My fist slams against the wall.
"The next male name I speak will be whoever I fuck instead."
Her words echo in my head for the thousandth time. The casual way she said it, makes me furious. The thought of another man's hands on her makes me want to burn this entire city to ash.
My cock throbs, hard and aching like it's been since that day at the mall. Every time I close my eyes, I see her in that blue dress. All that exposed skin, the curve of her spine, the way she looked at me over her shoulder. Daring me. Challenging me.
She's been doing it for three days straight. Those looks across the dinner table. The way she bites her lip when she catches me watching.
Yesterday, she wore one of my shirts to training. Nico raised an eyebrow, but I couldn't speak. Couldn't do anything but stare at my clothes on her body while my cock tried to punch through my pants. I didn't even get mad that she's stolen my shirt.
I wrap my hand around myself, desperate for relief, but stop immediately. No. I won't give in. Not like this, not when tonight I have to stand next to her at our engagement party and pretend I'm not dying to throw her over my shoulder and lock us both in my room for a week.
The water runs over my shoulders, down my chest. I press my forehead against the cool marble, trying to find some control. Some piece of the man I was before Sophia Torrino walked into my restaurant and destroyed everything I thought I knew about myself.
She keeps pushing. Every day, she pushes harder. This morning at training, she pinned me during a grappling exercise. Straddled my hips and pressed her hands to my chest, her face inches from mine.
"Do I win?" she asked, breathless and flushed.
I could have thrown her off easily. Should have. Instead, I lay there like an idiot, my cock so hard I thought I might die, while she smiled down at me like she knew exactly what she was doing.
Nico had to clear his throat three times before I remembered we weren't alone.
I turn the water colder, but it doesn't help. Nothing helps. I've tried working out until exhaustion takes me. I've tried drinking myself numb. I've tried avoiding her completely, which only makes her try harder.
She's everywhere. Her scent lingers in the hallways. Her laugh echoes from other rooms. Even when she's not physically present, she's there in my head, those honey-brown eyes challenging me, daring me to break.
The engagement party starts in two hours.
My hand moves on its own, wrapping around my length. Just once. Just to ease the pressure that's been building for days.
"I can help you there if you need it."
I freeze. My eyes snap open, and I turn to find Sophia standing in my bathroom doorway. She's wearing jeans and a white silk blouse, her hair loose around her shoulders.
"Get out." My voice comes out rough, strained.
She doesn't move. Instead, she steps closer, her eyes never leaving mine. "No."
"Sophia—"
She kicks off her heels, one at a time. They hit the marble floor with soft thuds. Then she's stepping into the shower fully dressed, the water instantly soaking through her clothes.
"What are you?—"
The words die in my throat. Her white blouse turns transparent, clinging to every curve. Water streams down her face, her neck, pooling in the hollow of her throat. She looks like something out of my darkest fantasies, this stubborn, infuriating woman who refuses to let me push her away.
She trails her hand down my chest, her touch light but burning hotter than the water. Her eyes stay locked on mine, honey-brown darkened with something that makes my chest tight.
"Sophia." Her name comes out like a warning.
She rises on her toes and presses her mouth to mine. The kiss is soft at first, tentative. Then her tongue traces my bottom lip and I'm lost. My hands fist at my sides, fighting the urge to grab her, to press her against the wall and take everything she's offering.
Her hand slides lower, wrapping around my cock. I groan into her mouth, the sound torn from somewhere deep in my chest.
"Fuck."
She strokes me slowly, her grip perfect despite her inexperience. Water runs between us, her soaked clothes creating friction against my bare skin.
