Page 7 of Ties That Bind Us

“What?” I shot up in bed. “Why didn’t anyone call me? Is he okay?” I barked, shoving a hand through my dark-brown hair. Frankie was our little brother and a total troublemaker. This accident was just the latest in his long stream of recent screwups.

“He’s fine,” Leo assured me. “Might not be when Dad gets through with him, though.” He chuckled. “Anyway, the meeting got pushed back, you want to grab some breakfast before?”

Most of what Leo was saying got lost when I stumbled into the living room of the suite and found her lacy panties still draped over the back of the couch. I bit my lip and groaned, reliving the moment I had slid them off of her last night, tugging gently down each toned leg, inch by inch. The memory was only second to the image I had in my mind of her walking out of here without them on. Damn, that did things to me I was ashamed to admit, and I was immediately transported back to the night before.

A few minutes after I heard the door shut, Jules sauntered back into the room holding two ice-cream sundaes. Mine with nuts, hers without. The hotel robe was held around her by the slip of a belt, and one wrong move would make the whole thing fall open. I was secretly hoping it would so I could catch another glimpse of her body. She handed me my ice cream and then climbed back into the bed next to me.

“The room service guy called me Mrs. Sinatra when I answered the door.” She arched her eyebrows at me playfully. “You even gave the hotel a fake name?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “What? I don’t look like I have a good singing voice to you?”

“You look alive,” she teased. “Frank Sinatra died years ago. Although you’ve got that whole Italian thing going for you. Dark hair, great bone structure, and I bet you wear the hell out of a fedora.” She paused, doubting herself briefly. “You’re not actually related to him are you?”

I shook my head, putting my arm around her as we both ate our ice cream. We’d certainly worked up an appetite. “I’m flattered, but no relation whatsoever. I’m a fan, and that was the first name I thought of when I made the reservation. You can never be too careful. No strings, remember?”

“For someone who says they’ve rarely done this, you certainly have a system,” she quipped, pursing those gorgeous lips at me.

“That’s what a few bad apples will do to you,” I countered. “I’ve been on a little bit of a dating hiatus lately because so many girls have trouble understanding the no-strings thing.”

“But you broke your streak tonight.”

“I did.” I nodded. “Something about you told me you’d be worth it, and I certainly haven’t been wrong so far.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” She licked some whipped cream off of her bottom lip. “I broke a little hiatus of my own tonight too.”

“Oh yeah?” A woman like her probably had men eating out of the palm of her hand. She was the best kind of beautiful, not having any idea how incredible she really was.

“I like the one and done policy. Relationships aren’t exactly my forte, although I’m supposed to be working on that.”

“According to who?”

“Just a lot of pressure to be who my family wants me to be.” Her eyes clouded over the second she said it, and I could see how heavily it weighed on her.

I knew a thing or two about family pressure myself. “I can understand that. It seems like everyone always has an idea of who you’re supposed to be without even considering what you want.”

“That’s why I like this little world you’ve created up here. Even though all of that pressure will be there in the morning, tonight we’re free to be whoever we want to be and do whatever we want.”

“You’re absolutely right.” I kissed the top of her head. “And what is it you want to do next?”

“I want to finish my ice cream, and then I want to have sex with you in that shower.” She blushed and pointed to the bathroom. “It’s got four showerheads.”

“Then we definitely have to try it.” I laughed, then wiped a little bit of whipped cream off of her lip. I wasn’t sure where the hell these thoughts were coming from, but all I could focus on was making her happy. We’d both just said we didn’t do well in relationships, but this was something I could get used to. Her in my arms. In my bed. Maybe for longer than just one night.

“Nick, did you hear me? Hello? Breakfast?” Leo yelled on the other end of the phone.

Breakfast sounded great. If I had some food in my stomach, I might be able to think clearer. “Yeah, why don’t you pick me up in twenty minutes?” I glanced at my watch, making sure that would leave enough time to get back to my penthouse.

“I’m already outside your building. Open up.”

“I’m not exactly at home.” I sighed, knowing the shitstorm that was about to come. Leo was going to want to know all the details of my night when he found out I’d taken the girl back to a hotel and I didn’t want to get into it right now. I was still licking my wounds from her untimely departure this morning.

“What? Where the hell are you?”

“I stayed at a hotel last night.” I tried to slip my clothes on as quickly as possible so I could get out of here, but Leo was relentless, and I knew he wasn’t going to let up anytime soon.

“You dirty dog.” I could almost see him smirking on the other end of the line. “You took that girl back with you, didn’t you? The spicy brunet from the bar?”

“Look, I’m fifteen minutes away from home. Can we talk about this at breakfast?”

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