Chapter 3

• Fran's POV
• "You're sure he's going to help you?" Daniela asked.
• I looked over my shoulder at her. She sat in front of my mirror borrowing some wipes from the box on my table to clean her makeup. She is my best friend here. She was the first girl to speak to me when the other ones avoided me, probably because they thought I was going to steal their spotlight. You would think that as black girls we would form a kind of solidarity, but colorism among my own people is just as bad as the racism I face against the world.
• Sometimes I want to say I understand why mixed-race blacks would feel superior, but then I talk to people like Daniela and wonder why everyone else wasn't like her.
• She was the one who told me that Luca Castello had been showing unusual attention to me. There were policies guiding the club. Dancers can not have any relationship with the patrons within or outside the club. Our services were bordered by the rounded square stage. For serving girls like Daniela, however, she earned commissions when she got a customer interested in a one-night stand or more.
• She could have easily tried to score Luca for herself if she thought she had the chance, but she came running to me the day after my day off to tell me that Luca had demanded to know why I hadn't been at work.
• "He did ask me to meet him after work hours, so that means something, right?"
• She cleaned the mascara and eyeliner from both eyes. "Then you better hurry, babes." She looked up at me through the mirror. "You don't keep a man like Luca Castello waiting."
• And did I not know it? The man had such a powerful presence I nearly felt faint being before him. I always wondered what color his eyes were. They were a lovely shade of gray and when the swirling lights brushed them, they turned light like the sky at the beginning of rain.
• "My God!" Daniela squealed, swiveling in the chair, her eyes sparkling with laughter. "You think he's hot!"
• I shrugged, avoiding her eyes. "He's Castello, everyone thinks he's hot."
• "Yeah, but you are positively beaming with excitement! You're going to do it, aren't you?"
• 'It' was s*x. Even though a delicious shiver ran down my spine at the memory of Luca's eyes holding mine captive, trying to see into the depths of me, I shook my head. Something about him told me he was the kind of man to push boundaries.
• And strangely, I was curious about that. Anticipating it even.
• No, Francesca, you're just going to let him think you're seducing him until you find Faith.
• "Hopefully it doesn't come to that," I lied to Daniela. Looking at my watch I realized that it was 45 minutes past 2 in the morning. I grabbed my coat off the wall. "I gotta go. See you tomorrow, babes."
• "See ya. Have fun!" She winked.
• I rolled my eyes at her, closing the door with a bang.
• The club activities were still in full swing, but my shift was over, so I made my way out of the back door to the busy road. Los Angeles as always was still awake with bright lights flooding the streets, almost making the nights like days.
• It was a warm night, but I drew my coat around my barely - there sequin gown because Los Angeles might be glamorous, but there are a lot of creeps running the streets. The last thing I want is someone blaming my choice of attire as the reason for my r*p*.
• Luca was nowhere to be found.
• D*mn it! I should have known this chance was too good to be true. And I had hoped.
• Swallowing my disappointment, I made my way across the street, choosing to walk a few blocks before taking a taxi to save some cash on transport fare.
• I tucked my hands in my coat pocket with my head down walking on the curb when I noticed the black car slowing down beside me. The front window wound down, and a chauffeur looked out.
• "Miss Elaise?"
• I continued walking, increasing my footsteps.
• "Mr. Castello wants to ride with you."
• My spirit lifted and as it did, my body came alive with heat. What the hell is wrong with me that just his name makes me want to squeeze my thighs together.
• I stopped walking. The driver got out of the car, opened the back door for me and offered me a hand.
• I took it, stepping into the dark interior that nearly concealed him but for the stark white collar of his shirt. His eyes fixated on me even when I settled into the seat and the door was closed.
• The car suddenly seemed too small for us both. Even through his coat his essence poured out in excess. His masculine scent filled every space, piercing through my pores until every air I breathed was tainted with his scent.
• Male.
• Spicy.
• Musty.
• **
• READER'S POV
• Luca tapped on the roof and the car began to move.
• For a long time no one spoke. Fran settled in the posh leather seats folding her fingers in her coat, looking straight ahead at the road.
• Luca sat studying her profile. Up close now, without the distractions of a crowd, he could see that she was more beautiful than he thought. Her nose would have been pointed if it hadn't tapered to a cute round shape at the tip. Her lips from the side created a perfect heart.
• He suppressed a groan. He would love to see saliva run down the curve of those full lips down her chin while she choked on his c*ck.
• Did she feel it too? That magnetic pull that threatened to close the space between them?
• When she turned her gaze to him with a silent strength in her eyes and a small smile on those lips, he thought to himself 'D*mn'.
• He thought he had her figured out, but he was beginning to see that they were layers to his teasing beauty. He couldn't wait to explore them.
• Fran finally spoke, the silence was beginning to get oppressive, especially since his eyes were glued on her face.
