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"I mean, if you want, you can be my secret lover on the side."

He chuckles slightly and shakes his head. "Do you want me to speak to your father for you? See if I can?—"

"No. Oh, God, no. That would be horrible." I shudder. "I'd hate for you to have anything to do with my father. It would make it so… ugh." I wrinkle my nose in distaste. "Tacky and gross, and I just want to forget about that life, you know? Whoever my father is involved with, whoever would actually stoop that low, that's not anyone I would willingly give myself to, that I would even wanna have a conversation with.

"I like the fact that you have nothing to do with my father," I tell him earnestly. I reach up and touch the side of his face. "And yeah, you're a grumpy asshole."

His eyes darken, and his lips thin.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"It's fine." He looks away from me.

"I mean, you are a grumpy asshole. I've said that to you before."

He pulls away from me slightly, and I can see he's upset.

"I've called you a grumpy asshole loads of times before. You?—"

"It's nothing. Let's just get ready for the plane to land," he says, looking back at me, his face bleak. "You deserve the best, Elisabetta, and you make this entire situation very hard on me."

"Are you saying Big Dick Liam wants to come out?" I stare at his crotch.

He lets out a deep sigh, and I grin at him. I lean over and rub my fingers along his pants.

He grabs my hand and squeezes. "Not now," he says, shaking his head.

"What? Big Dick Liam doesn’t wanna play?" I smile, trying to get him to react, to take back the words that hurt him. I’m surprised that he is so sensitive about being called grumpy. He’s never reacted like this before. Maybe he is a much more docile man than I'd originally thought.

Chapter Twenty

Liam

We land in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, and depart the plane in silence. I can tell that Elisabetta is quite emotional and slightly upset. And I understand why. I feel bad because I can tell that she feels anxious about the words she said to me. She thinks I took offense to her calling me a "grumpy asshole” yet again.

But that isn’t the reason why I’m feeling upset, and I’m not even upset at her. I’m upset with myself. I’ve found myself in a position where I would be disingenuous and dishonest with someone I very much want to get to know better. Someone who I, in another life or another lifetime, could have had something special with.

“Oh, my gosh. It is so hot,” she says, as we make our way toward customs and immigration. “Are we going to be staying here?”

She looks around. “I’ve never been to Trinidad and Tobago before.”

“It’s a cool island,” I say and shake my head. “This is not our final destination.”

“Oh, okay. So, where are we going?”

“Well, right now, we’re going to a hotel, and then, tomorrow morning, we’ll be catching another plane.”

“Oh.” She looks at me in surprise. “Another plane?”

“Yes, we’re going to a much smaller island.”

“Oh, what’s the name?”

“Like I said, it’s a surprise.”

“You and your surprises.”

I stare at her. “You don’t like surprises?”