Chapter Four

Chessboard and Hotness-Overload
 
Giovanni felt his heart go into palpitations. It was weird. His heart never palpitated for anyone or anything. Not since that time twelve years ago when his heart had smiled that once at the taste of that bitter coffee. He smiled at that pleasant thought. A sudden image of Jenny with pleading green puppy dog eyes just moments before robbed his senses, and he could see her in his mind’s eye.
Fuck. His heart flip-flopped again. It must be that instant coffee. Too much wasn’t good. He needed the real stuff. Where was that midget girl when he needed her?
“Bobby,” he barked, his expression growing darker when his right-hand man didn’t appear in that instant. “The fuck’re you hiding, Bobby? Get here right now or I’ll chop your balls off.”
“Ah, boss. Coming.” Bobby came scurrying into the room with hands shielding his private parts. “You need me, boss?”
“Where the fuck were you when I called?” he growled at his underling.
“I was working, boss. You know that collection report you were telling me about. We missed one, a man from downtown. We need to collect money from him today if we want to meet our quota.”
“You’ve been drinking coffee, haven’t you?” He snarled, not listening to a single word his underling was saying.
Bobby blinked at him. “How do you—”
Thwack!
“Ow, boss! Why’d you hit me on the head?” Bobby yelped, rubbing his already throbbing skull.
“You think I’m an idiot. I can smell it across the room. How many cups did Jay make for you?”
“Two, boss.”
“She only made me one,” he muttered under his breath, suppressing the desire to show his jealousy. “And I didn’t even get to finish it before it turned cold. Where is she? Tell her I demand a flat white on my desk now.”
“Ah, boss, that might be a bit difficult,” Bobby pointed out timidly.
“Why?” he roared.
“Because she’s cleaning the bathroom.”
“Which bathroom?”
“Our bathroom.”
“Fuck!” Giovanni swore. If that girl was cleaning that bathroom, there was no way he’d allow her anywhere near him. His underlings’ bathroom was even worse than dog shit. It was the one place he never dared venture to. And for good reason, since he considered himself a clean freak. “Fine. I’ll wait. But when she’s done and all cleaned up, tell her I want my flat white.”
“Yes, boss.”
“And make sure to tell her to wash her hands thoroughly. I don’t want any germs from you all,” he added, just in case Bobby forgot. His right-hand man tended to forget the small details, which really peeved him big time.
“On it, boss. I’ll tell her right now.”
Giovanni sank into the cushy chair as his underling disappeared out the door. He let that small disappointment sag out of his shoulders and turned to more pressing matters, like the money Jay’s father owed him.
Three million dollars.
Stupid old man. He should’ve never loaned him that money. Now look where it got him. A plain midget girl he couldn’t even bed in exchange for the measly three million.
How long would his daughter stay under his charge to pay his debt? Three million wasn’t a lot to him, but to someone like the Stones, who hadn’t a couple of dollars to rub together, it was a big deal.
Giovanni admitted he didn’t like the old man’s daughter. On first sight, she’d disturbed his peace of mind like no other. The way she spoke, loud and rude, not even caring he was a mafia boss, really pissed him off. If it weren’t for her coffee skills, she would have been gone by now. Yet he couldn’t stop staring at her then or thinking about her now. There was something about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. She looked so familiar somehow, like…
Fuck! He needed to stop this before his head exploded.
Giovanni strode to his bedroom on the second floor and stripped off his clothes, a snake shedding its skin, taking off one article of clothing at a time and scattering them all over the floor. He did say he was a clean freak, but that didn’t mean he had to pick up after himself. He had many servants around, especially that new one he couldn’t get out of his mind.
Ah, fuck. There he went again. Thinking about her. He needed to stop this. It must be the fucking weather. To fucking hot for spring. It was frying his brains. He needed to cool down. And fast. First a shower. Then coffee. In that order.
Once completely naked, he walked to the ensuite bathroom and opened the door…
 

 
The clock on the wall read 3:00 p.m. That meant I’d been here for more than four hours. And in that time, I’d been doing the following: serving coffee, cleaning, and doing a mountain of laundry accumulated by five grown men. And the list just went on.
