Daring, Charming , Real

Ch. 10

His breath fanned across my cheeks as I looked up at him. Staring deep into his eyes lead to a dark abyss that mimicked the brute force of the waves we had watched on the ship all those months ago. Even this time I caught myself holding my breath in hopes the tide would die down. But the heat from his gaze seemed to sink deep into my skin and float carefully to the pit of my stomach, igniting a fire in my core. The amusement in his expression seemed to dance across every muscle in his body. It was very clear he knew his effect on me and I was safe to assume he enjoyed it just as much as he did in the beginning. The fading touch of his fingers seemed to consume my cheek after he took a firm grip, placing my chin in the palm of his hand. I sat quietly watching his thumb toy with my bottom lip before he replaced it with his lips, still holding me in place. My breathing began to pick up pace and I was tempted to reach out and grab him. His body was so close and I knew placing my hands along his chest would be enough to push him over the edge. But as if my thoughts were also creeping into his mind, he swiftly placed a foot behind the front leg of my chair and tipped me backward until I was suspended into the air other than his rough grip on the backrest. A gasp slipped through my lips but I tried not to move too quickly, scared I would send us both to the floor. The pivotal motion seemed to demonstrate the power he was holding over me. Each creak of the wood coming from beneath was an audible reminder of that.

"Is there a reason you're toying with me, Mr. Shelby?" I whispered.

"Just watching how the fear flows through your body." He mulled over his words like they had been pooling in his mouth for hours, "It's beautiful." 

Before he could lean back in for another kiss the door on the opposite wall bust open, slamming into the wall behind it. 

Thomas smacked my chair back straight on the ground and turned to see who interrupted us. His expression now darkened and the smirk wiped clean. After a long drawn-out sigh, he finally spoke, "Good morning Alfie."

"Yeah, yeah it is." The man responded seemingly dismissing Thomas altogether and looking over to me.

He stood about the same height as Tommy, dressed in a black tailored suit and a flat-brim hat to match. His facial hair covered most of his lower face but the one thing that stood out was his eyes. They looked feral, almost as if the man was craving violence at every corner. 

"My wife was just leaving." Thomas refused to look over toward me, still keeping an eye on the man who was now circling the table. 

"Oh no, don't let me be a bother." He looked me over, "Business can wait if you two have some uh- touching to do?" He raised an eyebrow.

At the sound of his words, I shot to my feet and smoothed my skirt over. I walked around Thomas and started to leave on the opposite side of the table from Alfie. Though I walked fast enough to make it out before another word was spoken, I could still feel both sets of eyes tracing me on my way out. Almost as soon as my feet left the threshold their chatter began again and business commenced as usual. From the carried words I could tell it wasn't unusual for Alfie to burst in unannounced and Tommy must have always indulged him. 

My office sat bright from the open curtains on each wall. I looked over the room as sunlight poured in and over the several pieces of furniture until my gaze found Niccoli crouched by a filing cabinet in the back. His white dress shirt beamed under the soft rays of the sun and his hair looked haphazardly tossed on his head. 

"I'm sorry, I tried to stop him from just barging in but he started to mouth off something about Russians?" His voice trailed as he turned towards me.

As soon as our eyes met we couldn't help but share a laugh. We took to gossiping as careless teenagers do at the back of the cafeteria. Our words came as whispers and each sentence stretched between small bumps and footsteps coming from the meeting room. We didn't want Alfie to hear us but as the conversation progressed, we didn't want Thomas to either.

"He looked angry this morning," Niccoli whispered as he pretended to file papers beside where I was sitting.

"He always looks angry, Nico." I whispered back and tried to stifle another laugh as he chuckled under his breath.

"Well, he looked worse today and not in your average 'Mob boss attitude' kind of way. It looks like something is on his mind."

For a few moments I jotted down numbers on some parchment in front of me to run and configure numbers from last week's sales before looking back up at him, "I think you just want to hear the drama when there is none."

"Oh ,bel tesoro, It's Thomas Shelby. He always has drama."

Even though Niccoli's words were spoken at no higher than a whisper, Thomas appeared in the doorway almost on cue with his name being called. His eyes flickered between the two of us searching for context clues on what had been said but reluctantly gave up searching. Heavy footsteps drew near and I could see Alfie now perched behind his shoulder also gazing in over us. He didn't speak a word while Thomas approached me. 

"I have  business to attend to for the next couple of days that is quite urgent. I'm afraid I'll have to leave at once."  Thomas looked down at where I was sitting.

"Where?" I asked. 

"Alfie has a company up North for us to check on. I promise not to be gone any longer than I have to be." 

"And if anyone comes in to meet with you?" 

"Reschedule." He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my lips allowing himself to hover for a few moments before pulling back. The dull expression returned to his face as he turned to leave. 

Niccoli and I sat in silence for most of the evening until I decided to show him the numbers. I figured it would be good to have more than just one person who was able to run the accounts in the event I was needed elsewhere. He picked up quickly and it was fascinating to watch how he mimicked my calculations. Of course, there were things I left out, like the brother's stocks and gambling problems. But I couldn't keep quiet about the drug addiction the Shelbys had. It would come and go like a spring in the dry season. But it never failed I would catch at least one of them stealing money to fuel their needs every couple of months or so. Niccoli marveled at my work and talked about how he was amazed I caught it. 

"This seems like pocket change. What they are stealing anyways." He shook his head at the rows of numbers.

"It does until you realize how frequent it becomes. How often they will do it if we pretend it's not happening." I sighed, "Not to mention Jon has children. Arthur has a company to run of his own and a woman he's trying to marry. Polly is trying to rekindle her relationship with her child. I just don't want them to ruin what they have over something so idiotic."

"And what about Thomas?"

"Thomas used to dabble in things before but now he doesn't touch the stuff. We both seem to think the same way when it comes to those sorts of things." 

Niccoli didn't say anything else he just nodded and looked away. I could see from the way his jaw clenched and his eyes lowered that there was more he wanted to share but didn't find the timing right. It only made me more curious about him.