Page 73 of House of Desire

“No. I’m asleep.”

“Can you be awake?”

“What’s in it for me?”

“The pleasure of my company?”

“I don’t know if that’s sufficient. Your inability to lay still and loud thoughts kept me up most of the night and I needed my beauty sleep. I’m in a wedding today.”

I rip away the pillow blocking our faces, his already turned toward me humor lighting his eyes, and glare at him.

“I’ve got news for you. No one cares if you look pretty,” I inform him.

“Untrue. There are going to be pictures of this event and I have to stand up next to Alec.”

“Tank is here, now. Maybe he’ll demote you.”

“He texted me last night to let me know I’d still be best man.”

“Oh, so that text you got,” I joke and know it was not the right thing to say.

His eyes darken, tongue peeking out to wet his bottom lip. My gaze tracks the movement, wanting to lean over to kiss him. The memory of his hands on my body as he kissed me on the couch during the Desire Suite date makes me shift toward him, ever so slightly. Enough that, if he wasn’t interested, could be taken as me getting more comfortable.

“Anastasia,” he whispers, but my name is heavy with implication and desire.

“We should go get breakfast,” I say, flinging the blankets off me. Almost jumping from the bed, I storm out onto the lanai, to get some air before I do something stupid like beg him to kiss me.

Footsteps sound through the villa, and I feel him standing behind me.

“I can’t go get breakfast. I’m supposed to meet up with Alec and all the guys soon. We are grabbing food and going golfing. I’m sorry.” He whispers the last part and it sounds sincere.

His fingers blaze a trail of heat down my arm, but I don’t look at him. When he hugged me last night, it took me by surprise, but my body quickly remembered how much it loves being in his arms. And if I look at him right now, I might kiss him.

I feel him press against my back, wrapping his arms around me.

“I’ll see you later, yeah?”

I nod and his lips press a kiss where my neck meets my shoulder, branding me. My mouth opens in silent exclamation. I want him to continue, but his arms drop from around me, the door opening and shutting gently a few minutes later.

Stomach grumbling, I move into the room, grabbing up the phone and pull the menu toward me.

“Kitchens,” the man says, the sound of lots of people moving coming through the receiver.

“Hello, I’d like to place a room service order, if that’s okay?”

“I’d be happy to take care of that, Mrs. Hightower. What can I get for you?”

I pause at his assumption that I’m Parker’s wife, butterflies swarming in my stomach, but decide to leave it uncorrected. “Could I get the kalua pork eggs benedict, please? And some of that green juice? And a side of hash browns.”

“No problem. We’ll have it to you in thirty minutes.” He hangs up the phone without saying goodbye.

My morning passes in a haze of relaxation. I take a nap on one of the loungers, trying to catch up on the sleep I didn’t get last night. Looking at the time, I know I can’t put it off any longer and go to get ready to watch two people declare their love for each other.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to look that good. You might upstage the bride,” Parker says as I move toward him.

My silk, emerald dress has flowers all over it, skinny straps that crisscross over the back, and is my favorite thing Lorelei bought for me. She refused to take my money when I offered to pay her back for everything she bought but that just means I will be baking her things for free for the foreseeable future.

“You look pretty great yourself,” I say, smiling. His tuxedo fits him like a glove and I catch more than one set of hungry eyes on his ass.

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