Page 33 of Devilish

Lucien stopped just as we reached the enormous double doors. “Will you think less of me if I say no?”

I shook my head. “Of course not.”

The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was only enjoying myself because of his financial status. I would’ve felt safe and happy staying with Lucien in a sixty-dollar-a-night motel room.

“I’m just messing with you. I partially own it. Along with the rest of my brothers.”

“Oh, you have brothers?” I didn’t know why it never occurred to me that Lucien might have siblings. He’d asked me yesterday about brothers and sisters, and I’d gotten so caught up in my own head that I hadn’t even bothered to return the question.

“Not by blood,” he said, and pushed open the door. “By choice. But that’s a conversation for another time. For now, welcome to Villa Monaco.”

I looked around the bright, open rooms with their cream walls and white marble floors, and nearly half a dozen French doors that opened up onto a wide terrace and pool. You could see from one side of the house to the other, and each door framed a unique and scenic view of the Mediterranean Sea below.

“Wow…”

“Pretty incredible, right?”

I blinked. How in the world had someone like me ended up standing in a place like this?“That feels like such an understatement.”

“Then how would you describe it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t have any words. It’s…indescribable.”

Lucien looked around the living space as though seeing it for the first time and nodded. “I don’t know, that seems like a pretty good one. Want a tour?”

He held his hand out to me, and it was such a natural move that my immediate instinct was to slip mine inside it.

“I’d love one.”

For the next half-hour, Lucien led me around the main house, showing me where everything from the gourmet kitchen to the movie theater was located. There were about a hundred beds to choose from if I was in the mood to play Goldilocks, or I could just pick the one with the most breathtaking view.

It was a toss-up which would be easier—testing all those beds out or trying to decide what I wanted to look at every day when I woke up. Or I could do what Lucien suggested and pick a different room each night we stayed there.

The options were endless, which seemed to always be the case with Lucien. Anything and everything my heart desired was mine for the asking, which was absolute insanity when I thought about where I’d been this time last month.

But ever since I’d stepped into Lucien’s club, I’d gone from a stale, monotonous existence to a whirlwind that had swept me off my feet.

Deciding on one of the rooms that would have the best view of tomorrow’s sunrise, I dropped my bags off and went on the hunt for the man who’d told me that this was his “little slice of paradise.”

I found him out on the patio, sitting on one of the loungers by the pool, sunglasses on, hair slicked back, and a cocktail in hand. He’d changed into a pair of tight white Speedos that left little to the imagination, and a white linen shirt that fluttered against his glistening, tanned skin. My feet faltered.

“There you are.” Lucien pulled his glasses down so he could look over them at me. “I thought you might’ve gotten lost.”

“Uh, no, I— You got changed.”

“So I did.” He pushed his glasses back in place. “When in Monaco and all…”

“Oh, so no black outfits here?”

“I didn’t say that. But maybe I’ll keep that for when we hit the town one night.”

Something about the casual way he saidwemade my stomach flip. And not in a bad way.

“You decide on a room?”

“I did, yes.” I sat on the lounger beside him then blurted out, “Where’s your room?”

He let me know where it was in relation to mine and added, “So if you need anything at any time, you come get me, okay?”

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