Ripped (Miller Sisters 1)

Nico Rossi was a man who seemed to take everything in his stride, be it split dresses, table fires or a lethal road surface.

‘So I guess the ability to drive fast cars is in Italian DNA.’

Risking life and limb, I

put my hand between his thighs.

‘Cristo—’ He breathed in sharply but kept his eyes on the road and his hands on the wheel. Impressive. As I said, this man had iron control. ‘You didn’t know Kiara and I were coming today. I assumed Rosie had discussed it with you.’

‘No. She sprung it on me.’

Cursing softly, he pulled in to the side of the road, the movement so sudden I was surprised the airbag didn’t smack me in the face. ‘Tell me the truth.’ He spoke through his teeth and his eyes were a dark flash of molten passion.

I couldn’t believe I’d ever thought him cold. ‘About what?’

‘About how you feel. I need you to be honest.’

I had no problem with honesty. I preferred it, even though honesty meant exposing yourself. Not the split dress type of exposing—the other type. ‘I’m in your car. That should tell you how I feel.’

‘I just want us both to be clear about what this is.’

I’d forgotten he was a lawyer. ‘You want me to sign a contract or something?’

He shot me an exasperated look and I shrugged.

‘Sorry, just checking. If you expect me to read your mind, you’ll have to give me more clues. You don’t reveal anything about yourself. Most of the time I can’t even tell whether you’re happy or sad.’

‘What about turned on?’ His voice vibrated, low and sexy. ‘Can you tell when I’m turned on?’

I thought about how he felt under my hand. ‘Those clues are easier to read.’

‘They’re the only clues you need.’ His gaze held mine. ‘I want you.’

It shouldn’t have turned me on to hear that, but it did. In fact it was exactly what I wanted to hear. I didn’t want anything else.

I wondered if the Ferrari came with a sprinkler system because I was fairly sure I was going to burst into flames at any moment.

‘Fine by me. My New Year’s resolution is to just have sex without the complicated, totally-messed-up relationship part.’

His eyes narrowed, as if he didn’t believe me and his scepticism didn’t surprise me. Why would it? We could put a man on the moon, but apparently we couldn’t convince the majority of the male population that a woman could want sex without needing to hear the L word. I didn’t have any reason to believe Nico Rossi was different to the average man.

There was a long, tense silence. Snow drifted onto the windscreen.

‘Tell me how you felt at the wedding.’

‘Honestly? I can’t really explain it. Obviously you’re an incredibly good kisser. And you’re good at other things, too. I was excited. Turned on. Exasperated that both our sisters chose to knock when they did—’ I stopped, thinking I’d pretty much summed it all up.

There was a long, pulsing pause and then he breathed deeply.

‘I was asking how you felt about seeing Charlie marry another woman.’

‘Oh…’

So now instead of a sprinkler system I had humiliation, washing over my skin like boiling oil, seeping into my pores and heating me up until I thought I might vaporize.

I’d been telling him how strongly I felt about him and all the time he’d been asking about Charlie.

I’d revealed so much. Too much.