Lust & Lies Box Set-Sexual Awakenings, Excess, Predator & Prey

“Don’t go there,” I said in warning, assessing his damage.

He furrowed his brows. “Go where? Where would I go?”

I sighed in an attempt to hide my smile. But one look at his body, and there wasn’t another humor-filled tell to give. He had small cuts all over his muscled back and a deep gash just below his Adam’s apple. He pulled me into the shower with him and began bathing us. I examined the gash and determined he needed stitches, though it wasn’t bleeding.

“I can stitch this,” I said carefully as I looked up at him. “What happened?”

“I got into a fight with an alligator,” he joked. “Never go to golf at midnight in Charleston.”

I was not amused. He poured shampoo into his hands and began to massage his scalp. I studied his chiseled face as he ran his fingers through his midnight hair. He had the build of a gladiator, the face of a statue, and eyes that could melt metal. He was intimidating even when he was at his most vulnerable.

“Daniello, please,” I begged once more.

“Why, Taylor?” he replied with one eye open as soap slid down his cheek. “It will change your opinion of me; everything will change. Are you unhappy with this? With our arrangement?”

“No,” I answered quickly. “Not at all. I’m . . . happy with the way things are.”

He nodded in my direction as if that was the end of it.

“Are you that bad of a man?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

“Is your sister doing well?” he countered. I breathed out heavily in defeat and nodded.

He pulled me to his chest, and I wrapped myself around him, trying to stifle my frustration with his refusal to give me more. Our bodies were so intimately connected, but Daniello was still a stranger to me. I gave in, knowing our time was limited. We had only a few stolen hours left. “She’s been asleep for the entire week. I’ve barely seen her.”

“She cannot sleep forever. You will get your reunion.” I smiled at his proper use of the word.

Though our relationship was odd and unconventional, we both got something from the other. He gave me every imaginable orgasm, and I schooled him on proper English usage. It was a win-win.

I’d been working late the past week, and I wasn’t sure if it was to avoid Amber or the situation altogether. Aside from constantly thinking of Daniello, I had thought of nothing but Laz’s reason for letting me go.

“I’m not doing this for you.”

I had my suspicions, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted Amber to confirm them. Because if they were true, I would never be free of Laz or Dyer, and I would have one hell of a fight on my hands.

The whole situation was odd, and I cringed at the thought just as Daniello turned the shower off.

“What are you thinking of?”

“It’s late. I have a meeting in a few hours,” I answered absently as I watched Daniello towel off. I stopped him before he could make his way out of the door.

“Before you disappear, Houdini, let me take care of that alligator bite.” Daniello smiled and lifted his hands in surrender. I spent a few minutes on his superficial cuts as he stood before me naked.

Upon closer inspection, I saw the gash was already closing and smeared disinfectant cream on it before covering it with a bandage.

“I see you were prepared for alligator fights as well,” Daniello noted of my large first-aid kit.

“Decorator, she staged . . . um, set up this whole place. I don’t shop.”

“No?” Daniello looked down at me, amused. “A wealthy woman who does not shop?”

“It’s totally boring,” I said, finishing off his bandage.

“Boring,” he mused as he held my hands to his chest. “What amuses you, pig head?”

“Can we just stop that right now, please? Before you start with English expressions, let’s start with mastering the basics. Who in the hell taught you those?”

“A tutor,” he said absently as he placed my wrists around his neck and began to move us around my bathroom.