Just admit that you like her, you imbecile.
“So, Luciano, is it?” Elian asks with an air of arrogance. “What do you do?”
“I’m a lawyer,” I tell him with as much confidence as his ego leads him to believe he has. I don’t look away from Javier’s uncle, although I’m dying to see his reaction at learning my occupation.
“What type?”
“Defense attorney,” I lie easily. “And what do you do?”
“I own real estate.” He doesn’t continue his sentence; in fact, he then turns to his son beside him and engages him inconversation, closing the metaphorical door in my face, which is fine by me.
Through the rest of the dinner, I sit silently, taking in my surroundings while I eat and watch Raina interact with the people who, by all intents and purposes, are her in-laws. She stays somewhere between playing a proper and borderline shy woman who I barely recognize and letting her true personality shine.
Mostly the latter comes out when she brings me into the conversation and we fall into friendly banter, but there are many times where she remembers mid-sentence that we’re supposed to be playing the role of brother and sister, and she fills her mouth with food instead of words.
“So, Javier,” I begin, taking a bite of my meal and chewing it politely before I continue. “How long have you known my sister?”
A snort compresses his lungs as a jolt of disbelief leaves his body.
Yes, I’m trying to make you look like an ass in front of your family.
“Mmm,” he hums, casually tilting his body toward Raina as he picks up the end of her hair with one hand, while wrapping his opposite arm around the back of her chair. “Around a year, am I correct, darling?”
Javier keeps his gaze on Raina as he lays on the doting husband charade thick. She looks uncomfortable, but still plays along.
Giving him a megawatt smile, she nods. “A little over.”
He looks at me from over her head, as though to tell me it’s my turn again, like we’re in a game of chess, both going after the queen. “A little over a lovely, blissful year.”
“Perhaps a bit of a lonely one, since she’s been at home for one hundred percent of it, no?” Lifting my iced water, I tip it in his direction.
Your move, Moreno.
Looking at her, his gaze softens as he drags his knuckles down her cheek and her neck until they reach her collarbone. “We’ve made it work, and every moment spent together has been serene. Isn’t that right, my love?”
Before Raina can answer, he leans down and kisses her gently.
Spots of white penetrate my vision as my anger level rises.
She stays in his embrace, but her body language screams that she’d rather be anywhere else. It takes an internal battle to remain calm and pretend to be her goddamnbrother, but somehow I manage.
Seems as though he’s won this round.
The night continues effortlessly, but I can feel the tension between me and Raina grow. It’s charged and palpable, testing my patience.
Like magnets, we keep finding ways to touch each other. Slight brushes of the knees as one of us adjusts. A lingering squeeze on the leg. Glances that last for far too long.
During dessert, I finally crack.
Raina orders a chocolate mousse and watching her bring the delicate dessert to her mouth bite after bite has me stifling the world's largest groan. With every spoonful her blood-red lips close around, there’s a chance I might come in my pants.
My cock is painfully erect, pushing against my slacks as I white-knuckle grip the table beneath its tablecloth, to the point where I can’t stand not touching her any longer.
The exact opposite of the promise I made her in our hotel room.
Every ounce of self-control is gone, every sense of remaining professional around her is overtaken by the need to feel her skin.
Some promises are meant to be broken.
