AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Who did you take with you?” I have to know whose ass I’m gonna beat before I deal withher.
“Salvatore,” she says in a gentle voice. “Relax. I shoppedonline.Surely that’s not unacceptable.”
I sit back down and mutter under my breath. I didn’t even realize I was standing.
“You need to work on that, honey,” she says gently.
“On what?”
She leans closer and places a delicate finger on the side of my face. “You have a vein throbbing in your temple. Eeeek!”
It’s an easy matter to grab her around the waist and have her straddle me. “Maybe I need to work onyou.”
“What about me?” The demure look gets me every time.
“Alwaysbaitingme like that. Knowing full well what will happen yet doing it just the same.”
“I can’t help it,” she whispers, draping her arms around my shoulders. “I get all hot and bothered when you get adorably grumpy. Well,mostof the time. When you get mad at Cristiano, I just want to smack him.”
I might love this woman. The realization hits me like a two-by-four.
“Are you okay?” she asks, as her forehead knits in concern. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“Fine,” I manage to lie. “I’m fine.”
I can’t be in love with her. Falling in love with her is the opposite of what I was supposed to do. It isn’t why I married her.
“Back to Cristiano. Why did you say that?”
The serious look on her face gets my attention. “Because he deliberately undermines you then plays like he’s a fool, when he knowsexactlywhat he’s doing. I don’t trust him. I’ve met men like him before, and you know what men like him do?”
“What?” I love that she’s concerned. I love that she understands the world I live in as well as I do. Maybe sometimes even better.
“They betray you, Salvatore. And they’re worse than your most mortal enemies, because they earn your trust before they stab you in the back.” She frowns. “You should just fire him already.”
I sigh. “Trust me. I’d love to. It’s damn complicated.”
She heaves a sigh of her own. “Family dynamics always are. Let me guess, he’s grandfathered in or something?”
“Or something. And to answer your question,” I say, changing the subject, “there is no way in hell this is okay to wear. It’s like a scrap of thread that fell off a cheap piece of fucking furniture.”
The coquettish little smile she gives me wraps around my heart and squeezes.
“I have a surprise for you,” I tell her. “What will you do for me to find out what it is?”
I watch her bite her lip and squirm on my lap, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“Anything,” she says. I wrap my fingers around her hair and yank her head back, dragging her mouth to my ear.
“You’re the prettiest goddamn little slut I’ve ever met, you know that?”
“Mmm. I love it when you talk dirty to me.”
I know she does. I’m a fan myself. “You want to know what you can do to earn your surprise?”
“Wait, I have toearna surprise?” she asks with an adorable little grin.
“Not really, but I don’t want to miss my chance.”
