Page 85 of Niccolaio Andretti (The Five Syndicates)
“I think I can live with a 98%.”
“On a scale of one to five.”
“Ouch.”
“Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?” I say, grinning at the foreign feel of flirting for fun.
Without an agenda that involves men that I have no desire to be with.
“Depends on what it is.”
“Have you always been such a perv?”
“Since I reached the double digits.”
“You know, I can picture ten year old Niccolaio trying to peak up ladies’ skirts.”
He rolls his eyes, but the smile is still on his face. “Shut up and kiss and make it better already.”
With pleasure.
I lean forward, my breath hitching, as I shift my body his way. He surprises me by reaching across me and grabbing my waist, lifting and swiveling my body so I’m straddling him. Grinding myself harder against him until he groans, I lean forward to kiss him, my lips almost touching his.
And then the movie theater attendant enters the theater, making his rounds up and down the rows in the theater, even though Niccolaio and I are clearly the only ones in here. I stifle a laugh as the embarrassed teenager power walks past us, unable to avoid it given our placement in the handicap row.
Burying my face in Niccolaio’s neck, I wait until the poor kid leaves before I let the laughter burst past my lips.
Niccolaio looks at me in amusement. “You’re smiling, and I didn’t even have to dance with you.”
It’s then that I realize that I haven’t smiled or laughed this much in… well, ever. I’ve never had the chance to be a kid. I was abandoned, and when my parents came back, I was forced into drug dealing. And then Mina came, and I learned how to be both sister and mother at once, and I haven’t stopped since.
But now, I feel my age. I feel young and free, like the possibilities in life are endless, even though I’m just sitting in a seat in a rundown dollar movie theater, hardly watching the movie that’s playing on the screen.
Heck, I even almost forget what’s playing until, a few minutes later, the end credits come on, and the song “Beauty and the Beast” begins to play. I stand up to leave, disappointed that my time in the dark with Niccolaio is over.
But when I head towards the exit, Niccolaio grabs my hand and pulls me back into him.
“What are you doing?” I ask as he begins to guide my body into a sway.
“We’re dancing, Minka. Go with it.”
And I do, the happiest I’ve been in so long, swaying to the sound of John Legend and Ariana Grande as Niccolaio pulls me tighter into his arms and dips me like a seasoned pro.
I’m grateful when Niccolaio doesn’t turn in the direction of the safe house. I was worried that this date would be over so soon, but I should have known better. I suspect that Niccolaio will always exceed my expectations.
My cheeks flush as my mind automatically drifts to sex. I want a kiss from him, and not a light pressing of our lips together before he ditches me without a word, though, heck, I’d take that, too, at this point.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks.
“Your lips on mine. My hands sliding down the front of your pants, gripping your bare cock. Your fingers on my chest, pinching, teasing, tugging on my hardened nipples,” I answer honestly.
Perhaps too honestly, but oh, well.
“Fuck,” he groans, pulling the car over, and for a brief moment, I perk up in excitement, thinking that he’s going to give me exactly what I want, but he doesn’t.
Instead, he unbuckles my seatbelt, exits the car, and opens my door for me. I grab his hand and accept his help when he lifts me onto the hood of the car. Before me is the Hudson River in all of its smelly glory.
He smirks at my scrunched up nose and says, “Almost nine million people live in this city, and all of their trash gets taken across the river to be incinerated. The wind still picks up the scent and drifts it back across the river, hence the stench.”
