Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 18

Accardi

Chapter Eighteen

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Matteo sighed and flicked his left hand so his wristwatch was visible. It was well past nine and no word from Genevieve. She was doing it on purpose to drive him crazy. He knew she couldn’t turn him down. Frankie had done an impeccable job investigating Johnson and Sinclair an emphasis on Sinclair. She was in dire financial straights, not that you could tell by looking at her. The contract he’d written was fool–proof Nothing too outrageous and a short employment period. Just enough time to get her to fall in love with him. Matteo scrubbed his face with his hands. He was going insane. This woman was driving him insane.

“Hey, yo, Accardi!” Juliano called.

Matteo groaned and glanced across the bar to where Marco, and Juliano were sitting with women they’d picked up at the hotel earlier as they were leaving for a club.

“Come and join us!” Juliano yelled.

“Fuck off!” Leo growled as he sat in the stool beside him.

Matteo rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the rows of liquor adorning the back wall. He slung back another glass of whiskey and

motioned for the bartender. Matteo pulled a cigarette out and lit it with trembling fingers. He glared down at his hand, wondering when

he became the kind of guy who got nervous. He sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and glanced for the umpteenth time

at the reception desk he could just see from where he sat. The cigarette fell from his fingers.

Genevieve stood at the reception desk patiently waiting for the woman who was typing furiously away on her computer while having a

phone wedged against her shoulder. The receptionist shook her head and Genevieve’s arms tightened in front of her. The receptionist

gestured toward the bar and Gen turned just enough to read the bar name above the entrance. She tapped the desk a few times and gave the receptionist a sweet smile before turning fully to face the bar. He watched her close her eyes, take a deep breath and nod once before taking the first step. Matteo stood and walked to the end of the bar so he could watch her longer.

She came to the bar entrance and her eyes scanned the room. She was wearing the same outfit she’d worn to work. Her shirt had been slightly untucked and she’d undone two more buttons to expose her cleavage which lifted as she clutched his hoodie in her arms as if it were a lifeline. He noticed the moment she recognized his men. Her eyes widened and red coated her cheeks. He glanced at the men and realized why she was upset. The women were straddling Juliano and Marco while grinding their hips against theirs. Her eyes flicked around the room. When she didn’t immediately find him, she shook her head and turned to leave.

Matteo made his move. He walked around the bar and circled the edge of the room. With her head still down and fumes escaping from her

ears, she didn’t notice him stop in front of her. She smacked right into his chest and gasped. He quickly gripped her by the waist to

steady her while one of her hands braced over his heart for balance. That delicious creeping of color rose up from her chest again. As it

wandered upward, so did her eyes. When her blue eyes connected with his, her lips parted in surprise.

“You’ve only just gotten here, Ladruncola,” Matteo murmured, his voice clogged with an emotion he wouldn’t dare identify. “I won’t let

you run away that easily.”

“I succeeded once before,” she challenged.

“I’ve learned my lesson,” he warned, his grip tightening on her waist. “Why run away so soon?”

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Chapter Eighteen

Her eyes narrowed and she pulled away from him. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Matteo looked over her head to his men as they made out with their dates. Leo remained at the bar, his attention focused on his boss interaction

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“I don’t think they would mind the interruption,” Matteo said, stepping back into the space she’d just created. “But I certainly would.”

Matteo placed his hands back on her waist and pulled her more fully against him. Her breath was coming out in short gasps as her eyelids fluttered. God, she wanted him. The realization made him smirk.

“I… I brought you something,” Genevieve stated. She shoved his hoodie under his nose. He chuckled as she stepped back and crossed her

arms.

Matteo pressed the hoodie to his nose and inhaled. His eyes shut against his will at the vanilla cherry scent. The ghost of the smile he’d felt on his lips since he’d first spotted her pulled outward to a full grin.

“You’ve been sleeping with it…” he said, his eyes rising to meet hers. “Haven’t you?”

“Please, it’s been stuffed in the bottom of my carry–on since New York,” she scoffed, looking away.

“Liar.”

“Excuse me?” she hissed.

“Did you bring anything else with you?” he asked.

Genevieve’s fingers twitched along her arm. She sighed and pulled the contract from her purse. She held it up for him. He took the paper and flipped through the pages. He sighed as he looked back at her.

“You haven’t signed it.”

“Astute observation, Mr. Accardi.”

“What’s the problem? I know it’s not the money,” he said, crossing his own arms.

She smirked as if she held all the power. He groaned when he realized she did.

“I want a clause added.”

“What clause?”

“No employee, employer relationships,” she said before biting her lip.

Matteo tried to keep his face impassive. Judging by the widening of her smile, though, he was doing a shitty job. He shuffled his feet and

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Chapter Eighteen

planted them wider.

“Is that necessary?”

“With you? Yes, yes I do believe it’s necessary.”

He lowered his head so he was eye level with her. “You think a slip of paper is going to change anything? You truly believe a few words signed with our names is going to be enough to keep me from tasting you again?”

“No,” she said, standing taller and stepping a foot closer. “I think I’ll be enough to stop that. You said it yourself. This collaboration is something I can’t afford to fuck up by… well…” She raised her brows once in illustration.

“Fucking me?” he asked, his voice low as if they were discussing military plans.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that, Sweetheart,” Matteo informed her.

“Are you going to add it or not?” she challenged.

Matteo shook his head and pulled his phone out. He typed a message to his HR associate who he’d asked to be on call for the night for just such an occurrence. A moment later he received a thumbs up.

“My HR rep will fax over a new copy,” Matteo said.

“Great.” She started to walk away. “You can send it to…”

“He’s faxing it to my room,” Matteo told her.

Her feet halted and her back stiffened. She turned, her glare focused in on him. “You really expect me to go up to your room with you?”

Matteo walked up to her with his hands in his pockets and his hoodie slung over his shoulder. He pursed his lips and looked upward.

“Why put off the inevitable. You come up, we have a drink while we wait for the contract, you read over it, sign it, and our partnership

can begin. Fifteen minutes.”

Genevieve looked around as if she expected some random passerby to get her out of this situation. She closed her eyes, let her head fall

back exposing her long slender neck, and sighed long as if she were working with a toddler. Her head came back down and she stared him

down.

“Fifteen minutes and not a second more,” she told him. She pulled her phone out and set a timer. She held it up for him to see and hit

‘start.”

He leaned forward, his breath fanning her neck as he whispered in her ear, “Follow me, Miss Sinclair.”

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