Page 44 of My Debacle with De Lorenzo

“Do it,” she taunts.

She nips her lower lip and my hand clenches, the same hand that’s tightly clasped to her breast, and the sexiest moan echoes in her throat. I feel her nipple harden beneath my palm. Her hips shift against my cock, eliciting a deep groan from me, and I am so close to losing it.

I slide my hand up, curling it into a fist as I thump it against the window. “Fuck.”

“Just do it.”

“I can’t.” My thumb glides over her full lips and their alluring softness only makes me want to kiss her more. “You’re so much trouble...more trouble than I can handle.”

“Take the plunge, De Lorenzo. Live on the edge.” She gives a dramatic eye-roll. “I mean, geez, I’ve never met anyone who complicated a hookup so much?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly the problem, though.” I slowly pull away and step back. “I don’t do hookups. I want something with a bit more substance than the exchange of bodily fluids. And don’t forget that I’m a pussy. I’ll start blurring the lines, maybe even get clingy...and then I’ll probably end up falling in love with you and you’re just going to break my heart.”

“You are so cute.” Without warning, she throws her arms around me, shifting onto her toes to hug me again. “It would?”

“Isabella Martina Delphina Diaz!” someone yells from a window on the second floor. I look up and see an older version of Bella, though this woman’s features are sharper, and her accent is thicker. “Get your ass inside this house right now!”

“Crap! That’s my mom,” she whispers to me, trying to suppress a giggle. “When she says my name like that, it usually accompanies the threat of an ass-whipping. I’d better get inside.”

I shift a little so she can move past me. “That’s quite a name you have there. Delphina?”

“Give me a break, alright? I’m Catholic. That’s my saint’s name.”

“I’m Catholic too and my name’s just Dylan.”

She smiles, then looks up at the window and shouts something to her mother in Spanish.

Her mom throws Spanish right back at her in a much more aggressive tone before focusing her attention on me. “And you, young man, what’s your name?”

I’m a little scared to answer. “It’s...it’s Dylan.”

“Dylan, the next time I say eleven o’clock, I mean eleven o’clock, not one minute after. And you don’t kiss my daughter out in the street.”

Oh, shit!“We weren’t...we weren’t kissing, ma’am.”

“I don’t care what you were doing. You don’t do it out on the street. You treat my daughter with respect.”

“Yes...yes, ma’am.”

“I’m too angry right now, but the next time you come over, you come inside. You and I are going to have a little chat.”

I try to swallow the nervous lump in my throat. “Just, um, just so I can prepare myself. After this chat, will I make it outside again...alive?”

I have nothing to help me out except the moonlight and streetlamps, but it looks like the stern expression on her face softens and I see the slightest hint of humor. “Alive...but maybe missing a few limbs.” Her mother disappears and closes the window.

“I’m sorry,” Bella snickers.

“Why are you laughing? It isn’t funny. I’m in so much trouble.”

“I just like seeing that side of my mom again.” She walks to the front porch, then stops halfway there, and turns around. “You have three more and then I’m friend-zoning you.”

“What? I thought I had four.”

“You just used one five seconds ago.” She smiles and presses two fingers to her lips to blow me a kiss. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

A smile breaks out on my face because those kisses come when I least expect them. That one small gesture makes my night. “Goodnight, Bella.”

I wait for her to walk inside before I get back into my car. What a night. Adrenalin is still pumping through me, and I have so much energy I feel like I may start bouncing off the walls soon. My parents are already in bed when I get back home.

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