When our tongues meet, he slides one hand up my body until he reaches the base of my neck. His thumb grazes my pulse point, and he groans.
Curling my ponytail around his fist, Luciano holds me close, kissing me as if our lives depend on this very moment. A lowgrowl rumbles through his chest as he turns and walks us to the car, never stopping to break the kiss.
My fingers rake through his hair as I pull him closer, and a small moan escapes when he plants me on the hood of the car. Taking my face between both of his palms, he deepens the kiss more than I thought was possible.
The sound of a door slamming finally causes us to break apart, but even after we do, I don’t allow myself to detach from the warmth of his arms.
Clinging to him, my chest heaves with exertion. My lips are sore and swollen, still tingling from the feel of his kiss, and there’s an ache in my core so powerful I feel like I might combust right here on the hood of the rental car.
Luciano’s stormy gaze bores into mine, a lethal combination of lust, anger, andneed. I feel alive under his gaze. Alive and so very, very deprived of the man I’ve been craving for years.
Finally, I tear my eyes away from him and look back at the mansion to see if we have an audience, only to find that we’re completely alone. The door slamming was Javier leaving, and I triumphantly smile to myself, knowing that the kiss was convincing enough for him.
It was convincing enough for me, too.
When I look back at Luciano, he’s halfway to the driver's side of the car.
“Let’s go,” is all he says as he tucks himself inside, and I slide off the hood to get in, too.
“What the hell was that?” he growls as soon as my door closes. He starts pulling away from the estate, refusing to look at me as we become shrouded in darkness, driving further down the long driveway toward the main road.
I don’t answer for a moment, still thinking about the kiss we just shared. I’m momentarily hypnotized, bringing my fingertips to my lips.
I need to snap out of it.
“Javier said he knew we were lying about being engaged. I had to make it convincing.” I shrug, finally buckling my seatbelt.
But we both know I wasn’t just practicing my acting skills.
Javier’s doubt mixed with Luciano’s not-so-subliminal text message became a lethal combination of self-confidence I acted on without thinking.
And now, I’m not so sure if I just made things better or worse.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It took me several hours before I was able to fall asleep last night.
When Raina and I arrived back at the hotel, the tension was so thick, you’d need a goddamn machete to cut through it. The entire two-hour drive, I stewed over our kiss, and the fact she’d all but used me to prove a point.
Fuck—that kiss.
I can’t stop thinking about it.
My cock’s been hard ever since, even after jacking off in the shower with her name on my lips.
I want more. I wanther.
The night turned to morning excruciatingly slow, both of us tossing and turning, but too stubborn to talk about the elephant in the room, or God forbid, do something about it.
Now, in the light of day, half of me wants to say fuck it all. Who cares if she’s my sister's best friend? Hell, Vinnie will try to force us down the aisle if she finds out I have any sort of semblance of feelings for Raina.
But the other half—thelogicalhalf—is holding up a bright red stop sign like a manifestation of a crossing guard.
She’s myclient. I’d be breaking my code of ethics.
That alone should be enough to stop me, but as it’s obviously not, I need to remind myself that I’ve purposely avoided her for years.
Why?
