Accardi Chapter 16

Genevieve finally managed to get away from Matteo’s associate, Marco, thanks to him getting an urgent call. It wasn’t his ego, his insults or even his sudden 180 in asking her out for dinner that unnerved her. He had that *look*. The kind of look women only learned to recognize after being burned by it. The heavy-lidded, narrowed eyes of a man who wanted to suck you in and destroy you. Gen quickly fled to her office, told Jasmine to not let anyone in and closed the door. She leaned back against it and tried to force air into her lungs. 

He’d found her. Of *course* he’d found her. Jada had warned her. Gen had to get out of there. She ran to her desk and checked her schedule. She groaned when she saw the appointment with Misty Cohen in half an hour. She was known for being early and there was no way she could blow the appointment off.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Gen hissed. 

“Now that certainly sounds familiar,” someone said from the doorway.

Gen’s entire body froze. A mixture of fear and desire ran up her spine, slowly straightening her back. She whirled around to face Matteo who watched her from the doorway. Jasmine stood behind him and sent her an encouraging thumbs-up followed by an obvious up and down look of Matteo’s body. Matteo stepped inside and kicked the door closed with his foot, maintaining eye-contact as if she were a single breath away from bolting. Maybe she was. 

Her hands gripped the desk ledge behind her hard enough to leave marks. The pictures she’d seen of him didn’t do his eyes justice. The hazel green, brown of them shifted as the light pierced them. Matteo gave her another familiar look, the kind most women swoon over. The kind of look that threatened to consume you in a completely different way, a fulfilling way. She was hypnotized, helpless. Then he moved. Startled, she started to sidestep her desk.

“Mr. Accardi. What are you doing here?” Genevieve asked. 

“There were discrepancies in my bank accounts,” Matteo said. 

As he walked toward her, Gen continued to shuffle around the desk. He smirked when he reached the desk only for her to be on the other side of it. He dipped his right shoulder and started taking his suit jacket off, sending her breathing into a frenzy state.

“You *know* what I mean. How did you find me?” she asked. 

His smile grew and he started to loosen his tie. *What was he doing?!* Then he started toward her again. “Come now, what kind of ‘big, bad, powerful mafia boss’ would I be if I couldn’t track you?”

Genevieve’s retreat stopped briefly. “That was you in the stairwell?”

“Taking the stairs is good exercise,” he answered while removing his cufflinks. He watched her take several more steps backward. He set the cufflinks on her desk and started rolling up his sleeves. “It is certainly a shame you finally figured out who I am. I had enjoyed having a beautiful woman look at me without fear in her eyes.”

Gen’s back hit the door to her office. “I’m not afraid of you. I knew who you were the second night I came to you,” she admitted.

This confession stalled his advance. His eyes widened briefly before his expression shifted to fierce determination. He took three long strides until his body was practically pressed against hers. His nose skimmed her shoulder. She tried and failed to stifle the shiver that ran over her skin. 

“You knew who I was and still thought you could run from me?” he whispered against her ear. 

“Mr. Accardi.”

“Matteo,” he breathed against her jaw. “You ran off with my hoodie, Ladruncola.”

“Mr. Accardi, I think it is best if we remain… professional,” she argued, fighting the urge to not give in to how delicious his lips felt against her collarbone. 

He pressed his body more firmly against hers. “Is that really what you want?” he asked, trailing his fingers up her back. 

“Yes,” she squeaked as his hand continued to climb. 

He sighed against her neck. “Fine.” 

He took a staggering step back and Genevieve’s body folded inward at the loss of his heat. His darkening eyes swept down her frame before he turned sharply and headed toward her desk. He took the seat across from her, crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap. His face morphed and he suddenly became the man she’d seen in the conference room. It was as if she could see him pulling the mask over his eyes to obscure his true feelings.

“You want to be professional, let's have a go at it. I just had a productive conversation with your partner concerning our accounting needs,” Matteo said, watching her with indifference.

Gen flattened her hands over her clothes and pulled at the skirt he had somehow managed to hike up without her realizing. She cleared her throat and walked with shaky legs toward her own chair. 

“I’m glad to hear it. I have picked Lauren for your account. She is recently graduated and has a lot of promise in terms of…”

“No.”

Gen froze halfway down to her chair. “I beg your pardon?”

“I said no,” he repeated. 

She narrowed her eyes, sat fully in her chair and interlocked her fingers. “Lauren is more than capable of taking on your account. She is young, unattached and is willing to move to New York in order to be at your beck and call,” Gen continued. 

Matteo scoffed. “My business is worth nearly a billion dollars and you want me to hand the care of said money to a woman freshly graduated?”

“Okay,” Genevieve drawled. “If she isn’t up to your satisfaction, our veteran worker Marie has handled multiple accounts in the higher range and…”

“No.”

Gen huffed and sat back in her chair. She crossed her arms. “Those women are our two best options, Mr. Accardi. With all due respect, you don’t know my employees and I am more than capable of assigning the appropriate team member to your case.”

Matteo watched her for a moment. He pushed out of his chair and walked toward the window. He stood there for a moment before he faced her. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Lauren is a fresh graduate from Harvard. She also has a father with a gambling addiction. Not the most appropriate hire for a company that owns multiple casinos, race tracks and night clubs, now is it?” Matteo asked. Gen opened her mouth but before she could utter a counter argument, he continued. “Marie is seventy and doesn’t come into work before 11 am. She doesn’t work weekends and no longer has a driver’s license. While her experience may be exceptional, I need someone with more time to dedicate to their work.” Matteo walked back to her desk. He splayed his hands wide against the wood and leaned across it, forcing Gen to sit back further. “You, on the other hand…”

“Me? I, no…”

“You on the other hand sank every last cent of your money into this business forcing you to live in a house with four other roommates. You have a decade of experience in the field. You are the one who found the discrepancies and diagnosed them. You want me to be professional? This is a multi-million dollar deal, Miss Sinclair. One that makes or breaks my business. Just as it would yours. Any *professional* would be a fool to turn away this opportunity for both the money and connections it would bring you. You cannot afford to turn this deal down. You know it. I know it. Your associate who already signed over your services to me knows it.”

Gen lurched up from her chair, getting into his face. “You son of a bitch!” she snarled. 

He smirked. His eyes went down to her lips before pulling his own between his teeth. He shrugged. “You do have the option to turn me down. You haven’t signed a contract yet. But I would bet the entirety of my inheritance that you will come to your senses once you consider what my company can do for yours.” He leaned back and pulled a rolled document from his back pocket. He set it on the desk and his eyes returned to hers. “Read it. Consider it. Talk with your partner. When you come to your decision, you can find me at the InterContinental. You have til tomorrow morning when I leave for New York.”

Matteo’s mask fell and his eyes wandered her face as if to memorize it. By the time they returned to her eyes, they were soft and open.

“What you said… in the stairwell,” Matteo began, leaning closer. “You were right about being safe with me and the fact that I needed it as much as you.” He shook his head. “But we both know our story is worth far more than one weekend. You’re not just worth chasing after. You’re worth catching… and now I have you right where I want you.”  

He gave her one of his dimpled smiles and turned on his heel.