Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(48)
“I like your boots, too. I don’t meet a lot of girls who dress like you.” He made a not-too-subtle adjustment of his chinos, and Mia looked the other way as the beat slowed. She wondered what he would think if she told him he was dancing with a mobster’s daughter who spent her days hacking computers.
He moved closer and put his arms around her, still trying to find the beat. She leaned her cheek against his crisp, cotton shirt. He smelled cool and fresh, faintly of soap and aftershave. He was nice. A gentleman. He had tassels on his shoes, and his shirt was well ironed. This was the kind of man she should go out with if she didn’t have to worry that he would get shot in the head by a father who only cared about her for her value as a prize cow. Not a dark, dangerously seductive mobster with a fierce scowl, who overwhelmed her so quickly she lost her inhibitions and let him finger fuck her until she climaxed in the hallway outside her office.
Her skin prickled with heat. Was Nico watching? Resisting the urge to look around, she leaned closer to Richard. If Nico couldn’t be bothered to leave his office, then she’d give him something to watch. There was something between her and Nico, some kind of chemistry she didn’t understand. Although she was scared to open herself up to such a dominant, powerful man, to show the vulnerability she had hidden for so long, she was determined to explore their curious connection. And if he didn’t show, she was pretty sure tall, blond, and tasseled would be happy to take Nico’s place in her bed tonight.
Richard’s hand slid down to her ass, and her hopes shot up that this night might not end as badly as she thought it would.
“Is that okay?”
Mia was momentarily lost for words. She’d never been asked by a man if it was okay to squeeze her ass in public. But if that didn’t draw Nico out, nothing would. “Squeeze away.”
He laughed and held her tighter, rocking her from side to side until she thought she might get seasick. She looked for a stationary object to focus on to make the nausea go away and found a glowering mob boss instead.
Nico.
A giddy thrill swept over her. She hadn’t felt anything like it since high school when the senior she’d been crushing on showed up at her soccer game just to watch her play
But, unlike the senior who had asked her out after the game, Nico wasn’t smiling.
He took his time perusing her body, his scrutiny thorough and avid, his heated gaze lingering on the bare expanse of skin between the top of her socks and the bottom of her dress.
Damn. Nico was by far the most breathtaking man in the bar, the most beautiful man she had ever seen. He was impeccably dressed, as usual, in a perfectly fitted dark suit and blue silk tie, but his dark hair was slightly ruffled, just begging to be smoothed down. That tiny imperfection hinted at the wildness that rippled beneath the surface, the predator that watched her with hungry eyes.
His gaze dropped, sharpened on the hand on her ass.
Ah. A miscalculation. She didn’t want the nice man to get blood on his shirt. “I’m really sorry.” She gently disengaged Richard’s hands from her ass. “My boyfriend is coming.” She directed his attention to the bar. “My friend, Jules, is single, though, and looking to hook up with someone tonight. She’s over by the bar—pink streak in her hair. And thanks for the dance.”
Before he could respond, she pushed him gently in Jules’s direction and turned just as the sea of dancers parted, waved aside by two burly bouncers who had appeared out of nowhere. Nico stepped into the space only just barely cleared by her new friend.
“Che cazzo fai—what the fuck are you doing?”
She lifted an eyebrow at the strong words. Did he even realize he was speaking Italian or how sexy swear words could sound in the language of love? “Dancing.”
“Not anymore.” He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, claiming her with his body. His hips moved to the XAmbassadors’s “Unsteady,” so smooth they were one with the beat, and she felt the thrum of desire between her thighs.
“Maybe I wanted to finish my evening with Richard.” She circled her arms around his neck. “He was very nice.”
Nico snorted. “You’d eat him alive.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” she said, indignant. Why couldn’t she have a nice guy like Richard? They could see movies, go for walks in the park, build a house with a white picket fence, have babies …
Because she belonged to the Mafia, and they would never let her go.
“I know everything I need to know about you,” he whispered in her ear, his lips brushing over her sensitive skin. “I know you’re going to be wherever danger is at. I know you aren’t afraid to take risks or you wouldn’t be in my casino. I know a man like that would bore you to tears.”
She shivered, drinking in his deep, rich voice. Her panties were wet with her desire, and she was damn sure Richard, with his zombie dancing and baggy chinos, hadn’t turned on the tap. Not a drip.
Their gazes met, his eyes so dark they were almost black. Mia sucked in a deep breath, desperate for air. She didn’t know if it was the alcohol in her blood, the heavy beat of the music, the darkness around them, or the fact it felt like they were alone despite the sea of people, but she felt awake when she was with Nico, alive in a way she hadn’t been since Danny died. It was a heady, addicting feeling and the more she had, the more she wanted.