“Really? Because you seem to prefer my sister’s much more,” Dina bitterly insisted.
Steve stiffened next to her, and she assiduously attended to the San Antonio Spurs shirt she was folding.
“Dina, are you jealous?” Steve sounded both amused and bewildered. “Of your sister?”
“No! Of course not!” Dina grabbed the stack of neatly folded baby clothes and placed them in the white laundry basket nearby. “Why would I be jealous of Lola?”
“I don’t know,” Steve remarked, his voice just as confused. “You tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” She picked up the last stack of clothing from the counter. “You spent the day gallivanting around the estate with my sister. I’m glad you both had fun.”
When she tried to snatch the pair of socks from Steve’s hand, he refused to let go. Instead, he trapped her hand in his. Her cheeks burned, and her breaths were panicked. She didn’t want to look up at him. She didn’t want to see him laughing at her.
“Dina.” He waited for her to lift her gaze, and when she didn’t, he tipped her chin, forcing her to stare back at him. The amusement she had expected wasn’t there. No, he looked hurt.
“I’m not interested in your sister.”
“Okay. Fine. And?” Even as she spoke so coldly, so stubbornly, she hated herself for it.Why can’t I let him see me? Why can’t I let him know that I’m vulnerable? Why do I always have to be so cold?
“You don’t need to be jealous of your sister or any other woman, Dina.”
“I’m not jealous. Why would I be jealous?”
“Because I spent the whole day with someone else?” Steve hazarded a guess.
“You don’t have to justify the way you spend your time to me.” She tried to tug her hand free, but he held tight. He wasn’t threatening her. He wasn’t hurting her. He simply wasn’t giving her the chance to flee.
“I would have stayed with you today if you’d asked me,” Steve said, his voice low and deep. It traveled over and through her, heating up her blood and making her want things she had no business wanting.
"Ask me, Dina.” Steve’s hand settled on her neck and slid toward her jaw. He palmed her cheek and brushed his thumb over her lower lip. “Let me love you, Dina.”
“I...” Mouth dry, she couldn’t form another word. She gazed into his eyes, losing herself in the blue depths, and finally did something reckless.
She kissed him.
She pressed her lips to his and gripped onto his gray polo with both hands, refusing to let him move even an inch. He groaned against her mouth, the sound ragged and needy. Both of his hands tangled in her hair, and he devoured her with his kisses. His tongue stabbed against hers, and she fought him for dominance, not ready yet to bend to his will.
His hands left her hair, skimming along her curves until they reached her ass. He clasped the backs of her thighs and lifted her right up off the floor. She gasped at the sudden cold bite of the quartz countertop against her bare skin. Her loose chambray shirt dress had ridden up, and Steve quickly insinuated himself between her spread thighs.
She gasped as his body came into contact with hers. The counter was just the right height to align their bodies. Memories of their torrid night together rushed back. The passion, the ecstasy. She burned with desire and need.
“I never stopped thinking of you.” Steve kissed her mouth and her neck. “I looked for you the morning after and I tried to find you.”
Her head spun as this incredible, sexy man said all the things she’d wanted to hear.
“I dreamed about you. Every night.” Steve gripped her thighs and dragged her toward the edge of the counter. His thick erection rubbed against her aching core, and she moaned at the sudden shock of pleasure. “You’ve driven me fucking crazy, Dina.”
“Steve!” On the verge of losing control and letting this wild, sexy man take her right here on this counter, she gripped his shoulders. “Please. We shouldn’t—.”
“Ama!” Camila shrieked in horror. “What are you doing?”
Dina tore away from Steve’s mouth, her lips swollen with lust. She found her daughter standing in the doorway, looking on with disgust and fury. “Camila—.”
“You’re disgusting! Both of you!” Camila shook the folder she’d been carrying earlier. “He’s a liar! He’s using you—and you fell for it!”
“What?” Confused, Dina pushed Steve away and hopped off the counter. She tugged down her dress, covering her legs and regaining some modesty.
“Look!” Camila thrust the folder at her mother. “Look at what was in his hotel room!”