Page 12 of Tryst

“You have no idea what I can handle.”

“Lizzie.”

“I said not to call me that.”

Suddenly, he held a fistful of my hair at the back of my head. He controlled my neck, pulling my head sideways. Leaning forward, he placed his lips next to my ear. “Donottell me what to call you.”

The scent of his cologne mixed with the faint hint of cigarettes made my knees weak. Heat rose between my legs as my body betrayed me. I dared not speak, scared to ruin whatever moment this was. Having Vincenzo’s hand gripping my hair was enough to rouse a nice dream tonight.

For several moments, his warm breath prickled my sensitive skin before he eased his grip a little. “The flirting needs to stop.”

Swallowing hard, I gained the confidence to speak. “Are you scared you’ll love fucking me?”

He let go of my hair, placing a fingertip under my chin, forcing my gaze to his infuriated scowl. “It needs to stop, Elizabeth. I appreciate you, and I’m flattered, but it really needs to stop…now.”

“Why do your eyes tell a different story?”

At that moment, I knew he wanted me. I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his tone. When his lips grazed my earlobe, I felt the craving in his faintly minty breath.

“Even if I wanted you,” he lowered his hand, sliding them both into his pockets, “there are things I need in my life you can never give me.”

“You want a wife and kids?”

He shook his head. “I meant sexually. I don’t think you could even handle me.”

Arching a brow, my mouth fell open to a wide smile. “You have no fucking idea what I’m into, or as you put it,can handle. But I’ll tell you that my professor was very dirty minded and exposed me to so much. We explored—”

He lifted a hand, causing my voice to trail off. “Lizzie, I don’t want to know. I need to go.”

Not wanting to push my luck with him, I remained silent. It was better that way. Not because of who he was, but he was my father’s closest friend. He pivoted around, marching toward the foyer as if he wanted nothing more than to leave as fast as he could. I scurried behind him. Hand on the doorknob, he spun back around, staring at me for a moment.

I cleared my throat. “See you tomorrow.”

He pursed his mouth, gnawing the inside of his bottom lip. He wanted to say more. His eyes flickered down to my chest before he took a deep breath, shaking his head. “Yeah, tomorrow.”

The night before, I was careless. I should have just waited and given her the damn sunglasses today. When I got home, I ended up calling one of my old flings from years ago. I took out my sexual frustrations on her. She left at 4:00 a.m. and could barely walk after the night we had. I took pride in it. It’d been years since I had fucked anyone, and though she was not someone I planned to see again, she was enough to take the edge off.

Today, I was exhausted. I thought sex last night would’ve been just enough to get Elizabeth out of my head, but it did the opposite. It was a mistake. The hook up only made me want her more. Now I was fucked. I imagined her the entire time. It was wrong and I hated myself for it.

As I sat at my desk, I stared at my new laptop. She had been organizing the built-in bookcases, making them look more presentable and categorized the titles and authors by genre. Determined to keep my eyes off her, I paid close attention to setting up a new email and password.

She had said little since she got here an hour ago. Avoiding me, she kept herself as busy as possible. “Shit!” A loud thud came from behind a chair.

I lifted my eyes. “Maybe you shouldn’t be determined to carry so much at once.”

“Just trying to get it done so I can get out of your way and leave.”

“You’re not in my way.” I lowered my gaze back to the screen. “Do whatever you need to do. I’m focused on this, anyway.”

She set a stack of books down on the edge of the bookcase and meandered over. “At least you won’t see me until the weekend after tomorrow.”

I slid the computer back, propping my elbows on the desk. “What do you mean?”

“My dad actually needs me one extra day this week, so you have me one less day.”

“Oh.” I arched a brow. “What’s this weekend?”

“My annual birthday dinner at the country club?” She huffed.