Chapter 3
Rocco
“Mia. Who is that?”
The bartender looks up from her tray of perfectly aged single malt to note the angel currently gracing the main stage at the Candelabra.
Mia looks at me with narrowed eyes. “Don’t even think about it.”
I want to laugh and tell her it's far too late for that. The second the woman had walked onto the stage, I had been utterly captivated. How could someone look so lost and yet perfectly belong in the spotlight?
Her tight black dress reveals a dangerous amount of leg, which already has many of the men around me drooling a bit. Yet the vintage leather jacket advocates for her modesty, only allowing us brief glimpses of her surprisingly curvaceous figure.
But all thoughts of deciphering the enigma before more vanished the second she began to sing.
“I haven’t seen her before,” I mutter as I take my drink from Mia’s outstretched hand.
A glance at the fiery redhead makes me aware she’s about two seconds away from throwing it in my face.
“I thought you were here to see Danny,” she replies tightly.
I lean in, matching her glare. “Just because your father is a valuable asset to me doesn’t mean you can talk to me like that.”
“I’m so sorry, Your Royal Highness. Would you like me to spell it out for you? Cas is off-limits. End of story.”
Cas. My mind turns the name over and over again, trying to imagine what it would sound like on my tongue. Miss Cassandra —that’s how she’d been introduced. I wonder if that is her real name, or just a stage name.
“You must be close if you’re already on a nickname basis,” I muse.
“We were childhood friends.”
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. The Italian mafia doesn’t run in particularly large circles. “A family I know?”
Something flickers across Mia’s stony expression, but it’s gone before I can pull it apart.
“She moved to Ohio when she was eight. She doesn’t know about the Guild.”
Cas begins her next song, and it’s all I can do to hum non-committedly in response to Mia’s words as my entire attention is captivated once more.
She must be some kind of siren. The way everything else seems to fade around me has my instincts raging for me to stay alert. But I’m completely helpless.
She might sound like an angel and look like the gods themselves had crafted her to be the living embodiment of desire, but those lips, forming perfect ohs and ahs around the melody…were as sinful as the devil.
What I wouldn’t give to trail my tongue across her bottom lip, and hear the sounds she made when I took it between my teeth. Would she sing for me then? Could I make her gasp out my name between the notes of her pleasure?
Then, all of a sudden, her song ends. Everything around me comes back into sharp focus, and I find myself having to reposition myself in my seat.
I turn to see that Mia is back behind the bar, so I take the opportunity to flag down her assistant manager, Terry.
“Sir?” He practically bows as he approaches the VIP table. I absently wonder if I could persuade him to give Mia a few lessons in grace and decorum.
“Please invite Miss Cassandra to my table after her performance.”
“Of course, sir.”
The next twenty minutes are complete agony. It takes everything within me to maintain a cool facade to conceal the rampantly salacious thoughts running through my mind.
I tell myself it’s Danny’s fault. We’d broken up again after the incident with Carmine Bellini over a week ago. Despite her constant nagging and clinginess, she’d always been willing to take the edge off most of my darker desires.
Now they are running rampant, projecting onto this poor woman who’d done nothing but appear before me as temptation incarnate. Perhaps Mia was right after all.
“Sir?”
I turn as casually as I can to see that Terry has returned to my table. The woman who will surely be my undoing is standing nervously behind him.
“Miss Cassandra for you, sir.”
Cas steps forward, fingers playing with the cuffs of her jacket. “I hope you enjoyed the show tonight.”
Her voice is quieter than I expected. Her confidence from when she was on stage is clearly waning now that she is out of the spotlight. But it doesn’t stop the pining ache in my chest.
“Miss Cassandra, please, join me for a drink.” I indicate to the seat across from me before turning back to Terry. “She’ll have a glass of champagne.”
“Make that a whiskey,” she corrects as she nods to my own glass. “My father always said it was rude not to drink that same thing as your host.”
“Smart man.”
Cas finally takes her seat as Terry retreats back to the bar. Now that we are face to face, I find myself captivated by her beauty. Her thick, dark hair matches her olive skin perfectly and it cascades down over her shoulders in effortless waves. But it’s her unusually bright hazel eyes that render me speechless.
She shifts awkwardly under my intense gaze. “You wanted to see me?”
“I wanted to congratulate you in person. It’s been a while since the Candelabra has displayed such talent.”
A beautiful flush appears across her cheeks, and the sight goes straight to my cock. If such a small amount of praise had this effect on her…
“I’m not sure my colleagues would agree with you,” she counters.
“A diplomatic response.”
“Self-preservation is in my best interest. I quite enjoy having my hair attached to my head.”
My chuckle seems to surprise us both. “You’ve met Danny then.”
“Hard to miss her.”
“I seem to have managed it this evening,” I muse. “Although I can’t complain. Making your acquaintance seems like a more valuable use of my time.”
Cas stares at me for a moment, clearly mulling something over. “You know, she talks a lot about her boyfriend when she is backstage—the staggeringly handsome Italian billionaire who reserves the VIP table almost every night.”
“Do you agree with her?”
She frowns. “Agree with what?”
“That her ex-boyfriend is staggeringly handsome?” I lean hard on the word “ex” as I speak.
Her tempting mouth drops open, but she’s saved a response by two glasses of whiskey slamming onto the table between us.
