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“And it definitely doesn’t decide what kind of person you are,” she cut me off. “Look at you, for instance. All the money in the world, and you’re still…”
I gripped the stem of my glass so tightly I was sure it would shatter at any moment. “I’m still what? Say it.”
She looked at me in silence for a moment then just shook her head, dropping her gaze to the floor.
“So you want to be a chicken?” I pushed, that old anger coming up to the surface. I hated it when people got me wrong, and I especially hated it when it was Scarlett. “Why don’t you grow a pair of balls and tell me what you wanted to say?”
My words had the desired effect, and I watched her eyes begin to blaze. I hadn’t known her for long, but I knew which buttons got the strongest reactions. In and out of the bedroom.
“First of all, it’s ‘so you’re chicken,’ not ‘so you want to be a chicken.’ How long have you been living here? How can you still be messing those up? And second of all, Luca Moretti, you can kiss my—”
“Society page?” A photographer popped up out of nowhere, his camera ready to fire at Scarlett and me.
“No, thank you,” she snapped.
I held out a hand to calm her. “Actually, we’d love to.”
She was fuming, but I ignored it. I also had to ignore how damn sexy she looked when she was angry. I snaked my arm around her waist and felt her stiffen immediately.
“Relax,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. “This is part of the job. We need the coverage.”
Scarlett smiled tightly, gritting her teeth as she said, “I’ll relax when you quit being a total asshole.”
“Okay, on three,” the photographer announced, aiming his lens at us.
“You should save a cut-out of this for your scrapbook,” I told her. “To remind you of the night you got mad at someone for saying you looked beautiful.”
Scarlett dropped her pose without thinking and turned to look at me. “That’s not—”
“Ma’am, face the front, please,” the photographer called out, waving her back into place.
She pursed her lips and resumed her pose next to me, and it took all my effort to keep from laughing.
I was about to get into laying on the charm once the photographer moved on, but I’d barely opened my mouth when Scarlett stalked off. I watched her dress billow through her long, determined strides as she disappeared down one of the hallways off to the left of the auditorium’s main area.
“If you’re trying to run, the exit is that way,” I hiked my thumb over my shoulder, indicating the direction I’d come from.
Scarlett spun on her heel, taking full advantage of our isolation in the dark, deserted hallway as she laid into me. Her jaw was clenched tightly as she said, “You could do with a lesson in personal space, you know that?”
“Trust me, I’m fine,” I scoffed. “This isn’t my first time on the horse.”
She fought back a laugh because she was still mad at me, but I didn’t miss the slight tilt of her lips. “Rodeo,” she muttered under her breath. “It’s not your first rodeo.”
“I know,” I replied with a smile. “I did that one on purpose.”
And then I closed the distance between us in two easy steps, pulling her right up against me with my hand pressed into the small of her back. Scarlett let out a little gasp as she looked at me, a spark of delighted surprise gleaming in her eyes.
“Can you blame me?” I asked, grazing my thumb along her bottom lip, light as a feather. Her breath ushered out of her in a shudder. “I’ve come to really like your personal space with me in it.”
Scarlett started to say something, but I lowered my mouth to hers and swallowed it with a deep, urgent kiss. My tongue parted her lips easily as she accepted me, her warmth enveloping me completely. I stroked her cheek, my other hand drifting just a few inches lower to cup her sensuous ass and bring her hips to grind against me.
She moaned into my mouth then, both her hands coming up to my chest. I only realized it wasn’t a good thing once I felt her push me away with all her strength.
“Luca, stop.” Her chest heaved as she fought to catch her breath.
I straightened, licking the lingering taste of her from my lips. “Nobody will come in here,” I told her, moving in to continue where we’d left off.
But Scarlett backed up, her hand outstretched in front of her to stop me. It was then I noticed the look in her eyes, and it cut me off at the knees.
