“What?”

Sofia’s question, although addressed directly to me, goes unanswered.

Now, I would not usually miss the opportunity to say one word to a woman like this, but there’s just something about Sofia that keeps sending me off my game.

Not that I’m complaining. It’s a wonderful fucking feeling.

And Marco over there seems to be going through the same thing. Except he’s already possibly scaring her off by offering to take her home after just having learned her name.

But, fuck, I need to answer Sofia, despite the hypnotic effect she has on me.

“It may just be your lucky day, Sofia.”

“Why is that?”

Antonio and Marco both give me a look that seems to say that we’re all on the same page, but I’m not paying much attention to them right now.

But, shit. If I’m going to go down this road with her, I better make damn sure that I heard her correctly.

“Where did you say you’d be working again?”

Sofia seems to be perking up after her spill. Her face starts to come more alive, and she looks around like she’s trying to decide whether to actually repeat what she told us earlier.

“Okay, like I said, I’m not ashamed: my interview was with an escort agency.”

Sofia’s smiling again like I haven’t seen her yet. The tiniest shiver seems to run through her, as if she got some mild thrill just from admitting that.

If she isn’t telling the truth, this is one Academy fucking Award-winning performance I’m witnessing right now.

Okay—something’s off with all of this.

She’s telling the truth about the escort agency for sure. And she’s so alluring that it’s blowing my fucking mind.

The thing that’s off is that I almost didn’t notice at first, right after she fell. That’s because her allure—so fucking apparent right now—didn’t even hit me right away.

Usually, when I use a term like alluring, either to myself or as an honest compliment, it’s a quality I can spot right away.

Usually, it means the exact same thing as fucking hot.

Fucking hot is what I thought about Sofia almost right away—after I helped her and got a good look at her features.

But now there’s something else there, a depth to her beauty that I rarely see, if ever. And it’s incredibly magnetic.

It’s alluring.

And that’s what’s off about Sofia—she’s genuinely alluring, in a way that’s rare, and it’s already throwing me for a fucking loop.

“You ever hear of kismet, Sofia?”

Fuck, it’s her eyes. I’m used to seeing so many sets of eyes, and not just women’s eyes, but it seems like almost everyone I fucking talk to has some degree of vacancy in their stare, like they just can’t be bothered to be there in the moment.

Or like there’s just nothing there at all.

But with Sofia, there’s no vacancy. Somebody’s home, and the lights are on bright.

“Of course,” she answers, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Good, because I think we’re seeing an example of kismet here.”

“You don’t say.” Sofia takes another sip, like I’m already losing her interest.

Like that light in her beautiful brown eyes is too bright even for me to harness.

“Sofia, if you’re afraid of missing out on your big opportunity with some escort agency, then you’re in the right place. My name is Franco, by the way.”

How many minutes has it been since Sofia fell? And how long has she been sitting at this table?

And I’m the first one of the Monatello brothers to introduce myself. It’s shameful.

But it’s understandable. We’re all far off our fucking game, and I’d bet our entire fucking empire that my brothers are thrown off for the same reasons I am—that allure, those eyes…

Fuck—one thing quite specific to me, and something I’ll probably never fucking admit to another soul, is that I’m afraid of what those eyes, and the intelligence clearly behind them, could uncover.

Maybe she can already see who I am, every fucking facet of me—maybe she can see things about me that I don’t even know about myself.

Holy shit, I never thought anything like that about a chick before, or about anyone, really.

But I’m probably reading too much into her allure, since it’s so goddamn rare. For now, we’re all still just trying to help her out.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Antonio.” Antonio just says his own name, glass of ice melting in front of him, staring like he’s fucking hypnotized. Sofia nods at him politely.

“And I’m Marco.” Of course, Marco has to be the one to extend his hand to Sofia.

To be fair, we all should’ve done that. I can’t blame Marco for acting like a goddamn human being.

“Nice to meet you all,” she says while shaking Marco’s hand. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, though, with kismet and my job interview…”

“Sofia, you’re with the proprietor of the best such agency in town.”

Sofia sends out a half-skeptical little laugh before taking another sip of her coffee. “Are you really?” she asks after putting the mug back down.

“Like I said, kismet.”

Sofia’s eyes are suddenly right on mine. She turns towards me in her seat, pointing her legs slightly in my direction.

My eyes journey down for a glance at her thighs and her perfect ass and her stunning, bounteous tits. After a split-second I look quickly back up to her eyes—I didn’t even mean to scope her out like that; it’s almost like she demanded it.

Of course, I know better than that. It’s my own roving fucking eyes that insisted on taking a peek.

“You run an escort agency? Are all of you part of the management or something?”

“We all run different facets of a larger business entity—but yes, I run that part of it.”

“That sounds fascinating.” Sofia swivels even more towards me. “I’d love to hear more about it, but I don’t want to be presumptuous and ask if you’re looking for anybody.”

“You can come to our place, and we can tell you all about our business. I think you’ll find it most fascinating indeed—and we’ve got a limo waiting for us whenever we’re ready…whenever you’re ready.”

“I’d feel better knowing that you’re okay after your fall,” Marcos adds. “We can make sure any injuries you might have are taken care of.”

Sofia turns away from me and studies her half-empty cup of Americano for a few moments.

“I don’t think I have any serious injuries, but I wouldn’t mind taking a ride in a limo.”