Page 43 of Under His Protection

“For what, Nina?” He trailed kisses along my jaw, going for my ear and not at all bothered with how sweaty I was. “Ready for me?’

Oh, fuck. I prayed that he meant that like I thought he did. Sexually. Intimately.

I swallowed hard, struggling to keep up with this naughty talk. “For the gala.”

He smiled roguishly. “Then I’ll take you to get something.”

Again? “Maybe this time,” I said quietly, “you can help me pick something suitable.”

He kissed me once more. “Absolutely.” Then he stepped back, bringing his hands off the wall. “Tonight.”

I nodded, too stunned and dizzy with desire to say anything coherent yet. “Okay.”

He stared at me, lingering for another heated, torturous moment. With every second that passed, I was tempted to launch into his arms and get right back to kissing the smirk off his lips and earning his sexy, guttural growls of satisfaction and neediness.

“We’ll practice some more,” he said as he began to back up.

“Practice makes perfect,” I quipped, too stupefied from his kisses to say anything wittier.

He shook his head. “You already are.”

I bit my lower lip to keep from smiling too widely. It wouldn’t do to show him how much his flirty attitude got to me. I had to stay strong.

But why?

As he turned and left me there, slumped against the wall, I felt more confident that he was talking about something else. He wasn’t suggesting that we practice kissing and being close for the sake of perfecting our fake relationship that would need to be noticed at this gala tomorrow night. Reading between the lines, I got a strong hunch that he was mocking me, teasing me with the idea of practicing for the real thing.

A real attempt at being together.

I lifted my fingers to my swollen lips, happily abused by his demands for kisses.

And I wondered what would happen the next time he spotted me and insisted that I call him by his name. Because maybe that could be the trick to make him snap and kiss me once more.

Calling him Mr. Constella was a sassy reminder that we were supposed to make our connection believable when others were watching. Referring to him by his name in private like this… That was much more fun, especially when it drove him to want to taste the syllables right off my tongue.

17

DANTE

Dante

Ireturned to the house in the evening. The excitement to see Nina again kept me distracted all day, but it was my niece who I found finishing dinner in the kitchen, not Nina, as I'd hoped. After that lie about kissing her for practice, my fake girlfriend had consumed my every thought.

Eva kept to herself most of the time, but I knew she’d followed my instruction to help Nina settle in here. Whenever we spoke, she badgered me with questions about her.

Now was no exception.

“Are you going to the Sarround Gala?” she asked after she wiped her mouth.

I nodded.

“With Nina.”

It could’ve been a question but she said it like an affirmation.

“Yes.”

She set the napkin down. “Is that smart?”

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