“I’ll buy them, but not for anyone else to see,” is the only thing he says before leaving the changing room area altogether. I watch a knowing smirk cross Lilah’s face but choose to ignore it and focus on the underwear she’s brought.
“This one is very popular with our customer’s partners,” she says and holds up a blue one-piece, which does nothing to hide anything. I take it from her and disappear into the changing room.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
leonard
Don’t think about Chiara trying on lingerie right now. Don’t do it. Don’t think about how her body looks in the outfits you saw Lilah bring.
But I’m thinking about it. God, I’m picturing it so clearly in my head, my cock twitches as all the blood in my body rushes to it. Nope. It’s not happening. She’s a pain in the arse. She is one infuriating woman, and I am not attracted to her. I can’t be. But I am. I’m so fucking attracted to her, I have to hide my goddamn hard-on by leaning against the cash register while I wait for Chiara to finish up in the dressing room.
“Chiara is—” Lilah starts and lets out a small chuckle. “She’s a force to be reckoned with. Beautiful, strong, stubborn, all things that must be driving you wild,” she goes on, and I give her a slight tilt of my head and a frown.
“She’s my brother’s best friend and temporary roommate. Nothing more. I don’t even like her.” I don’t know why I keep reminding myself of that.
“Yes, sure, darling. Could you step back for a moment? I’d like to check something,” Lilah says, and if she wasn’t my friend of ten years with whom I have a lot of history, I’d tell her where to shove it.
“Any body reactions of mine are because you ended our arrangement. It’s been a while,” I say, and Lilah lets out a laugh.
“I ended our agreement because I found someone who loves me. Being friends with benefits doesn’t last forever. Joane stepped into my life, and I knew she was it for me. Sex with you was great, but it’s nothing compared to being with the love of my life,” she says.
It sends me spiraling into deep thought. In my twenty-eight years, I’ve never fallen in love with anyone. I’ve never wanted to give my heart to another person. I’ve never desired to feel vulnerable, but it almost makes me sad that I haven’t. Lilah and I were fucking for years, neither of us ready to commit to someone, but then, out of nowhere, she told me she met Joane, who had changed her life forever. They’re married now, and I couldn’t be happier for them. At the same time, I’m also jealous. Not because I have feelings for Lilah. We’re great friends and I never felt anything more, but I’m jealous she has someone to call ‘my wife’. I want a wife, someone to come home to after every race. I just don’t want to set myself up for vulnerability. It’s not something I have time for.
“You should try falling in love. It’s great,” Lilah adds right as my eyes shift to Chiara walking toward us with a bunch of little outfits my mind couldn’t help but picture her in earlier.
Right now, on the other hand, I can’t stop staring at her face. Her green eyes seem brighter somehow, her long brown hair dishevelled but gorgeous anyway. Her short, curvy body moving toward us with a sway in her step that’s making me feel all sorts of things I’m going to go ahead and suppress.
“What?” she asks when she’s next to me, placing the lingerie on the counter.
“Nothing,” I reply, keeping my eyes on her so I don’t look suspicious. I almost laugh at the irony that keeping my gaze on her makes me seem more normal to her than looking away awkwardly.
Chiara swallows hard when Lilah tells her the sum of the outfits, but I don’t even blink as I give my friend my credit card and continue staring at Starling. Eventually, she turns her body to me, a serious look on her features, which makes her pouty lips even more so. I can’t lie. I would love to know how it feels to kiss her. It would scratch an itch in the back of my mind, the one I haven’t been able to reach for many years now.
“You know, about what you said earlier in front of the changing room?” I give her a tight nod, and she crooks her finger at me. I obey without thinking, bringing my ear next to her mouth. “You can’t control who I wear those for, Champ,” she says and steps away. The urge to smile and throw her back over my shoulder both threaten to take over, but I push them down to focus on entering my pin.
Lilah was right. Chiara is driving me wild. And I don’t know how to stop her from getting under my skin. I may have just made the biggest mistake in my life by asking her to move in with me, hell, to travel the world with me totake care of Benz. I could have asked a thousand different people. But no. I asked the one woman I can’t spend an afternoon with without ending up in some sort of conflict. All because I’ve become so overprotective of her, I can hardly breathe when she’s at one of her current jobs.
“Where to now, Champ?” Chiara asks as we walk through the front door. “Oohh, is it time for my hair transformation now? That’s usually what comes next in the movies,” she says and wiggles her eyebrows. I stare down at her.
“Would you like to get a haircut?” I’m really hoping she’ll say no because I like her hair this length.
“I’m in desperate need of one. I haven’t had the money to get my hair done in years,” she says, so I lead her down the street and toward my hair stylist.
“Can I ask you something?” I blurt out after we’ve been walking for a few minutes in comfortable silence.
“If you must.” I stare down at her in response.
“Stop giving me that bullshit answer when I want to ask a question,” I complain, but she crosses her arms in front of her chest. That’s the exact moment I realise I’m carrying all of her bags. It makes me ask something completely different than I intended to at first. “Why the hell am I carrying all of your shit?” That infuriating woman starts chuckling.
“It only seems fair, considering you paid for all of it.”
“You can be a real smart-ass, do you know that?” I ask, earning me a full-faced proud grin from her. God, I wish it didn’t knock the air from my chest and send a wave of excitement through me. “Have you spoken to your Mamma recently? Is she doing alright?” The questions leave me before I can stop them. Chiara’s shoulders tense for a moment, but when she sucks in a sharp breath and releases it again, she seems calmer.
“She’s okay. There is something she wants to discuss with me, but I don’t want to go to her flat,” she explains, sending a wave of horror through me at the thought of Starling being anywhere near Tim. It’s unsettling enough that her Mamma has to be near that man every single day.
“Invite her to ours. I will cook.” Again, I don’t think the words before they spill from my lips.Ours. Fuck me.
“Okay, thanks,” Chiara replies as we stop in front of my hair stylist's little shop.
