“Your grandfather and your uncle would be proud to see you here, Liam!”
“Thank you, Sir.” Hill accepted an eager and lingering handshake from Rupert Hambro, Senior Counsel for the Tesano Organization’s Legal Division.
Hambro had joined the company years ago when he was fresh from law school- his uncle had liked them green, Hill recalled. In Humphrey Tesano’s eyes, green was synonymous with uncorrupted.
If anyone was to corrupt them, it was to be Hump himself, Hill thought silently noting Hambro’s predilection for underage boys. He released the man’s hand abruptly, knowing he was seconds away from crushing it.
“You’ve got a lot of tongues wagging,” Hambro grinned.
“Tell them their jobs are secured,” Hill said. For now, he tacked on silently.
“You may want to rethink that,” Hambro cautioned. “There are a few who don’t share certain… philosophies we hold.”
Hill made a silent note to keep those ‘few’ on tract for future promotions.
“But that’s enough business talk!” Hambro clapped Hill’s back. “Not even why we’re really here. Have you been properly served, Son?”
Hill understood the man’s meaning and had a sudden flash of Persephone emerging from a steaming hot tub. He groaned, but covered the slip by clearing his throat.
“I have. Very properly,” he managed.
Hambro looked on, approving of the satisfaction he saw on the younger man’s face. “Well that’s only the beginning,” he clapped Hill’s back again. “By the end of the weekend, you’ll need a whip to fight off all the eager lips ready to wrap around your cock.”
“Well you certainly stocked a nice appealing number of them here,” Hill complimented.
“Oh this is nothing,” Hambro waved toward the room teeming with both elegantly clad and… accessibly clad women.
Hambro nudged an elbow into Hill’s arm. “We’ve got all flavors...all...levels of experience to be sampled,” he boasted.
“What the fuck?”
Hill’s growl caused Rupert Hambro to retreat cautiously. He knew as well as anyone how easily it was to rile Hill Tesano- and how dangerous.
“Apologies Hill I uh-I know such things have never intrigued you-”
“What the fuck is he doing here?”
Hambro followed Hill’s glare, smiling when he realized he wasn’t to blame for the man’s sudden loss of temper.
“It’s your cousin’s second weekend visit with us. Sondrio’s proven himself a very useful asset. He’s more than made up for the shame his father put on the family.”
Hill could’ve cared less about the lifting of said shame. He hadn’t thought twice about his cousin even after Kraven mentioned seeing him in California. He’d disregarded Son’s boasting to Kraven as just that- boasting. Now, he regretted disregarding the information.
His vision filtered with a red haze and he
applied pressure to the bridge of his nose in hopes of relieving
it. No good. Dammit to hell...just when he thought he might make it
through the weekend without losing his temper…
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Though she was raised an only child, Persephone knew that siblings had a knack for pushing one another’s buttons. She’d watched the scenario play out often enough between her own girls to know it. The twins were well aware what tactics best served when they wanted to irritate one another.
In their defense, such abilities weren’t out of the norm. They had spent their entire lives living under the same roof. A certain innate knowledge of one another was understandable, despite the fact that they were twins.
What wasn’t understandable was how well Evangela read her. She knew just what buttons to push that would ensure Persephone would react exactly as she’d intended. Evangela had most definitely pushed the most effective buttons to set her upon her latest insane mission. She should’ve known this would be an event best skipped when Eva told her to quote: ‘Show off that model-worthy body of yours’.
Thank God she hadn’t taken that seriously...too much. She smoothed a hand across the daringly cut jumper she wore. The square bodice enviably hugged her generous bustline, a silver chain belt emphasized an equally enviable waistline. The pants were sheer black chiffon offering bewitching glimpses of long legs and lush thighs. Silk tap pants beneath, offered a hint of modesty for her more intimate assets.
Such attire wasn’t the norm for her, but she owned tons of it just the same. She’d never been self-conscious about wearing any of it until then.
At first take, her surroundings seemed professional enough. It was, she’d assumed to be a bit beyond office party professional hence the more daring evening attire. After a few leering glances, suggestive compliments and a groping hand in the vicinity of her ass, she knew this was far beyond the business meeting Eva said she was expected to attend.
Didn’t you know that when she told you about it, idiot?
Persephone resisted kicking out with one of the black spiked-heeled sandals that completed her outfit. Yes, the bitch definitely knew how to push her buttons. But whose buttons wouldn’t be pushed after hearing such a tale as the one Eva spun in that Memphis hotel weeks ago?
Until she’d arrived at this- easily the most provocative and unsettling party she'd ever attended- she’d taken her sister’s claim to be another in a long line of her elaborate lies. Now, she wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t at all sure.
“Dr. James?”
Persephone shook off her primary concerns and managed a smile for the man who had been kind enough to find her an unadulterated glass of gingerale. The waitstaff had seemed confused when she’d requested a non-alcoholic beverage.
She did realize though that labeling the man next to her as ‘kind’ may’ve been a bit presumptuous. They’d spoken all of ten minutes before he left to get her drink. In all that time however, he hadn't even tried to shake her hand. High marks for this crowd, she thought.
“Thanks,” Persephone took the offered glass. “And you don’t have to call me doctor.”
Sondrio Tesano regarded the stunning, silver-eyed attraction just within his reach. “I’ve got great respect for those in your profession. You’ll have to forgive me since I’ve never met one as incomparable as you.”
Persephone cleared her throat to stifle laughter. “I’ve never been called incomparable before,” she wondered if such lines worked for the man. He certainly didn’t need them. God, was there any man in Hill’s family who didn’t have looks and bodies to die for?
“That’s a shame,” Sondrio said, “You deserve that compliment and more. Had your sister spoke more on your looks instead of your professional accomplishments, I’d have suggested we meet someplace less busy for the weekend.”
