CHAPTER 2

           A strange buzz inside her intensified.

          The Boss knew her name?

          Maybe he did because he heard it from Ivana’s report, Norah supposed. The furious accusation in his eyes told her he’d already seen the photos.

          Well, of course, he’d seen them. Everybody saw them.

          That’s why Leone Gritti had stooped from the lofty heights of the top floor to the midlevel of the ‘Gritti Tower’.

          Her shallow breaths halted and her knees quivered. Norah was weirdly shocked by how defenseless the idea of Leone Gritti seeing her naked made her feel, but the effect this very perfect stranger had had on her from the start was unprecedented.

          She’d seen him stride through the offices in New York once and that simple glimpse of an incredibly gorgeous and dynamic man had made her view the postings at the head office in Milan that much more favorably than any other branch in the organization.

          Norah had wanted to advance and would have taken whatever promotions she could land, but Milan, Italy was her dream location. Not because she loved the country, and Italy was absolutely amazing, but because it gave her the chance to see Leone as much as possible.

          Well, be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it…

          She mashed her lips together into a hard, steady line, heart scored, then turned her face away, trying to recover, trying to breathe. Leone was, quite obviously, nothing like the man she’d constructed in her mind.

          Italian men were warm and outgoing and they ADORED women, she had thought, expecting he’d flirt with her if they ever actually spoke. Norah had expected him to give her a chance to… intrigue him, despite the fact that she worked for him.

          But the man she had been obsessing over was untameable…

          The man she was dreaming of day and night had not only glimpsed her naked, he was completely unmoved by what he’d seen.

          The man she saw herself with for the rest of her life, was completely repelled by the photos.

          Leone Gritti blamed her, for that disaster. Norah was sure he was privately calling her a whore and worse… much worse…

          Norah stopped herself from spiraling. The pieces of her shattered world were being kicked around enough. She had to keep a grip. But she wasn’t used to being rejected out of hand, seeing no interest whatsoever from a man. The reaction was usually the opposite.

          She wasn’t a first-prize beauty, but she wasn’t ugly either. Her body had always pulled a certain amount of male attention. She didn’t encourage it and was pretty boring personality-wise. She worked in banking, for heaven’s sake.

          Her hair was the most common brown you could find and she wasn’t gorgeous or breathtaking. Her face was only elevated from plain to pleasant by her exceptionally good skin and a cheery nature that usually kept a smile on her mouth.

          So, she shouldn’t be that surprised when a man who could have his pick of women showed no interest in her. Still, it made her ache all the same.

          ‘Stop with the nonsense! Think!’ she ordered herself.

          But it was hard when she was stuck in this swamp of feeling so thoroughly scorned by a man who fascinated her.

“I… Ehm… If it’s not a problem, signor Gritti, at this point, I would like a lawyer present,” Norah managed to say.

“And why would you need one, Miss Wilde?” Leone asked with a wrathful lift of his eyebrows, so godlike.

“Because I need someone with more expertise to speak on my behalf since I’m not allowed to defend my persona, to defend my honor. Because this is a wrongful dismissal, sir. You’re treating me like a criminal when those photos are illegal. I didn’t take them. They were taken at a spa without my knowledge, without my permission. As you can observe, they’re not selfies, so how could I have sent them to Phillip Weldon? Or to anyone else, for that matter? His wife is the one who recommended I go there… to take care of a physical problem!”

                                                                ****

          Leone flicked his gaze to the laptop, mentally reviewing images that would have been very titillating if they were a private communication between lovers.

          For long seconds as he’d reviewed the photos, he’d been captivated against his will, having to force himself to move past his transfixion with her sensual figure to the fact that this was a hydrogen bomb aimed directly at the bank that was his livelihood and the foundation that supported his entire extended family.

          But the photos weren’t selfies… that was true.

          A point for her.

          He had thought Weldon must have taken them. Ivana seemed to think his shift of attention was a prompt for her to bring them up for another look. She started to open her laptop.

“Oh, my God! Aren’t you tired of showing those to people, you… freak?” Norah cried. “How about inviting every single employee and organizing a public show? Just to be sure everybody saw them?” she went on, shaking her head in desperation.   

“Like I said, no need. People already saw them. So, tone it down a little bit and try to keep this professional,” Ivana snapped.

“Professional? You’re a woman… How would you react if you were me?” Norah shot back in an almost broken voice.

          Norah Wilde was not what he had expected. There was an American freshness to her that neutralized some of the ‘femme fatale’ that had come across on-screen. Leone had expected, and received, an impact of female sexuality when he had entered the room.

