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He stepped closer to me, bringing our faces so near to each other that his breath fell across my skin. He kept his eyes focused on mine, his scent surrounding me like a blanket. When I didn’t inch back, he moved farther in and placed his forehead against mine.
I should leave.
But I stayed.
He turned his head slightly, his eyes still on mine, and then he leaned in and kissed me. It was a soft contact between our lips, two pillows touching on a bed. When he moved his mouth, I could feel the coarse touch of his facial hair, the way it tickled me as it scraped against my skin. The kiss was innocent, slow and tender like our mouths were getting to know each other. He felt my lips with purpose, sucked on my bottom lip softly before he released it. Then he felt me again, filling me with his sexy, warm breath. His hands remained in his pockets just to prove a point.
All I had to do was pull away, but I couldn’t. A simple kiss from him was intoxicating, addicting. It was so slow and gentle, nothing like our last embrace. He slowed down like we had all the time in the world to treasure it.
My hand slid up his forearm and touched the bicep in his thick arm. I kept going until I felt his chest, felt my fingers dig into his shirt the way that other woman had. Now I didn’t care if he was rude when he ditched her for me. All I cared about was having him for myself. His kiss was better than sex, and if he was this good at kissing…imagine how good he was at fucking.
He pulled back, taking his delicious lips away from mine. Gloat was in his eyes as he looked at me, like he’d proved the point he wanted to make—a million times over. He held my gaze for a few more seconds, letting the desire dissolve into my blood. “You’ll change your mind.”
4
Sofia
Gustavo and I took our seats at the long table, which was full of the members of the board. I hadn’t realized we had a board of directors for our hotel, but my stepfather explained they had invested huge sums of money to get this place to open.
I took a seat, prepared to learn as much as possible. I had my pen and notebook out, ready to listen to what these men prioritized, how we intended to grow our brand awareness, how we could keep profits high and expenses low. Learning the trade was essential to growing it.
Gustavo began the meeting. “Let’s start with the quarterly numbers.” He nodded to me.
I stood up and distributed the packets to everyone.
“You gentlemen may not recognize her because she’s all grown up, but this is Sofia.” My stepfather said it proudly, as if I was his own daughter.
Most of the men didn’t care. Some gave me a nod, while others ignored the information altogether.
I guess they’d already forgotten about my father.
Just when I sat down, the man to my right snapped his fingers. “Sweetheart, get me a coffee. No creamer but two sugars.”
“I’ll take the same,” another asked. “And a banana muffin.”
I stared at the first man in surprise, processing the request with confusion. I wasn’t some assistant. I was the heir to the Tuscan Rose, the person aspiring to run this place in a few short years. I wasn’t a coffee girl. “That’s not in my job description, Marcus.”
Gustavo shot me a look. “Just do it, Sofia. You said you wanted to contribute—that’s how you contribute.”
I wasn’t above waiting on people. I worked as a waitress in college to pay my bills so I wouldn’t have to take money from my mother. It just offended me that they would treat me so poorly, when I would own this place once my mother was gone. I rose to my feet and swallowed my pride. “Does anyone else want anything?”
There was a vacant office in the hallway, so I decided to claim it as mine. I had a laptop and a stack of papers, reading through material and organizing all of Gustavo’s documents. While I sorted through the bookkeeping to get our taxes together, I noticed a discrepancy that didn’t make any sense. When the number of bookings at the hotel were low, revenue stayed the same. On top of that, our private conference rooms were booked for several nights, but there was never any income from it.
Gustavo stepped inside. “Mr. Lombardi will be here in a few minutes. We’ll be in the conference room for the next hour.”
I set down the document I was reading. “Who’s Mr. Lombardi?”
“You might know him as Hades.”
Shit. I knew I would have to face him again eventually, but I thought it would take longer than a week. “Can I sit in?” I wasn’t going to let his presence make me shy away from learning about that aspect of the company.
