She came up to a huge security guard dressed in a basic black suit who appeared to have been expecting her since he immediately led her into the elevator and punched in a few buttons for different floors that seemed to be a code to take them straight to the top.
The guard wasn’t much for conversing, as the awkward silence filled the air for a quick moment. Getting off the elevator, she followed closely behind the suited man. Now, Nadia wasn’t the nervous type, but she was starting to feel like taking a meeting with a potential mob boss might have been a bad idea.
The guard knocked on a door with a heavy fist.
A dark voice sounded from the other side. “Come in.”
She watched him open the door, and it wasn’t until the huge man stepped to the side to let her enter the office that she was able to see into the room.
Oh God. Nadia swallowed.
“Thank you, Amo,” Dante dismissed him.
Nadia would have only moments until the guard left and closed her into his office for her to gather her thoughts and screw her head back on straight. The man before her was definitely no Robert De Niro … or Al Pacino. Even though he was an older gentleman, probably in his late forties, he was breathtakingly handsome. Hell, if she was honest, his age was what made him even more so. Any girl with daddy issues—and Nadia was one—would be risking it all for one night in his bed.
His dark, tanned skin glowed next to his expensive black suit jacket and white button-up dress shirt. He only had a little bit of speckling gray through his pitch-black hair, but it weirdly made him hotter. It was his piercing icy-blue eyes, however, that had her unable to breathe until the door snapped closed behind her and her time of being jumbled up was over.
“Mr. Caruso,” she got right to business, “thank you for seeing m—”
“I’m afraid we don’t have much time,” he said, looking at his watch before he waved to the chair in front of his desk. “Please sit, Mrs. Brooks.”
“Ms. Brooks,” she corrected him.
There seemed to be a slight surprise behind those icy eyes of his before it quickly vanished. “I apologize, Ms. Brooks.” Again, he repeated with another wave, “Sit.”
Nadia couldn’t help but notice how he told her to sit like it was a command. It was glaringly obvious the man didn’t like to repeat himself, and even though she had only just met him, he appeared to always get what he wanted.
Taking the seat, she didn’t need to see the future to know that this wasn’t going to go the way she had planned. Hell, he hadn’t even bothered to get out of his leather chair, or shake her hand, much less give her more than a few-second glance. That last part might have hurt her womanly pride, but she had to remind herself that she wasn’t here for that. Nadia was here for the children, and she wasn’t going to go down easily. Seeing that time was an issue, she got right to it.
“I’m here on behalf of my charity, Moonbeam. We are—”
“Do you mind?” he asked nonchalantly, holding up an unlit cigar.
She, in fact, did mind, but before she could answer, he was already lighting the end; not that she had room for complaint as it was his office.
“No,” she grumbled out before continuing. “We are looking to upgrade our facility.” She watched him blow out a puff of smoke as he stared at his rich cigar more than he was paying any attention to her. Still, she managed to trot on. “With that, we can help house more at-risk teens throughout all of Kansas Ci …” She trailed off as she noticed him glance at his watch. Fury rose inside her. “I’m sorry. Do you have somewhere to be?”
“Actually, yes,” he answered with harsh honesty. “Your incessant calls have, unfortunately, driven me to finally accept this meeting. I specifically agreed to today because I’m taking my youngest son on vacation for the weekend.”
Unfortunately, all rich assholes are the same.
“Then, by all means, Mr. Caruso … let me get right to it.” But she did have to give him credit for the smart play of not letting this meeting drag along. “I’d like a generous donation from you.”
“Don’t you all,” he muttered under his breath before putting the cigar back to his lips.
Excuse me? Nadia opened her mouth to rip the mother-effer a new one when the door behind her flew open.
“Sir, Leo is in the car, waiting for you out front.”
“Sorry, Ms. Brooks, but it looks like this meeting has to be cut short. The yacht will be departing soon,” Dante said with a smile, putting out his cigar in the crystal ashtray.
Fucking prick. She wished she had said the insult out loud as she stood from her chair. She didn’t plan to waste another bated breath on him, yet she found herself turning to face him one last time.
“I can’t believe I was so wrong about you. Have a lovely vacation with your son, Mr. Caruso.” There was no hiding the disappointment in her voice. “I’ll see myself out,” she told the guard who had brought her up and was holding the door open as she passed him.
Having the final word made her feel better … Slightly, at least. Of course, the vacation he’s going on is on his fucking yacht, she thought to herself as she walked back the way she had come. While she was desperately trying to fight for her kids, who didn’t have a dime to their names, Dante was taking his probably just as stuck-up son on a vacation that most likely wasn’t a drop in the bucket of his wealth. Nadia couldn’t believe she had found the unbearable man attractive at first. Hitting the elevator button, she began to lie to herself …
He’s freaking hideou—
Speaking of the devil …
I can’t believe she said that to me, was the only thing that had run through Dante’s mind for the last minute. He had also told himself that it was his son waiting out front that had him rushing to the elevator.
Seeing her shocked yet frustrated face, he could only imagine the words Nadia was saying about him in her mind.
The curve of Dante’s lip lifted up into a devilish smile that he could tell only infuriated her more.
Fueling her imagination gave him pleasure. It had been a long time since a woman had shown him any attitude. The effect he had on women was much like how Nadia had acted the moment she had met him. She had been taken aback by his good looks, but he had been amused with how rapidly she had put it behind her. His effect didn’t usually wear off so quickly, if ever.
Putting his eyes on the elevator door, Dante supposed the woman was good-looking, too, but it had been even longer since he had found a woman beautiful.
Yep, he was definitely not hideous. At least on the outside, but his insides sure are.
Ding. The elevator slid open.
He did his pretend polite wave again. “After you, Ms. Brooks.”
As if getting massively turned down wasn’t embarrassing enough, she clicked her heels inside the moving box that she was going to have to share with the man who had just brushed her off and took her meeting simply so she would never contact him again.
Dante, followed by his guard, entered the elevator with her, and then the guard punched in the code to take them straight to the bottom.
With the door sliding closed, Nadia slithered her eyes over to see him staring at his expensive watch again. It was everything she could do to keep her mouth shut, and it was only staying glued that way because she had still had the last word.