by Marian Tee
Her jaw dropped. “That’s it?”
“If you want me to elaborate, there came a time the boy realized that the girl was only with him because she thought the other boy would hurt her more. So the boy forced her to leave him so she could give the other boy a chance. Eventually, the boy took the risk of telling her the truth about his uncle, and she forgave him, but by then it was too late for both of them. And so,” he finished, “the girl and the other boy lived happily—”
But Lane surprised him by shaking her head vehemently, and he broke off.
“That’s not it,” she protested. “Can’t you see?”
“No, I can’t see, actually.” He was genuinely perplexed. “What exactly do you want to hear?”
She sputtered, “T-this is supposed to be about the boy.”
“But it is—”
“No, it’s not, and if this were a real book, I’d have asked for a refund!”
Her ferocity made him smile, and he said soothingly, “Let’s add an epilogue then. The boy you’re talking about also lived happily ever after, on his own, because the girl’s words had freed him, and now he’s able to be himself.”
“That’s it?”
“Cue music.”
She made a face, but Angelo only laid his hands open in a typical Italian gesture of surrender. “It is what it is, tesoro.”
Lane’s brows furrowed. “Tell me this at least. Is the boy—” She swallowed. “Is the boy…still in love with the girl?”
His eyes bored through her. “You really think we’d be in the same bed if that were true?”
She winced at the look in his eyes, realizing that Angelo Valencia was more like a fairytale prince than a fallen angel, and right now she had just offended the fairytale prince’s sense of honor.
She flashed him a peace sign, saying in a small voice, “Sorry?”
“Forgiven, my Lane,” he said easily, “but I’ll add this to the list that I’ll have to punish you for.” Before she could protest, he checked his watch, asking, “Do you feel like going back to sleep?”
She shook her head, biting her lip hard.
He glanced at her, murmuring, “I can sense you holding back. What is it that you want to ask?”
“It’s not really a question, it’s more, like, a book review—”
“Tesoro.” Angelo sounded exasperated. “There’s not even an actual book to review.”
“But I still want to give my feedback,” she insisted.
“And you won’t be able to sleep until you say your piece,” he drawled. “Is that it?”
“More or less?”
“Then…” His hand moved languidly, the fairytale prince silently granting her the right to proceed.
She almost smiled at the thought but didn’t dare do so, knowing Angelo would kill her if he found out she thought of him like that.
Clearing her throat, Lane said, “First, I’m sorry that the boy was hurt, but I hope the boy doesn’t hate the girl for it.”
“He doesn’t.”
“Because,” she continued, “the girl just wanted someone who’s more than a prince. The way I see it, the girl only wanted someone who could love her enough to be true to her, because then she’d have the courage to be true to herself, too.”
“So you’re saying,” he said silkily, “it’s the boy’s fault he lost the girl?”
Oops.
“What I mean is,” she said quickly, “maybe the boy needs another girl.”
“Ah, this would be interesting. Would she be curvy perhaps?”
“Oh, yes.”
“And…mm…with hair and eyes the shade of caramel?”
She forgot her role for a second, mumbling, “Wow.” Angelo sure had a way with words. She had never heard her features described that way before.
“Am I right so far?”
She nodded eagerly. “Yes.”
“So this other girl might be the one for the boy?”
“Uh huh.”
“Even if the boy made her cry?”
Oh.
“Because,” Angelo said tautly, “if the boy could turn back time, he would have—”
She cut him off, whispering, “Yes. Even if the boy made the other girl cry, she still thinks he’s the one for her.”
They stared at each other, Lane’s eyes not hiding anything even when everything Angelo felt remained buried.
He asked slowly, “The boy wants to ask something.”
“W-what is it?”
“Can the boy kiss her now?”
Oh. Her lips curved in a tremulous smile. “The girl says…”
He sucked in his breath.
“Her masochistic side likes it better when he doesn’t even bother to ask.” There was a rustle of movement and the next thing Lane knew, Angelo was looming over her, and she was trapped under his powerfully muscular body. In the blink of an eye, the bedroom that once felt too beautiful and too vast for her became nothing but a mist of faded colors, and the only vivid thing she could see was him.
Her fallen angel, who was a fairytale prince even as he insisted on seeing himself as a villain.
The devilish smile on his lips was more than her heart could bear, and when he crooned, “Does this meet the girl’s approval?” she just about expired on the spot.
“Yes,” was all Lane managed to whisper. The hot, throbbing feel of him scrambled all her senses, and she couldn’t keep her body from going stiff under him. She was terrified that if she made the tiniest movement and had more contact with his body, she would just…explode.
“Relax, tesoro.” One hand swept over the side of her body, a touch that she supposed was meant to comfort but only made it harder for her to breathe. The move of his hand was languid and almost deliberately caressing, and she had to bite back a gasp as his fingers lingered on the side of breast.
Oh, his fingers were so close—
His fingers moved down to her waist, stopping on her hip, his grip possessive.
“Feeling better now?”
She squeaked out, “No.”
His lips curved. “Good.”
