5

 ‘‘Miss Walters? ’’ He eyes me sideways with more of a smirk than a smile and shakes his head lightly, almost a little cutely for someone like him. I hold my breath as he leans achingly close to me, shoulder to shoulder, dipping that huge height to meet my smaller frame a little. I have always had a thing for big men who make me feel delicate, and Alexi does exactly that; a perfect specimen.

I inhale that heady spicy aftershave and again have to calm the fire going on in my nether regions at his close proximity. I swear he gives me the walking horn.

‘’Yes, Mr Carrero?’’ I breathe sexily and angle my hip closer in a bid to reach him. Playing coy, lip biting and lifting my chin so he gets the kiss me vibes thrown his way shamelessly. Nothing to stop him going in for the kill, and he looks me dead in the eye, those almost colourless portals to a wicked mind that stir up all my crazy hormones, and yet they lose all warmth in that expression.

His smooth, relaxed look, hits on cold and hard in a blink.

‘’If I wanted to fuck you, I would have done it by now.’’ He says it dryly, all hints of charming gone and nothing but a cold tone and icy glare in its place.

My jaw drops at the sudden change in him and his assumption he could have laid me at any time of his choosing before now. Even if it might be true from this side of things, it’s the assumption that I’m an easy lay before he even got to know anything about me.

‘’I didn’t pay fifty grand for a common whore who tries to seduce me in my own elevator! Drop the act, get it into your head that I have an actual use for you and if you could keep your panties on and your eyes on the goal, we will get along just fine. There’s nothing less of a turn on than a woman who throws herself at you so obviously.’’ He pushes me away harshly with a fingertip on my shoulder, winding me slightly with such unchivalrous force and steps away, straightening his jacket and flexes his shoulders as the doors slide open. Leaving me completely gobsmacked and standing gawping like a complete moron.

He knows how to push my buttons alright; anger buttons, and I am fuming as horny heat is replaced with fiery anger. I just blink at him, my heart pounding, pride wounded and a tiny tremor of rage simmering inside of me like a dull ember trying to catch alight. Breathing hard and just locked on that gaze in a silent war of ‘who the fuck do you think you are?’

Carrero is an utter fucking arsehole of epic proportions. He is no gentleman at all!!!

‘‘After you …’’ He motions out the open door and I push myself up to storm past him with my chin in the air and a defiant frown plastered on my very annoyed face; shaking my head in disbelief that he just blew me off in an extremely unclassy and undignified way. I had him pegged completely wrong.

He must be gay; no man has ever turned me down when I am on the charm offensive.

Wanker!

It’s not that I haven’t met challenges before, but I have never been given a straight-out rebuff in such a wanker-esque way.

‘’Sit.’’ He commands and catches me by the upper arm as we walk into Luciano’s office. Tight enough to annoy me. I glower at him as he almost tosses me into a nearby chair, all chivalrous behaviour has gone south it seems; manhandling me like a piece of meat, and he continues walking to old farts desk in the corner.

I notice Lucie pie is up on his feet and sweating like a pig as he stammers out Alexi’s name, but I am too busy grumbling over what a prick he actually is.

Squirm oinklet … I hope he treats you as shittily as he just did me.

Might be the only fun I get out of Carrero starchy pants today. I still can’t believe he just humiliated me like that in his goddamn lift.

Complete and utter wanker.

‘‘Alexi … I, Mr Carrero … I wasn’t expecting you back for a few weeks.’’ Luciano looks like he might actually pop that vein on his own and I settle myself comfily into my chair for the show, resigned to sulk a little while he deals with the bane of my life and I unruffle some of my feathers.

Alexi walks past him and motions him out of the way with a thumb jerk and then pulls open the desk drawer as Lucie looks ready to pass out. Paling and repelling water profusely, instant panic and sweat hitting full force, the guilt is practically dripping off him in neon flashing waves.

‘’Where are the books?’’ Alexi’s tone is harsh, not so much of a snap but not amused as he slams the drawer and pulls the next one out. I am assuming this is him moving into pissed mode, and Luciano knows it. Carrero is on a mission to find them whether Lucie helps or not.

