Alessandro DeLuca

We come to a stop in front of the little apartment that I’m renting just outside of his villa.

“No, just keeping it real and being fair. There’s nothing unreasonable about the perspective that I’m offering.”

“And neither is reality,” he challenges.

I nod and bite my bottom lip, pretending to be properly chastised.

“Hey,” Alessandro says, cupping my chin and lifting it.

He takes his thumb and pulls my bottom lip from my mouth. Gently he rubs his thumb across it, and I flick my tongue out to lick his thumb. It’s slightly salty but also herbal.

Alessandro removes his thumb and shoves his hands inside of his pants pocket.

“You’d better go inside before getting in trouble, piccola Americana ragazza.”

“Ohh, speaking Italian will not let you off the hook, sir.”

“I’m not ‘sir.’ That would be my father you speak of. I’m simply Ales.”

“Ales, you sound sexy when you speak Italian. The only thing it’s serving to do is provoke my curiosity,” I flirt boldly, realizing it’s time to change things between us.

I’m more than ready to make my move. Time is winding down, and I need to get back home soon. I’m not sure where my next travels will take me, and the last thing that I want is to have to argue with Carlo’s family about taking another “vacation.”

“About?”

“What you would sound like in the bedroom.”

“Is that an invitation?” he asks, stepping closer to me.

Smirking, I tilt my head and stand on my tip-toes. “Only if you want it to be.”

His greyish-green eyes narrow and turn turbulent. I steel myself against stiffening when his hand goes around my waist and he presses himself against me. I clutch a handful of his shirt as he presses his lips against mine in hesitation. It’s all I can do to fight off the turbulent feeling rumbling through me.

“What you want may not always be in your best interest,” he says, pressing his arousal against me.

Goddam! What the hell is he packing down there? I know the steel that I feel isn’t a gun. He’s bigger than he was that night at the club.

My belly clenches and I pulse between my thighs. I send a mental vibe to my pussy to chill. I know it’s been a long time since a man’s been there, but that doesn’t mean that thirsty heifer needs to act like it.

Pressing his forehead against mine, Alessandro bites my bottom lip and then sucks it.

Just as I open my mouth to take the kiss to another level, Alessandro pulls back.

“And yet here I am extending an invitation,” I reply, unlocking the door.

“I would love to accept it. But I know that you’re not ready yet, graziosa signorina,” Alessandro mutters, stroking my lips with the backs of his fingers.

“Is that what you believe?”

“Trust me, I’ll know when you’re ready, and you’re not ready yet.”

I watch as he strolls backward down the lighted pathway with wild lavender strewn between other plants that I’m not familiar with. He’s watching me closely. I know that I can’t let this opportunity slip between my fingers.

“Alessandro, I’m also a woman who knows what she wants,” I say, tossing words that he’s used against me back at him.

I smirk when he stops walking and arrogantly tilts his head. Slowly, Alessandro makes his way back up the path.

When he stops so close in front of me that we can kiss, I place a hand against his shoulder.