TAMING ITALIAN BOSSES

Chapter 4

"You do know we can see you from here, right?" Abby Wrote.

I looked behind me to see them both staring at me with narrowed eyes and I gave them a little wave.

"TU be right there guys."I texted them.

"We have an afternoon class remember?" Abby wrote and my eyes widened and I smacked my forehead. s**t, I forgot!

"Yeah okay Il be right there thanks for reminding me!" I texted her and looked up at Nico already staring at me with an unreadable expression.

"Who was that?" He asked me.

I got up from my seat quickly, grabbing my cup.

"My friends, I have an afternoon class today and I forgot..." I told him while gathering my things. "I have to go now but thank you for having coffee with me." I smiled at him and he nodded.

"Do you need me to drop you off?"

He asked and my head snapped in his direction.

"What? Oh.. oh no need, I have a ride. Thanks anyway." I told him and hoisted my bag on my shoulder, quickly making my way out of the cafe with my friends trailing behind.

As we were sitting in the car, Nico came out of the cafe and went over to his car.

"Dang, look at that car." Cole said and we looked at the sleek black car parked a few feet in front of us.

Sighing, I buckled my seat belt and we drove off. Maybe I should've taken up his offer.

A week had passed since I had gone to Rosie's, because of the large amount of assignments our Professors had decided to dump on our heads.

I groaned in frustration and put my head on my desk, looking out the window.

"Nissi!!" Abby screamed from somewhere and I flinched.

"What?" I called out to her and she came jumping in my room.

"Why are you still working?" She looked at me in disbelief and I shrugged.

"Why shouldn't I be working?" I asked her and she groaned.

"Because." She took a deep breath before speaking. "It's Lauren's birthday today and she invited us, remember?"

Oh right. Lauren. She was a psychology student in our class and friends with Cole and Abby, so she invited us to her birthday dinner, along with some other friends.

"She invited you and Cole, not me." I told her.

"Yes she did, now get your ass in the shower before I smack you!" She raised her voice and I got up muttering curses.

"If I fail this semester, it's on you!" I pointed to her and she gasped.

"No, it's gonna be on you. You should've finished your work earlier instead of reading all those books."

She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. I rolled my eyes knowing she was right.

"Ugh. Fine."

"Now hurry, we have to be there in less than an hour." She told me and marched out of her room.

"And wear something formal!" She called out.

"Okay mom!" I called out after her and chuckled. She can be intense Sometimes.

I sighed and made my way to my wardrobe, tossing out my new dresses to see if we bought anything formal and settled on a blue one that matched my eyes.

"Perfect"I whispered to myself and took a nice and long shower, then straightened my hair to make myself more presentable, putting on the fancy hair pin my dad gave me for my birthday last year.

I put on some light makeup and slipped my blue dress on, along with my silver heels, and twirled in front of the mirror, smiling.

Quickly straightening my dress I walked out with my phone and wallet in my hand.

"Abby! Im ready! Cole!" I called out to them.

"Here!" Cole called out and I walked into his room struggling with his bow tie.

"A little help, please?" He smiled at me sheepishly and I grinned at him, before making my way towards himand doing his bow tie for him.

"There. All done." I patted his chest and looked at him. "You look nice." I told him and looked at his crisp white dress shirt and black pants and bow tie.

"Don't get used to it." He told me with a grin and we both went out to see Abby coming out of her room, trying to put her coat on.

She was wearing a dark green short dress that hugged her curves and ended a little above her knees.

"Why is my dress so short?" I looked at mine which ended up well above my knees and Abby shrugged.

"You look nice. Now come on, we're already late!" She grabbed both our arms and ran towards the parking lot.

We made it to the restaurant in under 15 minutes mostly because Abby kept shouting at Cole to go faster.

We were practically deaf by the time we reached the restaurant. Stepping out of the car, I looked around at the fancy restaurant and made my way inside, my arm linked with Cole's.

Cole helped me take my coat off and Abby led us to our table, where a bunch of people I recognized were already sitting and chatting.