          Her voice, her scent… intoxicating!

          He’d felt the same thing the day she’d smiled at him in the lobby.

          She’d already been under suspicion, so he’d pretended not to notice her, but nothing could downplay her magnetism.

          That body of hers didn’t stop, with her firm, well-rounded breasts that sat high beneath her neatly cut jacket and her waistline that begged for a man’s hands to clasp before sliding down to the flare of her hips and her gorgeously plump ass that he dreamed of kneading… of spanking…

          The knees were not something Leone would normally consider, but Norah had cute ones. An image of cupping them as he held them apart while pushing his hard cock deep inside her, drifted through his brain.

          Norah was a very strong woman, Leone could see that. Her shoulders were stiff, her frame tense and defensive, but her slight stature and smooth curves announced to the animal kingdom that she was undeniably a female of the species, of fertile age and irresistibly ripe.

          She called to the male in him, quickening the blood of the beast that he suppressed at all costs. Visceral reactions like lust were something Leone indulged in very controlled quantities.

          This was not the time and, judging by his reaction to her, Norah was not the woman.

          High-octane risk-taking was his cousin Yari’s game.

          Leone controlled his bloodlust ruthlessly… even though there was a part of him that beat with excitement for the challenge of throwing himself into this perfect storm of chemistry and see what was on the other side.

          What they could do to one another...

          Leone turned his mind from speculating, hearing Ivana aim a very pointed barb at Norah.

“Since we’re playing this game, I wouldn’t sleep with a married man. This wouldn’t happen to me.”

“Who said I slept with Phillip Weldon?” Norah challenged hotly. “Who? I want names... or just one name… Come on!”

          She looked so outraged.

          This was not the reaction of a woman who had posed for a lover, running the risk of exposure. She ought to be furious with Weldon or his wife, perhaps tossing her hair in defiance of judgment over her decision to pose naked for her lover.

          Instead, Norah was a woman on the edge of her control, reacting to a disaster with barely contained hysteria.

“Grace Weldon! Phillip Weldon’s wife said you slept with him. Or want to. Obviously,” Fabio Sensi interjected, “since she posted these filthy photos when she discovered them on his phone. You’ve been having lunches and dinners with him… in private…”

          Leone’s gaze moved to Norah. He found that attack interesting and wanted to see her reaction. He had brought certain suspicions about their nonprofit accounts manager to Yari’s attention a few weeks ago.

          The assumption had easily been made that the ‘American girl’ was in on the arrangement, facilitating.

“Phillip Weldon wanted to do things away from the office,” Norah quickly clarified, “I’m referring to our business meetings, of course.”

          She was visibly distraught, looking to Leone in entreaty.

“He’s one of the bank’s clients, signor Gritti. I didn’t have a choice but to go to him if that’s what he requested. Since day one, I’ve been trained to accommodate all clients. I just did what I’ve been taught...”

          Leone had to accept that explanation as a very reasonable one.

          Excellence of customer service was a cornerstone at ‘Gritti International Bank’. If a client of Weldon’s caliber wanted a house call, employees were expected to make them.

“You didn’t take those photos?” Leone pressed Norah.

“Absolutely not!”

“So… they’re not on that phone? I see you’re squeezing the life out of it!”

          He nodded at where she clutched her device in a death grip. Norah had forgotten she was holding it, but she always grabbed it out of habit when she left her desk and switched it to silent as she came into this meeting.

          Now she stared at it, surprised to see it there.

“No, sir. They’re not,” Norah replied with confidence.

“And you’ll allow me to confirm that, right?”

          Leone held out his hand. On the surface it was a very reasonable request, but, oh, dear Lord, no… She had something on here that was beyond embarrassing. It would make this situation so much worse...

          So much worse…

          Norah knew her face was falling into lines of panicked guilt, but couldn’t help it. His nostrils flared and his jaw hardened. The death rays coming out of his eyes told her she’d be lucky to merely lose her job.

“Signor Gritti, this phone is mine,” Norah stammered, trying not to let him intimidate her.

          If she hadn’t already been violated, she might not have been so vehement, but he was going to have to knock her out cold to pry this thing out of her hand if he wanted access.

“I get an allowance to offset my using it for company business, but it’s mine. You don’t have any right to touch it or look at it.”

“‘Molto bene’, (Very well) Miss Wilde… But just to be sure… Can it clear you of suspicion or not?”