Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(40)
“So you can test my system from here?” Nico settled in Mia’s chair, welcoming the moment of respite to gather his thoughts.
“Yes, but I would need that USB I brought to the casino put back into your hard drive to finish the test. Your security guard, Louis, took it from me.”
“Nico pulled out his phone and typed a quick message to Louis a.k.a Mikey Muscles. “Five minutes. It will be done.”
She gave him a puzzled frown. “You want me to test your system now?”
“I’m interested in what you do, bella. Not just what’s underneath your clothes, although I still plan to take them off you before the night is done.”
Laughing, Mia gestured Nico to her spare chair. “Then you’ll need to move your dominant alpha self over to the side. I need to sit front and center to run the tests.”
With a grunt of disapproval, Nico shifted to the side and draped his arm over Mia’s chair, trying to find a position that would not be too restricting for his painfully erect cock.
“I see you have to lay claim to the chair, even if you’re not sitting in it.” Amused, she settled beside him and picked up her ear buds.
“What are those for?”
“I need music when I work.” She clicked an app on her screen. “It helps me focus. Do you want to listen?”
Curious, Nico took the offered ear bud and placed it in his ear.
“What do you listen to?” Mia asked, scrolling through her playlist. “You didn’t have anything personal in your office so I couldn’t figure you out when you dragged me there to give me a tongue lashing.”
What would she say if he told her he loved the Rat Pack? The Old Vegas-meets-Hollywood style? He’d never shared his nostalgia for the old days with anyone; pushing aside anything that might distract him from his goals to be the man his father wanted him to be.
When he didn’t answer, she tilted her head to the side and smiled. “Come on, Mr. Mob Boss. Just one song.”
He loved her gentle teasing, her nickname for him, the way one side of her mouth quirked with a smile when she thought to cajole information from him when he would have told her almost anything she wanted to know. “Sinatra’s ‘Strangers in the Night.’”
A grin spread across Mia’s face. “You old romantic mob boss, you. So, you like the oldies?”
“My mother collected old records. She used to play them for me.” He cut himself off abruptly. This wasn’t the time to get nostalgic for the days when he’d been a young boy who lived for his father’s visits, and the nights he and his parents danced around the small apartment his father paid for to keep Nico and his mother close by. Those days were gone, buried the night his mother died when she tried to take him away from Vegas to start a new life—a life in which she could be someone’s wife and not just a mistress. Love wasn’t enough, she tried to explain only moments before they were hit by an oncoming car, and his world turned dark.
Mia reached over and squeezed his hand, a small gesture that conveyed both sympathy and understanding without demanding further explanation. He was grateful for her silence and for a few moments he just watched her scroll through her playlist.
Finally, she looked over and grinned. “I’m going to introduce you to something new.” She clicked on the screen. “Welcome to the modern world of feminist punk rock.”
Instantly, Nico’s ear was assault by noise. “What the fuck?”
“Give it a minute,” she said loudly. “It’s ‘Rebel Girl’ by Bikini Kill. It’s about female bonds.”
Nico didn’t know what a Mafia princess was doing listening to a song about female bonds, but he suspected she had never played it in her house when her father was within earshot. “It has a good beat,” he said, for lack of anything better to say about the music that was as far from Sinatra as music could get.
Mia laughed as she typed on the screen. “You’ll like the next one even better. It’s ‘Oh Bondage! Up Yours!’ by X-Ray Spex, about people who think girls should be seen and not heard and what women think about that.”
“Does all your music make a political statement?”
“I suppose it does,” she said. “I usually only share it with my close friends and the girls in my coding classes.”
He endured a few more punk anthems while Mia typed, and then he recognized a tune. “I know this one. That’s Gwen Stefani. So they aren’t all political.”
Mia gave him a mischievous look. “That opening riff is nothing short of iconic. She’s a punk queen. Her parodic takedown of misogynistic stereotypes is pure genius.”
Nico tapped his thumb on the desk in time to the rhythm. He couldn’t remember the last time he had just sat and listened to music. The family business had consumed every waking moment of his life. Although a lot of wiseguys chilled out in the club, or hit the strip joints or brothels looking for some female entertainment, Nico worked. His father had told him at an early age that nothing good in life came easy, that success came from dedication and focus, that a man could lead only by example, and that example had to be one of hard work and sacrifice. He was a practical man. A good boss. Nico wanted nothing more than to be like him.
Mia talked him through what she was doing, testing back doors in his system, trying to insert viruses, and break passwords. He enjoyed watching her work, the way she bit her lip when something wasn’t going her way and her utter focus on the screen. The businessman in him could see the advantage of having someone with her skill in his crew. Although his main business was real estate, there was money to be had online. But women were not part of the mob. And a woman could never be made.