Page 40 of Brazilian Revenge

He nodded.

She chewed on her lower lip, as if she waited for him to say something. What exactly could he say? “I like you, too, even though you can be an asshole sometimes.”

“That’s oddly flattering,” he said.

She flashed him a smile that punched him in the gut and tore down all his defenses. He shifted on the bed, and wished he wore a shirt. But no fabric would protect from the way his skin seared from being near her. He needed a midnight swim to clear his head, or a dip in the ocean. Or simply…he needed her.

Pink stained her cheeks. She opened her mouth slightly, then closed it again. Was she…nervous? She ran her fingers through her curls, but she didn’t twirl a section around her finger like he anticipated. Instead, she smoothed her hands over her blouse. At last, she stared him in the eye.

“Tell me something good, Leonardo. If you have something nice to say about me, this is the time. I need to hear it.”

She wanted honesty, and what kind of hypocrite was he if he couldn’t give her some of it? “I like how you came back and opened the door at Clemonte’s house.”

“You didn’t think I would?”

“I had my doubts.”

She lifted her chin. “What else?”

A bubble of intimacy closed around them, and he struggled to breathe normally. “I like to see how you’re committed to taking care of Lyanna. You don’t shy away from challenges.” Wasn’t that one of his father’s traits? Sergio had taken care of his wife even as she got sick with lupus. If he had been a weaker man, he could have left his family and started a new life with a younger woman.

“Is it hard for you to say all these things?”

“Not as hard as I thought it would be,” he said, although the same thing couldn’t be said about his cock. His hard-on found the perfect way for him to release his tension and get his mind off of his problems. “You’re an incredible woman, Satyanna Darling,” he said, and waited for the relief that should come with admitting that much to her. But all he was left with was a throbbing knot in his heart. Incredible in every way.

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