“Only if I give it you,” she countered. “I offered it to you once. I’m stronger now. Wiser. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Smart girl, even if that cut deep.
“But what I do want,” she continued, “is to know more about sex.”
He should say no, needed to say no.
Yet, his body argued,she’ll just find someone else to introduce her to sex. She knows where she stands with you. What if the man she finds breaks her heart or hurts her?
Before his brain could come up with a logical counter, Anna reached up and parted the folds of the robe to reveal her body underneath.
Her nearly naked body.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ANNATWEAKEDHERshoulders and let the robe fall in a silken pool at her ankles. Amazing how she could stand in front of Antonio in just a bralette and thong without joining the robe on the floor. Outwardly, she tried to replicate what she’d seen when she’d spied the woman in the window in Rome. Confidence, poise, sensuality.
She hoped she was doing it right because inside she was a bundle of frayed nerves. Her heart slammed against her ribs. The bottom of her stomach had dropped and stayed somewhere down around her feet when Antonio had walked out of the bathroom, that towel casually wrapped around his waist, displaying his muscular abdomen, glistening wet from his shower.
Hearing what Antonio had had to say on the beach, realizing that he had lied to her all those years ago, that the desire he’d shown for her yesterday on the balcony had been real, had emboldened her. She had offered herself up once and failed to follow through when she’d known something had been wrong.
This time, she knew exactly how things stood. Antonio had made her feel things she’d never experienced with the few men she’d dated. If her career took off, there was no telling when she would find the time to meet someone, fall in love and get married. What better way to be introduced to the world of physical pleasure than by someone she knew? Someone she trusted? Even though he’d changed over the years, she found that she still trusted him. Even if he didn’t trust her enough to share what had caused him to retreat into this closed-off persona.
And, if he rejected her, at least she could say she had tried this time.
The longer he stared at her, the more she steeled herself for his rejection. She’d handled it once and recovered. Armed with her newfound knowledge that he’d at least wanted her, it would hurt, but she would emerge from this.
He inhaled, the sound audible in the stillness that had settled over the room. His eyes moved from hers, sliding down her neck to her breasts, then further still over her stomach and down to the juncture of her thighs. The electricity in her veins hummed louder, sparking little fires throughout her body everywhere his gaze roamed.
Dear God, even if the man said no, at least she would forever have this moment burned into her memory.
“Terms.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I proposed our fake relationship with few terms and little forethought,” he bit out. “What are the terms for this arrangement?”
A quiver raced through her. Was this actually happening? Was he saying yes?
“Um...well...” What was she supposed to ask for? She’d never had sex.
“Just the once?”
“I was thinking more throughout the remainder of our fake relationship.”
One corner of his mouth twitched. “What if you don’t like it?”
She snorted, her hand flying up a second later to cover her mouth in mortification. “Sorry. I just, uh, don’t see that being a likely scenario.”
His lips curved up more.
The heat in her core grew hotter. She shifted, suddenly acutely aware of the dampness on her thighs. Antonio’s eyes flickered down to her legs, lingered, then slowly crawled back up her body.
“Protection.”
“Of course,” she agreed hurriedly.
“Anything else?”