Page 140 of Steamy Ever After

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. You work hard at what you do. And I was being a drunk, disruptive brat.”

“Well, I shouldn’t have said what I said. It was mean and not my style. I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

She couldn’t recall the last time someone apologized for hurting her, and she hated the way her eyes prickled from such silly sentiment. “I don’t even remember what you said.”

He studied her for a beat. “Yes, you do.”

Her gaze lowered as if she could shield the truth. She remembered, and he knew she remembered. “It’s just easier not to care.”

“About anything? I mean, we’re talking about you. You need to care about yourself, Erin.”

Why? No one else did. She blinked hard. “Pass me the M&Ms.”

He slid the candy to her. “What are you doing now? Where are you working?”

She appreciated the change of subject, but her career wasn’t anything exciting. “I worked for the mayor for a while, but that didn’t pan out.”

“Skylar’s husband?”

“That’s the one.”

Skylar was another relative of his who hated her. Not that she blamed the girl.

“Now, I’m just…”

She couldn’t even say she worked at the hardware store. She had nothing. No home. No job. No friends. No one to ask how her day was.

Breathing in a deep breath, she let it out in a sigh. “Do they have a minibar here?”

Giovanni grinned. “You lookin’ to get drunk?”

“What else is there to do in a blizzard when the electric’s out?”

“We could screw.”

She nearly choked on a peanut M&M. “Are you insane?”

“No, why? It’s not a crazy suggestion. We’re stranded in this dingy motel. No one knows we’re here. We’re both single. Worse things have happened.”

She poured out more chocolate and shoved a handful of M&Ms in her mouth. She was overeating because being this confined with anyone made her anxious. “I’m not having sex with you.”

“Because you find me unattractive?”

“Don’t be a jerk.”

“Why is that qualifying as being a jerk? I’m not above admitting you’re hot.”

Her cheeks flushed and she worried he was saying that to turn it around and somehow embarrass her. “Knock it off.”

He didn’t look like his gorgeous McCullough cousins, but he wasn’t unattractive. Giovanni always had a darker complexion and a sleeker, Italian look about him. He liked nice labels and fancy shoes. She never saw him in a pair of work boots and couldn’t recall ever seeing him in anything other than designer clothes.

But it was his eyes that held the most appeal. Deep and dark, like fathomless windows to the soul. His nose was hooked and a little big for his face, but his lips looked soft, like the kind that would feel amazing against a woman’s skin.

He could be sweet, but he was too clever to trust. He’d hurt her too many times in the past. Plus, he was a player.

Giovanni always had a one-track mind and never failed to drop a dirty joke into a situation when a punchline presented itself. She assumed he was a womanizer, but he hadn’t closed the deal with a single girl he mentioned from back in the day. Except for Josephine Cook, of course, and she wasn’t sure how far they’d gone.

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