Page 74 of The Holiday Hate-Off
My mouth falls open. “Condoms?”
“Oh, what am I talking about? Three hot Italian men work here. Of course you have condoms hidden away somewhere.”
“Lucia, I’m not going to take your virginity in the dining area of my family business.”
Anger flashes through her eyes, and regrettably, she pulls her hand from my straining dick. “You said you wanted to be the one, and I’m agreeing. I don’t need dinner and candlelight, Enzo. I know you don’t want to romance me, and I don’t want you to. We wouldneverwork out as a couple. I want to be with a nice guy, and you don’t want to be with anyone. You just want sex. I thought that was the whole point.”
It was. But this doesn’t feel right. All that talking earlier made me feel connected to her. Besides, if I’m going to fuck her, I want to take my time and do it right. I want her to come multiple times, and not just on my face.
“We don’t need candlelight and dinner, but I’d like to have a bed.”
“And I wouldn’t. I want to do it here. I want you to take me right here on this table.”
My pulsing dick tells me to do as I’m told, but that nagging voice in my head insists I need to do better. She wants to get this over with, but I want to make it an experience that’s good for her—one she’ll remember fondly when she moves on to her nice guy.
Her fingers dance over my dick again, a hot, excruciating tease. It feels so good a groan seeps out of me, and I kiss the side of her face, her neck, luxuriating in her. Nothing The Haven offers could feel as good as this woman. Everything about her is soft and lush and delicious.
I want to take what she’s offering. I’m desperate to. But I can’t give Lucy what she wants, not like this.
Then her phone starts to vibrate on the floor.
Oh, fuck, I must have swept it off with the food.
She stoops to pick it up, inspecting the screen.
“Any cracks in your screen?” I ask.
She ignores me, though, and I peer over her shoulder to see the spiderweb cracks on her screen. Shit. I scarcely have a chance to notice the mess I made before I see the name flashing on it—Hudson Firehose.
Shit, shit, shit. Mypulse starts hammering for a different and much more unpleasant reason as she answers the call. Is Hudson calling to tattle on me?
Sure enough, Lucy’s face settles into an angry look, which gets madder the longer she listens. “He did, huh? Okay. Yeah, thanks for calling. I wouldloveto get together again sometime. You’re a good guy, Hudson.”
She hangs up and tucks the damaged phone back into her purse before looking at me with hard eyes.
“Turns out your brother’s the one who caused the fire emergency that pulled Hudson away from our date tonight. Heleft his popcorn in the microwave for too long. Are youinsane?”
I lift my hands. “I know how to microwave popcorn. It’s not my fault if Giovanni never learned.”
Her expression turns fierce. “I didn’t even say which brother.”
Shit, she’s got me there.
“What if he got hurt?” she asks tightly.
“I’dneverdo anything to hurt my brother. He set off his fire alarm manually. His neighbor calls the station every time an alarm goes off in the building.”
“Right, you wouldn’t mess with your brother because he’s blood-related. But you’d do anything to destroy my date.”
She’s furious now, anger practically sparking off her.
“I don’t understand why you’re so upset about this,” I say. “You didn’t care about the power thing. Are you mad about your phone? Because that was my bad. I’m going to replace it.”
“No. You’re not. It’ll be my reminder not to make terrible decisions.”
“I figured the flyer with an X over my face would do the trick. Let me replace your phone.”
She shakes her head as she picks up her coat, shaking off a couple of french fries. “This was a huge mistake. You’re controlling and manipulative, and basically everything my mother ever warned me about.”
