Page 108 of Falling for Mr. October

I follow her up the stairs, and she pauses where our rooms join. She hesitates and then pulls me into a hug, her body tucking into mine in a way that feels so natural it makes my throat thicken with emotion.

“It was a good day, Giovanni. Thank you.”

“Goodnight,” I say, then kiss the top of her head.

She looks back at me once more before disappearing into her room.

I don’t sleep, obviously. I lie on my back and think of Bianca and wish things were different. Then I stop being a pazzo and pick up Emily’s book again. I read for a couple of hours, my mind filling with spiraling ideas. And then I hear it…

The distinctive buzzing through the wall.

I drop the book.

CHAPTER THIRTY

BIANCA

I want Giovanni in here with me.

I want him in a way I’ve never wanted any man, and that’s exactly why I didn’t invite him into my room.

I tried to go straight to sleep, but my eyes refused to stay shut. So instead I took out my copy of Yes, Chef and started reading, but the book didn’t help settle me at all. The hero is a chef, which only made me fantasize more about Giovanni.

So finally I took out my toy, only for my phone to buzz seconds after I turned it on.

I’m ignoring it, determined to focus on the screen of my computer, where Giovanni’s video is playing, and⁠—

Giovanni knocks on the wall. It’s the signal he, my brother, and I used to use to communicate it was time for us to get up to no good.

My whole face heats, and I fumble the toy. It drops onto the floor and skips across it, looking like a wind-up toy for sex-starved adults.

My face feels like an oven as I practically vault out of the bed to turn it off and return it to the comforter, tugging my loose green nightgown back into place.

Can he hear the toy through the wall? I don’t usually hear him, although I’ve always been good at tuning out background noise.

I hesitate…and then remember the message on my phone. I glance at the screen, my heart thumping like a scared animal’s, and sure enough, it’s from him:

Bring it over.

I thought my face already felt like it was melting in an oven, but no, that’s what it’s doing now.

That’s what my whole body is doing.

He heard me. He knows. Hell, he probably knows that I’ve been pleasuring myself almost every night since he arrived.

I cradle my face in my hand, feeling more humiliated than I ever have in my life.

Then another text comes through, followed by more. I finally uncover my face, because of course I need to check.

You’re embarrassed, aren’t you?

Please don’t be embarrassed.

It’s unspeakably sexy.

So sexy I have lost all sense, and I’m going to beg you to come over. I’m down on my knees right across the wall from you, hoping you’ll take pity on me.

Please, cara mia. I want you so badly it hurts.