?” he teased, his eyes dropping to my lips.

“No… I can manage.” I pursed my lips. “You can leave now.”

“Ouch,” he chuckled, leaning in close. “You’ve got five minutes, don’t be late.” I shuddered as his lips brushed my earlobe.

Is it possible to hate someone and yet be so turned on by them all at the same time?

He flashed me a million dollar smile, before turning to walk towards the door. Yanking a cushion off my armchair, I pulled my arm back and launched the fluffy square at him, missing him by a clear mile.

“Remind me to work on your aim too.” he laughed, closing the door behind him.

I dressed in record time, before pulling my hair back into a messy bun. But the second I shoved my feet into my sneakers, I cursed my residual anger and winced.

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