2. Maximo
CHAPTER 2
Maximo
It was a stupid idea on the night of my father’s funeral. I was drunk, mourning, and filled with all the unshed anger I’d been keeping locked up for the sake of my mother. She was a wreck, utterly inconsolable, and there was nothing I could do to even try and make her feel better. She had lost the only man she had ever loved, and no amount of words were going to make up for that.
Then... cue a very drunken and ridiculous conversation with my fucked-up, and mentally unstable cousin Rocco—and something that initially was just fleeting moments of internal hatred—became real. For the past 365 days, this is all I’ve been able to think of. I’ve eaten, slept, and breathed this and nothing else, and now everything comes down to this.
So why is it that I can’t seem to get the image of that stunning little blonde out of my head from a week ago? It’s the weirdest thing because I’ve had one goal for the past year, and nothing or no one has been given a chance to mess that up. My mind has been solely focused on planning something so insane that I never thought it possible to do.
Yet here I am, thinking about the girl who practically took my breath away when I saw her. The way her hips swayed when she moved about making my coffee, how her stunning sea-foam green eyes struck me fucking dead when she looked at me and smiled.
“What’s wrong with you?” My cousin’s voice and the moment his hand smacks against the steering wheel of the car bring me out of my daydream.
“Huh?”
“Huh?” He mimics me comedically. “I asked you the same question three fucking times, and you’ve been staring into space like this is a fucking rom-com and you’re having a montage moment.”
“You’re a fucking idiot.” I snort.
Shit, how long was I even out for?
“Anyway, what were you saying?”
Rocco sighs frustratedly. “Okay, so from what we already know, he leaves here…”
I nod along for a few minutes, listening to what he’s repeated to me many times before, and soon enough, my thoughts flow right back to her.
Julia.
I couldn’t take my fucking eyes off her. It was like I was in the presence of a goddess, and listen, I know how fucking stupid that sounds, but she was the most remarkably stunning woman I have ever laid my eyes on. Perfect skin that had a light dusting of a golden hue to it, which tells me she’s not one to spend a lot of time in the sun. The curvature of her body was like an upgraded version of the Greek Goddess Aphrodite.
And those lips.
I’ve kept myself closed off from everything except my family, and even women have stopped becoming a distraction for me. I’ve told myself over and over again that when everything is done, and I’m able to finish what I started, then I’ll settle down. I can move back home to Sicily with my family and live out my life a happy man. Until then, nothing else matters. But Julia, she was utterly unexpected.
A sharp sting cracks the back of my head, and I turn to face Rocco. “ Che cazzo! ”
“What the fuck has gotten into you? I’ve been talking to you for the past ten minutes.”
“I know why the fuck we’re here. You touch me like that again fucker, and I’ll cut your hand off. The right one, too, so every time you jerk off with the left, it’s uncomfortable.” I love my cousin, but sometimes he can be a real pain in my fucking ass.
“Now, why would you say that?” He turns his body to face me in the car, dropping both hands in his lap out of frustration. We stare at each other for a beat, and I wait for the argument that is about to ensue because Rocco has a really hard time keeping his fucking mouth shut when he has something to say.
With narrowed eyes, he watches me, and slowly, the left corner of his mouth perks up into a mischievous smirk. “Who is she?” He asks, finally grinning from ear to ear.
“My private life is none of your business.”
“Ahh, but there is someone. Is she hot?”
I groan, rolling my eyes and turning my head back to face the building where John Richardson and his wife Amelia live. John is the CEO of a very wealthy Medical Insurance company that has been fraudulently refusing medical claims regarding people’s health for as long as I can remember.
Creating a brand-new legacy of fucking assholes for the rest of the world to just accept. Refusing to help people, denying claims, randomly deciding not to cover certain medication on the insurance people take out, causing them to be hit with a hefty fucking bill. Yeah, this guy is a real asshole.
We have been sitting here for the past six hours, like we do every night for the past two weeks, watching this cunt’s every move. I want to know his daily and weekly routines better than he knows himself. I want to know his wife better than the man she’s been fucking behind her husband’s back.
