“Good!” I shouted. “Because we didn’t agree on that!”
He went to walk away from me, but I ran in front of him, stopping him.
“Why did you make that decision without me?”
He shrugged. “Thought it would be nice and you wouldn’t mind.”
“You didn’t talk to me first!”
“We’ve established that.”
“Don’t patronize me, Matteo.”
“You don’t need to keep repeating yourself, Stella.” He touched his temple. “I have an excellent memory.”
“Do you also have eyes?”
“Eyes. Nose. Fingers. Toes. An entire body you can touch, if you believe I’m patronizing you.”
I clenched my fists, wishing I would have saved the cream and chucked it at his head. “If I touched you right now, I’d do bodily harm, and I don’t want to ruin a perfect canvas!” I went to walk away from him, but he grabbed me by the arm.
“Don’t touch me!” I flung my arm out of his hold, but when I went to walk away, he grabbed me again. I turned on him so fast, I almost spun, but he kept me on my feet, which pissed me off even more.
“Give me your best shots, baby.” He released me, opening his arms, inviting me to go off on him, if I wanted.
“No.” I crossed my arms, like not going after him with my fists held high was something he would be so disappointed about. Maybe he would be. It seemed like he wanted me to. “That would mean I would have to touch you.”
Silence seemed to stretch, and with it, a frigid wind felt like it was coming between us.
He became frozen, like ice, and in that moment, I wanted to say that I was acting stupid, that I was just jealous, and he wasn’t even the reason for it. He had ignored that women, but for some reason, I couldn’t.
“You don’t want to touch me.” His voice was even, so cool, and there was no question in it. It was a repeat of what I’d said, but in his own words, like it was something he was repeating inside his head.
“You don’t want to touch me,” I said almost childishly, not even sure why. No. I knew. I was in this mess because of that fucking flirty woman, and because I was a fucking mess. “You’ve been pissed off since the meeting with what’s his name!”
“Oh,” he said. “I want to do more than touch you.”
I lifted my arms in ago aheadsign and leaned dangerously close to his mouth. “Take your best shot then,baby.”
His eyes focused on my lips, and after he licked his once, he grabbed me in a hold that stole my breath. He bent me over the counter, and in a voice he’d never used with me before, ordered me to steady my hands. It wasn’t the voice he used with his soldiers, but it held authority. And I did as he’d said. He spread my legs with his knee and ran his hand up my leg, over my ass. I shivered. My skin felt so cold to the hot touch of his massive palm.
He didn’t have to order me to look him in the eye, though. Through the mirror, I kept my eyes on his, my entire body trembling. Not because of fear. Anticipation had me in a chokehold.
And he almost had me closing my eyes when his took a slow perusal of my body. The best I could do was keep them cracked. His eyes made me feel as warm as the sun, maybe because I was always the brightest thing in them.
“Take my best shot, ah, baby?”
“Take it,” I barely got out.
His eyes went to my ass, and he licked his lips before each hand disappeared underneath my silk robe, each fist taking a handful of soft flesh. He squeezed, and the tension went straightbetween my legs like a shock. I hissed out a breath and his eyes lowered. The silk flew to the ground from the toss of his hand.
He’d taken his jacket and undershirt off, along with his shoes, and his pants were hanging from his hips. His cock created a huge bulge that seemed close to tearing through his boxers. He lowered them, setting the enormous monster free, and keeping eye contact, took it in his fist and rubbed it against my ass.
My next breath caught in my throat, and if this was a game to see who was going to close his or her eyes first, he was fucking winning. I could barely stand it.
The look in his eyes.
What he was doing to me.