The tables around us were already filled and people were dressed up in fancy clothes and the clinking of glasses could be heard as well as the scraping of forks against plates.

Did I mention Lauren's dad was rich? Like filthy rich?

"Is her family here too?" Cole whispered in Abby's ear and she nodded.

"Yeah some family and close friends." She whispered back and went towards Lauren and we followed her.

Lauren was a nice girl, and I liked her. I went to her and hugged her, handing her the birthday gift I'd bought for her and wishing her a happy birthday.

She gave me a kind smile and gestured me to sit. I greeted her parents as well who were equally nice and I felt like liked them.

After saying hi to everyone, I looked around for a free seat and was about to move forward when someone bumped into me, hard.

I was albout to fall down but an arm caught me and I hooked my arms around the persons neck, closing my eyes.

When I felt like I wasn't dead, I slowly opened one eye, then another and almost had a heart attack.

"You again!" I quickly moved away from him, and saw Nico looking at me with an amused expression.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him in disbelief and someone cleared their throat behind us.

I turned around to see Lauren and her father standing behind me and I moved aside.

"Mr. King, it's so good to see you here. Thank you for coming on such short notice." Her father shook hands with Nico who was looking at me.

"How do you know him?" He pointed to Lauren's father.

"I was.. um. I was invited to her birthday." I gestured towards Lauren who seemed baffled by the whole exchange.

"Uh, please, Mr. King, have a seat."

Her father gestured to the empty seats and Nico looked at me.

"Come. Sit with me." He told me and stretched out his hand towards me. I looked at it for a few seconds before taking it and he led me to the seat next to his, andI sat down, him following suit.

"How do you two know each other, if you don't mind me asking?" Lauren's father looked between me and Nico suspiciously, but Nico didn't bother answering.

"Um.. we met at a cafe.." I told him and he nodded simply, as if contemplating something.

I looked over at Cole and Abby who were sitting with the rest of the college kids, staring at me with their mouths hanging open and I mouthed a sorry to them.

"Are those your friends?" Nico suddenly spoke and I noticed him looking at Cole and Abby.

"Yes." I answered.

"You live with them?"

"Yeah, we live together." He hummed in response and we drank our wine in silence.

We sat for a while more and chatted among each other, the girls glancing at Nico and me every now and then.

What's their problem?

I was almost finished with my wine when a couple walked towards our table, and I tensed almost immediately.

Our table went quiet to welcome the new couple and I glanced at Abby and Cole who looked at me with a worried expression on their faces.

I paled instantly when the couple's eyes fell on me and they smirked, the grip on my wine glass tightering.

"Nissi, baby, you're here too." He spoke and walked towards me while I gulped, swallowing the emotion.

"Have you decided yet?" Cole asked from beside me, while Mark handed him his snacks.

"Yeaaah... No." I told him and smiled, while he frowned. "Just go sit I'll be there in a while." I told him and he went to our usual spot where Abby waited impatiently for her food.

I bent a bit to look at the new pastries that just came in when I felt someone come behind me. A shadow loomed over me and the same intoxicating scent enveloped me, and I smiled to myself faintly. He's here.

I turned around and saw him, Nico, standing and looking at me with a cold look in his eyes. He wore a white dress shirt and wasn't wearing a coat today, both his hands in his pockets.

"Hi." I squeaked and he raised his eyebrow at me.

"Oh right, sorry." I moved away to make space for him but he didn't move, instead looked at me with

"Derek."I whispered, breathless.

He looked so handsome in a tux and the girl on his arm, which I concluded was Angela, looked beautiful in a tight purple dress, her blonde hair falling down in waves.

"Is this the cheating boyfriend?" Nico whispered in my ear suddenly and I looked at him.

My eyes said it all and the way his jaw clenched, he understood, because as soon as Derek came closer, an arm went around me and settled on the back of my chair.

Marking territory, huh.

I looked puzzled at Nico who looked at Derek with a cold look in his eyes, enough to make even my blood freeze over.

