Caterina #3
I search every room on the main floor, my wedges clacking against hard floors. No Connor down here, so I head to the second level. The wide foyer houses a grand staircase carpeted with rich red velvet. I ascend the steps two at a time, my hand clinging to the redwood handrail for balance.
I find Connor in the main hall, standing beneath the stained glass window of a mermaid springing out of the ocean. Her golden hair and teal scales shimmer in the winter sunlight, reflecting a kaleidoscope onto the cream marble.
My father commissioned the piece as a tenth-anniversary gift for my mother…their last one. The artwork hangs in my favorite place in the house. Whenever I’m overwhelmed or can’t sleep or just missing my mother, I come and bask in the mermaid’s colors.
This asshole just shit all over my favorite spot.
I march toward him, my heels clicking with staccato fury. “You.”
He pivots before pocketing his phone and baring that million-dollar smile. “Hi, Cat.”
I barely maintain control of my voice. “Don’t you ‘hi’ me, you piece of shit.”
He lifts his hands, his face slack in mock surprise. “Don’t be like that. We had a great date. Orgasms all around.”
I clench my hands at my sides to stop from clawing out his infuriatingly pretty eyes. “Screw you, Connor. Who the hell does that? Why go to all the trouble of…”
“Of what? Seducing you?” His throaty laugh slinks around my spine and slithers lower to coil behind my belly button. If I weren’t so furious, I might drag him down the hall to my room to pick up where we left off last night.
No. Absolutely not.
Remain strong.
“You had fun, right?” He braces one shoulder against the wall beside the mermaid in the picture of relaxation.
I resist the urge to throw him through the damn window. “I had fun with an imaginary person. A stock character from a romance movie.”
A smirk crosses his frustratingly handsome face. “No romance I’ve ever seen.”
I hug my chest. “Fuck off.”
“I had fun too.” He pushes off the wall and closes the distance between us. “Last night was a blast.”
That scent of orangey smoke washes over me, fogging my mind and flooding my cheeks with heat. My neck’s probably an angry red, just like Nino’s. At least I had the foresight to wear a turtleneck. Small relief.
I refuse to let him know how significantly my body reacts to him.
It’s just a physical thing. Human weakness.
“Cat?” He regards me through hooded eyes, his lips turning down in the smallest pout.
My shoulders relax the teeniest amount. “What?” Maybe he’ll explain himself, or…
Connor hooks his fingers inside the front of my slacks and pulls me close, my crossed arms brushing his chest. “Let’s fuck right now.” His dark eyes glitter in the light from the window.
Like I would fall for that. Ignoring the flutter in my stomach, I shove his chest. “As if I’d ever lay a finger on you again. You were mediocre at best.”
A lie, but it’s all I’ve got. At least my voice stays firm.
Connor smirks. “Whatever you say, Cat.”
I hold my chin high. “I knew you were some cold-blooded killer-for-hire. Not an art dealer.” I look him up and down and scoff. “I’m just pissed I didn’t listen to my gut.”
He laughs again, quieter this time. My traitorous stomach still swoops. “Guess it takes one to know one.”
I frown. “To know one what?”
“A cold-blooded mafia bot.”
I should agree with him. Tell him the hands all over his body last night are registered lethal weapons.
But I don’t. I can’t. Because I’m not a liar like this asshole. I happen to have morals. I glance away and up at the mermaid while exhaling through my nose.
I refuse to let him get to me.
“Oh, I see.” He hums and scrubs a hand over his chin. “You’re a virgin. You’ve never killed.”
I hate that he’s right. The most dangerous thing I’ve ever wielded is a kitchen knife.
He doesn’t need that information, though. “I’m not telling you a damn thing about me.”
“You don’t have to. I already know you, Cat. And I also know Nino’s denser than a fruitcake and that Eduardo might not live to sundown. Though that’d be a shame, because I kind of like—”
“You keep their names out of your filthy liar’s mouth!” I shove him with more force, managing to knock him unsteady.
Connor stumbles back, his hands raised. “The point is neither of them are fit to lead. Eduardo’s weak, and Nino’s inept. But I think you’re the secret weapon.” He drifts closer again, gathering my wrists in his hands. “You need me, Caterina Ricci.”
I wrench my hands free, his touch branding me through my sleeves. “I need a man who lies to get women into bed?”
“Which part really pisses you off the most?” He cocks a brow. “That I lied, or that you enjoyed being in bed with me? Before last night, when’s the last time you even had a good fuck? You clearly needed it. If I hadn’t snuck out, we’d still be at it.”
The nerve of this man.
I grind my teeth while rage shakes my limbs. “Finish your meeting and get the hell out of my house.”
Connor crowds me, so I press my spine against the stain glassed window. A glittering mosaic of blues, yellows, and reds splashes his face.
“How about this?” His lips hover next to my ear, and his warm breath caresses my skin. “We don’t fuck. I just watch you pleasure yourself until you come. I won’t even go near you. I just want to see you break again.”
His nearness and criminally delicious woodsmoke scent distract me.
This close, though, I can see the real him.
See Connor Gallagher through the Dane Ryder facade.
What a stupid name. It fits perfectly with the narcissism masquerading as charm.
“You’ll never be close enough to watch me do anything but destroy you ever again. ”
I shoulder past him.
His voice trails after me like a vine. “But if I were?”
This prick. A broken laugh tumbles from my lips. “Sure. If you ever catch me masturbating, feel free to watch.”
I march down the hall and round a bend. The asshole can find his own way back to the den.