started. “And I know I’m a permanent assignment for you now. But I want to know everything in between.”
He set his sandwich aside and lasered those sexy grey eyes my way. “There’s not much more to it, Mia,” he said. “Luca approached me when I was fourteen, knowing that I could use the money, like most kids in the neighborhood. He said all I had to do was keep an eye on you when your brother wasn’t able to.” Nico shrugged a shoulder. “Since Michael was with you as much as he could be, it hadn’t been a hard job.”
“Was it ever?” I joked. I’ve always led a relatively boring life.
“Not hard, per se,” he grimaced. “But once you hit your teen years, the shopping and girl time was pretty dreadful.”
I laughed. I couldn’t imagine how boring it must have been for Nico to sit in the shadows listening to a bunch of girls talk about fashion, makeup, and boys. “That bad?”
“Some of it was rough,” he admitted. “But it wasn’t all bad.”
And then a horrible, embarrassing thought occurred to me. I withered in my chair as I asked, “Did you…were you around when…did you see…”
A dark brow rose. “Did I see you making out with your boyfriends when you were in high school?”
I knew my face was turning beet red. “Oh, God…” I groaned miserably.
Nico shook his head. “Not often,” he admitted. “Your love life was Michael’s domain. It was usually him in the shadows in case he had to kill someone.”
“What did you do when you weren’t watching me?” The question had started out innocently enough, but my voice suddenly turned husky. Nico has probably watched me in some very intimate moments in my life. I had this gorgeous man watching me from the shadows and there was something dark and sexy in knowing that. Maybe it was because he wasn’t a creep, and he was approved by my brother, but violated was the last thing I felt around this man.
He must have noticed the change in my tone because the cocky sonofabitch smirked. “I did whatever the Benettis needed me to do, Mia,” he answered honestly. “If you hold my hands up to the light, you can see the red stains that can’t be scrubbed off.”
Murder.
He was confessing to murder, telling me exactly how deep he was in with the Benettis and what he was capable of. Thinking it and hearing it confirmed were two completely different things, that’s for sure.
I swallowed. “And now?”
“Two years ago, I was assigned to you fulltime because college wasn’t as structured as grade school and high school,” he replied. “Luca and Ciro wanted you safe. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve always been a priority to those two men.”
My stomach dipped at his words. It never occurred to me that I meant something beyond just taking care of one of their own. Hearing that I might be special to someone other than my brother almost brought tears to my eyes. “So, you were assigned to watch me for the next four years?”
“Yes and no,” he hedged. “I was originally assigned to you for your years at Sterling, but last year that changed.”
After talking with Michael, I knew what he was talking about, but I wanted to hear him say it. I wanted no confusion. “Why?”
Nico placed his arms on the table and leaned forward, his grey eyes bright. “After watching you grow into yourself your freshman year, protecting you turned into something else,” he replied, his voice rough and dark.
“What did it turn into?”
His eyes dipped, and he licked his lips as he stared at mine. His eyes back on mine, he confessed, “I realized I wanted you for myself.” My heart beat a brilliant tattoo inside my chest. “I watched you go on dates, and every single guy you were with was nothing but a casual mistake. Justin was the only guy who seemed capable of posing a threat.”
I winced. “You know he’s going to pepper me with endless questions about you.”
Nico cocked his head. “I’ll be happy to answer any questions he has.”
I didn’t doubt it.
“Do I get a say?” At this point, my say was a ‘hell fucking yes!’. Just yesterday I was wishing for butterflies and the Love Fairy dropped this sexy piece of man meat right in front of me. But I still wanted absolute clarification of what this was.
“No,” he replied, and his tone was full of that absolute clarification I was asking for.