Page 4 of I Would Beg For You
He thinks he can judge?
“Ambition is not a bad thing,” I say, holding his gaze.
“I never said it was.” Not breaking eye contact, he leans forward. “I like bad things, Naomi. I think you do, too.”
The last words came with a wink. The bastard.
Suddenly, he’s on his feet, and I’m left blinking at him, blinking out of the haze of suggestion he wove around me with those words. Suggestions of dirty, filthy, dark, forbidden things that exist out there, that he could do to me, that we could do to each other…
The tinny voice coming from the speakers is telling us our flight is boarding now. I get up, fishing for my phone in my pocket. A slew of messages is waiting. I sigh.
Me:Boarding now. See you in a few hours.
As I’m typing, I can feel a presence looming. Tall, overbearing.
Valentino, of course. He’s got at least a foot’s height on me—no wonder he can stare down and see everything I’m writing.
I start to make my way to the gate, not checking if he’s following.
A message pings.
Dad:I will make sure Elliott is there to get you, do not get in an Uber those things are dangerous.
Me:Yes Dad. See you soon.
At the gate, I stop to flip the phone onto airplane mode and then push my way through the throng. I have a business class ticket—we’ll board first, and I can see the staff has opened a corridor for us to pass through.
It kinda looks like a trip down death row for me. Flying is something I dread, and it already makes a mess of me in general.Having to think of the dark shadow looming around me? I don’t have the brain space for that, for him.
We’re being guided ahead now, and I simply can’t push my way through.
Then a dark figure cuts ahead of me, jostling me slightly in the crush. Oof.
“Asshole,” I mutter.
He slows his gait and turns to me while still moving ahead.
“You’re blocking the way,” he says.
The gall of him. “Whatever happened to ladies first?”
“You can’t call yourself a feminist then have double standards.”
I glare at him, my feet moving before I can think to catch up with him.
“How dare you suggest I have double standards?”
“Equality of the sexes and all that? Ring a bell?”
I wince. He does have a point. I can’t claim to be a man’s equal then demand he let me pass first.
Argh! He’s so unnerving.
Wait, is he laughing as he strides along and disappears around the bend?
Valentino Andretti is a bastard of the first order, and never mind the sight of his long legs and fine, tight ass strolling ahead of me like the carrot dangled before the donkey. And that’s exactly what I am, a witless cretin being led on by her treacherous ovaries and debilitating lust for this man who can be nothing good for me.
Guess I can say goodbye to any R&R now that we’re both heading home at the same time.
