Page 76 of Taboo Flames

“I try,” he says with a wry grin.

“I finally found something the great Giovanni isn’t good at. Here I was, thinking you were superhuman.”

With a laugh, he pulls me out of my chair and onto his lap.

“I was thinking we could spend today christening the rest of the house. So far, we’ve done a good job of my room and the kitchen,” he tells me, mouthing at my neck.

I snicker and wrap my hands around his neck. “We don’t have enough time for that today. I want to go shopping for new underwear. Someone’s been ripping all of mine.”

“I wonder who.”

I giggle. “Hmm, what a mystery.”

“Take my card when you go,” Gio tells me.

I raise a brow at him. “I don’t need your card. I have my own money.”

“I know. But you’ll take my card regardless.”

The one thing I'm not looking forward to is being ordered around by Gio for the rest of my life. The thought of that gives me pause. Am I subconsciously planning a future with Gio?

The thought should scare me a little because, after all, who the hell wants to be planning their future at twenty-two? But, instead, I feel at peace with the crazy thought.

“What are you thinking? You looked lost for a minute there.”

Tell him. Tell him.Something inside me roars at me to tell him. What is the worst that can happen anyway?

“Nothing,” I lie, pasting a smile on my face.

He presses his mouth against my jaw, peppering kisses along my jawline until his mouth is finally on mine. I open my mouth immediately, kissing him back and letting him deepen the kiss.

I can feel his hardness pressing up against me, and I rock against it, moaning into the kiss. Gio is like a drug, and I’m addicted. I cannot get enough of him.

I’m in lo?—

“What the fuck, and I mean, what the actual fuck is going on here?!” a very familiar, very furious voice barks.

I rip my mouth away from Gio’s and look over his shoulder to find my elder brother looking none too pleased by what he just walked in on.

I do a quick calculation in my head and wonder how I completely forgot he was due back in Sicily sometime this week. I’ve been so distracted by Gio that everything else has taken a back burner in my mind.

“Leo,” I gasp, trying to jump away from Gio and almost face-planting in the process. Gio’s hands catch me on time, and he helps me to my feet.

“You should be more careful, princess,” he says, glaring at me. I stare at him wide-eyed, confused by his lack of panic about our current situation.

“Is somebody going to explain what my sister is doing in my best, no,ex-best friend’s house with his tongue down her throat, or am I allowed to jump to my own conclusions?!" Leo demands.

“Will you believe me if I say I’m waiting here to surprise you?” I reply, wincing.

Gio chuckles. “I have a feeling not.”

“Fuck you,” Leo seethes, glaring at Gio. “She’s my baby sister. What the hell are you thinking?”

“You make it sound like I’m a child—” I begin defensively.

“Youarea child,” Leo cuts in. “He’s far too old for you, and he should have known better.”

“I’m not a child!” I insist hotly. “I’m twenty-two. I haven’t been a child in years. If you can trust Fabio, who, in case you’ve forgotten, is the same damn age as me, to go off to another continent and run a whole city, then you can sure as hell trust me to make my own decisions on who I want to be with.”

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