Scandalous Heroes Box Set by Serenity King, Pepper Pace, Aliyah Burke, Erosa Knowles, Latrivia Nelson, Tianna Laveen, Bridget Midway, Yvette Hines Read Free Book Online

reliability. If he told his boss he would call at a certain time he damn well meant it and never failed.
    “You can use the phone in here, handsome. If you need anything, please let me know,” she smiled.
    He nodded his thanks for her gracious offer and arched a brow to the lingering look she gave him. Renaldo entered the office and closed the door on the smiling hostess. He had not bothered to shed his trench coat or gloves since he left his suite. The phone was on the desk in the corner. He picked it up and dialed the outside line to place a collect call to his boss. After waiting for the line to connect he was greeted with a hello.
    “Salve,” Renaldo replied.
    “Where are you?” Dominic Battaglia, the consigliere and adopted brother to Don Giovanni Battaglia asked.
    “An affair for the employees has been arranged. It is here in the Waldorf’s private dining room for dinner.” Renaldo relayed the details giving his best effort at English.
    “Any issues?” Dominic asked.
    “No sir. The women have had meetings. Tate is accommodating. They have requested to stay an additional few days. I need to know if you approve.”
    “Have Catalina call me. I expect to hear from her after their party ends.”
    The line disconnected. Renaldo placed the phone back on its cradle. He had very little to look forward to this evening. It would be a night of standing in the shadows observing the Americans with their fast conversations and fake pleasantries. He didn’t loathe the country. He just didn’t understand the hurry everyone was in. They ate fast, they talked fast, and they even conducted business in a hurried manner. It made his gut sour. He detested the ‘rush through life’ mentality.
    Renaldo strolled out of the private room toward the front of the reception area. It was then that a young woman cut him off. He stopped. She didn’t see him.
    “I’m late. I’m here for the Battaglia event,” she said.
    She wore a dark suede coat that belted around her trim waist. Her thick dark hair reached just beneath her chin and had a feathered layered cut style. However he could not see her face.
    “You’re fine, most are just arriving,” the hostess reassured her as she helped the woman from her coat. Renaldo’s mouth went bone dry over the unveiling. The jade dress the woman wore reminded him of movie style glamour, like Marilyn Monroe. It fit in a trimmed fashion that defined her tiny waistline and draped nicely off her hips to flow with a bit of grace above her knees when she moved. And the high-heeled shoes on her feet were the same color of jade. Except these shoes had small jewels woven in along the seam and up the back of the stiletto heels that gleamed like emeralds. The beauty’s head turned. Renaldo caught her profile.
    It was Kyra.
    The busy bee receptionist he’d met at Mirabella’s earlier that day was before him now. He found her appealing in their first meeting. Tonight, however, she was far more alluring. She had changed her hair, added a bit of gloss the color of nutmeg to her full supple lips. She had the longest lashes, darkly swept away from deep-set beautiful brown eyes. When she nodded her head to something the hostess said in jest, the mere simple movement of casting hair from her face back to the right side of her head stirred him.
    The hostess left with the young woman’s coat. The beautiful receptionist turned goddess approached him confident and assured.
    “Hi!” she chirped up at him. “Renaldo right?” she extended her hand. “Remember me?”
    Renaldo forgot every word of the English language he had learned. “Buno sera,” he replied. He took her hand and kissed it. She never took her eyes off him.
    “That means good evening? Right?” she asked.
    Reluctant but polite he let her hand go. “Yes. You speak Italian?”
    “No. I know a few words,” she teased.
    “May I escort you signorina ? To the others?” he asked.
    “Oh sure, she was just going to hang up my coat… uh, okay