Page 46 of Thiago

“Yes. Really.”

“Okay.” She carefully placed her phone and the coffee on a side table. “Why are you so mean?”

“Is that a real question?” he demanded.

“Yes. When you walk down the halls, staff tremble when they see you. They’re terrified of you.”

“You are exaggerating,” he said, pulling on his pants.

“I’ve seen their reaction with my own eyes. I’m not exaggerating.”

“You are one to talk,” he muttered dismissively.

“I’m tough, but I don’t make people tremble in their shoes.”

“Because you bribe them with macaroons,” Thiago said, looking around for his socks. Where were they?

“You also don’t take criticism well,” India added pointedly.

His head snapped up, and his eyes narrowed at her. She looked right back at him, a challenge in her direct stare.

He resumed the search for his socks and found them in a corner. He picked them up and sat on the bed with his back to her. “I change my mind. I don’t like the direction of this conversation. We should change the subject.”

“That went well,” India said sarcastically.

“If you were not such a smart ass, the conversation would have gone better.” Thiago slipped on his shoes and faced her across the bed. “So what are we going to do now?”

“About what?”

“Your boyfriend.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Silence cracked between them. She was purposely provoking him. Trying to drive him insane.

Thiago studied her for a moment. She had definitely bewitched him because he was about to offer something he hadn’t offered the opposite sex since Kimberly in high school.

He walked over to India, and she eyed him warily, her body going visibly still.

“Did you sleep with the good doctor?” he asked.

“I told you I didn’t.”

“Then it will not be difficult for you to stop seeing him. Cut him off. I will be the only man in your life moving forward.”

“You understand you’re talking about monogamy?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t immediately reply, looking at him as if the words he’d spoken were so foreign to her, she had to ascertain if they were real. “You’re serious.”

“I want you to myself. You want to go out, we will go out like we did last night, and you should wear more dresses like the one you wore to Wine & Bone.”

When her jaw hardened, Thiago guessed she didn’t like what he’d said.

“Please,” he added.

“Was that so hard?”