Page 34 of Thorns of Desire

I felt him smile against my skin. “Then why are you touching me like your life depends on it?”

He was right—my hands were running down his chest, around his back, while he palmed my ass. I didn’t stop. My body was acting of its own volition.

“It’s just—” I moaned as he cupped me between my legs and my body arched into his touch. My breasts tingled as he ran his tongue across my nipple over the fabric of my shirt. “It’s just physical.”

He ran a thumb across the goose bumps on my arm and chuckled. “You can lie to yourself, but not to me.”

His presence cornered me against the wall and his wide shoulders blocked the view of anyone who might potentially stumble upon us. But it was his cologne that was intoxicating, his dark gaze pulling me into oblivion.

I inhaled slowly. Released it.

I couldn’t fall under his spell. I had to keep my wits about me. “How did you find me?”

“You first,” he murmured, resting his thigh between my legs and grinning as my traitorous body ground against it. “Why did you leave my bed?”

Telling him the truth was out of the question.

“I told you,” I breathed, the feel of his leg beneath me making it difficult to form words. “I just wanted you for one night.”

The lie hung thick and heavy in the air.

“You and I both know that wasn’t the last of it.”

He braced a hand on the wall above me, crowding me. I couldn’t think like this.

“My turn,” I said, subtly pressing him away. “How did you find me?”

“I didn’t,” he said softly, his grin turning wolfish. “Turns out,yourfriend Isla is marrying my nephew. I’m here to fetch her friends.”

And then it clicked—Isla’s hot Italian daddy was Enrico Marchetti.

Oh. My. God.

This world was too fucking small.

FOURTEEN

MANUEL

The world was a small place indeed.

I hadn’t expected to find Athena on the list of friends I was sent to chauffeur.

Of course, if I hadn’t missed Reina Romero’s show, I probably would have been less surprised. And come to think of it, some of these girls looked very similar to the ones Athena had been laughing and dancing with that fateful night.

My gaze was focused on the road as the girls chatted in the back seat. Amadeo sat next to me, grinning like a fool, smashed between four women in variations of pink and lace, while Enzo opted to keep some dignity and sit in the passenger’s seat.

It took the women almost a whole hour to get ready, drawing Enzo and Amadeo out of the car and up to the apartment to see what was taking so long. The three of us ended up sitting in the small living room, watching the commotion of women as they all scrambled to use one bathroom to make themselves presentable.

It was a good thing Enrico sent the dresses for the four women or they would have taken days to get ready.

Of course, Isla’s sudden wedding was a surprise to all of them, but they must have at least known about Enrico because I kept hearing them mumbling jokes about a “hot Italian daddy.” However, it was apparent nobody knew about Athena’s little hookup with me, and I was happy to keep it that way.

There were a lot of oohs and aahs, but Athena kept mostly quiet, inserting a word or two occasionally, barely maintaining her composure with the frozen smile on her face while her gaze flicked to me every so often.

I couldn’t keep the smug smile off my own face.

While I waited for the girls to get ready, I sent Ghost a message and was eager to hear back from him. I was sure he’d come back to me with everything on my little escape artist. In the meantime, I’d do some of my own research as well.