against the door, washed my hands, and opened the door. She was standing in front of it with her hands on her panty-clad hips, her eyes narrowed. “Can't a man pee in peace now?” I asked her, holding out my hands.
“When you're trying to escape the wrath of a woman? Never.”
“Wrath, eh? You call that wrath?”
“I'm annoyed you're avoiding the question.”
“Shooting through the door is 'wrath.' Threatening my balls with a knuckle duster is 'wrath.' Punching the door is a three year old tantrum.”
She gasped. “You did not just call me a three year old!”
“You're right—I didn't. I said your behavior was a three year old's.”
“Hunter!”
“Adriana!”
She clamped her mouth shut and glared at me. I restrained the urge to laugh at her fake anger. She looked hilarious when she was trying to be mad at me.
I grabbed her waist and scooped her up. She was so shocked she screamed and grabbed my shoulders, and I threw her on the bed. Her laugh rang out through the room as she fell backward, and she'd barely dropped when she reached up, wrapped her legs around my waist, and pulled me with her.
I held my hands out so I didn't crush her, but she cupped my face and guided it down to hers. Next thing I knew, our lips were pressed together and warmth was spreading through my body. I relaxed into the gentle kiss, reveling in every second her dry yet still soft lips were against mine.
She tasted of nothing. Fresh air, maybe, and sleep... Peace.
She tasted like peace.
I drank it in. Took every second and every breath of it she was willing to give me.
“So what did you do?” she asked, still holding my face. She tightened her legs around me as if to say “I've got you now.”
“There's a very slim chance I may have slept with Isabella Gardarelli and not called her the next day.”
Her lips flattened into a thin line. “Did you do the panty-tie thing with her?”
My eyes widened. “No, shit. I mean, no. She was a virgin.”
“Oh, god.” She dropped her head back and covered her eyes. “That's the virgin thing, isn't it? You didn't realize it hurt so much.”
I licked my lips and smacked them together. “There's a possibility.” Yes. Yes, it fucking was. “In my defense—”
“How on Earth do you defend that?”
“Pretty easily given that your legs are around my waist and my cock is getting hard and you haven't moved, so you can't be that bothered.”
She moved her arm off her eyes and glared.
“All right, all right. She told me she didn't have much experience. That doesn't automatically equal virgin. I thought she'd done it at least once,” I explained.
“Your erection is making me uncomfortable,” she muttered, unlocking her ankles and dropping her legs. She scooted up the bed from under me.
“My cock isn't discriminatory, Principessa. It was against your pussy. What do you expect?”
“Okay, Hunter, focus.” She snapped her fingers.
“You made me not.”
“Shut up!” She slapped her forehead. “Okay, Jesus. You just have to complicate everything, don't you? How can I take you to the Gardarellis now?”
“You don't.” I grinned. “Let's just go.”
“Have you ever seen her again?”
“Since I left the hotel room?”
Adriana glared. Again. Man, she was on a roll.
“I paid for it,” I reasoned. “But no, I haven't.”
“So you took her virginity, paid for a hotel room, and never spoke to her again.”
When she put it like that... “Yeah.”
“You don't look guilty at all.”
It was hard to feel guilty. “Yeah, no, I don't feel it.”
She stared at me in disbelief and shook her head. “Unreal. All the men I know are whores.”
“Hey!” I followed her out the room. “I'm no whore. I was never paid for sex.”
“Well that's reassuring,” she drawled. “Unless you've ever fucked someone to death?”
I grinned wolfishly. “No, but I think you were close to it last night.”
She stopped halfway down the stairs and turned to me. Her lips were pursed, her eyes glinting with silent laughter. “Only close? You didn't do it nearly hard enough then.”
My grin disappeared, and something flared deep inside me. It went straight to my cock, and it hardened instantly. Adriana's eyes dropped to my hips and shocked flickered in her gaze for a second.
That was the moment I realized: she didn't know what she did to me. How I thought of her. How easy it was for me to go from nothing to this.
“You have two seconds to get your ass the fuck downstairs before I haul it over my shoulder