Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“I, um, can’t play the game this afternoon. I need to figure out what to do with the rest of my clothes and stuff in my trunks.”
He nodded. “They do make your small room even smaller.”
I looked away, not even considering telling him that I wasn’t sleeping in it any longer. That seemed like a private issue between Massimo and me. Plus ... what would he think that the only man I’d ever shared a bed with didn’t even seem to like me?
“It’s just crowded in there.”
“Do you need help?”
“Thanks, but I’ve got it.” That was kind of him, but I didn’t want him to see what was in those trunks. Unlike my parents, I wasn’t worried about saving face and making it appear as though my family still lived a life of abundance. But it would’ve been too awkward going through my things when I’d also be looking for some kind of nightgown to wear in bed with Massimo tonight.
“Suit yourself.” He leaned back in his chair. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I responded immediately, but he didn’t look convinced. I set my napkin down. “And I’m done.”
“Me too. Hey, before you go off to the great unpacking, I want to show you something.”
“Sure.” I got to my feet as he crossed over to my side of the table. “In your office?”
“No.” He took my hand. “I’ll show you.”
I trailed after him, smiling. His good mood was starting to rub off on me. He was just so easy to be around, and I liked his firm grip on my fingers.
He pulled me down the hallway, which was lined with closed doors. He stopped in front of one of them. “Have you ever seen a music room?” He pushed the door open.
“No,” I said, surprised. I’d thought this was a guest bedroom. Heavy curtains covered the windows, so it was dark when I entered, but it sure looked like a bedroom to me. “This is a music room?”
“I didn’t say it was.” He smirked as he shut the door behind us. “I just wanted to get you in here.”
“Why—”
But he showed me very clearly why. I squealed as he moved in, pressing me up against the wall behind the door. His long, lean body pinned me in place as he dipped his head and claimed my mouth.
Surprise held me rigid for a long moment, but then the tension left my body. I closed my eyes and let the sensations take over. His mouth on mine. His body pressed against me.
I moaned, my hands curling around his sides. He was so good at this. I’d always wondered, when seeing actors kiss for a long time in a movie, why they didn’t get bored. What they could possibly get out of the extra twenty seconds that they couldn’t get from the first. But when Stefano kissed me, I never wanted it to end.
His hands slid down my back and he picked me up. I wrapped my arms and legs around him as the kiss deepened. Now all I could feel was his body and the wall behind me. It was like nothing else existed in the world.
Given my choice, I would’ve never come up for air, but then I heard a sound—footsteps in the hallway. Stefano heard too, because he set me down as we both looked at the door. But then we didn’t hear anything else.
I looked up at his slightly swollen lips. “Wow.”
“Agreed,” he said with a grin. “I thought that might give you something pleasant to think about while you did your organizing.”
“It will.”
“Come find me if you get bored.” He exited the room, leaving the door open for me.
I most definitely would do that.
Stefano was right; it was far more pleasant to think about the way he’d kissed me than it was to just sort through clothes and things on my own. It took the sting out of the fact that I really couldn’t find something appropriate to wear when I shared the bed with Massimo again.
Irritation filled me. My mom had sent me off to be married—you think she could’ve gotten me a pretty nightgown or two. I only had large, shapeless ones that looked like a sack on me. It had never bothered me before, but it did now.
Then again, my mother had never even talked to me about sex. What little I knew came from other sources, television being one of them. I shook my head as I folded and stacked a pile of blouses. She’d been married off to a stranger, too. You’d think she would have prepared me better.
I struck gold with the third trunk I emptied. When I reached inside to pull out the pink shorts, I felt something round and hard. My heart rate picked up before I realized what it was. Reaching inside, I pulled out my locket.