• "About my sister, Mr - Luca."
• "About your sister," he agreed. Her sister was the last thing he wanted to talk about, but he had to thank her sister for getting into trouble. She would never have come to him if she didn't need his help. And he sure as hell would cut his own hand off before confessing that he had fantasized about her.
• "The Crips and Blood still run this county. They may have influence outside these borders, but they would never be the Mafia."
• D*mn right they wouldn't, Luca thought to himself.
• "I know it sounds like I'm asking you to scare them with your influence - maybe that's what I'm asking, but I'm convinced my sister didn't just run off because some gang member or another was after her life. It's more than that."
• "Why do you think so?"
• She swallowed nervously, and it was the first time he saw her look really nervous. "Before my sister got missing she started coming around the club, not inside but just...hanging around. From the little information I could gather, she was there with her boyfriend, the gang member, many times. He did some uhm dubious jobs for Ricky. I know my sister was not involved in those jobs. She might be a wild kid, but she's not a bad one. Ricky does drugs, I know it. It's a tight ring, but he has his connections."
• She stopped folding her coat, her fingers getting steadier. "I know Ricky does other things. People whisper in the club, but no one knows for sure what it is that he does that's so illegal. Other than drugs, of course. I know Faith found something. That's why she went missing." Luca's shifted in his seat as he listened to her. "I can't meddle in Ricky's business. He has his turf and I have mine."
• "You don't have to, I just need your help finding my sister. You can do that. You have the power."
• He had to admire her trust in him. That was important. Trust, if they were supposed to go beyond talking.
• He smirked.
• Fran looked away for the first time, her heart hammering in her chest. They were passing through the Civic Center. The city Hall was lit up with blue lights tonight. Her heart was not in the lights or the flashing city or, she thought, with a bit of shame, in her story anymore. It was on the tension and the magnetic attraction she felt towards this man whom she never actually met until tonight.
• "Do you have a boyfriend, Fran?"
• She could lie, but she found that she didn't want to. "No. I did once, but he - died. Gang related violence."
• He seemed oddly sympathetic, so she tore her gaze from the window. His gaze was intense and she held it boldly.
• "That's why you're worried about your sister."
• She nodded. "Yes."
• "Did you love him?"
• She knew the question was coming. How she knew was beyond her, and she realized that she wanted to tell the truth for the first time. "I thought I did, but the truth is, I wanted to. I cared about him, but I wasn't ready just yet."
• She had been too busy building her life. Her s*x life had suffered because of it, but once she and Jay finally had time alone, she never seemed to get enough, no matter how many times they f*ck*d until she got busy again at the risk of physical intimacy.
• The car pulled up to a high rise apartment and came to a stop.
• Luca reached out his hand. She hesitated.
• "You knew the price when you came to me, Francesca."
• She knew, yet her heart pounded, but it wasn't just because of the price, it was largely because of the man's intoxicating magnetism. He drew her in, tempted her, threatened to break through her strong defenses.
• She placed her hand in his, immediately jerking as the small contact sent delicious down her spine.
• She looked up. Did he feel it too?
• He must have, but his face gave nothing away, yet his eyes never left hers.
• They used the elevator to the penthouse and when the door opened a housekeeper was there at the door to attend to them.
• She was an older woman in a white and black uniform. Her Auburn hair was pinned up tightly, giving her face a pinched look.
• She collected Luca's coat genially but when she turned to Fran her gaze was sharp. Judgmental.
• "Your coat, Miss."
• Fran gave it to her. When the woman walked off, eyeing Fran's gown with disapproving eyes, Luca reached for her hand again.
• He went ahead of her, pulling her behind him until they entered a suite. It was dark but the centerpiece, the main attention to which Fran's eyes were drawn, was the bed. Bigger than anything she had ever seen. The little light in the room bathed it in dramatic light, seeming to burn a hole in it.
• This is it, Fran thought. I knew the price. Might as well get it done and over with.
• She reached for the straps of her gown to pull them off.
• "Stop."
• She turned.
• He took several steps forward. Fran could not help but notice how broad his shoulders were or how wide his chest was now that he wasn't wearing a coat anymore. Though she had guessed that his shoulders easily filled them out.
• She waited for him to grab her and become selfishly rough. Her head fell back to accommodate his height. She was prepared to fight him off. The attraction meant nothing, she wouldn't let him touch her. But when he stepped past her, brushing his body slightly against hers, bending briefly to draw her feminine cocoa butter smell in before grabbing something from behind her, another spasmodic shudder went through her.
• She didn't even see what he took from behind her, but suddenly, music filled the room.
• The Weekend's Earned it.
• Luca pulled back, grabbed a chair. It looked to her as if he had pulled it from thin air and slid it towards her. She grabbed it by pure instinct, immediately guessing what he wanted.
• "Dance for me."