Page 70 of XOXO, Valentina

“Not exactly.”

“Half-naked?”

My cheeks heated. There were several half-naked men on the cover. I changed the subject instead of answering, sweeping his hair back from his face. “You smile in your sleep.”

He laughed. “You were watching me.”

“A little.”

“You get this cute little line between your eyebrows when you sleep.”

I slapped his hand away when he traced a line between my eyebrows. “That’s called a wrinkle,” I said. “You wouldn’t know about them yet.”

“Neither would you.”

I grimaced. “I’m a lot closer than you are.”

He stroked my cheek. “Do you know you snore?”

“I do not.” Did I?

“It’s more of a whistle, really.” He made a soft noise with his teeth and tongue. “It’s so cute.”

I rolled my eyes, and he made a grab for me and pulled me on top of him. My T-shirt rose up, and his hand found my bare thigh.

“This is cute too.” His voice was husky as he cupped my ass. Hunger blazed in his eyes as he pulled my face down to his and kissed me. “I like running behind you in those tiny shorts you wear.”

“You’re only running behind me because you can’t keep up.”

A laugh burst from his mouth. “We should race again,” he said, toying with the hem of my T-shirt.

The ringing of a phone pierced the air. My heart jerked even though it wasn’t my phone.

Unless there was an emergency at the retreat, Shane wouldn’t be contacting me. And my mother was his emergency contact until I got back to the States.

“That’s yours,” I said.

“Let it ring.” He pushed my hem higher up to my hips. When I stiffened, he stopped and relented. “Check if you must,” he said, releasing me. “Then come right back.”

I leaned over and looked at the screen of his phone. My throat tightened, and I forced the words past my lips. “It’s someone named Angela.”

Joey muttered something under his breath in Spanish and held out his hand, palm up, for his phone. I gave it to him.

“Hola.” He rolled off the bed and walked out onto the balcony.

Jealousy flared in my chest, and black spots swam in my vision. I sat up and tucked the sheet around my waist, watching Joey pad around the terrace. How could I have thought I could be with a man like him?

Angela, Maria, Caroline—the names were piling up. In a way, it made it easier to keep myself from getting too attached. When we got back home, I would recite those names whenever I missed him.

I made up my mind. There would be no more accidental meetings in the break room. No more stolen kisses. No more sleepovers. No more orgasms.

Ugh. I was definitely addicted to those orgasms. I’d become a fiend for them. Even as Joey was talking to another woman on the phone, I imagined his fingers trailing along my heated skin. How was I going to go back to a life without orgasms? And no Joey to give them to me?

The muscles in his shoulders rippled as he leaned on the banister. Despite the fact that he was talking to another woman on the phone, my body reacted to everything that was Joey.God bless Costa Rica. He was sexy from his messy hair to his bare feet. He sauntered back into the room, talking animatedly in heavily accented Spanish thatSpanish for Dummieshadn’t prepared me for. He sat down on the bed next to me and made an exaggerated gesture of impatience at the phone.

“Sí. Te queiro. Adiós.” He swiped his finger across the screen and hung up, then tossed his phone onto the nightstand. “Sorry about that,” he said.

“It’s fine.”It wasn’t fine. My heart was tearing in two. I knew enough Spanish to recognize endearments of love.Te queiro.I love you.Joey was quick to toss the sentiment around. He’d said it to me more than once in the heat of the moment.

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