“I know, Tits. That’s what I like about you. You’ve got a big heart to go along with that big rack.”
Her mouth falls open. “You’re such a jerk!”
“Yeah.”
She gives me an adorably skeptical look. “Have you ever even had a girlfriend?”
I go to say ‘sure’ but the lie won’t come. Something about the shrewd look on her face stops me in my tracks. “Uh, not really. No.”
Her smile is one I’ve never seen before. Sly, almost wicked. “You’ve never been in a relationship?”
“Neither have you.”
“I was engaged.” Her smile grows wider. “So, you have no boyfriend experience?”
“Nope,” I say, swimming up to her. “You can mold me into whatever you like.”
She glares down at me, her tits straining against her dress. If she wants to wait to fuck me, I guess I’ll live, but I’m gonna be putting my dick between those things every night ‘till I’m in her pussy. I push my wet hair out of my eyes. “In all seriousness, Tesorina. You should throw that ass back for me.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ll think about it.”
“Thanks,” I tap her thigh. “Want me to eat you out by the side of the pool?”
Her legs snap together like magnets.
I laugh. “It’s cute how much of a prude you are.”
“I amnota prude.”
“True. When I railed you with my knife handle, you came so hard, you fucked up the springs.”
She covers her face with her hands. “I hate you.”
The way she says it plucks at me like a guitar string. “Yeah, but you love me too.”
I expect her to deny it. After all, an hour ago I was terrifying the bitch, but she doesn’t.
The pool door swings open. It’s Bobby, still in his country boy shirt and slacks. We lock eyes and my smile dies. The meeting with Bianchi must be over, the preliminary contract arranged. Funny how easy it is to forget the outside world when I’m with January.
“What?” I demand.
Bobby ignores me and walks toward January. “How are you?”
Her smile is reserved. “Good, thanks.”
I smirk. My lie about him being married is already putting out roots. Maybe I can convince her he’s only into teenagers next. That’s the kind of thing you can’t deny without looking like even more of a pedo. Then again, I don’t want to put that idea in her head. She might thinkIonly want her because she’s barely legal when she could be forty-five and I’d still be gunning for her.
“How did your meeting go?” January asks.
Bobby sits cross-legged beside her. “Okay. Eli’s coming to talk to you both about it.”
My head throbs like a bruise. I dive, letting the water rush the thoughts out of my brain. And there, underwater an idea comes. It’s fully formed down to the final details. A way to have everything I want. Parker dead. January safe. Alessia avenged. It’ll mean bending some rules and breaking my brothers’ trust but as I just told January, family gets one decent fuck-up per decade.
I keep swimming until I sense Morelli’s arrival. I surface and we eye each other, me in the water and Morelli by the door in his three-piece suit.
Reckless asshole, his eyes say.
Entitled prick, I think.
