He didn’t take his eyes off her, nor did he blink. She felt a little as if she was in the room with a dangerous lion ready to leap on her any minute. One wrong move and she would lose. What, she wasn’t certain, but the feeling was so strong, she held her breath and shrugged, afraid of saying the wrong thing and setting him off.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Sasha? We talked last night. You know I’m not quite the bastard you thought at first. You could have confided you had a second job.”
She took another deep breath, filling her lungs with much needed air. “It didn’t seem necessary.”
“How so?”
She shrugged. “It didn’t fit anywhere in the conversation.”
“Of course it did. I wanted to know about you. Everything I could learn, you knew that. I made it clear that I wasn’t playing around. You didn’t tell me because you knew I wouldn’t like the idea of you working sixteen hours a day. You can’t keep it up without making yourself sick.”
Her chin went up. She narrowed her eyes at him, giving him her best death stare. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much. I’ve been doing it for a while now.”
“Sasha.”
He said her name in a low voice. Almost a caress. Definitely a reprimand. Just her name. Nothing else. She found herself squirming in spite of her resolve to tell him to go to hell. He had no right to tell her what she could or couldn’t do. He was rolling in money. Maybe he didn’t have to work, but she did. She worked herself up to a self-righteous rant.
“Tell me what you need. We can make it happen.”
She closed her mouth before words could tumble out. What did that mean? “Mr. Ferraro …”
“We dispensed with that the other night.”
“Giovanni then. I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean I want to go out with you. Seriously. Not part of some childish, idiotic game, just get to know you. With you working sixteen hours it’s going to be difficult. I would very much like to know why you have to work that many hours and how I can help.”
There was sincerity in his voice. She usually could hear a lie. It was just some weird little trick she had. A gift, her mother called it. She knew when someone lied to her, but she couldn’t believe Giovanni was telling the truth.
“Why would a man like you be interested in a woman like me?” she challenged. She didn’t believe in beating around the bush. “It doesn’t make sense. Not when so many beautiful women, women in your same circle, throw themselves at you.”
“I don’t have any desire to be with a woman who wants me because I’m wealthy.”
“How do you know I’m not after your money?”
His eyes didn’t leave hers and she felt the burn of his gaze all the way to her bones. He was just plain sexy. He didn’t have to talk, he could just look at her and she wanted to start peeling off her clothes.
“I know.”
“Well, I’m sorry, Giovanni, but I’m not interested.”
“You’re interested. Don’t start lying to me, Sasha.” He folded his arms across his chest and kept his gaze on hers. Steady. Unrelenting. “Tell me why you have two jobs.”
“It’s not your business.”
“Everything in our territory is my business. You’re my business.”
“Why?”
“You know why. I’m not playing this game with you. I’m interested. You’re interested. I made an ass out of myself, but we got past that.”
“You may have, but I haven’t,” she said. “Just look at yourself in those magazines. You’re all over them. You have women hanging all over you. You’re practically doing it with them in every other shot. There’s a lovely shot of you on a balcony with a woman. She has no clothes on and you don’t have your shirt on. There was another with a different woman that same night. Same night, same hotel. She was coming out of your room at three o’clock in the morning. Do you really think I would want to be part of that lifestyle? It isn’t going to happen no matter how attracted to you I am. You live one way and it’s a way I don’t understand.”
“I told you I was serious about being with you, Sasha. You know damn well I’m not lying to you. You can pretend you think I am, but it isn’t the truth, and as far as I can tell, you live by the truth.”
She could barely breathe. He sounded serious. And he sounded like he wasn’t about to back off or give up. She would give in to him sooner or later if he kept at her. She knew she would. She’d never been so attracted to a man in her life. Her breasts ached. Ached. That had never happened to her before. Not one single time.
“Stop shaking your head.”
She hadn’t known she was shaking her head. Self-preservation was a beautiful thing. “We wouldn’t work and you know it.” She wished she didn’t sound so desperate. It was only because he had caught her off guard. She hadn’t expected him to be so direct. She knew his intentions. She wasn’t stupid. She’d sat next to him for a couple of hours, his thigh pressed against hers. She was adept at reading men. She’d grown up around them.
She liked direct. She needed direct. She was a plainspoken woman. She said what she felt and expected those around her to do the same. She’d come to the city because she had to, because this was the place that for now, maybe for always, she needed to be. She realized almost immediately that most people here weren’t quite as plainspoken as she’d been brought up to be. She liked Giovanni better for it, but it was also harder to resist him.
“We belong.”
Her sex clenched. For a moment she thought he was going to take a step toward her, and she flung up her hand to ward him off. He couldn’t touch her. That would really get her in trouble. He’d realize she was a little bit in lust with him. Over the top in lust. He just stayed there, draped lazily against the door, looking in complete control while she was a mess.
“Sasha. Did you hear me?”
“I heard you.” Her voice came out a whisper. “I am not going there with you. I’m not. I need the work. When things don’t work out, and they won’t …” He’d get bored. Men like him got bored. Sometimes they got bored in the same night, and she had the evidence to prove it lying on her kitchen table, the magazine open to the exact page. “I just can’t afford to lose my job.”
“Sasha, we’re going to see each other. It’s going to happen. Just tell me why you need two jobs.”
“It isn’t your business.”
“Men like me investigate women they’re interested in. You have to know that.”
“Oh. My. God. Are you kidding me?” She was outraged. “Every woman you date is investigated?”
“Thoroughly.”
“You have someone looking into me right this minute?”
He nodded. Looked complacent. She wanted to pull out her hair. She might have even yanked at it. At the very least she wanted to throw something at him.
“You don’t think that’s wrong? Totally messed up?”
“It’s something we have no choice in. All of us do it. If you’ve got skeletons in your closet, you may as well confess now. It won’t make any difference. I’m still going to claim you.” He regarded her with that steady gaze, his eyes darker, sensual lines cut deep in his face.
“If you’re still coming after me, then wasting your money and the time of investigators seems a little foolish.”
“Knowledge is always a powerful thing.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means stop beating around the bush. Why do you have to have two jobs? The apartment isn’t cheap, but you can certainly afford it on what you make at the club.”