“I’m not being stubborn.”
It’s a lie, and we both know it. I’ve always been stubborn. If Alessio doesn’t like my attitude, that’s his problem.
“Think about your son,” he says, his voice dropping low. “You said you need the money to take care of him.”
“My son is none of your business.”
Alessio tangles his fingers in my hair and tugs just enough to tilt my head back. His face hovers inches from mine, and his breath is warm against my skin.
“You’re driving me crazy,” he mutters. “Why can’t you just let me help you?”
“I tried that once. It came with a price.”
“You didn’t seem to mind paying it.”
I can feel his erection pressing against my stomach, hard and insistent. The contact sends electricity shooting through my nervous system, and I have to bite back a gasp.
“I... I...”
I can’t find words to deny what he’s saying. Not when my body is responding to his touch like I’ve been waiting for it. Not when I’m remembering how good it felt to be underneath him that night seven years ago.
“Nothing to say, Temptress?” His voice drops to that rough, dangerous register that makes my knees weak. “Can’t deny what you’re feeling?”
“Is that what you’ve been doing? Denying what you feel?”
The question seems to catch him off guard. For a moment, something vulnerable flickers across his face, and I wonder if anyone else has ever had the nerve to call him out.
“Not very successfully,” he admits.
There it is. A glimpse of something real beneath all the walls he’s put up since I started working here. In this moment, I can see that he’s been fighting this attraction just as hard as I have.
Something shifts in his expression, a decision being made. His grip on my hair tightens.
“Fuck it,” he growls.
Then his mouth crashes down on mine, and the world disappears in a rush of heat and want and the taste of expensive scotch on his lips.
16
ALESSIO
I’ve lostmy fucking mind.
That’s the only explanation for why I can’t keep my hands off her.
Nina’s mouth is soft and desperate under me, her tongue sliding against mine like she’s been thinking about this as much as I have. Her fingers tangle in my hair, pulling me closer, and I spin us around until her back hits my desk. Papers scatter to the floor, but I couldn’t give less of a shit about quarterly reports right now.
“Up,” I growl against her lips, lifting her onto the wooden surface.
She parts her thighs for me without hesitation, and I step between them, grinding my cock against her through our clothes. The heat radiating from her pussy makes me harder than I’ve been in years. Maybe ever.
I trail my mouth down her throat, tasting the salt on her skin. She arches into me, and I cup her breasts through that sparkly bra, rolling her nipples between my fingers until she gasps.
“Alessio...” My name falls from her lips like a prayer, breathy and desperate.
I should stop. I should walk away right now, before this gets any more complicated than it already is. But when she says my name like that, every rational thought evaporates.
Instead, I push down her bra straps and take one of her nipples into my mouth. She cries out, her legs tightening around my hips, her heels digging into my back. The sounds she makes go straight to my cock, and I know I’m in deep shit.
