Page 14 of Last First Kiss
She took stock of the security. There was a camera by the front gate, barely visible to the untrained eye, that undoubtedly opened via remote. Most people kept the remote in the kitchen next to a small monitor where they could see who was there, and she assumed Rocco was no different.
Also, there was a security alarm panel right by the front door, and likely another one in the garage, possibly a third in his bedroom. She needed to take a better look later. From what she could tell, it wasn’t a great security system, just the basics. Subpar sensors by all the windows and doors. His code was either his birthday or 1234, if he even bothered turning it on. Since this wasn’t a gated community, there were no additional guards or security monitoring the perimeter.
Her professional assessment: his security sucked!
Even if he didn’t have a tangible problem at the moment (which he did), the fact that he was well known and wealthy warranted much more protection than this cheap alarm system.
“Your security system is pretty pathetic.”
He stopped walking and turned. “You haven’t even seen it yet.”
“I’ve seen enough to know. You’re too famous to have such a shitty system.”
“This is Miami. Not LA. I’m not that big of a deal here.”
That was bullshit. He was known everywhere. But it did make her wonder . . . “How come you don’t live in LA?”
“I grew up here and I’ve always liked it,” he replied simply as they reached the landing on the second floor. He walked through a set of double doors and placed her bag next to the bed. “I thought you’d like this room.” He then walked over to a balcony and swung open the doors. “It’s has a view of the bay.”
The walls were painted a soft blue, with white billowing sheer curtains. A big wrought-iron bed with a bedspread in different shades of light blue was the focal point of the room. It was soft and simple and just beautiful.
“It’s . . .” she wasn’t sure what words to use as she ran her fingers across the soft silk of the bedding.
She felt him behind her, close . . . too close. He wasn’t touching her but she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. “Soft. Feminine.”
She turned and swallowed, suddenly nervous at his nearness. And what made it even worse (or better) was that he didn’t move away, he didn’t do anything but look at her in a way she couldn’t interpret. His eyes roamed over her hair and face for a little too long and she didn’t look away, even when she felt her cheeks flush and her heart begin to hammer against her chest, she kept her hazel eyes on his blue ones. “Thank you for agreeing to this,” he said softly.
She was sure he was going to kiss her—positive.
But then he took a step back.
And all she could focus on was not the fact he hadn’t kissed her, but the fact that she hadn’t made a single attempt to stop him.
“This room okay?”
Feminine. Soft. Those were not words anyone would ever use to describe her. Including herself.
His eyes were on hers, searching. Then he reached forward, startling her, and pulled her sunglasses off her face, his thumb gently grazing her temple. She tried not to jump, even though it felt so foreign. “I prefer to look you in the eyes instead of at my own reflection.”
She hadn’t even realized she still had them on. Everything about this man made her do stupid things. Feel inappropriate things. When he didn’t look away, she took her glasses from his hand and stepped away, busying herself with her bag. “I know what you’re doing and we should really talk about setting up some ground rules.”
“What am I doing, Annie?”
She turned and walked out to the balcony. Talking to him made her feel uncomfortable. This was going to be a problem. How could she protect someone she felt all sorts of unusual feelings for? She could barely even look the man in the eye, for crying out loud!
“You’re thinking you can woo me into bed with you. I’m sure all those women you’ve dated dropped their panties at a smile from you, but you should know I’m not like any other woman. I can’t be wooed and I’m definitely not your type.”
From behind she heard him chuckle. “Oh, trust me. I know you’re not like any other woman. And since you think you know my type, I’m assuming you’ve been doing a little research on me? That’s good, I thought you didn’t know who I was.”
She swallowed and looked away. “You’re so full of shit. Everyone knows who you are. Doesn’t mean anything.”
“Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret: I looked you up too.”
Annie had to fight back the urge to tense up. So what? He’d looked her up. It’s not like her whole stupid story of heartbreak and disaster was available on Facebook. She knew for a fact there was nothing he could find. She was a computer geek, any time her name popped up anywhere, which it rarely did, she made sure to zap it out. She was uncomfortable having herself out there on the internet where the seediest of people lived.
“Why? I’m no one special,” she replied, proud of how casual she sounded.
“Because you’re going to be living with me. Pretending we’re dating. I needed to make sure there wasn’t anything crazy out there. But I’m sure you already know, there was nothing on you. You know what that means, right?” She looked at him, her eyebrow cocked high, waiting for what he was going to say. “It means I’ll have to figure everything out myself. And the first thing I want to know is why you have that huge chip on your shoulder.”
