Chapter 208

‘Yes, Sir.’ I won’t argue on this point because, to be honest, I never thought the day would come that he would ever actually agree with me. I calm myself, smooth my dress down to regain my cool control and wipe away the last evidence of my upset.

The cat is fine. I am fine. Deep breath.

‘You forgetting something?’ Alexi looks instantly stern and I honestly have no clue what he’s on about.

‘What?’ I just blink back at him in bewilderment, looking down to check my file and then my dress in case it’s something stupid, questioning everything mentally.

‘Jackson? You’re not staying down here so why isn’t he with you?’ It’s that edgy bastard tone coming back because … well because it’s Alexi, I guess.

I sigh at him.

‘Oh, for God’s sake, I am in the hallway of your …’ I shut my mouth when I realise what I am saying. Especially with the lift right at the side of me where I was almost abducted. Alexi just raises that infuriating brow and stays staring like a cold stone arsehole. I crumble, all resistance wavers, and I am momentarily rendered compliant.

‘Okaaaay!’ I relent in an exasperated sigh.

‘I shall go get him.’ I make a move to go but the hand he splats on my chest ungracefully to stop me almost sends me back on my arse and enrages me in an instant. Still not quite getting to grips with the whole no touching thing, and I sometimes wonder why I bother. He has no concept of boundaries except when he chooses them.

I throw him my unamused glare and he just ignores it. He presses something on the side of his head instead and carries on.

‘Jackson you’re wanted. Hallway. Now!’ Commanding, cold, efficient. He’s back to Mafia King. I have to say, I instantly miss the little hints of human.

I have to do a little double take and blink to really see it, the thing he used to talk into. I can see a small almost clear thing in his ear like a little wireless radio, and he catches me looking at it as I try to figure out what it is.

‘It’s how we all stay in touch. This is the mic.’ He points to a tiny little clear dot on the inside of his t-shirt neckline that’s barely a ‘thing’ and I must say I’m impressed. It’s so inconspicuous it’s barely there and very high tech, most likely expensive as hell. I lean in to nosy at it and give him an intrigued smile.

‘Gino?’ I ask automatically, and he nods, a hint of pride on his face that’s sort of cute. He really does love his brother I guess, even if they are weirdly competitive and very strange together. It’s odd to see an actual caring response from him and I relax a little more.

‘My brother has skill. Tech genius when it comes to security. Now talking of which, he came to invite us all out for a night on the tiles. You want to come?’ Alexi raises expectant brows, another change in conversation direction, and a soft smile appearing ever so slightly that distracts me for a moment. I have to shake my eyes away from how subtly sexy it is.

‘As in a night on the piss? With a bunch of Carrero men? Like a little Carrero gang bang? I’m not sure that’s my thing.’ I am confused by the invitation, disarmed by it, but Alexi smiles at me properly and his dimples give me internal butterflies that make me curse myself out.

‘Yes, a night out. A regular club like normal people, not an orgy, and he’s taking Alessandra his girlfriend. Mico is taking Mandy and a few of our cousins with their women come too. We do this sometimes, to let off steam. How about it, London, do you want a night off?’ He leans one hand against the wall to tower over me intimately and I just haul my papers to my chest nervously, overly aware of how he is making me feel again, crossing my arms over them to feel more secure.

‘As your woman?’ I ask warily, seeing where this is going if everyone couples up for a cosy little family bonding time, and no way in hell am I going down that route with him again. My heart rate pitches as nerves move in.

‘No, as just someone who wants to come and enjoy herself for a night. I can take a date if you would feel better about it.’ He frowns at me as he says it and I get that inner aching pang that springs a quick answer.

‘Yeah, I think not. I’m not playing third wheel to you and some rancid doe-eyed plaything.’ The thought of enduring him with some hoe draped all over him makes me feel physically sick.

‘Do you want to come or not?’ Alexi is getting irritated, and as Jackson appears and starts walking towards us, I sigh dramatically.

‘Fine. As long as having you as escort means I don’t need him for one night?’ I throw a thumb Jackson’s way and Alexi shrugs.

‘He can come if you are, bring Susan, his wife. Sure she will love being taken for a night on the town. You up for it cuz?’ He looks up at his goon and throws him a questioning look.

I am not sure I like all this lack of public Mr Mafia and silent respect. He’s being so overly familiar and normal with his usually obedient man that this feels casually cosy. I am not used to any of this, and I am not sure I can get used to being on the inside and looking out.

It’s … odd.

Alexi the silent domineering psycho was easier to swallow than this moody something else. I don’t know if it’s because it’s softening him around the edges and giving me a new perspective, but it’s making me uneasy. It’s hard to hate him when he’s humanising himself to me, becoming tolerable and I’m not sure I want that. That’s what he did that night when sex was something else, and I am more than aware that if he can’t use sex as the same weapon then he isn’t against using everything else. I still can’t decide if he’s playing me to pull me close or if he has genuinely let me see another side to him.

I want my reason to hold onto hating him and keeping my distance. I still don’t trust that he won’t flip like a switch, and if I lower my guard with this new side to him, I won’t see it coming until it’s too late.

‘You know me, Lex … booze and music and a night off. I’m all in.’ Jackson nods with a huge warm smile that is endearing. He comes across as a gentle giant and I instantly like him.

I gaze back at Alexi again, that handsome face as he focuses on me and gives me nothing in that appraising look, which lingers over my face for a little too long before he sighs softly.

I should just say I don’t want to go out with them, but the calling of a night away from here and a reason to get glammed up and let my hair down a bit is too alluring. Part of me wants to see what they are like when they hang up their day job coats for a night and have a big Carrero get together away from here. I’m curious to see how much deeper Alexi’s layers go.

I also want to see Gino’s girlfriend. Purely for research purposes, of course.

‘Sorted. Pack a bag and be ready in the next hour. We have a plane to catch.’ Alexi moves as Jackson closes the gap and heads back to where he came from —I’m still trying to get my head around what he just said.

‘A flight? What?’ Confusion overruling refusal and he throws me back a smile.

‘I can’t exactly kick back and have a night off in my own city. I need to go where no one knows me.’

Oh. I never thought about that.

Of course, he can’t be anyone but Alexi Carrero in New York. He wouldn’t be able to go unless flanked by his men, and even then, he couldn’t let his guard down with family and get drunk. It makes sense he would want to go somewhere as an anonymous Joe and be able to really have a night off properly.

It must be a burden to constantly have to watch your back and be on your guard.

The thought of going somewhere new and exciting with Alexi as just a normal guy is a little intriguing. Despite myself, I want to see what that’s like, and against all internal warning, I click my fingers for Jackson to follow and head upstairs to go pack.