Chapter 10
Donatello
“Stai attenta, principessa.”
Jesus Christ, the pain in my ribs was horrific, enough I gritted my teeth.
Emmeline cocked her pretty little head, keeping her eyes pinned on mine. “I’m always careful, Donatello, but you should know by now that while I am many things, a princess isn’t one of them.”
Her language abilities made for difficulty in speaking behind her back.
“An excellent reminder.”
Perhaps I’d expected a slight shriek from the stunning woman standing in front of me. After all, she’d managed to catch me naked. All her fault. The towel had a mind of its own, slipping away.
Maybe because Emmeline had the barrel of a weapon jammed into my chest.
“If you don’t mind, can you stop jamming the metal into my ribs? At least three of them are broken.”
Unable to help myself, I raised my hands in surrender. Why bother grabbing the towel from the floor? She had me dead to rights breaking and entering.
“Nice try, buddy. You’re not hurt!” she huffed while taking a purposeful step away.
Now, I wasn’t the kind of guy to think I was God’s gift to women. In fact, all the stories floating around about me being some kind of playboy, with a different girl every night were total BS.
Yet maybe a drift of her gaze to the twitching dick that was now on its way to being one hundred percent aroused would do my psyche some good. Instead, she kept her venom-filled eyes on mine, her weapon pointed at my heart.
“We meet again, sweet Ambrosia. Should I call you the nectar of the gods?” I knew I was pushing my luck, but she deserved a little teasing.
“What are you doing in my house?”
“You mean Ambrosia’s house, a girl who doesn’t exist.”
Her breathing slowed as the rage increased. “Get out.”
“You mean like this?” As soon as I swept my arms down toward my pelvis, her eyes involuntarily trailed behind.
Instantly, her face turned a perfect shade of crimson, as breathtakingly beautiful as the lovely dress she was wearing.
Floral and wispy, more feminine than I was used to seeing her wear.
She was a balls-to-the-wall kind of woman as evidenced by her leaving everything and everyone she knew, to head to a country thousands of miles away.
I admired her verve for life and her chutzpa, especially since I was the same way.
Although the other side of me, the one hired and paid extremely well, knew she needed another lesson in discipline.
Unfortunately, I’d already crossed one too many lines. Stepping cleanly over another wasn’t in my best interest.
She allowed her very heated gaze to linger for several seconds, which pleased me to no end.
Then she jerked her head away as if worried it might explode.
Huffing, her body language changed as she yanked the towel from the floor, tossing it at me.
“Put some clothes on. And get your things out of my room. You are not staying here.”
“You seem to forget that I was given a direct order by the Don of the Prince Crime Syndicate. To avoid, ignore, or otherwise deny that order would be considered treason. In such a case a bullet driven into my brain.”
“Please. We’re not living in the previous century. You’re a paid employee of my family, given benefits and vacation time. I also know you have shares of the corporation’s stock.”
Even as she continued averting her eyes, she snuck a couple of quick glances.
Meanwhile, I pulled the towel in front of me, heading to the bag of new clothes I’d packed quickly.
“While I understand you’re kept protected from the darker aspects of your family’s business, that doesn’t mean the danger doesn’t exist. And as an employee for your family I took an oath to protect and serve the family and all its interests. ”
It was about time I told her I was homeless.
“I’m not challenging your loyalty to the family, Donatello.”
“Good, because loyalty and respect are everything within the Prince family organization.” I yanked out a pair of boxers, realizing that it had been a long time since I’d had my devotion to the regime challenged. That bothered me.
“But it’s still just a job.”
Sighing, I realized the protection she’d been afforded might have blinded her to the reality of the life she’d been born into. However, it was not my place to try to change that. In the world of this employment, she was a princess and I was a pauper.
“I guess we’ll need to disagree. I take my job very seriously, Emmeline, which means I’m willing to lay down my life for those I’m protecting.”
The slight tilt of her head and a haunted look in her deep blue eyes pinned me where I was standing.
She accepted my answer, heading to the bedroom door. With her hand on the doorjamb, she stopped and took a deep breath. “Why did you purchase flowers?”
