Page 91 of Just Ten Seconds

I laugh. “It’s Rita’s cooking. It travels through the walls. Who needs Febreze when your house can smell of fresh basil and tomato sauce?”

“Have you lived here long?”

“A year.” I open my closet and grab an outfit to change into. “I lived with Nick and Jackie for a little while and quickly wore out my welcome.”

I hear him laugh. “Were you the houseguest from hell?”

“Let’s just say, they’re still in the honeymoon phase, and I was in the room next door.”

“Being a third wheel is never fun,” he states.

It reminds me of our first kiss. When I saved him from being the third wheel. My hand runs to my lips. That was the best first kiss in the history of first kisses.

“How does it feel for you, not having any neighbors?”

I snap out of my fantasy and finish getting dressed. “Like a ghost town. Sometimes, I think it’s too quiet. Was it the same for you, moving from the Bronx?”

“Yes. My mom brought over one of those sound machines, but it was worse than the silence. I’m used to the quiet now. Maybe I’ll move into the lake house.”

I walk out of the bedroom, wearing a floral wrap dress. “That would be amazing. The views are stunning.”

“Stunning,” he says, his eyes trained on mine.

My heart races slightly, and my thighs tingle. I could drink in the way his eyes smolder and his tongue skims his lower lip.

“I have to brush out my hair.” I duck into the bathroom.

As I’m brushing my hair, he’s standing in the doorway, his body leaning against the frame with his arms crossed as he stares at me. There’s heat in his gaze as his steely eyes have a wicked gleam.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

He lowers his head and gazes through those impossibly long lashes. “I just like watching you.”

With a devilish grin, he takes two steps forward. His hands cup my face as his body pushes me against the cool robin’s-egg blue tiles, pressing his arousal against my core as he claims me with his mouth, his hands … his body.

My mouth parts as his tongue wisps around my lips. My eyelids flutter closed as his fingers skim the underside of my breasts.

“Is it wrong I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you? I woke up, and you were gone,” he utters the words against my lips.

“I didn’t know if I should stay.” My hands dance along the skin above his belt. His stomach tightens.

“It was never a question.” His teeth skim my ear. “As tuas curvas incitam um desejo carnal em mim que eu mal me consigo aguentar.”

“Your dirty talk is on point. What did you just say?”

“Your curves drive me crazy. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone before.”

I lean back and let his mouth suck and lick at my skin. His hands are an embrace, one I basked in for hours.

After my nightmare, I lay in bed with him until the sun rose over the lake. In a true show of avoidance, I slipped out of his hold and into my car before he woke up.

I lay my hands on his chest and look into his eyes. They’re twinkling, and I know it’s because I put that twinkle there. Knowing I will take it away is taking a small stab at my heart because I’m falling in love with this man.

“Dean, I have to tell you something—”

“Dad?” Amanda’s voice from the other room has him pushing away from me, knocking over the hair spray on the counter. He faces the wall, adjusting himself.

“Hey, kiddo.” His words are nonchalant.