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Much like him.
Instead of the kindred feeling he expected, Alessio grew even more disgruntled. He told himself it was because he would have to work harder at exposing her weaknesses, but it didn’t quite ring true. What did ring true was the smouldering need to know her thoughts. Her feelings.
Where they went from here.
This enforced stay must be wreaking havoc on his psyche. He’d actively discouraged his previous partners from expressing anything but their willing enthusiasm for sex. Dirty talk in bed was the only form of extra-curricular discourse he welcomed. And yet now...
He dropped her shoulders and turned away. Once again, he was losing sight of his priorities. Now she’d admitted her lies, several questions needed addressing. Instead of thinking with his shaft, he needed to get to the bottom of just how he’d fallen for this subterfuge.
‘We’ll address everything, including this—’ he waved his fingers between them ‘—in due course. First, tell me your real name.’
Her eyes snapped with defiance and alarm, but he spotted something else. Relief? ‘It’s Giada. Dr Giada Parker,’ she stated with pride.
Reluctant admiration unwound inside him. Of course, she possessed a doctorate. It took a special woman to pull the wool over his eyes for this long. ‘So when you said your mother was disappointed in you it obviously wasn’t for what I thought. So...?’
Her relief receded a touch to be replaced by some more shadows. He knew his question drilled into the heart of the fraught relationship she had with her mother. ‘She mocked me for wanting a career. Then for going further to gain a PhD.’
He lifted an eyebrow, the question clear.
‘I have a doctorate in marine biology, a career my mother thought was a waste of my life.’
Surprise mingled with all the teeming emotions. ‘I admit you’ve stunned me, Dr Parker.’
Despite the tension whipping between them, a smile teased her lips. When she blushed, the storm of hunger raging through him intensified.
‘It’s a bit of a relief to be called that again.’
Alessio inhaled slowly, absorbing her name, her essence. His eyes raked her face, lingering longest on her lips from where her real identity had just tumbled. ‘Giada.’ He breathed it.
Diu, it felt good to speak her name. And as he repeated it mentally, he was even more irritated to realise he much preferred it to the more jarringGigi.
Giada.
Her sharp inhale fluttered her nostrils. Alessio realised he’d spoken her name again, infused it with something of what he was feeling. He brazened his way through it, allowing a sardonic smile to curve his lips.
‘Yes, I should punish you for letting me call you by another woman’s name for this long. Your twin, I presume?’
At her nod, he leaned closer, frowning when she retreated a step. Then he was smiling again because she’d caught herself, that regal chin elevating to spear him with a glare.
Colour washed into her face, even as she shook her head. ‘You seem to get off on punishing people. First with my sister, and now with—’
‘Don’t you dare flip this on me,’ he snapped, his humour vanishing. ‘I punish people who cross me. And in your case it would be the most delectable way possible. A way that is making your cheeks heat up right now just thinking about it. You can be outraged all you want but you can’t deny your body language.’
She opened her mouth to protest, but he quickly interrupted. ‘Now, tell me where your sister is. And I advise you to come completely clean. For both your sakes.’
Emotions cascaded through Giada as Alessio stared down at her.
Primarily, it was relief. Followed by shame that she’d let her sister down. Even though the relief would be short-lived, she let it loose through her limbs, welcoming the clichéd truth setting her free as she breathed easy for the first time in almost a week.
She would deal with what that meant when she caught her breath and could find a moment to think.
But right now, heat pummelled her, making her intensely aware of every needy cell in her body. Need she desperately suppressed so she could answer his question. Alongside that need though was a feeling of almost...shock. What she’d done...almost done with him was...
She shook her head, her senses still a jumbled mess. ‘Right at this minute? I don’t know,’ she said in answer to his question.
Alessio’s eyes narrowed, the passionate man of minutes ago, not completely gone, but retreating in favour of the formidable opponent intent on bending her to his will.And, oh, how she longed to bend.
At least now, she could bend knowing he wouldn’t address her by her sister’s—God, what was wrong with her?
