Page 28 of Fixate

“That sounds good. I guess this means we’re going to nap, huh?”

Nodding, I turned us to the stairs. “Grab your bags and follow me.”

—-----

He followed me as I led him directly to his room. It was two doors down from mine. Far enough to give me room, yet close enough to get to him if there was an issue.

“This is where you’ll stay.”

Ricardo looked around the room, his gaze taking in every square inch and detail of the space. I wondered what he thought of the generic space. It had been designed as a simple guest room for family and friends to use, not that they ever really did.

Now it felt a bit inadequate for the man before me.

I wanted to offer him the finer things in life. He’d look amazing in fine clothing, with fabrics bright enough to contrast with his tanned skin. I pictured him relaxing on a beach somewhere, nothing but a small bit of fabric over his most private areas keeping him decent.

“It’ll do. I’ve been in worse,” he eventually said. The words pulled me from the wandering thoughts.

I hummed to cover the growl that built in my throat. Though he didn’t say so, I knew what he meant wasn’t simply that he didn’t have the softest sheets on his bed. He meant he’d been living in squalor at some point.

There was no way to erase that part of his past, yet I found myself wanting to. I wanted to take away every bad memory, every tough part of his life.

At the same time, I couldn’t even imagine the version of him that might exist if he hadn’t had to go through all that. We’d have likely never met.

My life was always destined to be this. I had no other choice, no options outside of this.

“I’ll leave you to your nap. An hour sound fine?”

He’d moved to stand by the bed. At my words, he froze.

“You aren’t leaving,” he said with finality in his tone. “We’re napping together. I don’t trust you to let me sleep, then go off to work on something.”

“Are you serious? Even if I humored your suggestion and stayed in here, I could simply leave once you were asleep. There is nothing to keep me honest if that’s your goal.”

Ricardo frowned as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him. No, I imagine it hadn’t. For a man so ingrained in the mafia life, he didn’t lie about anything. If I were to guess, then I’d say he was honest to a fault.

Perhaps his lies were only for certain things. Maybe I hadn’t been involved in anything yet where he needed to keep the truth from me.

As I pondered this idea, he moved around the bed in my direction. He moved with sure steps, not at all like he was afraid of me or what I could do.

“We are going to bed together. You’re going to stay the whole time or when I wake up I’ll make an effort to fuck up whatever you’re working on. It’s not in my nature to disrupt, but I will fucking do it if you don’t get on that goddamn bed and sleep with me.”

I grinned at the way he became petulant when he didn’t get his way. The bratty behavior matched the sass he’d given me when he arrived.

“You want me to sleep with you? Fine, I will. But there’s something you should know.” I began unbuttoning my shirt slowly. His eyes went to the movement.

“What do I need to know?” he rasped.

I slipped the shirt off, then unbuckled my belt. I loosened it and dropped my pants along with my underwear.

“You should know I sleep naked.”

CHAPTER 11

Ricardo

His cock was gorgeous.

Wait, what?!