The other side: The Assessment

Chapter 2: Partner up

Niccolo's POV:

I saw her the moment I stepped into the hall. I saw her because of her dress. I remembered her because of her dress. I liked pretty women; I liked women who were tall and blonde, I liked women who were petite and fiery. I liked all kinds of women. But she, she intrigued me.

I heard her speak Italian in the coffee shop. Well, I heard her trying to speak Italian in the coffee shop. I was pissed, she was just holding up the line, and I had places to be and people to see. But then she stepped to the side, and I could see her in her dress, so I was a little less pissed at her. The view didn't hurt either. I fucking liked her in her dress, my cock fucking liked her in that dress.

However, my anger at her was reignited when I missed my phone call in the States. No hard-on was going to distract me from leading the empire my father left me. And then, when she turned and crashed in my chest at the lobby, I thought she would make a whole ordeal out of it, and I would be late once again. But I was surprised as I saw her just walk in the direction I was headed. I was surprised at how she knew when to be quiet.

And then my eyes caught hers. Before that, I thought of her as just beautiful, nothing more, nothing less. A lot of women were beautiful. And then I saw her eyes, and I was getting lost in a forest. They were green. I couldn't figure out what kind of green. I could see they were completely honest, like they didn't know what else to be, but at the same time, she had walls up there. Walls built around her. I couldn't put the two together. And like that, the beauty became the least of what intrigued me about her.

She leaned her head to the side and continued watching me. Her neck was now exposed, and I wondered how I would feel if I could kiss it. If I could mark it. My lips curved in a small smile as I could picture her naked in front of me. My thoughts of her were interrupted by a bag shoved in my direction. I grabbed the first piece of paper my fingers could reach, and I gave the bag to the next person.

This was one of my father's ideas, I tried to remind myself. His ideas were never stupid; they were just different. This was different; if it was good or bad, different was yet to be discovered. I was leaning towards the first one because how can anything be bad when she was there?

I turned my gaze to find her again, but she was now talking with her friend, a fiery redhead. My breath hitched as I saw her smile. I felt at peace like I did when I was a child, and there was always sun after the storm. Her smile was like that; it reminded me that after something bad, something good is bound to happen. Her smiling meant everything was good in the world.

I moved my gaze from her to the rest of the crowd. I watched people mix and try to find their numbers. I followed their lead and hoped that faith would consider playing a dangerous game with me by giving the same number as mine to her. After ten minutes of pointlessly trying to find my number, her group was the only one left that I hadn't checked. I slowly made my way towards them.

Her eyes flickered and met mine. A hint of apprehensiveness was shown on her face but was soon replaced with a stoic gaze that didn't give anything away. 'I would like to play poker with her,' a thought crossed my mind as I walked the last few steps. "Hey, does anyone have a 14?" I asked, not taking my eyes off her.

She slowly nodded, and I knew I would be heading straight to church after this to light a candle in a sign of appreciation. I outstretched my hand and said, "I'm Niccolo."

"Isabella," she said as she took it. I noticed she had small hands, and if I was a romantic, I would say they fitted perfectly in mine, but I wasn't. The only thing that I wanted was to fuck her and get her out of my system. I got obsessive sometimes, and I didn't want to get obsessive with her, even though I had never been obsessed with a woman before. In my twenty-six years of living on this earth, I have never gotten obsessive over the opposite sex. About winning, yes, about sex never. It would hurt my reputation and my professional life, both of which were currently at stake.