Page 12 of Private Reserve
I quickly wipe that image from my mind and down the rest of the dark liquid in my glass. It burns my throat as I reach for the button on my pants.
“What are you doing?” she asks, her gaze briefly dropping to my fingers before dashing upward.
“Getting out of these clothes.” I meet her flickering gaze. “I sleep naked, remember.”
“I remember,” she whispers, her voice so low I have to strain to hear it.
Pink stains her cheeks, making her look so angelic. “I’m sorry,” I say. What the fuck were you thinking, dude? “I’ll keep my clothes on.”
“No. It’s okay.” She waves her hands and then lets them fall to her sides. “This is just so surreal. When I came here, I never thought I’d run into you, or find myself in a fake marriage, sleeping in the honeymoon suite. It’s a lot to take in.”
My heart pinches as I look at her, and all I want to do is go to her, comfort her—tell her how much I fucking love her, how much I want this to be real. But I can’t do that. Not without eventually ruining her. In an effort to lessen her worries, and keep the beast leashed, I point to the chair in the corner. “I can sleep there.”
She wets her bottom lip, and my insides coil tight. That’s one of my biggest turn-ons, that and high heels, and she damn well knows it. I study her. Is it possible that she wants me? That she is going out of her way to seduce me?
Doesn’t matter. I’m not going there. I can’t.
“It’s not like we haven’t shared a bed,” she says and sinks lower into the mattress, her body writhing and making me bat-shit crazy as she settles herself.
My mind instantly goes back to the times I had her beneath me, and I shift so she doesn’t see the state of my cock. “Yeah, I know. But—”
“Let
’s just get some sleep, okay.” She pats the side of the bed. “We’re both adults and know the score.”
She thinks she knows the score? Not fucking likely. The carnal side of me fights not to cross a line, push her past her comfort zone, and show her. But I wrestle that side into submission as I circle the bed.
“Yeah, okay,” I mumble.
Body hard and tense, I shed the rest of my clothes, all but my shorts. No need to free the beast and make this situation worse. I make a quick trip to the bathroom then slide between the sheets. Liv’s sweet, vanilla scent reaches my nostrils, and I breathe her in then cough to cover the growl rumbling in my throat.
“You okay?”
Okay? Hell no. I’m pretty sure I’ll never be okay again.
“Yeah.”
“’Kay. G’night.”
“Night.”
I roll, putting my back to her and resist the urge to shove my shorts to my knees and take my cock into my hands. The muscles along my jaw twitch as I clench hard, fighting my natural inclination to touch her. As I will sleep to come, I occupy my mind with the villa and all the changes I want to make to bring it into the twenty-first century and turn the place into a thriving resort. Beside me, Olivia shifts restlessly, and I wish to fuck she’d stop moving, stop reminding me she is there.
“Gio,” she asks quietly.
Don’t answer. Don’t answer.
“Yeah?”
“Why…”
I wait for her to continue. When she doesn’t I ask, “Why what?”
She goes quiet for a long time. “I’m really happy you’re going to take ownership of the villa. What do you plan to do to it?”
“I want to bring in a younger crowd. Liven the place up a bit.”
“When I first arrived, I was thinking the same thing.”
