CHAPTER NINE
Gia is testing everyinch of my patience, and I’m a relatively patient guy. I’ve waited this long to get my revenge on Parisi but keeping my hands off Gia after only four days has been the biggest test of my willpower I’ve ever faced.
Frederick is right. Father Paul Michael will see through our façade the moment he enters my house. I didn’t come this far only to be called out by a priest.
The sound of heels coming down the hallway has me grinning. Or would have me grinning if I were the grinning type. I pretend not to hear her enter my office, keeping my attention on my laptop in front of me.
My indifference only lasts so long before I catch sight of red fuck-me heels and long, shapely legs. I let my gaze travel lazily up those mile-long legs and my dick twitches in my pants.
A tight black skirt encases her thighs and accentuates her curves. I can’t wait for her to turn around so I can get a look at her ass. The feminine white blouse reveals a hint of cleavage.
I can only dream about what lay beneath. The soft swell of her breasts promises nothing but a fucking dream.
I clear my throat. “You’re early.”
“Well,” she says as she crosses the room and takes the chair closest to my desk. “Since I don’t have a watch, a clock, a cell phone, or a laptop, I have no way of knowing what time it is.”
“I’ll have a clock delivered to your room.”
“A phone would be nice. A laptop or even an iPad.”
It’s too risky. She can be tracked. Until I go public with our relationship, she needs to stay under the radar. I tell her just that.
“You do realize I’ve been flying under the radar for the past eight years.”
“I’m too close to—” I stop myself before I divulge too much. Only Tio, Marco, and Lucca know the extent of my plans. They’ve been affected by Lorenzo’s evil too and want him dead as well. I can trust them with almost anything. They wanted me to act years ago, but I insisted on waiting until we had all the cards stacked in our favor.
Gia is the final missing piece.
“Too close to...?”
“We need to discuss our relationship.”
“Our marriage of inconvenience?”
If only her snark fit into my lifestyle. It doesn’t, so she needs to lose it. “Close the door.”
Gia looks over her shoulder at the open door and back at me. “You do it.”
I shut my laptop and slowly lean back in my chair. “Must you talk back at every command?”
“Must you always command? It’s not a very nice way to treat your wife, and you sure as hell wouldn’t have swept me off my feet with your asshole-ness.”
“Gia.”
“Rocco.”
Hell, she’s trying my patience. “You want to see your mother.” Thank God I have her mother to hold over her head or Gia would have run off days ago.
“And you want your revenge. You're the one who said we needed to convince the priest. He sure as hell isn’t going to believe I fell for you when you talk to me like the hired help. And speaking of, you shouldn’t talk to them that way either. Except maybe Tio. And Lucca. They only respond in grunts and haven’t yet deserved full sentences.”
I’ve gotten this far by not rushing into decisions or playing my cards too soon. If Gia has a plan, I’ll pretend to listen to it. In the end, she’ll do things my way.
“Then how do you suppose we play this out?”
“First, you have to be nice to me.”
I have been nice. I’ve been more than generous. Her room is filled with the finest clothes, linens, toiletries, and furniture money can buy. Her mother lives in a fully staffed estate nestled in the mountains of New York.