Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 78

Seventy–Eight

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Genevieve was trying to work. She’d been trying since eight am that morning. Unfortunately for her, the man she’d spent the last three nights with seemed to be completely against her plans to get anything done. Her phone buzzed on her desk again and she groaned… But she couldn’t resist. She opened her lock screen and immediately felt her face turn red.

Matteo: Our meeting is in ten minutes. That leaves just enough time for you to come in here and let me fuck you. It could be a new daily ritual: defiling my desk. Think about it.

Gen sighed while her fingers hovered over the letters on her screen.

Gen: Mr. Accardi, as we discussed this morning, while we are at work, I want to focus on work. Don’t make me get HR involved.

The next text came in barely a minute later.

Matteo: I’ve never been a big fan of Benjamin but if having him there is a deal breaker, he can sit in the corner and watch.

Gen cracked her knuckles, ready to go to war, when a knock came at her back. Genevieve shrieked in surprise and her phone fell to the

ground. She swiveled around to find Kaitlin watching her with huge eyes.

“Uh, you okay, Miss Sinclair?” she asked, walking inside. Kaitlin bent to get her phone when Gen lunged for it herself.

“I got it, I got it,” Gen repeated over and over until she had the phone in her hands and the screen locked.

“Okay… I just wanted to let you know everyone is meeting in the conference room,” Kaitlin announced.

“Thank you, I’ll… be right there,” Gen said, gathering the materials she would need.

She walked to the conference room, glancing inside Matteo’s open office to see that he wasn’t there. Everyone attending the meeting stood around outside the conference room speaking in low tones and blocking her view.

“Oh for God’s sake, everyone get in here and take a seat,” Matteo snapped from inside.

Everyone in the doorway flooded into the room and started looking for a seat. Gen walked in and immediately figured out what had everyone confused, Matteo wasn’t at the head of the table. Instead he was in the center facing toward the hallway with empty seats on either side of him. Their gazes met and locked. A slow smirk pulled at his lips. He was most definitely up to something.

Gen narrowed her eyes and walked to the opposite side of the table. She pulled the chair out across from him. He shook his head slowly back and forth. Without turning his head he glanced toward the seat to his right. She threw her head back, squeezed the pen in her fist

tight enough to snap it, and went for the chair he directed her to.

“Oh, what’s this? This is new,” Bella said, glancing around the table.

“I figured since you were leading this meeting today, it made sense for you to sit at the head of the table,” Matteo explained coolly.

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Chapter Seventy–Eight

Bella’s face reddened at his thoughtfulness. “That is very gracious of you, Mr. Accardi.”

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Gen sat down in her assigned seat with a weighted sigh. The moment she pulled her chair under the table, Matteo’s hand moved to her thigh and squeezed. While everyone tried to make sense of the new change and Bella organized her materials for the meeting, Gen pulled

out her phone.

Gen: This isn’t funny. Act professional.

When she sent the message, an obnoxiously loud ping filled the air, drawing everyone’s eyes. Matteo’s smile was smug as he pulled his

phone from his pocket and read what she wrote. He glanced her way and chuckled. By that point, Gen’s face was quickly changing colors. She met Mrs. Tutt’s eyes that went from her to Matteo with thinly–veiled interest. Matteo typed on his phone and set it down a second

before her own phone buzzed on the table. She pretended to not notice or care until she couldn’t stand it any longer.

Matteo: Send nudes.

Gen’s head whipped to look at him. He covered his mouth with his hand to hide the wide smile which, in fact, could not be hidden due to

how it crinkled his eyes and brought the dimple out on his face. A few of the women in the meeting gawked at the sight, making Gen’s

stomach twist with jealousy.

Oblivious to their interaction, Bella clapped her hands. “I want to thank you all for taking time out of your hectic schedules to sit down with me today. I promise you this will be over before you know it. I just thought it would be easier than an email as I’m sure some of you

will have questions. As Mr. Accardi and I have already discussed privately, we’ve been having a few incidents pop up at our tracks and

casinos across the country as of late, most specifically in California, Texas and Florida…”

While Bella continued talking, Matteo’s hand smoothed its way up her thigh. Gen’s hand fumbled under the table to stop its ascent. Matteo placed his left elbow on the table and held his head up in the crook between his thumb and index finger. He raised a brow at her.

She scribbled on her paper. People will see!

Matteo’s eyes dipped to what she had written and rose back to her face. Let them, he mouthed.

“Mr. Accardi?” Bella called.

“Hmm?” he hummed, dragging his eyes lazily from Gen’s face to Bella.

Bella’s eyes widened at his hooded expression. “C–can you describe the incidents in question?”

“Right…” Matteo said, not even bothering to sit up straighter. “We’ve had some individuals getting through security, breaking through check points,” he began, shoving his hand up Gen’s thigh away from the grip she had on him. She started to tap her pen against the desk, praying no one noticed the way his arm moved with his hand. “At the casinos they are able to cheat without detection.” His hand succeeded in getting under Gen’s skirt. “At the tracks, they somehow place bets on horses that suddenly have lucky breaks,” he continued, his hand still moving. “Then when they are finally caught, they turn violent.”

His hand had reached the junction of her legs. On the table her pen tapped incessantly. His hand dipped down and his middle finger smoothed the fold of her panties, already wet from their small interaction in front of these people.

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“So far we’ve lost one…” He swiped his finger up. “Two, three, four, five men due to injuries,” he announced, flicking his finger against her with each number. Gen’s pen no longer tapped on the desk. Instead it was caught again in her tight fist. His finger pressed against her heated entrance. “After they’ve injured our security, there is a big hit the next day and we lose even more money.”

“Jesus Christ, how often has this happened?” Mr. Johnson asked.

Matteo grinned wickedly and tapped his chin as he deliberated. “Hmm, let’s see there was one, two, three, four occurrences I believe?” he guessed, his finger smoothing between her folds with each number. Gen bit her lip to keep from moaning.

“Four times?” Mr. Johnson repeated, aghast.

“Let me think,” Matteo announced. He held up his left hand and raised a finger for each incident while the finger of his right hand continued to play against her heat. “Yes, four for certain.”

“Miss Sinclair, how big of a hit has this been on our bottom line?” Bella asked. “Genevieve?”

“Huh?”

Bella’s eyes moved suspiciously between her and Matteo. “How have these affected our numbers?”

“Oh, um,” Gen tried again to dislodge Matteo’s hand but his fingers dug into the meat of her thigh, making them immovable. “It won’t affect our bottom line, for now,” Gen started, trying to think as Matteo’s fingers moved back down. “We luckily make enough to compensate for some loss but it’s important to get ahead of this now. Two more incidents like this and… ah… the investors will take

notice.”

“Good to know,” Bella said, making some notes. “I plan to travel to California in a few days with Mr. Accardi to try to get ahead of this in

the media.”

Gen’s head jerked up to look at Matteo, not caring anymore if someone noticed. His face remained impassive, focused on Bella. Gen brought her pen down and jammed it into Matteo’s hand. He hissed, yanked his hand away, and glared over at her.

“For now, I’ll need everyone to do their part in mitigating the issue. If something arises, come to me first and I’ll take your findings to Mr. Accardi if I deem them relevant. Other than that, just please be ready in case we need you. Can you think of anything you’d like to add, Mr. Accardi?” Bella asked, looking proud at the meeting she’d conducted.

Matteo sneered and flexed the hand Gen had just stabbed. “No, everyone may leave.”

Everyone stood up to leave, but no one was in quite as much of a hurry as Gen.

“Everyone except you, Miss Sinclair,” Matteo added, his voice firm.