Still, she has the nerve to look down on me.“You’re more than welcome to walk all the way home,” I snap.“I’m trying to help you, but I don’t have to.”
“No, no,” she mumbles, waving a hand and shaking her head while leaning against the counter like it’s the only thing keeping her on her feet.“No, I didn’t mean it that way.You helped me tonight.You saved me.”
The idea makes me uncomfortable.“Let’s not go too far.”
“I’m just saying, that guy… you rescued me from him.”She sniffles and swallows hard before adding, “Thank you.”
“It was a pleasure.”And it was.I only wish I could have done more than threaten to rip his head off and shit down his throat.For once, I got a hold of myself before things went too far.
It didn’t help that she was on the floor, looking pathetic and lost.She needed me more than I needed to punish the little prick.I’m not sure what to think about the way seeing her on her knees made me feel.It’s better to lead her to the bathroom, pull a couple of towels from the linen closet, and turn on the shower.
“You’re not going to stick around and watch me, are you?”She folds her arms over herself, looking at the floor.
“Just leave your clothes in the sink before you get in the shower,” I reply, rolling my eyes.“Puke-covered teenagers aren’t my thing.And speaking of puke, don’t forget to use some mouthwash.”She makes a disgusted noise as if I’m the one who walked four blocks covered in my own vomit before I close the door.
In the bedroom, I find a pair of pajama pants and a plain T-shirt for her to wear before getting out of my suit and pulling on another pair of pants.I can’t believe this is what I’ve been reduced to.Practically babysitting, while racking my brain to come up with a solution.
A phone call needs to be made to the house, and Giulia needs to sound sober when she makes it.She left her purse on the kitchen counter, so I go get it and pull out her phone to find a dozen messages from her so-called friends.At least they noticed she was gone, though a murderer could have dragged her off for all they know.
In fact, she was.Wouldn’t they be shocked if they knew?At least they would stop giggling and staring at me like brainless morons.
By the time the shower shuts off, there’s bottled water on the nightstand, along with a bottle of ibuprofen.I leave a wastebasket next to the bed in case Giulia hasn’t already emptied her stomach.When I pass the dresser, I avoid looking at my reflection in the mirror.
This is what I’ve allowed the Santoros to turn me into.
Somehow, my resentment softens when Giulia emerges wrapped in one of the towels, while another towel covers her hair.“I feel a lot better,” she murmurs, though she still looks rough and green around the gills.
Which is why I need to ignore the water running in thin trickles over her shoulders and down her chest, where they soak into the towel.Clearing my throat, I gesture toward the bed.“You can wear those pajamas.”
“You really want me to sleep here?Where will you sleep?There’s only one bedroom,” she so helpfully points out, as if I didn’t know.
“I can still drive you home if you think you can get there without ruining the upholstery.”When she winces, I snicker.“Exactly.Pajamas.Then you’re calling your mama to explain that you’re going to spend the night with your friends.The way you were already planning to do, right?”
“What if she knows?”There’s something touching about the fear in her voice when she sits on the bed, looking up at me with wide eyes.
“You’ll be fine.Now get dressed.”Please, because the sight of you is doing things to me.It was bad enough earlier, when she was getting changed on the ride here.Now she’s naked except for a towel and sitting on my bed.She might as well be wearing a bow, like a gift.
A gift that could land me in hotter water than I’ve ever been in.She could make even my worst mistakes pale in comparison.She is that powerful.
And as aware of me as I am of her.“You’re not wearing a shirt,” she points out.
Looking down at myself, I reply, “No shit.I thought it felt drafty in here.”
“But why?”
“Because I have a limited supply of clean clothes here,” I explain with more patience than I knew I possessed.“I gave you the T-shirt for tonight.”
“You have a lot of muscles.”Her bleary-eyed gaze travels over me.“Like, a lot.”
“You’re surprisingly observant when you’re drunk.”
She is unsurprisingly clumsy when she gets to her feet, swaying a little as she takes a few steps my way.“I mean, what do you have to do to maintain a body like this?”
I’m too surprised to do anything at first when she reaches out and touches her fingers to my abs.It’s the sudden shock of the contact that startles me into falling back a step, chuckling.“No handling the merchandise.”Because when all else fails, and sudden violence is out of the question, humor is my fallback.Especially when the simplest touch is closer to a gut punch that almost buckles my knees.
“But seriously,” she says, reaching for me again like she didn’t hear me, “I’ve heard of rippling abs, but I’ve never seen them in person.Do you do a thousand crunches a day or something?”
She might be examining my body, but it’s fire she’s playing with.She’s too close, too nearly naked, too forbidden.This might be innocent on her end, but it is anything but from where I’m standing, as my blood heats with every stroke of her fingertips.
