Page 39 of Cruel Secrets

There’sa knock on the door before Gia walks in wearing nothing but an old shirt I haven’t seen in nearly two years.

Her nipples are pebbled, pressing against the threadbare fabric. The vinyl design that used to be on the front is long gone, leaving only small pieces of neon color against the white background.

She closes the door behind her. “Do you have a couple minutes?”

I glance between the files in my lap and her. They’re only profit and loss statements from one of my businesses. “Yeah. I have a few minutes.”

The circles beneath her eyes are darker than they were last night when we arrived at the house, but she’s still as beautiful as she’s always been. There’s a piece of me that wants to pull her into bed and run my fingers through those tangled strands the way I used to.

What does she want?

The words play through my mind like a chant. I don’t know what she would be doing in here dressed like that.

Not after everything that’s happened between the two of us.

Although, if she is here to fulfill everything that’s been haunting my dreams since she walked back in my life, I don’t think I have the willpower to turn her away.

I don’t want to.

Gia walks closer to the bed, perching on the edge of it and crossing one leg over the other. “I know that this is going to be an odd situation for the two of us, but we’re going to have to figure out how to get along for the long term if we’re going to make this work for Bianca.”

I set the files to the side on the nightstand. “Is that really what you came in here for?”

She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, twisting to face me as she leans forward to put a baby monitor beside the files. “No.”

When she doesn’t offer anything else, I lean back against the pillows, but I don’t miss the way her gaze drags down my bare chest, lingering for a moment before flicking back to my face.

“Are you going to tell me what you came in here for, or are you going to sit there, barely dressed, and hope that I do something about it?” I ask, tone low and gruff.

In the early days of our relationship, we could barely keep our hands off each other. I don’t think there were many days either of us spent without being wrapped up in the other. It felt right, back then.

And there’s something that feels like that now.

Maybe it’s the way she’s looking at me, or the shuffle she does to get closer, but it’s all there in black-and-white.

“I don’t know,” she says, her voice breathy. “It could be fun to make you wait. To keep you barely in the know.”

So, this is payback.

Well, if this is my punishment for pissing her off, then I’m more than happy to endure it.

My cock twitches, the front of my shorts tenting as Gia takes a deep breath. It’s like she’s trying to pull herself together and get enough confidence to do whatever it is she feels like she wants to do.

I link my hands together, putting them behind my head. “You want to play games?”

“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing this entire time?”

If this is what she wants, then I’m not going to make it easier on her. She’s going to have to work for it.

Gia gets to her hands and knees, crawling up the bed to straddle my lap. Her core grinds against my cock as she drapes her arms over my shoulders. “You told me that the next time I got off, I should come find you.”

“I’m pretty sure I told you that you were going to have to ask me.” I keep my hands behind my head, knowing that the second I start touching her, I’m not going to be able to stop.

All I want to do is tear that shirt from her and spend the rest of the day losing myself in her body.

Her fingers sink into the hair at the nape of my neck. “Do I really have to do that?”

“If you want anything from me, then yes.” I smirk, lifting my hips slightly and grinding into her, my cock throbbing as her back arches. “You should be thankful I’m not making you beg.”

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