“So, asshole...I asked you if she was hot.” Rocco smacks my arm with the back of his hand.
“I heard what you said...I’m just choosing not to answer you.”
“Why, afraid I’ll take her for myself.”
“Like I said, I’ll cut your hand off. I never should’ve brought you in on this shit.” I watch as the final light goes out inside the house, giving it a few seconds before I lift the black envelope from the glove box and step out of the car. “Okay,” I wait a moment or two before starting the engine of the black Mercedes. “Let’s get out of here.”
Walking into Deja Brew was a little more unexpected than I thought. I swore I wouldn’t come back and that persuing anything further than a flirty interaction would be a distraction. She has no place in the situation I’m about to put myself in, and personally, I’d rather not involve her if it’s at all possible. Except here I am, walking up to the counter the same as before: black coat, black hoodie, but this time a khaki green medical mask—needing to see her again.
I tap my knuckles on the counter. She turns around, slightly stumbling when she realizes it’s me, and I can’t help but smile behind the mask.
“Max...” she murmurs breathlessly.
“Ah,” I wink. “You remember me.”
“Of course.”
The light blush on her neck creeps further up her face before finally resting on her cheeks. Fuck she’s stunning. I never intended to take my mask off the first time I came here, but when she looked up at me with her inquisitive and beautiful eyes, I couldn’t say no.
“Medium caramel mocha, no whip, with an extra shot of espresso, right?”
I rest my forearms on the counter. “I’m impressed.”
“I like my job,” she shrugs one shoulder. “What can I say? But uh,” she checks her watch, lifting her coat and cross-body bag from under the counter. “I’m actually just getting off?—”
Not yet, you’re not. But you will.
I knew this was the time she finished work. I’ve watched her every night before running off to meet my cousin. It’s become my nightly ritual, and considering Rocco was busy tonight, I thought I’d use this free time to my advantage.
“But Amy here can make your coffee for you.”
“I didn’t come for a coffee.”
“Oh?” She questions, rounding the counter.
Standing up straight, I shove my hands into the pockets of my black jeans and look down at her. She’s not short, far from it, actually, but at my six feet, five inches, she only comes up to my shoulders: the perfect height, the perfect face, and the perfect body. Dio mio, even her soft voice flows towards me, and it’s…perfect.
She stops right in front of me, adjusting the collar of her coat as she puts it on, then tossing on the strap of her crossbody bag. Taking a step closer, I bend at the waist, our faces merely inches apart. She smells like lemon and sandalwood, which is different than I expected but just right for her. At this angle, the two buttons on the top of her white work blouse give enough space for me to look down and...nope.
I curve my finger around the elastic wrapped around my ear, pulling the mask away from my face, and smirk at her. “I’ve come for the secret you owe me, mio dolce, or did you forget?”
A few seconds pass, with nothing except the both of us looking into each other’s eyes. And then her lips part slightly, the space between both looking like the shape of a tiny heart. And those sea-foam green eyes are trained on me, and everything fucking melts away. I shouldn’t be here. I know there is no way she could ever understand what I’m about to do, and getting her involved is stupid. It’s reckless...it’s fucking unsafe.
But selfishly, I don’t give a single fuck. Spending five minutes in her presence the first time I came here was enough to keep me hooked for life, and honestly, I don’t think I’m ready to give that up yet. What the fuck is happening to me. Never have I been this awestruck by a woman before in my life, but this little coffee barista has?—
“Okay,” she bites the corner of her lip, and my eyes drop to focus on it.
My smile grows further, curling up the corners of my mouth until it reaches my eyes. “Where to?” I stand straighter, missing the delicate smell of her already.
Pointing toward the door, she smiles and fuck me. I’m done. I’ve heard of love at first sight, fuck, I’ve even seen it, lived through it with my parents, but this, surely not.
“Out, and then we turn right. I’d rather show you than tell you.”
Julia bites the inside of her cheek. Yeah, she’s definitely flirting.
“After you, mi Bella .” I hold my hand out palm up, allowing her to go first, and as I follow her to the front door of the cafe, I press the door open for her. I might be looking to kill someone soon, but chivalry isn’t at all dead with me.