And here Adonis said he didn’t need a maid. Slap my ass. What a liar. My hands were already numb from mopping the floor. Thankfully, the last job on the list was to clean the bathroom.
I cringed. How many bathrooms are in this mansion? Two? I doubted it. More like twenty. But no matter, I went in with renewed strength. This was my last job, after all, before I got to rest my feet.
“Man up, Jenny. You can do this. Don’t give up.” I pumped myself up for the full task ahead.
It was only cleaning the bathroom. No big deal. I cleaned the bathroom all the time at home anyway. A quick spray here, a simple wipe there, then voilà, all done. I was even faster than Amelia painting her nails.
That was my initial thought anyway. Until I opened the door and a whiff of what smelled like rotten eggs and a three month-old fart bomb blasted me right in the face.
“Ooeew. What a stink bomb!” I was so not prepared for that.
I stood surveying the site, pinching my nose. From the look of the tub, a herd of elephants had taken a dump in it.
 
“Just you wait, Adonis,” I muttered under my breath, scrubbing the tub until it shone and sparked. “I’ll clean this tub until you can see your face in it. And then you’ll reduce my life sentence.”
I worked hard and fast cleaning that bathroom. Sweat and grime poured off my body in buckets. But if only one droplet of sweat equate to one dollar, I was sure I’d be a millionaire just like Adonis. Then I’d have enough money to pay back Pa’s debt. Right?
In your dreams, Jenny. I rolled my eyes. From the look of things, I’d have to spend at least two more lifetimes working as a mafia’s maid in order to pay off his debt. For a poor college student like me, I guessed I’d been condemned to this hellhole of a stink bomb for a lot longer.
Well, at least another ten minutes anyway. I chuckled. I was almost finished. I did a jiggly dance at this thought.
Ah. Sometimes I amazed myself at how quick and adaptable I was to new living environments. Is that why Pa left me behind with the sharks instead of taking me with him? This thought suddenly depressed me.
What the hell, Jenny? Get your head together. This is no time to mull over this problem. Right now, let’s clean this bathroom so it’s all spic and span, then have a shower and get into clean clothes.
God, I stunk. Just like a skunk. No, wait, not like any normal skunk. I was the queen of all skunks.
Oh, how pathetic. I was losing my mind. I seriously needed a shower. Or a bath. And fast. And then food. In that order.
I inched my way upstairs, back to my adorable, oh-so-cozy closet bedroom. Not!
Stripping myself of my soiled clothes, I donned a towel that I found in the back of my bedroom and made a mad race across the long hallway, eager to find a bathroom fit for the skunk queen from Brooklyn.
And then I stopped.
Oh crap! I didn’t recall sighting any bathroom along the Giovanni tour. Now what was I going to do? I needed to find a shower. Fast. I was literally naked beneath this towel. I couldn’t go around parading on my skimpy towel to search for a bath. What happened if that mafia guy saw me? No, that wouldn’t do at all.
Well, I could always go back down to the guys’ bathroom. I know where that was. But the probability of seeing more people would be higher if I showered there.
Oh, what to do? From the sheer size of this mansion— no, I should say museum—it’d take me more than half a day just to find one.
Just then, a proverbial lightbulb lit above my head. Adonis’s bathroom. Brilliant, Jenny. I remembered where that was. Next to my closet bedroom. I didn’t have to walk far at all. We were literally next-door neighbors.
I grinned like the Cheshire cat. Ah. It’s only going to be for a minute. I’ll just hop in the shower. Five minutes, max. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.
I clutched my towel more securely around myself, then inched closer to Giovanni’s bedroom door. I opened it gently and quietly, slowly peeking between that small gap to check whether Adonis was in.
Good. He wasn’t in there. That being said, though, I hadn’t seen him since this morning.
