Page 37 of Because I Need You
“This is the life,” he said. “It sucks that you had to find out this way, but this is the life. That was why he could afford your fancy school and your house and your car and whatever he left you in his will. I don’t know if it’ll make you feel any better, but he stopped painting houses years ago.” He ran his thumb under my left eye, swiping a tear. “Let’s go have lunch.”
I swallowed, nodding as he swiped another tear and dragged his thumb down to my bottom lip, pressing it there. My pulse zapped, desire washing over every inch of my body as I searched his eyes. He searched mine, his thumb still on my lip. I wasn’t sure why I did it, but I snuck my tongue out to touch the pad of his thumb with it. His eyes seemed to darken more as he pressed his thumb farther into my mouth, so far that I had to bite down on it. He hissed, eyes darkening furthermore, and my heart launched against my chest as if looking for a safe place. There would be none. Not with this man. I knew that as well as I knew my name. And yet, something about him was magnetizing. Something about him made it impossible to look away.
He seemed to remember something and instantly shut down the lust that had just filled his eyes, the longing. He took his finger out of my mouth and straightened, going back to business Giovanni as he backed away from me. I was left to lick my lips and taste the remnants of his finger and my tears. He picked up the phone from the floor and walked around the desk, tossing it in the first drawer and meeting my eyes as he shut it.
“The phone stays here.”
The moment he put distance between us, I began to feel numb again, so I simply nodded.
16
GIO
I didn’t know why I walked into her bedroom unannounced that night. Actually, that was a lie. I’d gone up there to demand she give me her phone back, since she’d taken it from the drawer I’d left it in this morning. I was getting ready to scream my head off when I walked in the room, but then, I decided to sneak instead. I knew she had to be talking to William, and I wanted to hear what she was going to tell him, if anything. I needed to make sure she was serious when she said she wouldn’t snitch. It had nothing to do with our exchange this morning. It had nothing to do with the way her tongue snuck out and licked my thumb, or the way she bit it when I tried my luck and pushed it into her mouth. It had nothing to do with the way it made me feel like I couldn’t breathe for a moment. I told myself that I hadn’t walked in here hoping to catch her off guard so I could kiss her, because, fuck, I really wanted to kiss her after that. I wanted to do much more, but I wouldn’t. I really wouldn’t. None of the scenarios I’d pictured in my head could have prepared me for what I walked into.
Isabel was lying naked, in the middle of my bed, legs spread open, angled toward the cell phone she had propped up on a pillow. She was facing the other way and was obviously taking William’s instructions on where to touch herself next, so she didn’t hear me as I stepped forward to get a better look. A better man would have looked away. A decent man would have left. I was neither. I watched as her hands went up to her breasts, tweaking her small nipples, and my dick instantly hardened in my sweatpants. She was so fucking perfect. Her hair, her eyes, tits, her curves, her ass, her thick thighs. A walking wet dream. The fact that she was William’s and was pleasuring herself on my bed, made me harder. I heard him say something and she dragged one hand down her stomach slowly until she reached her pussy. My dick was uncomfortably hard now. I should’ve stayed where I was and enjoyed the peep show, but I wanted more. I needed more. I wanted her to know I was here. I needed to gauge her reaction to my presence, to me seeing her like this, exposed, naked, delectable.
I walked closer to her, but away from the view of the camera. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but when she opened them and saw me, she gasped loudly. William thought it had something to do with him and told her to keep doing that, but her eyes were on me. I braced myself for her to end the call, for her to sit up and tell me to leave. When she didn’t, I walked closer to the pillow where the phone was propped up, testing, waiting, but she did nothing, just stared with a look of awe on her face. William barked out an order, for her to move her fingers inside of herself. She complied, looking at him briefly, before meeting my eyes again. I felt my lips move into a smile. This was completely unexpected and sexy as fuck. She was going to get off to me, not him. I knew it from the way her eyes hooded and her fingers moved faster. I brought a hand down and closed it around her ankle, squeezing hard. She gasped loudly, back arching, fingers now moving over her clit. From the strain in William’s voice, I figured he was seconds from spilling his load. Fuck him for coming before making sure she did.
