Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
“Don’t be,” she sighed. “You feel nice. And that was really hot.”
I laughed. “So fucking hot.” Eventually I regained feeling in my muscles and rolled to the side with a long sigh. I watched Lucy as she turned to face me, a sleepy smile on her face. “Was that okay? I mean, not too rough or anything?”
She rolled her eyes. “Did you miss the really hot part?”
“No,” I laughed and shook my head because she deserved an explanation. “I tried to stay away from you. For days you’ve been on my mind, my every fucking waking thought, and I made myself stay away.”
“I noticed,” she said softly.
“I had to,” I said almost frantic. “I figured that coming here and seeing you would remind me of why we shouldn’t be doing this.” It was a shitty thing to say considering our bodies were still coated with each other, but it was the truth.
Her smile dimmed, but she nodded as if she understood. “Did it remind you?”
“No,” I growled.
Lucy laughed and pushed away from me. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
I sighed and rested a hand on her thigh. “The last thing I am is disappointed, Lucy. Watching you ride my cock was so incredibly sexy, I don’t know how I’ll stay away now.”
She sighed and turned away, giving me her back. “It’s not like I was looking for this either, Dante. Whatever else you might think of me.” Her tone was almost defeated and I frowned.
“What did I say?”
“Nothing,” she answered and shrugged off my touch. She stood and faced me. “I know I’m not what you want Dante, not for real. But I don’t need to hear it when your sweat is still dripping off my skin.”
I sighed and reached out to her, pulling her back until she was half on top of me. “That’s not what I meant, Lucy. I want you, more than I should considering that you’re here for Lena. I don’t like feeling out of control and being unable to stay away from you is a form of losing control.”
“And the world will end if you lose control?”
“No.” I huffed out a laugh. “It won’t end, but I was so angry during my divorce, and the fact that my ex refused to even fight for Lena…, well, I lost my shit more than a few times.” I hated to even think about that time in my life. “If not for the fact that she didn’t want Lena, I might have lost my child, I’d gotten so crazy and out of control.”
Her blue eyes widened and I waited for the fear or the judgment, but her lips curled into a small, sympathetic smile. “I can’t picture you losing control like that. You’re so self-contained, but maybe that’s why you’re so gloomy. Holding everything in like that would piss me off too.”
I squeezed her tightly and she squealed. “I’m not that grumpy.”
“You are, and if you weren’t so hot people would totally hold it against you.”
“You mean if I wasn’t so rich,” I corrected her, because that’s what most people saw first.
Lucy snorted. “Rich people just have a lot of money, and that’s pretty easy to hate no matter what. But you’re so stupidly good looking that I’m sure you get away with a lot more than you should.”
I frowned at her words. “You’re telling me my face is more appealing than my wealth?”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t your wealth that stopped me in my tracks on the road that day. It was the tall, dark and handsome part of the equation. Otherwise, you would have been just another rich jerk.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her assessment. “That’s definitely a first for me.”
She turned to me earnestly, her expression had changed from playful to serious. “You’re a grumpy ass most of the time Dante.”
“Thanks?”
She giggled. “It’s the truth, but you’re very sweet with your daughter, and despite your grouchy attitude, you make sure Dotty doesn’t work too hard and you ask your employees about their private lives. You’re not a total ass, but this is…new to me. I don’t, ah, I don’t get this close to the men I work with, or for. Not ever.”
I’d heard that before, too many times to count. “Never?”
“No, never. I can’t deny there’s something about you even beyond that pretty face, a chemistry that surprised me. But if you don’t want this, then neither do I. You can go back to your room right now and this will be it. No harm, no foul.”
Her words surprised me. She was the first woman, other than my ex-wife, who had willingly walked away from me, and Bethany had still taken a few million dollars for her troubles. Was this offer too good to be true?
I must have waited too long to respond, because Lucy slowly pulled out of my hold and slid away until she was all the way on the other side of the bed. “I get it, Dante. We’ll just pretend that this night, and the other night, never happened. It’ll make things easier,” she said softly. “For both of us.”