Humph. I shrugged. Probably out and about doing whatever mafia stuff he did. Threatening people and criminal activities, I bet. Not my problem and none of my concern if he got caught by the law. All the better for me for getting out of this debt earlier. But I hadn’t time to think about him right now. I had more important issues to deal with. Like getting myself clean.
Dashing to the bathroom through Adonis’s bedroom, I once again found myself in awe of the sheer size of his bed. I couldn’t help but jump on it for a good bounce.
Oh golly, it felt so damn good on my bottom. But before anyone caught me, I jumped back up, giving the sheets an extra tight tug before making my way to the bathroom.
If the guys’ bathroom downstairs was a dump for the zoo animals, then Adonis’s bathroom must be a dump for—
Oh my Lord, I take back that thought. Is this guy a clean freak or what? All the shampoo, deodorant, cologne, basically all the necessary items that makes a guy’s charm ooze with pheromones were laid out like artwork on the shelf.
Clean. Too clean. This bathroom was literally plucked from the top housing magazine. I could literally see my face on every reflective surface, including the huge wall mirror attached to one side of the room.
I looked at myself. Hmm. I really didn’t look half bad at all. My light-brown hair still stuck out on all ends. But nothing a little hairbrush couldn’t fix. Sun-kissed freckles still scattered my nose, highlighting them even further against my ivory-pale skin. My eyes were still green. No, green is such a boring color. Emerald or jade would be more suited to describe my irises. My lips were red, full, and plump. I didn’t need to waste money on Botox. I had natural beauty. And although I stood at five feet two, I considered myself model material. I was slim, with the right amount of curves in all the right places.
“Oh, Jenny. You’re so hot. Definitely model material.” I contorted myself this way and that against the stylish shower stall, giggling and laughing at myself while viewing my own reflection in the tall mirror.
Why was that mafia boss saying he couldn’t sleep with me? Comparing me to a pig. Gosh, he was just too blind to see my real beauty.
Well, just my luck, then. I was going to use his bathroom as revenge.
Not waiting another second, I dropped my towel in eager anticipation. Turning on the hot shower, I slipped in, forgetting about my towel on the floor.
Oh my, this is pure heaven. Happiness right there in the shower. The water back home would run and stop, like there was a clot in the showerhead. Here, the spray came at just the right pressure, making my skin tingle in delight.
I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of grime and stress draining off me.
And saw Adonis in the mirror.
Holy cow. Too much of his pheromones in the air, and now I was reacting to him by daydreaming of him in the shower?
I blinked my eyes open, yet he was still there, his perfectly formed body on full display for me. I splashed water on my face and even scrubbed my eyes until I was all sore, but…
Oh crap. I was definitely not dreaming. Adonis was really there in his bedroom, stripping off his clothes slowly. I plastered my face against the glass, watching as he unbuttoned his shirt, like he was slowly unwrapping a Christmas present. Each article he took off made my eyes bulge even farther out their sockets. Perfect chest, perfect abs, and perfect…
Holy cow. He’s taking off his pants.
Turn around. Turn around. I want to see your—
Giovanni did turn around, resulting in my heart going into arrhythmic mode. I had to remind myself to calm down and breathe.
I felt something dripping down my chin. Oh my gosh! I was drooling. I wiped my saliva and continued to stare at him, mesmerized and entranced at his beauty. He was seriously Adonis. Even down there.
So hot. So captivating. Hotness overload!
And then he had to walk into the bathroom, putting me into panic attack mode. I seized and shook in the shower.
Oh golly, golly. I’m naked. I’m naked.
I managed to shut off the shower nozzle in time, fluffing around the stall like a featherless chicken about to take flight, now only realizing I’d left my towel outside. I couldn’t possibly open the shower door now. And I could already hear his footsteps approaching the bathroom.
Luckily, this shower was very high-tech. It had one of those technology thingybobs, whereby I could just push a button and the glass wall frosted up. And that was what I did. My once translucent glass wall was now opaque. I couldn’t see a damn thing. Now I had to rely on my hearing alone.
