One look at me, and you can tell.
But I guess that’s the other reason I was chosen for this.
There’s nothing to find on me because I was the good girl.
“Answer me,” he prods, searching my eyes. Searching for the truth, or a lie.
People can’t know you’re a liar if you give them nothing to make them suspect you. Or you give them something strong enough to throw off a suspicion.
“My father,” I breathe.
Dad’s face comes to my mind, and in that moment, I think of what I can tell him that’s true but won’t give me away.
“What about your father, Lucia?”
“He got himself in some debt. He was trying to save my mother, but she died anyway.” My voice quivers, and his face softens somewhat. I continue when I see I have him back where I want him. “She died six months ago of a rare heart condition, and our insurance wouldn’t cover the treatment.”
All of that is true and something he can verify if he needs to. If he also wants to check Dad out, what he’ll see is the same thing that shocked me as it was revealed that my father was up to his eyeballs in debt.
“This job will help him. I’m doing this to help him.”
His gaze sharpens then drops to my breasts and trails down to the flat plane of my stomach.
When he moves my chair out of the way and takes a slow stride around me, getting too close for comfort again, I think I might have passed that test—maybe.
Strong fingers press to the small of my back, and my breath catches. His touch is smooth and dominating in equal parts, and I imagine he’d be the same way if I were in his bed.
His fingers trail over my ass and flutter over my cheeks. Then his wall of a chest presses against my back and his fingers move to my stomach, stroking the skin there.
“Are you on the pill, Bonita?” His hoarse whisper caresses my skin, setting off the forest of butterflies in my stomach.
“The injection.”
“When did you get it?” His fingers flutter down toward my mound.
“Last month. It lasts for three months.”
“And your last check?”
When you don’t have sex, you don’t need to have the type of check he’s referring to. I did have one when reality struck me that I should because I doubted I was the only woman James was with during the time he was cheating on his wife.
“Three years ago.”
He presses his nose against my head and inhales me. I take in a measured breath and try to steady my galloping heart.
“You’re going to need one before we do anything, Lucia Ferreira. When I fuck you, I want to feel you.”
My God… I’m so thrown by the deeper meaning of those words I don’t even think of what he’s saying to me.
All I process is the part about the check, and that’s not exactly going to happen now. So, that must mean he’s giving me a chance.
As soon as the thought hits me, he returns to face me and plants a firm finger in the center of my cleavage.
“For the record, I’m clean.”
A lock of hair falls over his eye, and he pushes his finger into my skin, wanting me to move, but I’m already moving, backing toward the wall.
His eyes don’t leave me, not for a second, and what I see now is more than fascination.