Mafia Kings: Valentino: Dark Mafia Romance Series #6 by Olivia Thorn

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 5

I immediately went back to my cooking. But as I put the finishing touches on everything, I imagined that I was cooking it all for Valentino…

That I was seducing him with my cooking.

That once he tasted my food, he would take me to bed and ravish me all night long.

I guess it worked, because when I finally dished everything up for Signora Lombardi, she tried a bite of the tagliatelle alla Bolognese and her eyes widened.

“Oh – oh, that’s good,” she murmured.

Then she tried a slice of the bread, with its crackly outside and soft, pillowy inside. She tried it by itself without any olive oil or butter – and her eyes widened again.

“Mmf,” she said, her mouth full as she chewed.

It was a good ‘mmf.’

Finally, she tried a bite of the zuccotto.

This time her eyes closed and she made a face like the love of her life had just slipped his cock inside her.

“Mmmmm,” she moaned with her mouth closed.

I really hoped Aunt Giovanna was right when she said my cooking was better than sex.

“Mm… very good. Excellent,” she said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Better than I’ve had in many Michelin-starred restaurants.”

I beamed like a five-year-old at Christmas.

“If it were up to me, I would hire you in an instant,” Signora Lombardi said.

My smile fell.

“…but it’s not up to you?” I asked, crestfallen.

She smiled sympathetically. “There’s someone else you need to talk to first.”

The next part of the interview was far scarier.

Signora Lombardi took me to a parlor near the front door of the mansion. Inside was a dark wood-paneled room filled with leather chairs. Bottles of expensive booze sat on a bar by the wall, and the faint scent of cigar smoke lingered in the air.

A guy was working on a sofa, sorting through sheets of paper laid out on a coffee table in front of him. He was dressed in a light blue dress shirt, although it was open at the neck and untucked over his expensive dress pants.

He looked like he could have been Valentino’s brother, except he was several years older, clean-cut, and more slender than muscular.

And not as hot.

Definitely very, very cute…

Just not as hot as my dream boy.

“Signor Rosolini,” Signora Lombardi said. “This is the new prospect I was telling you about – Caterina Martinelli.”

The guy looked up, locked eyes with me, and gave me a charming smile.

“Ciao, bella! Call me Niccolo. Please – sit,” he said, motioning towards a chair opposite him.

I sat down and

very tense. A

might not be wise to booze it up in front of my prospective employer.

drinking on the job. You passed. In fact, you can stop worrying – you practically have

and I forced a smile

word stood

“…practically?” I asked.

the matter of the background check,” Niccolo said. “You don’t

let me and my friends off after that drunken party in Florence a

out before you even stepped

I swallowed hard. “Okay.”

side and resting on

about my family?” he

Oh shit.

you

Niccolo laughed.

Then he stopped laughing, and his smile faded. “I meant specifically about my family, though. And I urge you to

Oh shit. Oh SHIT.

“I…”

head to the side and waited, never

“That… you’re…”

I trailed off.

he said as

him

you’re mafia,” I

a

Niccolo burst out laughing

up in

We’re importers and exporters. We deal in wine

He seemed so friendly… so

then his smile turned

have a palace, but – as I think you’ve guessed – my family is quite wealthy. And that makes us targets. For con men, grifters, thieves, thugs… that’s why you might occasionally see men with guns on the property.

don’t have a boyfriend,”

lot of exes, but no current

pile of NDAs – that’s Non-Disclosure Agreements – but I wanted to be sure there was nothing that might prevent you from maintaining my

wasn’t exactly

wasn’t

threat in everything he was telling

to make sure I got the message without having

wind up in

sure the Rosolinis

subtly letting me know that they were… and was that going

the mafia other than what I’d seen in movies and heard from gossip in my

run away out of fear

my life

like this, cooking

a certain incredibly handsome man dropping

tell anyone,” I

– good!” Niccolo said, then clapped his hands together. “You’ll live here on the estate

I asked,

says you

that,” I said, and I was. I would’ve cut onions and garlic for years in a top