“Getting ready can’t possibly take this long, Gem. I’m coming in.”
The toothbrush wedged between my teeth, I grabbed a robe from a hook and put it on. My clothes were still outside.
My fingers around the brush tightened when Savio walked in completely naked and with a boner that drove heat into my cheeks. I stopped brushing and froze.
Savio didn’t show the slightest hint of shame. Of course not, he’d been naked in front of so many women, it wasn’t anything special.
His eyes flashed with amusement when he noticed my expression. I had seen him naked before, that one time, but this couldn’t compare. He was bigger than I thought possible. The bull definitely added to the intimidation factor.
Chuckling, he stepped inside the shower and curled his hand around his erection.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Jerking off since you refuse to take care of it for me.”
“I’m sure you have a girl on speed dial who’d gladly help you.”
Savio’s gaze was pure fire. “No other girls, Gem.”
I spit out the toothpaste, wiped my mouth and fled the room.
Ignoring the nightgown that I was supposed to wear tonight, I grabbed a pair of Savio’s sweatpants out of one of the dressers and put on one of my tank tops. That way I’d feel more like myself. Being in a bed with Savio was bad enough.
A few minutes later, Savio came out of the bathroom in sweatpants not unlike the ones I’d put on, his eyes scanning me from head to toe. He walked over to the bench in front of the bed, took the ridiculous piece of silk and held up the flimsy negligee with a cocked eyebrow. “What? No sexy nightgown for me?”
I shrugged. “If you want sexy outfits, you can go to the Sugar Trap and leer at the whores over there.”
Savio’s smile turned darker as he dropped the nightgown on the ground and sauntered over to me with that self-assured swagger that made me furious. “I never said you weren’t sexy.” He stopped beside me, his hand sliding over my hip and lower back, as he leaned down, close to my ear. “To be honest, seeing you in my sweatpants is the fucking sexiest thing I can imagine, so thank you for that.”
I shivered but gave a small shrug. “I didn’t try to be sexy for you.”
“And yet you are,” he murmured. “I’ve never jerked off as quickly as I did with the idea of being the first inside of you.”
Was there anything that made this man blush? Or at least the slightest bit embarrassed? I took a step to the side. “Well, you won’t be tonight.”
“Not tonight, but eventually, Gem. I’ll be the only man that’ll ever be inside you. I’ll be the first everything.”
He was right. Even if I didn’t sleep with him tonight, I would eventually, and not only because Savio was my husband and thus the only man I was supposed to give myself to but also because for as long as I could remember, it had always been him I wanted.
Gemma didn’t deny it. She tugged a strand of her hair behind her ear and approached the bed hesitantly. Now that I paid closer attention, I saw how nervous she was. She kept moving her fingers in an attempt to hide their shaking. After a moment in which she looked as if the bed might attack her, she glanced at me.
“It’s your bed now too.”
She nodded absent-mindedly and climbed under the covers.
I walked to the other side of the bed and slid in beside her. She was tense, sitting upright against the headrest. I mimicked the position. “Do you intend to spend all night like this?”
“What do you suggest?” she asked, which showed how frazzled she was. My Gem was nervous about being in a bed with me.
I cocked one eyebrow.
“I’m serious, Savio,” she said quietly. “I know this seems like a game, but… I want a marriage, a partnership. I want to get to know you better. I want us to become a team.”
Serious conversations weren’t my specialty. I tended to avoid them but Gemma had a point. We were married now. “Nothing’s stopping us. We have our whole life.”
Fuck, I’d really said it.
“Yeah,” Gemma said quietly, then looked around. “This is strange.”
The strangest thing about this situation was that outside, the party was in full swing while I was talking to a girl in my bed almost fully clothed. “I know.”
My eyes trailed over her slender shoulders, the way the outline