Page 28 of How Not to Mess with a Millionaire

She parted her folds and bit back a pleasured cry as she touched herself, all the while listening for his release, some warped sense of propriety demanding that she hold off until he climaxed. Lucky for her, it was only a few seconds before she heard him grunt out his orgasm. She followed almost immediately with a stifled scream, her body rising and falling as waves of sensation crashed over her.

Unfortunately, waves of sensation weren’t the only things crashing. In her sensual stupor, she’d forgotten her e-reader, perched precariously on the edge of the ottoman. One errant twitch of her leg was all it took to send it clattering to the floor, the hollow thud when it hit the tile echoing in the quiet Mediterranean night.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Zoe held her breath, waiting for Dante to realize she was out there and that if he was able to hear her, she was able to hear him. One second went by, then ten, then twenty, then a full minute.

Nothing.

She let out the breath she’d been holding in a long, low hiss.

Crisis averted.

Gingerly, she picked up her e-reader and checked the screen, pleasantly surprised to find it still intact. Score another one for Lady Luck.

Not wanting to press her good fortune, she made her way back inside as quietly as possible, closing the door behind her with painstaking slowness. She glanced at Houdini, still sleeping in his blanket bed, only the pale pink end of his nose visible, then slipped under the covers of her own bed and stared up at the ceiling.

If sleep had been difficult before, it was pretty much impossible now, when every time she closed her eyes she was back on her balcony, listening to Dante as she fingered herself. She was two seconds away from giving up on slumber completely and drowning herself under a cold shower when her phone buzzed on the nightstand and her sister’s name flashed across the screen. She swiped right to answer, but before she could get a word out, Fliss was off and running.

“You have to talk to Dad. He’s ruining my life.”

“I seriously doubt that.” He’d have to be paying attention to her sister’s life to ruin it.

“I’m not kidding, Zoe. If you don’t do something, I’m going to be the laughingstock of the twelfth grade. No, I take that back. Of the whole school.”

Zoe took the phone into the bathroom and closed the door, not wanting to wake Houdini.

“Do you realize what time it is?” she hissed.

“Three o’clock.”

“In San Francisco, sure. We’re nine hours ahead here. It’s almost midnight.”

“Well, it’s your fault I have to call so late. If you were in California where you belonged, we’d be in the same time zone and you could tell Dad he’s being a butthead without me having to wake you up.”

Zoe sank to the bathroom floor with her back against the vanity. “What did you do this time?”

“Me?” Fliss squeaked. “It’s him.”

“What did he do, then?”

“He’s destroying my social life, that’s what.”

“Could you be a little more specific?”

“He insists on driving me and my date to homecoming.”

It was a good thing Zoe was already sitting down for that shocking piece of news. Her father was acting like—well, a father. There really was a first time for everything. “Who’s your date?”

“Dylan Reid,” Fliss answered on a dreamy sigh. “His parents just got him a brand-new Corvette for his eighteenth birthday.”

Zoe didn’t know much about cars, but she knew no eighteen-year-old had any business behind the wheel of a vehicle with that much horsepower under the hood. “Dylan Reid? Isn’t he the one who had his license suspended last year for speeding?”

“He got it back a few weeks ago. Don’t tell me you’re on Dad’s side. I can’t believe he’s being such a jerk. He never cared who I went out with before.”

Because he didn’t have to. Zoe was always there to play parent. Screening Fliss’s dates. Setting curfews. Waiting up for her to get home. Until now.

“I’m not on Dad’s side.” She was, but she wasn’t admitting that to Fliss. It was way past time for her family to learn how to resolve their problems without her there to play peacemaker. “I’m on my side. The side that says I’m six thousand miles away, and you and Dad need to work this out on your own.”