 ‘’I moved them … ummm, my accountant …’’—piggy is huffing and puffing, and I cross my legs as I start to swing my foot in sheer enjoyment. So much so that I have to curb the satisfied smile aching to overtake my face as I enjoy the show.

Nice to see him on the side of being beaten down by someone bigger and more aggressive after bullying me senseless for the past eight weeks—just desserts.

I guess Alexi is aware that his nightclub watcher is a completely useless fart of a man after all. ‘’I pay an accountant to do the books, and they told me you haven’t filed anything with them for three months.’’

He slams another drawer and physically moves fatty over when he stumbles in his way and I guess this is what pissed Alexi looks like, yet it’s hard to tell, as apart from an edgy tone he seems completely in control. Three months?

Yet I have been throwing every receipt and paper at Luciano on a daily basis for the past two of those.

Interesting!

I guess I can forgive him for rebuffing me when he makes the pond scum of my life squirm like a fish on a hook. It’s very entertaining. ‘’I have had my own do it, I can have them ready in a few days.’’ More sweat, bigger vein and I swear it’s almost ready to explode. I can’t take my eyes off of the pulsing expansion that’s overtaking his shiny forehead.

 ‘‘Why would you do that? I want them now. Right … now.’’ Very low, cold and precise; that tone I met that first time and even I hold my breath when it hits. I realise that nope, I was wrong and this one here … this is his serious don’t fuck with me tone and I guess the psycho switch hovers somewhere within as Luciano turns puce; It’s the sinister in the calm … his intimidation is when that slow even deliberate dialect hits. It changes Lucie’s whole manner immensely.

 I figured out Carrero’s first tell. When he slows down and goes ultra-calm he’s pissed as hell and completely unpredictable. One for the memory bank; a little unnerving and a tad psycho, but I guess it’s one to watch for.

‘‘Right now, sure … right this very … Urghhh, I will go get them.’’ He moves and turns on his heel making a half attempt at a run from the floor to the door and I wonder where the hell he is going. All the filing cabinets are in here and I doubt his accountant can be reached at midnight on a weekend. Nevertheless, he leaves and a second later we hear the lift ping, alerting us to his departure from this floor.

Little Piggy is running away at an impressive speed.

Alexi picks up the papers from the desk and starts looking through them, his eyes scanning, oblivious to Luciano’s weirdness and I recognise them as the pile I brought up.

‘’Those are today's up until eleven o’clock.’’ I point out and smile when I catch his eyes flicker towards me. He doesn’t look warmed by my attempts at play nice and carries on flicking through the receipts. I am trying to let go of my huff in a bid to still win him over, and he should appreciate that; I am not giving up on this puppy just yet, I just need to figure out a better angle to win him over slowly.

‘’He had them brought up mid-shift?’’ He raises a brow and watches me for a moment, questioning, thinking and I shrug as though disinterested in moody men.

Well as far as he knows I am anyway. I aim to remove the ’‘throwing myself at him so obviously’’ from his memory banks and try something a little subtler.

‘‘I did as I was told by the sexually repressed little beach ball.’’ I shrug, tapping my red nails on the arm of the chair. Alexi just frowns at me before going back to scanning papers, unamused with my jest and I just roll my eyes at him dramatically.

No sense of humour anyway. I don’t feel as intimidated by him as I did the first time. I guess being bruised, vulnerable and doped up affected my senses and having him turn me down flat has completely pissed me off.

He isn’t as big and scary as I thought he was. Not in the stark electric lighting of his shitty nightclub anyway. He is just a man; a good-looking, tall and muscular stinking rich man but … still just a man.

‘‘I don’t think he’s coming back! He’s probably jumping a red-eye to anywhere but here.’’ I lean forward conspiratorially with a hushed tone and this time I swear I see the flicker of a tiny little involuntary smile on Mr Cool's face. He drops it almost immediately, but I know what I saw and get that little sense of victory. Maybe he does have a sense of humour hiding deep in there after all, and I might be able to appeal to that side of him.

‘’This bar is a drain on my resources. If he has any sense he will pick somewhere I have no reach and no will to find him.’’ I catch the smirk again, sinister this time and do a double take, my face dropping at his completely serious statement.

Wait … is he being funny?

I really cannot tell if he’s joking or if he did make a serious comment about Luciano’s very short future life.