My brows draw in confusion. “Remember what?”
“That day at Gabriella Rossi’s exhibition, six months ago, when Arianna tripped and you caught her?”
Fuck, I vaguely remember catching some clumsy young lady at the exhibition, but I don’t remember it being Arianna. “Why the fuck would she hate me for saving her?”
“It’s what you did after that changed everything, but I’d rather you hear it from the horse’s mouth,” he laughs. “Am I to assume she doesn’t hate your guts anymore?”
I pause for a second and think over his words. The truth is, I’m not sure. I thought I could read her, but the last twenty-four hours have proven that’s not the case. Now, I can’t help but wonder if I did something again to scare her. “Speaking of Elena,” I start, weighing my words carefully. “What point in your relationship did you realize that you wanted…everything?”
Roarke is quiet for a while. and I can tell I’ve taken him by surprise with that question. We never talk about how he and Elena got together. As her bodyguard, he broke every company rule we wrote by getting involved with a client. But it wasn’t just a one-time thing with them. A secret courthouse wedding and defeating one murderous Russian mob boss later, the two became a unit. One that worked.
Arianna and I…. we don’t exactly fit. Not our lifestyles or interests. Hell, she’s so much younger than me that it feels damn near illegal to want her as much as I do.
“Our first touch,” Roarke finally responds. “I knew I wanted her the moment I saw her picture, but after the first touch, I was sold on forever.”
“You broke rules for her.”
“And I would do it all over again,” he says with such conviction. “Are you thinking of breaking the rules for Arianna Marino?”
“Maybe. I don’t fucking know,” I groan, brushing wet hair from my forehead. “She drives me insane—I can’t tell if I want to storm off or just…kiss her!”
Roarke surprises me by laughing. “Sounds like a Marino.”
I smile at that, and as the conversation shifts to work, I feel some of the tension in my shoulders melt away. I am in a much better mood when I head up to the room, which lasts all of ten seconds as I walk in to see Arianna standing in the center of the room in only a towel, her hair wet from the bath. The towel is so fucking small that it leaves very little to the imagination.
And just like that, my cock hardens in my sweats.
Fuck!
It’s so tempting to storm over to her and tug that towel off her. I’m a weak man, so it wouldn’t take much convincing to lick those water droplets off her, trailing my mouth over her skin and dragging my tongue over every inch until she’s wet from more than just water and trembling for me.
Mine!
The word is so possessive—so fucking feral as it echoes in my head that I make myself head into the bathroom without a word. The need to touch her is so fucking strong. I strip out of my gym clothes and step into the shower, but goddamn, it smells like her. Her shampoo and her soap are so strong that my cock throbs, aching for relief just from the scent of her.
I opt for cold water, turning on the faucet and hoping to ignore the throbbing flesh between my legs.
When I come out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around my midsection, I feel more in control of myself. That is, until I spot Arianna, now in pajama shorts and a sleep shirt, lying on the bed on her stomach, eyes locked on the screen of her laptop. She looks up when she hears me, and it doesn’t fucking help matters—the way her eyes trail down my chest and stop at my thickening cock before quickly looking away.
I’ve never been this undone with a woman before. I’m the most sociable of my two siblings and have always had an easy time with the ladies, even before I could grow a beard. To be fair, I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want Arianna. And the thing is, I can’t tell what it is about her that drives me this crazy. Is it her smile, the way those eyes light up when she talks about her sister and her interests? Or maybe it’s that stubborn mind and that body made to send men to their knees?
I manage to slide into a pair of sweatpants without exposing too much before turning toward Arianna.
“How’s the editing?” I start, scrambling for something to help with the awkwardness between us. “Any negative comments lately?”
“Nope,” she says, closing her laptop and turning to face me. I note the pretty blush on her face when she realizes I’m still half naked. “I don’t want to talk about me. Tonight, let’s talk about you.”
“What do you want to know?” I ask, walking to one of the armchairs in the room.
“How did you become a bodyguard?”
“Family business,” I chuckle. “My father founded the O’Shea security firm and somehow we all ended up working for him and then running things after his retirement.”
“Yeah, I knew that,” she says, sitting up and I try to ignore the way her nipples press against the shirt’s material. “I know Roarke was in a special unit in the military and Fiona is a tech whiz, but…what about you?”
“Aaah, you want to know if I can protect you?”
“Yes,” she says, making me laugh. “I mean, what if someone comes after me and you need to fight them off?”
