Page 68 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
“He trusts me with you.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him about what happened.” She takes a half-step forward, her gaze flashing with anger. “Or that I think you were kissing me in your dream as well.”
My pulse races. “Even if I did, it must have been just my brain playing tricks. We had dinner right before it happened. It would make sense for my subconscious to latch on to the most recent person I’ve been with.”
Her lips tighten into a thin line and then quirk up into a bitter smile. “I see.”
I need to hammer the point home, because the last thing I can afford is her believing there’s something here. “I’m a grown man, Martina. You’re a teenager. I can fucking promise you I have no interest in teenagers whose primary concern in life is their damn phone. It was the tea, that’s all.”
She huffs a laugh. “Got it.”
“Good.”
“You know what’s interesting, though?”
I wait for her to continue.
“My phone wasn’t the only thing that I found in your office.”
My muscles stiffen as something sparks inside her eyes.
“I hope you enjoy reading my book.”
She brushes past me and slams the door behind her.
CHAPTER17
MARTINA
After that interaction with Giorgio,I climb into bed and spend long hours staring at the ceiling in the dark. My phone is charging on the nightstand beside me, but the itch to use it is strangely absent. I’m too wrapped up in replaying everything that Giorgio said to me inside my head.
The fact that there’s only a wall between us makes everything worse. Twice, I throw off my duvet and march over to the door between our rooms, tempted to barge in and accuse him of being a liar, but both times, my bravado fails, and I crawl back under the duvet.
His cold denials hurt. His dismissal stings.
At first, I’m resolute that he’s full of shit. He knew he was kissing me. Who does he take me for? A complete idiot?
But as the darkness in the sky depletes, so does my confidence.
Maybe it’s true. After all, I have no way of knowing what was going through his head when he was on top of me.
He muttered my name, but was he thinking of me the entire time we were kissing or just when I told him to stop? And then there’s the book. Could there be another explanation for why he took it besides him being into me?
The more I ruminate, the more uncomfortable I get. A sticky film of embarrassment coats my skin. Did I make it obvious that Iwantedthe kiss to be intentional on his part? Ugh, probably. And if he truly has no interest in me… Well, I think I may have exposed the fact I have a crush on him.
Now what?
I untangle my legs from between the sheets and pad over to the window to see the sun rise over the horizon. It’s a new day.
I get dressed and head downstairs.
This early, only Tommaso is up. He’s prepping something in the kitchen.
“Did you make thatTorta Capreselast night?” he asks, pointing a flour-covered finger at the half-eaten cake I left on the counter.
“Yeah. Did you try it?”
He grins as he picks up a whisk. “Of course, I did. Couldn’t resist how darn good it looked, and it tasted even better. Want to help me here? I’m making cornetti for breakfast. Prepped the dough yesterday.”
