Page 18 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
A pulse appears between my legs and extends all the way down to my toes. When did this room turn into a sauna? I’m burning up. I don’t even know what I’m doing. I should probably stop staring at him, shouldn’t I? Oh, crap.Stop it, Mari.RIGHT NOW!
My eyes shoot up to his face. “What are you doing!”
A single brow arches up. “What amIdoing?”
“Where are your clothes?” I choke out, my voice rising to a mildly hysterical note.
His gaze narrows and then he prowls over to me, crossing the distance between us with three sure steps.
He stops.Way. Too.Close.
I eye his right nipple. “Wha—”
He takes my chin with two of his fingers and turns my head as if I’m a plastic doll. “Where are you?”
When he makes my eyes land on a large mirror, I swallow. Our reflection is almost comical. Compared to my small frame, Giorgio looks enormous. “Your room.”
He lowers his head, bringing his lips closer to my ear. “Ah, so you’re not suffering a sudden bout of confusion,” he says, his voice low. “Good. Now,whyare you in my room?”
I take a few shallow breaths as I notice the shape of his flexed biceps in the mirror. He warned me, didn’t he? He told me he didn’t want to see me looking for my phone. I can’t let him know that’s why I was here.
“The dog was scratching at the door. I didn’t know where the sound was coming from.”
A beat passes.
“The door wasn’t locked,” I add.
His hold on my chin disappears. “I didn’t expect you to come barging in.”
Our gazes clash. “I didn’t barge in,” I protest. “I just opened the door to see what was going on, and then Sophia jumped at me. You could have warned me you had a dog, you know. She toppled me over,” I say, pressing my palm against my sore tailbone to strengthen my point. “I’m probably going to have a bruise tomorrow.”
“A bruise?”
“Yes.”
“How bad is it?” He has the decency to look mildly concerned.
“I have no idea.” My heart pounds inside my ears as I turn my back to the mirror and lift up the hem of my shirt at the same time as I tug my shorts a few inches down. “All I know is that it hurt a lot.”
His eyes move to the stretch of skin just above my butt that I’ve presented for examination, and the muscles on his body visibly tighten. His abs become even more defined. His jaw ticks.
“There’s nothing there,” he mutters.
“Of course you wouldn’t see anything from that far away,” I say, my voice taking on a defensive note.
His chest rises and falls with a deep, slow breath. I expect him to drop it, but he doesn’t.
Instead, he steps around me and lowers down on his haunches, bringing my tailbone to his eye level.
His towel rises up his thigh, and my heart skips over itself.
“Is this close enough?” His breath coasts over my skin.
“I-I’d say so.”
When the pad of his thumb gently smooths over the area, I think I might pass out.
“Does that hurt?”