Gooooosh. She said helplessly, “Sadist.” But they both knew she was saying it for her sake, because she loved that he was one.
His head came down an inch closer, and her breath caught.
Another inch, and the urge to writhe was an exquisite torment to resist.
Another inch, and oh, so close now that she could feel his breath fanning her lips—
“Please,” she choked out.
His eyes gleamed, and she knew he had been waiting for her to beg.
“Sadi—mmph.”
He sucked her lower lip into his mouth, and she froze. She knew this didn’t even count as kissing, but the intimacy of the act was already overwhelming, and her fists clenched against her sides.
“My Lane.” The velvety possessiveness of Angelo’s tone made her whimper, and as her lips parted, his tongue immediately slipped inside.
Oh!
Her eyes drifted close, and her fists clenched harder.
His tongue moved softly inside her mouth, tasting, exploring, and her heartbeat went erratic. She felt Angelo shifting, and then he was clasping her head with both hands, angling her face, and the kiss suddenly deepened, his tongue pushing further inside.
She moaned against his mouth, her fingers unclenching, and she found herself clutching his shoulders. He kissed her harder, and her grip on his shoulders tightened.
And then it was over.
Angelo had suddenly torn his mouth off her, and he was staring down at Lane, breathing hard, his eyes glittering with need.
Confused and left aching, Lane could only stare up at him, her heartbeat filling her eardrums.
“It’s too soon.” He rolled to his back and stared up at the ceiling. Because he had suddenly thought of Ray. And now he couldn’t get the faceless stranger’s name out of his mind.
Lane kept herself still, feeling like an unwanted corpse next to Angelo’s hot, masculine pe
rfection. What had she done wrong?
“I’m sorry.” He forced the words out, unable to ignore the waves of misery coming off the girl beside him.
“Because you don’t want me?”
“Impossible.” Angelo’s lips twisted at the mere thought.
“Impossible,” she echoed numbly. He was lying to her. If it was impossible for him not to want her—
Lane jerked when Angelo suddenly grasped her hand.
The next thing she knew, he had it placed on…his…cock.
Her eyes flew open.
It was scorching hot, rigid and hard, and engorged to the point that her fingers couldn’t even completely encircle it. And she had tried, an unnamed, wanton instinct making her do so.
“Like I said.” Angelo’s tone was cool. “Impossible.”
Right.
She coughed. She swallowed. But she just couldn’t make herself speak, she was too busy feeling how, err, impossibly hard he was. Unable to help it, she felt her fingers tightening to squeeze his cock—
Angelo stiffened, and his hand was suddenly imprisoning hers. “What,” he grated out, “do you think you were doing?”
This time, his harsh tone didn’t scare her at all.
It only made Lane feel all sorts of wonderful things, too many things that she could no longer make any sense of it. She only knew she wanted to—
Angelo bit back a curse when he felt Lane trying to squeeze his cock again. He tightened his hold over her hand. “Stop it.” He lifted himself up to look down at her, expecting her to let go, but she didn’t.
What the hell?
Her caramel brown eyes were filled with a mixture of wonder and longing, and his cock twitched—
Her fingers squeezed, and he saw Lane wet her lips, looking like she couldn’t wait to have his cock in her mouth.
Fuck.
He tried getting rid of her hand, but her fingers actually tightened around him.
“Let go.”
“I can’t.”
And to his utter incredulity, she did look like she couldn’t.
“Just let go.”
She gave him a helpless look. “My hand doesn’t want to.”
He glared at her, muttering, “I can’t believe you’re making me play the shy maiden here.” He wanted to kill her for forcing a reversal of roles between them, but at the same time her sheer outrageous and unpredictability made him want to…fuck her. Hard. Harder than he had fucked any woman.
“If you want me—” She wetted her lips again, and Angelo vowed grimly to himself that if she did it again, he would not be accountable for his actions, and to hell with whoever Ray was.
“Then why don’t you—”
“I told you,” he cut her off impatiently. “It’s too soon—”
Her fingers squeezed his cock, like a petulant child throwing a tantrum, and Angelo stopped speaking, thinking that this might just be the first time he’d like to date a girl who constantly threw tantrums.
He said finally, “I simply think it’s better if you take more time to think about it.” Before he could stop himself, he added grimly, “Your decision could hurt other people—”
She thought about her parents and winced.
His mood worsened at the guilt that flashed in her eyes. So there was a Ray that would be hurt.
She said haltingly, “They don’t have to know—” The fury in Angelo’s gaze made her backtrack hastily, and she said lamely, “Or they could also know.” She was confused and surprised, never imagining Angelo was the old-fashioned type who’d want an introduction to a girl’s parents before dating her.
“Yes,” he said flatly. “They should know.” His lip curled. They? Who was she kidding? Both of them knew this was Ray he was talking about.
“I’ll tell them tomorrow, I promise.” She made a mental note to call Nellie first thing in the morning. No matter how embarrassing, she would tell Nellie the truth. She unconsciously squared her shoulders at the thought. She would tell Nellie that she had met the one for her, and she knew it was true even though they had only been speaking to each other for a few days.
