“Youcanjust do that.” His shoulders jerked with a husky chuckle. “I’d still have to work, but I’d make sure my nights were free. You can be a beach bum for a couple of more days or hang out here.” He wrapped me in his arms and yanked me closer. “Come on, Caterina. And I have a surprise for you.” His lips curved up. “I’m off tomorrow.”
“You’re off tomorrow? Are you sure that you can do that with it this busy?” My brows pulled together.
“I own the fucking place, so yes, I can.” He kissed my temple. “I’m taking you sightseeing. Well, what little we have to see around here.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “Then, we figure things out. Okay?”
My heart soared as I looped my arms around Joe’s neck and attacked his mouth, still having no clue how we would actually work, but putting off goodbye was enough for me, right now.
Joe pulled me back inside the main part of the bar, seeming lighter himself as he led me to the crowded dance floor. He twirled me a couple of times, both of us laughing and falling into each other without a care in the world. I wished it could always be like this, and worried settling for less wouldn’t eliminate a goodbye, but make it that much worse.
23
Caterina
Joe tightenedhis hold around my waist with a sleepy grumble before burrowing his head into the crook of my neck. Today made exactly a week since we’d met, and we were essentially in the same position then as we were in now: naked, legs entangled, although minus my morning after freak-out.
Quality of time—not amount of time—was what counted, and Joe had given me more quality in one week than I’d had for most of my life.
“Stop thinking so much so early in the morning.”
I smiled into the pillow at Joe’s gravelly voice and his warm lips dragging across the nape of my neck.
“It’s not early at all.” I reached behind me to wrap my arm around Joe’s neck before squinting at the alarm clock on the nightstand. “It’s nine o’clock. You think you’re so smart.”
“I am smart, but you’re not hard to read. Relax, beautiful.” He climbed over me, my legs parting on their own accord so he could settle between them. “You’re all mine today. How’s that sound?” He leaned his forehead against mine.
“That sounds great.” My nails scraped up and down his back. “Are you sure you want me here until Monday? You’ve only spent nights with me, you don’t know the kind of house guest I am.”
“I don’t think I have anything to worry about.” He kissed me, tugging on my bottom lip with his teeth as he pulled away. “I couldn’t care less if you like to leave your clothes laying around.”
“I don’t leave clothes laying around.” I shot him a squinty glare. “I may not be OCD neat, but I’m not messy.”
He tapped his chin as he looked down at me. “There are two sets of clothes scattered all over my living room floor, and, if memory serves me right,you’rethe one who stripped us both and let everything fall where it may. Not sure if you just really wanted to get me naked or you’re messy. Either way is fine with me.”
I jabbed his shoulder, but he wouldn’t budge. He was right on both counts. I did tend to be on the messy side. My bedroom back in Brooklyn always had a small pile of clothes on the chair next to my bed that I was too lazy to put into the dresser five feet away. Whenever I had more than ten minutes alone with Joe, my goal was always to get his clothes off as soon as possible. After our date at the beach I ripped the button straight off his jeans the second he got his front door opened, leaving a gaping hole he loved to tease me about.
Rational thinking hadn’t applied once since I’d arrived at Ocean Cove, and I’d finally decided to just go along with it. I was indulging and not denying, and I’d never felt more alive in all my thirty-three years.
“I just want you with me. Nothing else matters.” He pressed into me, already hard as a rock and drawing a whimper out of me at the subtle but sublime friction. “Stay with me, Caterina,” he pleaded against my lips.
We broke apart at a loud knock at the door. Joe groaned as his head fell to my chest. He reached for his phone with his brows knitted together and glanced at the screen.
“The one time I decide to take a damn day off. I would’ve thought if something was wrong, I’d get a text, but nothing.” He rolled off me and dug into his dresser drawer for a pair of shorts. I grabbed my glasses from the nightstand and slipped them on before I was treated to the flexing of his muscular back and perfect ass as he stepped into gray sweat-shorts.
“I feel your eyes on me.” He turned, reaching over to slap my ass with a loud smack. “Don’t move; I’ll be right back.”
Straining to make out the voices of who Joe was speaking to, I covered my mouth to muffle a loud yawn. This week was both exhilarating and exhausting.
Joe came back into the bedroom holding all our clothes from last night. He set them on the bed and turned to me with a crinkled brow.
“So,” he came to where I was laying on the bed and leaned on the edge, “my parents decided to make a surprise visit. They came to the restaurant first, and, when Dom told them I took today off, they came here to see what was wrong. Guess I surprised them instead.” His shoulders shook with a laugh before my sleepy head caught up to what he was telling me.
“Your parents are here, and saw all our clothes on the floor, so they know you have someone here?” My panicked hand smoothed my matted hair as if that made all the difference in this awful situation. I wished I could run into the bathroom to fix myself, at least a little, but it was down the short hall next to the living room.
I sifted through the pile for my bra and underwear. “I’ll go back to the rental.” My panic had me attempting to fasten my bra and pull up my panties at the same time. “Your parents came all this way, you should—”
“No.” My head jerked up to the sound of Joe’s raised voice. “I took today off to spend it with you, and that’s what I’m doing. We can see them later.” He grabbed my shaky wrists and pulled me toward where he was still sitting on the bed. “We’re all adults. There’s no reason to be ashamed.”
“Foryou, there isn’t.” I dropped my head into my hands and pinched the bridge of my nose. Joe peeled my fingers off my face and shook his head.
