My footsteps alert her to my proximity, and she turns around, her gaze connecting with mine as she abandons cleaning her coat.
When I approach, my hands naturally grasp the edge of the counter, caging her in. She attempts to take a step back, but there's nowhere for her to go.
I lean into her, invading her space. Our breath mingles, and I fight against my instinct to touch her. “Who said it is a woman’s shirt? Maybe I want to see how you’d look in one of mine.”
Vinnie’s eyes widen as she sucks in a breath between her teeth, giving me the reaction I hoped for. With the turmoil she’s causing inside my chest, I appreciate seeing it reciprocated.
She’s quick to react, though, and surprises me when she tilts her lips into a smile and says, “How was your date with Norah?”
Laughing, I drop my head. Sothisis what Sully meant when he said he saw her. He told her about the date. The question is, why?
Perhaps you’re not as good at hiding your attraction as you think, you idiota.
Looking back up, Vinnie is staring at me expectantly, truly waiting for my answer.
“She had beautiful lips,” I say in earnest, a smile gracing my own as I remember—and choose to laugh about—how absolutely horrendous that date was. I can’t even say I am pleased with how it ended.
Vincenza’s face falls—her mask dropping enough that I can read my response was not what she wanted to hear.
Reaching up, my thumb ghosts her bottom lip before pulling it slightly so it drags away from whereher perfectly white teeth sink into it. “Nothing like yours, though.”
Beneath my touch, I feel her lips part, creating a lovely O shape. I tear my gaze from hers, taking in her reaction. Her cheeks have turned a beautiful shade of light pink, and her chest rises and falls a little quicker, much like my own. When I bring my eyes back to hers, they stay locked for several long, tortuous seconds.
The startling idea of kissing her enters my mind, and I realize I want nothing more than to do just that. To press my lips against hers, to taste her. Feel her body melt into mine as my hand fists her long, beautiful hair.
The daydream overtakes me, and immediately I take a step back. Pulling the shirt from where it lays over my shoulder, I hold it out to her to take.
“There’s a bathroom adjacent to the front door,” I tell her after I clear my throat.
She takes the shirt from my hands, careful not to touch me as she does, and races past me in the direction I said.
When I hear the door close, I run my fingers through my hair and turn toward the sink, leaning my elbows onto it while I try to get a grip on what just happened, and what Ialmostdid.
Nothing in my life could have prepared me for the moment Vinnie steps out of my bathroom dressed in my shirt.
Leaving it halfway unbuttoned from the bottom to allow one side to tuck into her pants, she’s rolled the sleeves to her elbows and kept the top few buttons open.
It’s too big on her frame, but the way she’s styled it to adapt to her is stunning.
Sheis stunning.
My mouth goes dry the longer I look at her, and I can feel my body react in other ways.
Heart rate quickening. Cock hardening.
What is happening to me?
The silence stretches between us as she eyes me with skepticism, still standing in the doorway.
For all intents and purposes, our interaction is at its end. She came for a shirt, and now she’s wearing it, so it’s time for her to go.
But I find myself not wanting her to.
“Would you like something to drink?” The sound of my own voice is foreign to my ears as I ask her to stay.
Her eyes narrow a fraction, and she takes a moment before answering. “Care to make me a latte since you spilled my last one?”
She must have seen my espresso machine to know that I have the capability to make her one. Sully bought it for me as a housewarming gift, though it was mostly forhisbenefit—the man has more espresso in his bloodstream than water.