The temperature seemed to drop by ten degrees and Derek stopped in his tracks, looking at the arm draped over my chair and at the man beside me, his face growing paler by the second.

"M-Mr. King... What an honour to

"M-Mr. King.. what an honour to have you here... " He stuttered like an i***t and Nico smirked.

"Nissi, what are you doing, get up from there." He hissed at me and before I could say anything, Nico spoke.

"She's with me. You can leave now." Nico told him calmly but I could sense the anger rolling off of him.

"R-Right." Derek looked at him then me and dragged Angela with him to the seat farthest from us.

I breathed a sigh of relief once they were gone and relaxed, looking at Nico with a small smile.

"You didn't have to do that.." I whispered and he looked at me.

"I did. No one should be treated like that. Especially you." He looked at me earnestly.

"Thank you.. I really appreciate it." I told him and he gave me a slight nod, and I glanced in Derek's direction, who was looking at me with an unreadable expression of his face.

Our food came soon and we all dug in, and I hummed slightly when flavour burst in my mouth.

"This is really good." I smiled and looked beside me to see Nico looking at me with a weird expression.

I stopped chewing, and licked my lips slightly and saw his eyes darken, a dangerous glint in them as he glanced at my lips then back at my face, before I heard someone call my name, and I tore my gaze from his.

"Nissi, you look absolutely gorgeous today!" Lauren told me and I smiled at her.

"Thank you, you look lovely too." And I wasn't lying.

She wore a light pink shimmery dress looked beautiful on her, her light brown hair tied back in a sleek ponytail.

We ate in silence except the usual small talk people tried to make with Nico but he ignored them all.

After eating, Lauren cut her cake which was vanilla flavored with strawberry cream. We all got a slice and I dug in mine happily, savoring the sweet taste.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" I asked Nico, pointing to his untouched cake and he looked up from his phone.

"No." He answered.

"Why not? You're wasting perfectly good cake."

"You can have it." He slid the plate towards me and I gave him a wide smile.

"Really? Thank you so much!" I dug in cake and finished it quickly and he chuckled at me, and I looked up at him.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing. Quindi ti piacciono le cose dolci, eh?" He said and I frowned. (So you like sweet things, huh?)

"What are you saying?" I asked himn and he shook his head, then glanced at my lips.

"You have cream on your lip." He said with his eyes still on my lips and I sucked in a sharp breath, wiping my lips with a napkin.

"Is it gone now?"I asked him and he looked at my eyes before glancing at my lips again and sighed.

"Me ne pentirò..."( Im going to regret this...) He leaned forward and brought out his thumb, slowly wiping the cream from my lip, and cleaning his thumb with the napkin in my hand.

"Gone now." He said, glancing at me briefly before clearing his throat and going back to texting on his phone.

"Merda." (s**t)

Blood rushed to my cheeks and I quickly averted my gaze, looking anywhere but him and my gaze landed on my friends who were looking at me with wide eyes.

I shrugged lightly and saw Derek and Angela giving me dirty looks, but I decided it was best to ignore them.

After we were done and the presents had been opened, everyone started leaving and Cole and Abby came running to me with my coat in their hand. Nico was still texting someone on his phone.

I wonder whom he's been talking to this whole time. Not that I care. Right?

The moment my friends reached me Nico got up from his seat and took my coat from Cole's hands, holding it for me to wear.

I looked at him for a moment before slipping my hands in my coat.

"Thank you." I whispered to him and he nodded, then I turned towards my friends.

"Let's go."

"Wait." His voice stopped us in our tracks and everyone else looked at him, while I turned around slowly tonlook at him.

"Come with me. Ill drop you home." He told me.

"Oh.. uh... that's okay, I'm going with them." I pointed to my friends and he frowned.

"Im sure they don't mind. Will they?"

Nico looked at them and I couldn't help but notice the slight threat in his eyes the way Cole and Abby shook their heads and left running.

"Traitors." I whispered and Nico chuckled behind me.

"Come on, this way." He led me out of the restaurant with his hand on the small of my back, making me feel electrified.