She paled, horrified. “No, I didn’t mean that. I just meant…I mean, you know how you look. You know why they call you Pretty Boy Calo.”
I laughed, elated by her discomfort.
“Relax, I’m teasing you, Lia,” I said, rising.
For a second before I stepped back, my groin was level with her face and I saw her eyes drop. Darting down to the faint trace of what lay beneath the fabric. Then she turned her head away and her cheeks flushed.
She was a pretty, little thing and, God forgive me, I was already thinking about fucking her.
A floorboard creaked out in the hall and I leaned back, glancing out, but we were still alone. When I turned back to her, she was staring beyond me to the window. Her shoulders arched, tensed up by her ears.
“We’ll live in my house,” I said, getting back to business. “Once we’re married, it will legally be mine. And yours. I want you to feel like you are the woman of my estate as you’ll be expected to run it.”
“What?”
Her lashes fluttered and her brows scrunched. The bump on her nose was driving me crazy and it had my dick twitching. I shifted so my groin was concealed behind the desk chair.
“I work all the time and when I’m not working I have other engagements,” I said. “You’ll be in charge of making sure everything is run smoothly and correctly. That will be your only duty so I’m sure you can handle it.”
Her face changed, softening, but her eyes remained uncertain. And a little scared. They flicked up and back down and fixed on mine. Her mouth parted and I caught a sliver of pink tongue and white teeth.
“My only duty?” she whispered.
Was she talking about sex? If she was, she had a dull view of it if she thought it was equitable to managing an estate. I studied her, watching a little tendril of dark hair fall down her neck. She wore a thin, silver necklace with a garnet hanging from it over her sweatshirt. For a second I wondered how it would look if she wore a dress that left her throat and shoulders bare.
“If you’re talking about sex, I’m a bit insulted,” I said.
Our gazes locked. The hair prickled down the back of my neck.
“I was.”
Her voice was barely a whisper. I circled the chair, not caring anymore if she noticed I was hard beneath the front of my pants. As I drew near, she tensed again, keeping her gaze to the floor. Her lower lip shook as she swallowed, her throat bobbing. I slid my hand beneath her chin and lifted her face until she was forced to look up at me.
“We might not love each other…and I prefer it that way,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t make you feel good. It’s not your duty to fuck me, Lia, it’s an opportunity for discovery. And it’s on me to make sure you never regret it.”
CHAPTER THREE
ROSALIA
My whole body was hot and cold. His palm was firm beneath my chin and his thumb pressed against my jaw. He wore his family insignia on his ring finger and the metal was cool. The air between us crackled with something that made my stomach clench and filled the space between my thighs with a confusion. I should hate him, I should walk away from him right now.
I glanced down the hallway and caught his soft laughter overhead.
“There’s no one out there, Lia.”
There’s no one coming to save you—that’s what he really meant. I felt the edge in his words.
His thumb moved up and the rough pad ran over my lips. Back and forth with aching slowness. My nipples hardened and I was glad for the thick sweatshirt. I dared to drag my gaze back up to his and there was a heaviness to his lids that surprised me. A raw, animal desire lurking just behind his eyes. My whole body gave an involuntary shiver and he smirked with one side of his mouth.
“Open.”
I stared at him, confused.
“You have a beautiful mouth,” he said, as if he were remarking on the weather.
“So do you,” I whispered.
He laughed softly, his head tilting back for a moment. Then he bent, still cupping my chin, and his mouth hovered over my ear.