I frown, confused. “What are you talking about?” Why do his words sound eerily familiar?
“Don’t play, coy, it makes every woman ugly.” Elio reaches into his suit jacket and pulls out his phone before scrolling down to a message sent a few days ago…a very familiar message. “You’re the one who wanted to meet, baby girl. Well, now I’m here.”
My eyes widen in pure horror, as I look at the messages…they’re sexts…my sexts.
But how…?
The room seems to spin around me as I realize the horrifying truth. Paul isn’t coming.
All this time, I’d been sexting Elio, not Paul. My heart pounds wildly against my chest, and I struggle to draw breath.
I must have confused their numbers, but how did I do something so stupid?
The night that I was drunk?! I had both of their numbers in my pocket. I had to have grabbed the wrong one and texted Elio.
But the most surprising thing is…he’d actually texted me back.
My ex’s dad sexted me back.
He wanted me just as much as I wanted him.
17
STELLA
I’ve been sexting my ex’s dad.
I can’t stop the words from repeating in my head over and over again. I wonder how many women have made the same mistake? Probably none.
“Stella, come here.” His voice is soft, but there’s a demanding undertone to them, one that I feel my body react to immediately.
Since when do I find commanding guys attractive?Only when their name is Elio Lombardi apparently.
I don’t move from my spot. I can’t, or I’ll risk making some kind of mistake. “Look,” I say, mustering all the courage within me, “there’s been a mixup. Those messages you received... they weren’t meant for you.”
Elio arches an eyebrow, and though I think I detect a flicker of disappointment, it’s quickly masked with another disarming smirk. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” I reply, swallowing hard. “It was an accident, and I apologize if it led you to believe something else. That night, I’d been drinking, and I was trying to talk to someone else.”
“Hm.” He nods, not seeming alarmed in the slightest. “I’d say I’m an upgrade then.”
My eyebrows furrow. “How could you know? You haven’t seen the other guy.”
“I don’t have to,” he laughs, standing up and erasing the distance between the two of us. “I saw the look in your eyes when you saw me. There’s no competition. Even if you didn’t know it was me you were talking to, you can’t deny how you feel about me.”
My breath hitches, and, for some reasons, words seem to fail me. How could he know how I feel about him when I still haven’t fully figured it out yet?
Elio leans in closer, his breath hot against my ear. “You know,” he whispers, “I’m almost glad those messages were sent to me instead of whoever they were meant for. I enjoyed reading every one of them.”
My heart races, but I don’t dare move. The way he speaks, the sultry tone of his voice, has a magnetic pull. It’s as if I’m caught in his gravitational field, unable to escape.
“Ever since that day, Stella, I’ve been thinking about your body,” he confesses, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear. “The things I could do to you... You have no idea, but you will soon, baby girl.”
I try to ignore the heat that rises within me at his words, but it’s impossible. My cheeks flush and my pulse quickens, betrayingmy resolve. As much as I want to push him away, there’s a part of me that craves what he’s offering – a taste of the forbidden.
Elio backs me up against the wall, his gaze never leaving mine. My breath hitches as our bodies come into contact, separated only by the thin layers of clothes we’re wearing. He moves one hand to rest on the wall beside my head, effectively trapping me.
Is there something so wrong about being trapped?