Page 14 of Effortless

Bold.

Unashamed.

Down his gaze went to her bare legs, and the Valentino rockstud black and silver heels she wore. Then his striking gray-blue gaze jumped back up to meet hers once more.

Camilla grinned, and took a sip of her wine. Her night just got way better.

CHAPTER THREE

“AT LEAST wait until I’m not looking to eye-fuck my sister,” Cross said under his breath. “That’s the respectful thing to do, Tommaso.”

Tom heard Cross’s warning loud and clear, but it still took him a couple of extra seconds to tear his gaze away from the platinum and purple-headed blonde across the room. He knew Cross had a younger sister—nineteen or twenty, somewhere around there—Camilla. Although, he had never met the girl.

No, not a girl.

Definitely a young woman.

Very much woman.

All woman.

Tom’s gaze darted back to the woman in question as Cross stopped to chat with somebody. He figured his friend’s attention was distracted enough that he wouldn’t notice or mind Tom sneaking one more peek at Camilla Donati.

Petite in stature, she would barely reach his chin, and that was with her heels on. And speaking of the heels … Those damn things had spikes all the way around the straps, and they looked made for some kind of fun and sin.

There were at least another thirty women in the room. All dressed in some variance of skirts, dresses, or jeans that hugged their asses tight enough to make Tom wonder how the fuck they could even breathe.

Yet, something about Camilla kept his gaze drifting in her direction.

Edgy makeup, with crystals placed along the cut line of her eyebrows. Red lipstick so dark it was bordering on a black crimson. Round, large brown eyes that someone else might have mistaken as innocence staring back from them.

He didn’t see innocence at all.

Not the way she was looking at him.

Pretty wasn’t the right word for her delicate features and naturally pouty lips. Pretty made him think of fragile lace and inexperience.

Alluring was more like it, with just a touch of sex to color her up.

Like a rose.

Attractive, silky smooth, interesting and beautiful. Just enough sexy to make it impossible to resist touching it. Hidden dangers in the form of thorns ready to injure and scar.

“She single?” Tom asked when Cross finished with his conversation with the stranger. He couldn’t even help it. The words came out before he could stop them. “Your sister, I mean. Is she?”

“Kind of makes you look like a lovesick fucker when you keep staring, Tom.”

“Your point?”

Cross sighed, and scrubbed a hand down his jaw. “Cam doesn’t know what a relationship is, so yeah, she’s … available.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Not my business, that’s what.”

Tom didn’t press for more. “Why aren’t you pounding me into the ground right now for even looking at her? She’s what, nineteen, or—”

“She’ll be twenty soon.”