Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Abriella hadn’t found a reason to regret it, yet.
“Do what?” she asked.
“Something,” he said. “We should do something else.”
Abriella’s brow furrowed. “Something else? Are you purposely being vague, or ...?”
Tommas shifted beneath her, making his still semi-hard erection press against her tender ass. He’d spanked her ass hard enough to make sitting down a difficult and careful task, but she wasn’t about to lie and say she didn’t like it.
Because she had.
Too damn much.
That was another thing about Tommas that kept Abriella coming back for more. It went beyond the sex—because that alone was fucking amazing—and into something deeper. This man had the strangest ability to make Abriella feel the most free she had ever felt in her life when she was on her knees, and begging for more.
Yet, outside of sex, they became something else entirely. He treated her with care, and respect, and nothing less would do.
She’d never known a man who understood the difference between the things woman chose to do in the privacy of a sexual encounter, and the woman outside of a bedroom ... or a car ... and alley ... wherever.
“You’re not even listening to me, are you?” Tommas asked.
Abriella giggled when his fingertips grazed over a ticklish spot on her side. He’d found that fucking spot once, and used it against her every chance he could. Especially when he wanted her attention to focus on him, and nothing else.
Smart man.
Abriella liked those.
“Stop,” she gasped when his tickling intensified. “Tell me what you said!”
That was another thing about Tommas—he understood the words no, don’t, and stop. He didn’t even need a fucking verbal cue for him to know he needed to back off, and quit whatever it was that Abriella didn’t like.
She trusted him.
Far more than anyone else ...
“I said,” he murmured in her ear, “that we should do something else.”
“I heard you say that. You’re not telling me what, though.”
He kissed the spot right behind her ear. “I was thinking something other than fucking, Ella.”
She stiffened in his lap. Tommas didn’t miss it if the way his fingers tightened on her waist was any indication.
“What, like ... friends?” she asked quietly.
Tommas made a harsh noise in the back of his throat—something dark, lovely, and deep. It heated her insides up instantly, and had her aching between her thighs. Why? Because that sound made her think he was jealous. Even if he didn’t say it, that’s what it sounded like. She had no reason to think he was, and he had no reason to be jealous. They didn’t put labels on this thing they were doing together.
They weren’t something.
That was the deal.
Or ... it was supposed to be.
“I was thinking ... a date, actually,” Tommas said.
“We’re not doing—”
“But we could be,” he interjected. “I would like to. Would you?”
Abriella swallowed the thickness building in her throat. Her first thought was to say yes, and agree. Whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. Why not? Tommas Rossi was literally everything Abriella hadn’t even known she wanted in a man until he was standing in front of her, and smiling in that sexy way of his.
Her life, lessons, and future kept her quiet.
Tommas sighed after a second passed. “Leave me hanging, then.”
“It’s just ...” Abriella glanced down at her hands in her naked lap. “We can’t really be anything, Tommas. It’ll never be anything ... or come to anything. It can’t.”
She was Trentini principessa.
The oldest girl.
She knew what her life was going to be once the decision was made. A husband would be chosen, and she would be given away. That’s how it worked for girls like her. She didn’t expect anything different.
This was her fucking life.
It was all she knew.
“So?” Tommas asked.
Abriella let out a short laugh. “So? Really, is that all you have to say? So?”
Tommas shrugged behind her. “I mean ... yeah, baby. So what?”
“Tommas—”
His hands tightened on her waist again, and hushed her words from slipping out. He kept her argument silent while he spoke again.
“I don’t like to share,” Tommas said. “And while we’re doing this ... I want to make sure I’m not sharing you.”
Abriella glanced over her shoulder to find his stormy blue eyes locked on her. The intensity of his stare made her chest tight. “You’re not sharing anything—promise.”
“Good, then this shouldn’t be a big deal. Let me take you out—dinner, a club. A show, if you want. Whatever you want to do, let me know, give me some time, and we’ll do it.”
Abriella abused her bottom lip with her teeth. “No one can ever—”
“No one will know anything. I’ll make sure of it.”
He sounded so sure.
Confident.
How could she tell him no?
“So, a real date, then, huh?” Abriella asked.
Tommas gave her one of his sinful grins. “A first date. And hey, you got to try the ride before the show ... so, you don’t even have to worry about a bad fuck at the end of the night. You know what you’re getting.”