Angelo’s gaze narrowed on her face, but he couldn’t detect any hint of deception. She really did mean it. The thought allowed him to gradually relax. “Good girl.”
The smile Angelo gave her was dazzling, and Lane could only smile back, properly dazzled.
He lay on his side, and she did the same, facing him, while her fingers remained around his cock. She honestly didn’t think she could let go. It was just so…addictive to hold.
“Tell me once you’ve made the call,” he murmured.
She nodded obediently.
“And then we can continue where we left off.”
Oh. Lane tried to hide her dismay. She thought they would be—
She stole a look at Angelo’s face, and his expression of disbelief made her cringe. Oh my gosh, this was so embarrassing. Was she the only one looking forward to—
Almost as if he had read her mind, Angelo said disapprovingly, “I cannot believe you would think I am that easy.”
Lane turned red.
“I am not without principles.”
She stammered miserably, “I didn’t m-mean—”
He cut her off with a short hard kiss, murmuring against her lips, “I’m kidding, my Lane.” He kissed her again, biting her lip this time. “It’s punishment for thinking I’d take you while you have not yet told, err, them about us.”
Oh.
He fell back to his side.
“Sadist,” she threw at him feelingly.
Angelo only laughed…before closing his eyes.
He was going to sleep just like that?
When his eyes didn’t drift open, and his gaze remained still, she found herself staring at him and thinking, Maybe this isn’t so bad.
She could stare at him forever—
“I can feel you ogling me, my Lane.”
She choked. “Ogling? Really?” Couldn’t he say she was just…staring?
His lips curved, but his eyes remained closed.
She blurted out, “How do you do it?”
He smirked. “Read your mind?”
Oh! He just did it again, and it was like he was showing off.
Biting her lip, she asked uncomfortably, “Were you like this, too…before?”
“No.”
She sighed in relief, and her fingers tightened around him reflexively.
Biting back a groan of pleasure, Angelo murmured, “Or maybe I’m lying.”
“Angelo!” Her fingers loosened.
He grimaced, wondering if she realized that she was unconsciously punishing him at the same time. “You know I’m only teasing you, tesoro.” As he spoke, he placed his hand over hers and he pressed down, forcing her fingers to tighten around his cock. He pushed harder, and her fingers squeezed him.
Pleasure rocked his body, and he swallowed back a groan.
Fascinated at the look on Angelo’s face, she tried squeezing his cock again and found Angelo’s piercing stare settled on her face.
Oops.
“Make the damn call so we can finish this.”
Oh.
They stared at each other, the sound of their uneven breathing filling the room.
She heard herself say, “You know, I’ve never told anyone about my mom and grandfather. Josh knows, but not all—”
“I would rather you not speak another man’s name when you’re in bed with me, tesoro,” Angelo interrupted her coolly.
Oh. He was jealous. Again.
But because she had learned her lesson, she only said meekly, “I’m sorry.”
He smirked. “Liar.”
She couldn’t stop herself from smiling because it was true. She was glad he was jealous. The kind of man that Angelo Valencia was, she would definitely welcome every little bit of proof that she meant something to him.
“It’s the same for me,” he murmured. She frowned, not understanding what he meant until he continued, “I
have never told anyone about my uncle.”
Her eyes widened. “But your ex—” It hurt to say the words, but she felt she would be childish if she kept calling the girl as, well, the girl.
His lips twisted. “I only told her because my honor demanded it. But with you, I simply wanted to. I wanted there to be no secrets between us.”
“And there’s none.”
He thought about Ray, but out loud, all he said was, “I’m glad to hear that.” Just as he closed his eyes, he heard her murmur his name uncertainly.
He pretended to sleep.
“I know you’re just pretending.”
Still not opening his eyes, he said, “Then just say what you want to say.”
She took a deep breath. “I was wondering…what if the reason we’re being so honest with each other—”
His eyes flew open. Surely she wouldn’t think—
“Is because we lo—”
She did.
Angelo abruptly cut her off, saying with an unusual lack of tact, “Not a chance.”
Lane winced. Not a chance? Why was he being so pessimistic? Didn’t she even have a .01 chance of making him fall for her?
“I know where this is going, Lane.”
Her eyes shone. “Then it means you lo—”
“And I’m telling you right now, it’s not possible.”
Oh. But refusing to be disappointed, she insisted, “But what if—”
“Lane.”
“I just think we should give it a chance and see if we lo—”
“If you don’t stop, I’m going to show you my bank account.”
“What?” She didn’t know whether to be amused or insulted by his threat.
“And I’m warning you, it has a lot of zeroes in it.”
Amusement won, and a giggle escaped.
“So if I were you, I’d back off. If you force my hand, I’ll have no choice but to let you know just how many homes I own—”
She started to laugh.
“Or would you rather I start with my yachts—”
“I surrender,” she interrupted him laughingly. “You win.”
“Good girl. Now come here—” He hauled her to him with a complete lack of grace, making her laugh again. His arms closed around her, and then she felt his lips brush the top of her head.
“I’m sorry for breaking my promise, tesoro.”