I was almost surprised she’d asked the question. “Because every woman deserves to have something special for her birthday. There’s a small cake in the refrigerator as well. I remembered you liked red velvet cake and happened to notice a bakery down the street.”
Maybe my words surprised her. Maybe they didn’t. She didn’t respond or bother to look in my direction.
She simply walked out.
Wow. I’d known her to be an ice queen, but not usually with me. Maybe that meant I was getting to her. As if I should take pride in doing so. Shit. What was I thinking?
Finding her had gone exactly as planned. However, I’d yet to move into the position of being able to talk her into returning to New Orleans. Even when that occurred, I knew it would be a hard sell. Maybe I would need to hogtie her before dragging her onto the plane.
Exhaling, I finally allowed myself to groan, even doubling over slightly. While the ribs were healing, it was going to take a while. “Wow.” I moved toward the dresser, leaning against it while I caught my breath.
Maybe the best thing to do was not to push so hard with her.
Lingering in what appeared to be paradise wasn’t going to make the situation any more dangerous.
With her stringent efforts to alter her identity, she’d effectively managed to do just that.
The only thing unchanged was her appearance, although she was rarely photographed.
Even in her social media pages, when she was the subject of the photograph, she was almost always behind huge sunglasses or holding a glass of wine. Usually wearing a silly expression that almost always made my cock twitch.
Which was occurring right now even as I dressed.
While I tried to understand her point of view, I found doing so somewhat difficult. Why? Because she wanted for nothing. Yes, she worked hard, but if she wanted, she could travel to anywhere in the world for a biweekly vacation.
Not that I was suffering either.
When finally dressed, I headed through the house. Hearing music, I realized she’d retreated to the back deck, which housed an infinity pool overlooking the pristine harbor.
As soon as I walked in, I noticed she’d taken the small cake from the refrigerator, cutting a piece.
The knife remained close to the cake, the blade covered in thick icing.
She’d even opened the card, which I’d hurriedly signed.
I wasn’t some romantic guy. That wasn’t my style, but in the assortment of information I’d gathered about her through the years, I’d realized a long time before that she adored celebrations.
Of all types. Birthdays. Weddings. Baby showers. Christmas. The light inside her countered both the darkness of the world she’d been born in and the one she practiced.
I definitely wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of one of her spells.
She’d been shopping, fresh bread on the counter, fruit in a basket. I snagged a banana, tossing it into the air.
After raking my finger through the icing, licking the remnants, I headed outside. She was standing by the railing in her bare feet.
The woman had the ability to ignore someone. I’d seen men try to obtain her attention by doing the craziest of things, including one drunk asshole standing on his head. He might as well have set himself on fire.
Given she was still pissed, I didn’t bother trying to talk with her at this point. There would be no reasoning with her.
I stood peeling the green banana while staring at the incredible turquoise ocean. While the Gulf of Mexico was beautiful, it was certainly nothing like the crystal-clear waters here. Only when I chomped down on the piece of fruit did I realize she was staring at me.
When I looked over, seeing her pained expression brought a chuckle. “What? I like green bananas.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re weird?”
Shrugging, with two more bites I was finished with the piece of fruit. “Just my brother.” My kid brother. I usually didn’t think about him.
Just mentioning him made her expression soften. “What happened to your ribs?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.” I yanked my sunglasses from my shirt pocket, but not soon enough. She was suddenly in front of me, lowering the dark shades from my face.
“And your face. Your face is cut up. What happened? Please tell me you didn’t get into a fight with those men from the club.”
“No, dolce ambrosia.”
She cocked her head when I called her sweet ambrosia just before lightly brushing the tips of her fingers across several cuts. “Then what happened and be honest with me. Did Alexander send you to find me as some form of punishment for whatever skirmish you got into?”
Did she think so little of herself? Laughing, I pulled her hand free, sucking in my breath when the same wild, pulsing chemistry almost lit me on fire.
“When I arrived home the night I saw you in the club, I had an interesting gift waiting for me. A pressure bomb that went off as soon as I twisted the knob on the door.”
“What? Oh, my God.” She pulled her hand free, inching so close to me that there was almost no air space between us. “Who did this? Who? Tell me who.”