Page 23 of Under His Protection

“He’s what?” Tessa asked, excitement clear in her tone.

He was so much I couldn’t sum it up easily. Generous, giving, cocky, and strong. Powerful and sexy, and so very masculine. “He’s very smart.” It felt like a cop-out and a compliment at the same time. He was intelligent and had expertise in pleasuring women.

“And hot?”

“Oh, fuck, Tessa. Definitely hot. I can’t stop thinking about…” The urge was so strong to come clean and tell her that he got me off. Yet, I stalled, biting my lip and holding back on this confession. I wanted to keep the memory of him to myself.

“About what?” she urged, still laughing. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“Him.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the whole truth. At moments, flashbacks of his kisses and touches lit me on fire and renewed that instant desire he’d stoked in me. I wouldn’t tell her that, though. I greeted her and explained that I was pretending to date Dante to avoid that bet Ricky had made. It’d taken several long minutes to calm her down from the anger about that news, but still, I couldn’t outright lie to her. She was my best friend. Best friends were privy to scandalous ideas like pretending to be a Mafia lord’s girlfriend. While I knew she wouldn’t blab about what Dante and I were doing, I felt sheepish to admit that we’d kissed and that he’d taken the play-acting so far as to actually get me off.

I sighed. “I can’t stop thinking about him.”

“Well, that’s sappy,” she joked. “You’ve got it bad for him, huh? Even though it’s just pretend?”

I sighed, wishing I could properly explain how much Dante revved up my desire.

At the sound of a throat clearing behind me, I flinched and dropped my phone to the bed. I spun, finding Dante standing at the doors. I hadn’t closed the one all the way, it seemed, because I hadn’t heard the hardware click while being opened.

He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, his hip slanted against the wall. His bemused eyes were trained on me. At the first hint of a smile or smirk on his lips, I knew he’d heard it all.

“Uh…” I fumbled with my phone. “Gotta go.” I disconnected the call and hated how furiously my cheeks heated. To say I was embarrassed would have been the understatement of the year.

He’d caught me talking about him as though I were some foolish, lovestruck woman so far removed from his level of maturity.

“Have a productive day?” he asked, interested but more so, amused.

“Yes. Eva was a tremendous help.” Shit. How long was he standing there? I hoped he didn’t hear me complaining about his niece.

“I’m glad to hear it.”

I mentally groaned. What else did you hear just now?

“Good night, Ms. Bardot.” With one dip of his chin, a half nod, he turned and left me cringing and blushing in the throes of humiliation.

“Night,” I called out weakly, wondering how I’d face him again after that.

9

DANTE

Dante

Nina and I had to keep our plans secret. That was a given. However, hearing her tell this friend of hers that we were pretending to date didn’t fill me with alarm.

Even though I lacked much familiarity with the woman, I felt confident that she was a loyal person, someone who wouldn’t betray confidentiality with an enemy.

If she wanted to tell her close friend about what we were doing, I could allow it. She had to have some kind of a story to tell her coworker and friend to explain her sudden absence and hiding.

As soon as I strode off from Nina’s room, I fought hard to dismiss the sultry look in her eyes when she spoke about how attractive she found me. I’d watched—and heard—it all. Her badmouthing Eva, which sounded about right. My niece could be icy. About the plans to pretend we were dating. And then sheepish opinions about lusting after me, a man her father’s age. Her father’s former friend. All the while, she’d relaxed on the bed, stomach down, slender legs kicking in the air and taunting me to stare at her ass. The mirror across the room provided me a glimpse of her reflection as she had her girl talk, and I relished the excited happiness when she talked about wanting me.

She wasn’t lying.

Nina desired me.

I felt it, and I felt smug to hear her admit it to someone else.

But I had to resist. We’d only just begun this farce, and I couldn’t dive all the way in and confuse it all with fucking her like I wanted to. Sleeping with her would make it all too real. Sliding into her pussy or mouth would make this less of an act and more of a reality.

---