Page 38 of Love Lessons
Her eyes widen, and her perfect lips part as if for a kiss.
Fuck. I really don’t want to send her away. But I’m still going to. “Meanwhile, I’ll be right here, worked up, picturing all the things I plan to do to you for lesson number two. I sleep naked, by the way. Just so you have that image in your mind.”
Her cheeks pink up, and her eyes do a sweep of my body—head to toe and back again.
I chuckle again, because she’s not even trying to hide it. “Lesson one is about anticipation, sweetheart. There’s no seduction without anticipation. If you’re frustrated right now, then I did the job right.”
She swallows hard, and I can tell she wants to argue. She and I have a great capacity for arguing with each other. And it’s more fun than I’d like to admit.
Still, now is not the time. I raise one finger to her lips and press it there. “Shh. Lesson one is over. Tomorrow is a new day, contessa. And we’ll both be ready for lesson two. Okay?” I trace a line around her top lip and hear her breath shudder again. The sound goes straight to my dick.
Vera blinks up at me, wide-eyed. Then she nods.
“All right, then. Goodnight.” And now I should close the door between us. But nobody moves. So I lean in slowly, my eyes on her mouth. Her lips part in pure anticipation.
With self-control that I didn’t even know I possess, I swerve at the last second and kiss the underside of her jaw.
“Anticipation,” I whisper. “It’s a powerful thing.”
“Y-yes, it is,” she breathes.
“Goodnight, contessa. Go ahead and take the first turn in our bathroom. You know you want to.”
She gives me a watery smile as I take a step back and gently close my door.
A moment later I hear her door open and shut. And then I hear the sink flip on as Vera brushes her teeth.
Carefully, I unbutton my new shirt. I can’t believe she took it apart and put it back together again. The girl has mad skills. I hang it up and admire it for a moment. It’s been a long time since anyone did something so caring for me. Alongtime.
I walk over to my bed and faceplant onto it, my cock hard against the comforter, my senses screaming.
I sure am looking forward to tomorrow.
* * *
Around ten o’clock,I wake to the sound of someone knocking on the door. “It’s yoga time!” Drake’s voice calls. “Get up, sleepy.”
I let out a monstrous groan, but then I sit up anyway. I slept without bad dreams—one night in a row. This is possibly because it’s only four a.m. in New York right now. Maybe I just didn’t get around to the nightmare yet.
“You coming?” my teammate calls.
“Yup,” I grunt. Physical exercise, even when tired, is something an athlete knows how to appreciate. If I move around right now, my body might forget it’s jetlagged.
I dress quickly and head downstairs, where sunlight is streaming through the windows of the villa. I’m wondering where to find my crew. The house is all marble and finery, and there’s no obvious place for a yoga class.
Then I spot movement outside the kitchen window—they’re all out on the side lawn, unrolling matching blue yoga mats. I count heads as I cross the expanse of grass in bare feet. I’m the ninth to arrive.
“We’re all here,” Fiona says. “Aly is sleeping in. She says she isn’t into yoga.”
“Or bendy athletes in spandex?” Heidi Jo asks.
“Not this early,” Fiona says. “But I’m down. Let’s do this.”
I grab a mat from the instructor’s basket and unroll it at the back of the group. Vera’s glossy ponytail is in the front row. And somehow—it’s unintentional, I swear—I have a perfect view of her ass as we start in child’s pose on our mats. She’s dressed in a closely fitted yoga top in a purplish color and matching leggings with a cloud-like pattern on them. Her hair is smooth and glossy. And if I’m not mistaken, she’s even matched her lipstick to her outfit. She looks like an extra in an exercise video—too pristine to actually sweat.
In contrast, I am wearing a pair of joggers with a hole in the knee and a T-shirt so old you can practically see through it.
We are a study in contrasts. But my libido thinks she’s exactly my type. That whole opposites-attract thing seems to be working for us.
