Because Of Love

Talia stretched as she rose out of her chair. It had been a long day of dodging Mr. Perez, checking on DeLuca-including making sure he ate like a good assistant would-and doing her own work, the stuff she had been officially employed to do. She’d been forced to work overtime to finish the tasks under her job description, but it was just as well. The suits didn’t want DeLuca being left alone in the office at day’s end, which was made very clear by the short text ‘you leave when he leaves’ she had received at four in the afternoon. They must have found out about the boxes of records he was currently pouring through.

Talia chuckled cheekily, imagining them running around like headless chickens, panicking about what DeLuca might find.

She dropped her hands to her hips, her head tilting to the side. What was it they didn’t want him to find?

“Miss McKenna.”

Talia jumped, startled, crying out with a curse on her lips. She turned her head to look back to find Enzo standing behind her, his eyebrows at his hairline. She looked forward with an eye roll. Of course it was him. There was no one else in the office besides them, plus DeLuca. After a deep calming breath, with her hand still over her racing heart, she turned around to face him.

“How may I help you Mr. Romano?”

He cleared his throat, getting back his composure and said, “Signore DeLuca will be here a while longer, you don’t have to wait.”

Talia looked at the bag in his one hand and the coat over his other forearm. “You are leaving?”

“Si. The driver will drop me off and come back for DeLuca.”

“And what time would that be?” she asked with a little tart in her voice. She wasn’t going to suffer another late night and early morning on watchdog duty because of DeLuca. The suits better get more people and put them all on rotating shifts around the clock if spying on Deluca was so important.

He shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t know.”

With a raised brow she repeated, “You don’t know?”

“You can go if you want to. The driver will be sent for him. He doesn’t need an escort.”

Talia rolled her tongue between her lips to keep from huffing her annoyance. He said that as if she wanted to be DeLuca’s babysitter.

She turned to her desk and reached for her landline. “I’ll call for the night driver.”

“No need, Joe will bring him back.”

Talia turned to look at him, phone still in hand, and said, “Joe isn’t a night driver. His shift is during the day.” With that one exception they had to pick up DeLuca from the airport at two in the morning.

Enzo shook his head. “No, he’s DeLuca’s driver now.”

Talia was about to argue that point but thought better of it. When it all came down to it, DeLuca paid Joe’s salary and everyone else’s in the building, including hers. So she put the phone back on the receiver, pulled her lips into a polite smile and said, “Have a lovely evening.”

“Buona notte,” he responded, walking away.

Once he was gone, Talia looked around the dimly lit office floor that had gone eerie quiet now that she was back to being alone. No, that wasn’t true. There was one more person, DeLuca -she spun on her heels to face the direction of his office- and he didn’t seem like he wanted to go home any time soon. She grumbled, tossing her head back. Was this going to be another night she wouldn’t be getting any sleep, all thanks to him?

Her phone rang, startling her. She needed to leave this set of an urban legend movie. She picked up her cell phone from her desk and slid her thumb over the screen when she saw Joe’s name pop up. She raised it to her ear and said, “Hey Joe.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Talia,” he started sounding out of breath, “I need a favor.”

Concerned, she responded, “Sure, what’s up?”

“I need to go to the hospital. My mom got into an accident. Please cover for me with DeLuca. I already got Mike to drive Mr. Romano to the hotel.”

Mike was the night driver. She was a little surprised Enzo went with him, but maybe it was DeLuca who didn’t want the change in drivers. She had no idea how she was going to swing that, but she still answered, “Sure. Don’t sweat it. Let me know how your mom’s doing.”

“Thanks,” he said, then immediately hung up.

Talia slid her phone into her pocket and wondered what exactly she would tell DeLuca. First, she needed to see who else was available for the night, just in case DeLuca decided right that minute he needed to leave and with Mike out… she was too tired to calmly swallow any attitude. She reached for her landline and dialed security.

“Perché sei ancora qui?”

She gasped, startled, dropping the phone as she quickly spun around on her heel. She ended up losing her footing and began to fall. As she fell to her side, she felt her body get yanked in the opposite direction only to come to a stop when she collided with something hard.

“Thank you,” she breathed with relief, staring at the tiled floor she’d almost kissed.

“You’re welcome.”

A warm puff of air touched her temple, sliding into her hair line at his hoarse whisper. It was only then did she become aware of where she was. Around her waist was his thick long corded arm; two of his fingers pinched at the right side of her abdomen, the others pressed into her ribs. From thigh to chest, her body was pressed flush against his hard warm body, her breasts squeezed against his torso. They felt tight and she wasn’t exactly sure if it was because of the vice hold he had on her or something completely different. The more she examined their positions, the more labored her breathing got. She shifted uncomfortably as she felt a tingle in a place she hadn’t explored since senior year in college.

This is not good, she thought, her fingers instinctively clenching. She realized then she was holding onto something hard and warm under the softness against the palm of her hands and fingers. She looked at them, each lay over the biceps of his arms. Thick, hard, fabric stretching biceps.

Well hell, she was done for.

Cautiously, slowly, she turned to look up at the owner and met eyes that held such intensity she flinched back. His arm around her tightened, pulling her tighter against him and Talia realized then, she wasn’t the only one feeling the lust vibe.

Step back! Step back!, her mind screamed.