Bottom's Up To The Mafia Boss (MXM Novel)

Chapter One: An Unfulfilled Promise

Three Years Ago

"Are you sure you want to do this, Li-Li?" I whispered into her ear, wrapping my arms around her from behind.

She made a squeak of surprise, her entire body stiffening. In a split second, she had my arm twisted behind my back, her breath warm on my nape. I smiled in response, the faint ache throbbing in my joints. It felt surprisingly good.

"Alex, how many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that?" She complained, but she didn't sound too upset. She released almost instantly the moment I tapped out, her hazel eyes crinkling at the edges as she grinned at me with amusement.

"You know I can't help it," I grumbled, swinging my arm in a circular motion, testing the enticing ache in my shoulder joint. "You just seemed so focused that I needed to disturb your peace."

She scoffed in response, rolling her pretty eyes, turning to face me fully. She propped herself up on the table, ignoring the severe clutter on the small surface, her long, toned legs swinging out and touching the floor beneath her easily. Despite that she just hit her thirtieth birthday, Lian Tang was still a vision of beauty–she had smooth, flawless olive-toned skin that defied age, and even when she smiled, she still had the same youthful appearance as she had when I had met her, twelve years ago. I was not blind to her attractiveness, nor was I immune to her magnetic charisma and happy-go-lucky attitude, and I counted myself a very lucky bloke to even be in the grace of her presence.

I like to think that she regarded me in the same light–after all, we had spent so many years together being each other's best friends, trusted confidants and even, dare I say, temporary lovers. The temporary lovers era was a mere experiment that occurred the first year of college, when we were both horny, young and wild individuals and while it lasted for a short period, I harboured it as one of my dear, fond memories. After all, who could say that they were able to sleep with their best friend and still remain the closest, platonic friends after that?

But, Li-Li knew I was different and knew that she could never scratch that itch of mine, not when I was so actively lusting after her younger brother, Nico. Nico Tang was the exact opposite of her. Broody, angry and easily the sexiest man to enter the bureau, it was easy to fall head over heels for him. Not that he had returned the same inclination, which only made me desperately want him more. Perhaps it was the masochistic side of me that craved to rid him of his passive, elusive interaction with me, or my need to want him to start treating me as an actual, living being rather than just referring to me as "Lian's weird British friend."

But, seeing Li-Li's face, how similar they looked, actually made it worse for me. Even though he was just seven years younger than us, he was still a full-grown man, and it was ridiculously easy to picture him sitting on the desk instead of Li-Li, while I knelt down to service him until he finally lost control. It was a wicked little daydream of mine, recurring much more often than I had predicted and Li-Li was well aware of it.

I jolted as her heel struck my kneecap, shattering the dreamy expression on my face. Her full lips pursed, her shapely eyebrows raising at my hurt look. I cupped my knee, ignoring her knowing expression.

"That was uncalled for, young lady," I remarked, shooting her an apologetic smile. "And it would be nice if you would be so kind as to answer my initial question."

"Maybe if you would stop panting after my baby brother, I would," she retorted, sliding off the desk in a sinuous move. She busied herself with cleaning up the clutter on her work desk but it only seemed to make it worse, with confidential slips of information spilling everywhere from the crinkled folders and binders, her mug of coffee hanging on the precipice, threatening to fall off at any given minute.