“Didn’t go.” She picks at the frayed hem of her shorts. “Pretty much got myself an entire wardrobe, some kitchen gadgets mom had been ogling, three pairs of shoes, and scrunchies, all for less than a pair of the fancy leggings your cousin got for me.”
“I didn’t peg you as a shoplifter.”
“Aww. Not only a pretty face but a sense of humor as well. Target is where it’s at. Besides, I don’t need to be racking up my bill if I’m going to be stuck with you for two years.”
“Gia.” I stand, not caring if she can see the outline of my hardened cock in my pants. “First, you’re not paying me back for anything.”
“What’s with all the firsts and seconds lately?” She hops off my desk and pushes the stack of bills closer to me.
I like her sass much better than her avoidance. Definitely more than her fear. Her anger, however, turns me on.
“Second,” I round my desk and pin her against it with my eyes, “we need to talk.”
“Says the man of few words.” She leans away from me, but not out of fear. She isn’t afraid of me like she was the other day in her closet. Still, I move away, not ready to face that kind of rejection again.
I keep some space between us, afraid I’ll do something she’ll regret. That I’ll regret. I step out onto the veranda where she had been this morning. The sun has set. How long have I been holed away in the office? Since Gia and her mother weren’t around for dinner, there was no reason to leave the study. I vaguely remember Lucca coming in with a sandwich at some point during the evening. It has to be close to midnight now with the moon shining so bright.
“Rocco,” her sweet voice purrs behind me.
I can’t turn around. I don’t care if she sees how hard I am. If I get one more glimpse of her bare legs, if her tongue darts out and touches her lips, if her breasts move any more with her breath, I fear I won’t have the willpower to keep my hands to myself.
“We’ll talk in the morning.” Thinking about her father, about revenge, about the pain she will soon face helps the sexual hunger surging through my body.
“Rocco.” I feel her hand on my shoulder.
“Gia. You need to leave.” I grip the railing and take my time breathing in the night air.
“Why?”
“Because if you don’t, you’ll be bent over this railing with my cock between your legs before you have time to say stop.”
I expect to hear her gasp. To feel a slap. To tense at the slam of the door after she storms back inside. Instead, I feel her other hand on my shoulder, and then her front pressed against my back. “Okay,” she whispers.
Okay?What the hell does that mean? Okay, she’ll leave? Okay she wants my cock? I don’t move, afraid I’m imagining the heat of her body against mine. Afraid if I move, she’ll disappear. When her hands snake around my sides and rest on my hips, I groan.
“Gia. I don’t expect you to repay me for bringing you here or spending money on you.” I suck in my stomach and close my eyes. “Not with money or with your body.” But hell, I want her body.
“If I thought that was why you’ve been so nice to me then I wouldn’t be here,” her words brush across my neck in a whisper.
“I’m not a good person.”
“You are.”
“I’m an arrogant asshole.”
“I know.”
I would have smiled if my dick didn’t hurt so bad. “I’m a selfish lover.”
“I doubt that.”
I’ll be selfish with her because I want her so much more than she wants me. I’m the one to gain from this situation, not her.
“I’m rough, crude, and when I’m done, we’re done. I don’t share my bed.”
“No one would expect otherwise.”
I open my eyes and release the railing from my grip. I put my hands over hers and move them to my aching cock.