Page 142 of The Strength Of A Woman

They sit with us at the table and have drinks before Callum appoints his men to watch me, and he retreats with Tullio and Killian at the bar to chat a little.

From afar, they look like three sharply dressed, handsome men having drinks on a fancy rooftop in Rome.

Looks are misleading, aren’t they?

They speak for about half an hour before the two men stay at the bar and Callum returns.

I try to read his eyes, but I can’t tell whether his conversation with them was fruitful or not. They are the reason we are here.

This meeting had been planned well in advance.

Callum slides into his seat next to me. I realize the rest of the men are part of his crew, and they’re here to ensure my safety.

“We can go whenever you’re ready,” he says.

“Is everything fine?”

“Yes. Everything’s fine,” he says with brevity.

“All right. We can go now. I just need to make a trip to the bathroom.”

“I’ll walk you there,” he says, already pulling out of his seat.

CALLUM

There’s a thing about us,men.

Something related to our primal nature.

The caveman in us.

The beast.

We want to chase and claim our woman.

And then we want to boast about her.

But that’s not always possible.

So, the next best thing we indulge in is seeing other men look at her, imagining the things we’d do to her.

It’s just as satisfying and arousing.

For sure, my men wouldn’t have those types of thoughts.They’d risk too much.

But Tullio and Killian are a different matter.

They’re Mafia Kings. They rule over other people’s lives. They see women every day. They want them. Take them. Sometimes dispose of them.

Long story short.

I’m so damn hard.

She exits the bathroom, smiling, and I watch her strut to me, swaying her hips as if on purpose, to make me lust after her even more.

The air cracks with electricity as she pulls up to me.

I have a shoulder propped against the wall, my hands tucked in my pockets, when she pushes up onto her toes, wraps her arms around my neck, and kisses my lips.