I pressed my ear to the wall, not hearing anything. Had he gone back to his bedroom again? I opened the shower door slowly to check and—
Noo! Giovanni was coming back in the bathroom. My arms reacted faster than my brain, jerking the door shut quick enough that it slammed into my nose. Now my nose was like Rudolph the reindeer, except this was no happy reindeer; this was pure misery times ten. I had to clamp my mouth shut to stop my banshee scream from escaping my lips.
Giovanni must have heard my wee tweet, because his footsteps approached the shower stall faster than lightning and he started rattling the door. I freaked out and jumped to tug at the door handle myself, closing it in time before he could pull it open. Now both of us were playing a game of tug-of-war, with Giovanni trying to pull open the door while I was trying my best to keep it closed.
He was strong, but I was adamant. He might have the strength of a full-grown man with testosterone that whipped at my senses and made me drool, but no way was I letting him open that door. I was naked. Who knew? He might even want to sleep with me after seeing my sexy body. I was a virgin, thank you very much. And I was very happy to stay that way. Until I found the guy I loved. And this mafia boss—nope, not the one for me.
Giovanni rattled the door again. I still didn’t let go.
“Fuck. Bobby, did you accidently lock my shower stall again,” he yelled to his underling. “I told you not to use my bathroom, you ass.”
I shivered under my naked skin. Not because I was cold. Oh no. Because I was so freaked out. I could feel his anger radiating off him in just his voice alone. I knew he’d kill me if he knew I was showering in his bathroom. No amount of coffee skill could save me now. So I hung tight with my plan. Hold on to that door handle for dear life.
I heard receding footsteps. I knew he must have gone to bark at Bobby.
I didn’t think further. I quickly yanked myself out of the shower stall, grabbed my towel off the floor, thanking the Lord on the way for giving me this golden opportunity to escape, and then ran for my life, almost reaching the sanctuary of my closet bedroom when—
“Jay!”
Holy crap! Giovanni called my name. I clutched the flimsy material against myself, making sure my beautiful twin assets wouldn’t peek out from beneath the towel, and then turned around to face the mafia boss.
I cringed when I saw him. He was a pure devil from hell, out to carve out my thumping heart. Black hair, black pupils, and hot tanned skin. He was also wearing a black bathrobe just to complete the whole dark devil-may-care look, which suited me just fine since I didn’t want to experience another episode of being a drooling idiot. Now, if he were to appear in the nude, I was sure I wouldn’t just dribble saliva; I would dribble blood from my nose, too.
I smiled at him timidly, staring up at his tall stature. “Hi, boss. Fancy seeing you in the hallway. What are you—”
“Where were you?” He cut me off frostily, eyes glaring down at me with black flames.
“Down the hallway, boss. Just had a shower. As you can see right here.” I indicated my oh-so-wet body, drenched like a drowned mouse, with only a measly towel covering me.
But why oh why did I mention I had a shower? Giovanni stared me up and down, his eyes eating up every inch of my skin, making my whole body heat in a foreign way. I felt something warm and hot constricting at the pit of my belly.
“Boss, stop staring at me like that. You’re making me nervous.”
“Nervous? What reason do you have to be nervous? You’re as flat as a chessboard.” He indicated my breasts with his eyes.
I held the towel to cover up my beautiful assets. “Stop making fun of my breasts.”
“Do I look like I’m laughing?” His eyes roamed my body up and down again. “You really have no breasts, chessboard. How old are you?”
“Eighteen when you declared me your coffee machine,” I snapped, face going red with anger, humiliation, and something else. Crap, my heart is going into palpitation mode again.
“Undeveloped child. Get dressed and come downstairs. I want my flat white after my shower. And make that quick, chessboard.” He shook his head and then walked off.
Chessboard. Undeveloped child. I wanted to bonk him on the head, but luckily, he’d already gone. And thankfully, I was able to escape to my closet with no further disruption. But by the time I got there, I was struggling for breath.
Holy Lord, help me. That encounter with Adonis almost caused me to have a heart attack. Never again would I share the same bathroom as that Greek god.