I let my gaze slide to her lips anyway, slow enough that she notices. “So I’m allowed to look,” I murmur, “but I’m not allowed to say what I want to do with what I’m looking at.”
Her cheeks flare with color. “No looking.”
I lift both brows, amused. “It’s going to be awfully difficult not to look at your legs if you keep wearing these tiny shorts. I have a strong will, but even I can’t do that.”
Her jaw sets. “Suffer quietly.”
I laugh, delighted with her. “Fine,” I say. “No flirting.”
“And no kissing,” she says.
Ilean in just enough that my words whisper against her lips without touching them. She holds perfectly still. “Starting now? Or do I get a chance to change your mind?”
“Starting now.” Her voice is practically a sigh.
Without another word, I step back and let my eyes drift back to her throat to watch her pulse jump again.
“Whatever you wish, Elsa,” I say, then take another step back. I lean down to tap the menus with one finger. “Pick a spot. Order me anything with red meat. I’m going to clean up. I’ll be out before it gets here.”
I walk to my duffel bag and pick it up before walking across the living area.
I stop and look back at her. She hasn’t moved a muscle. “You should know, I’m not much of a rule follower. For your sake, however, I’ll be good. But only untilyoubreak one. Then… all bets are off.”
I see a flush work its way over her skin and stop myself from dropping my eyes to her legs, her breasts.
“If you change your mind, you know where I’ll be.” I wink. “I’ll keep the door unlocked.”
Then I turn and continue into the hallway, grinning widely.
I need a cold shower. A really cold shower.
ChapterTwenty Six
Elsa
I’m going to die.
I’m going to die, and the headline is going to be humiliating.
How am I supposed to survive the weekend trapped in the apartment with Antonio? How can I survive without losing my mind, my dignity, or my grip on the rulesIwrote?
I try to focus on the laptop in front of me instead of the display on my apartment floor.
Of course, I knew I was going to be spending a lot of time with him, but why didn’t I consider the weekend when I would literally be trapped in here with him day and night?
At least during the week, we’d had some time apart.
Somehow, some way, Antonio Conti managed to get himself into one of the unused offices close to mine. It’s how he’s been “monitoring” my movements without being in my office with me.
I don’t know how.
What I do know is that the morning after he got here, he watched me walk through the front door of Northstar…
Then he was in my office waiting for me by the time I got up there. He told me he’d be in the empty office two down from mine. That he already had surveillance set up in my office. Cameras this time, yes, but not microphones. As if he anticipated my objections to confidentiality being violated.
Then, at the end of the day, he was outside the building waiting for me.
I have no idea how he did it, how he avoided security, or anyone noticing him. I’m not sure I want to know.