“Everything all right here, Cas?” Mia stares at me with murderous intent.
I offer her a shit-eating grin in return. “Miss Cassandra and I were just getting acquainted.”
“I called last orders an hour ago,” she counters.
To her endless list of credits, I add another mark of approval as Cas places a gentle hand on Mia’s arm. “I won’t be too long. Claudio was asking if you had next week’s itinerary yet.”
Finally, Mia looks at her friend. “You call me if you need anything.”
Cas nods, and Mia makes her retreat, shooting daggers over her shoulder at me.
“I’m sorry, Mia can be…protective.” Cas swirls her whiskey around her glass.
“Evidently.”
“She’s right, though. Claudio will want me backstage soon. I won’t be able to stay long.”
I smirk. “I’m sure he’ll make an exception for me.”
She takes a long sip from her glass, and I try not to stare at her throat as she swallows. “I don’t think you understand. He can also be very protective.”
I pretend to weigh this up for a moment. “Well, I suppose that’s the one benefit of owning this place. Everyone here has to do as I say.”
“Mister Moretti?” Her eyes practically bulge from their sockets.
“I see my reputation proceeds me.”
She takes another long drink.
In the silence, something she said catches in the back of my mind. “Tell me, is there a reason my talent manager is so possessive of you?”
Cas doesn’t look me in the eye as she replies. “He…we’re living together.” Then, more firmly, like a dagger to my chest, “He’s my boyfriend.”
Of course, nothing can ever be this easy for someone like me.
I smirk to myself as I circle the rim of my glass with a finger. “He’s a fool, then.”
“Excuse me?”
“For letting you have a drink with a staggeringly handsome Italian billionaire,” I answer simply.
“Mister Moretti…”
“Rocco,” I correct her.
Her gaze narrows. “Rocco. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression…”
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t interrupt me,” she snaps, her eyes igniting with something that makes my heart race. “I am only interested in maintaining a professional relationship with you. As my employer, you must understand that.”
If I wasn’t so in awe of her, I might have been blindsided by her flash of confidence.
But I realize that the fire within her is what makes her so irresistible. I saw it when she was on stage, baring her soul. She has been defiantly holding my gaze during our conversation as well, and I find myself lapping it up.
“Then I will respect your wishes,” I concede. “Although it is a shame you’ll never know the kind of protection I could offer you. It’s notoriously unparalleled.”
She crosses her arms. “Care to enlighten me?”
I chuckle darkly. “It’s not the kind of topic discussed with polite company.”
“Luckily, I’m not polite. At all.”
My eyes roam her defiant face, hungry to speak up her attention. “Well, first, we’d have to take this conversation somewhere far more private. I wouldn’t want an audience for all the things I would do to you. At least, not the first time.”
To my delight, her pupils begin to dilate at my words. “You aren’t serious.”
“Deadly,” I take a sip of whiskey. “I could hardly protect you without staking my claim. It wouldn’t do for you to have another man’s name on those perfect lips of yours.”
Something dark takes over her expression. “I suppose you’d be wanting my lips around your cock before you even lifted a finger to protect me.”
“On the contrary, I’m sure we could find many ways to occupy my fingers.”
I don’t miss the way her eyes dart to my hand, my finger still circling the rim of my glass. Slowly, I lift it to my mouth and try not to groan as her dark eyes follow the movement.
My cock begins to strain in my pants as her tongue darts out to moisten her bottom lip.
“Rocco, I…”
“Cas!”
We both jump at the sound of Claudio Lazzaro’s drawl. I’m not sure I’ve ever hated a man more in my life.
“Lazzaro, Miss Cassandra here was just delighting me with her company.” I don’t bother offering him a smile. “It seems you’ve been holding out on me.”
Something in Lazzaro’s jaw jumps in response. “Cas only started a week ago, sir.”
“Yet it seems you’ve both known each other a while?”
Cas clears her throat. “Did you need something, darling?”
I want to vomit as the pet name does wonders to the tension in Lazzaro’s shoulders. Most of the club’s patrons have disappeared while we were talking, and the staff have packed away most of the bar. I wonder if they’d notice if I punched him in the face?
“I need you around back,” he says to Cas. He offers no more explanation.
“Right.”
I look back at Cas, immediately noting the way she stares emotionlessly down at her hands. Her entire demeanor seems to have changed in an instant.
Where was the confident woman I was speaking to only a moment before? The woman who could match my flirtations beat for a beat while taking me down a peg in the process?
“It seems I’ve occupied enough of your time,” I announce as we both stand.
Without thinking too hard about it, I reach out to take Cas’ hand in mine and bring it to my lips. I’m desperately trying to ignore the way my skin lights up at the touch. “Until next time, Angioletta. ”
Her hazel eyes bore into mine. I can only pray that I’m imagining the longing I find there. For both our sakes.
A firm hand clamps down on her shoulder. “You must be warm, Cas. Let’s take that jacket off and get you into some normal clothes.”
Before she has time to protest, Claudio pulls at her sleeve and drags her out of her leather jacket.
Something primal roars within me at the sight of Cas’ exposed flesh, but then…
Then I stop breathing.
Cas tries to cover her arms, but it’s too late. Claudio throws a protective—no, possessive— arm over her shoulders.
The bruises match his hands perfectly.