What would Danny do?
She’d crack a joke.
“I’m a decent and proper woman. So I only show my body to men who ask me to marry them first. You should see my collection of diamond rings.”
He laughed. “In that case…marry me.”
“Got a ring?”
“I’m sure I can get you one.”
“Make it outrageously big. Okay?”
He laughed. “I find you very refreshing, Lily. So unlike these other women here, obsessed with their looks.”
“Oh now, I bet you say that to all the girls.” The fugly ones.
“I don’t.”
I stopped moving and stared at him. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
I had to admit, I felt extremely damned flattered. Like…amazingly flattered. I wouldn’t go to bed with him, but I’d certainly ask for his number. That was what I was supposed to do right? Damn, I’m like in dating kindergarten.
“Thank you, Patricio. And I mean that from the very fiber of my being.”
He looked at me with a peculiar expression. “Why are you thanking me?”
I bit my lip and looked away, unable to feel the same candid comfort I felt with Maxwell Cole.
“Lily?” Patricio pushed.
“No one has ever—”
“Lily, it’s time to go.” Maxwell Cole stood next to us, straightening his tie in a manner that could threaten a matador.
I looked at him, then at Patricio, and again at Cole. “Sorry?”
“Krissy texted. She has the flu and isn’t coming.”
“And?” I asked expectedly.
His hard gaze didn’t waver. “And we have an early flight.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I dropped my hand from Patricio’s steamy grip.
“Thank you for the unforgettable night,” I said.
Patricio bobbed his head. “Likewise, Lily.”
“Miss Snow?” Mr. Cole’s voice was stern and angry. No, I didn’t understand why.
I flashed him a look. “Be right there, sir.”
Mr. Cole walked toward the door, and I took the opportunity to dig into my evening bag for one of my cards. “If you’re ever in Chicago?”
He took the card and shoved it into his pocket. “You will be the first person I call.”
I had to admit, the thought made me all bubbly. “Great. Don’t forget the ring.” I smiled and walked toward the doorway. The toxic vibe left behind by Mr. Cole stuck in the air all around me. When I arrived to the limo awaiting curbside, I found the world’s most irate man simmering in the backseat.
“What the hell is with you?” I fumed the moment the door closed.
It took only a second for the volcano to erupt, but it came, spewing its ugliness all over me. “What’s with me, Miss Cole, is your lack of discretion.”
“Are you referring to the fact that I danced with Patricio?”
“And Franco,” he added accusatorially, poking his index finger into the leather seat between us.
My mouth launched into the customary offended position. “Are you criticizing me for dancing?”
“Your behavior represents mine, Miss Snow.” He straightened his tie. “The public display of pelvic grinding isn’t an image I’d like my company to portray.”
Was that the real reason, because…“Your fondling that woman in the dark corner is all right, though?” Okay, she’d been fondling him, but still.
“You’re here for me. Not the other way around.”
“What the hell is the matter with you?” He was acting like some strange possessive dictator.
“Did I not just make that clear? I brought you to Milan to establish business connections, not to throw yourself at our clients or make a drunk ass out of yourself with men.”
Wow. Just…fucking wow. “So you think because you find me disgusting to look at, that it’s impossible for anyone to want me.”
He shook his head and glanced out the window, his jaw pulsing.
“I’m sure you’ll find this shocking,” I said, “but I wasn’t doing the hitting tonight; they were. Not everyone is hung up on my face or is trying to push me down for something I can’t help. It is possible for men to actually like me.” Although, that had not been my experience prior to tonight, and I still hardly believed any of it myself.
He turned his head to shoot me a furious look. “Is that really your aspiration—to be wanted for a quick fuck by a man like Patricio who screws anything that walks? I thought you had higher goals in life, Miss Snow.”
What. The. Hell? I couldn’t believe the words coming from his mouth. It was as if he’d abandoned all sense of rational thought. And where did he get off judging me like that? Or Patricio, for that matter?
“And now you’re angry because that guy wants to fuck me,” I fumed. “Seriously, Max? Seriously? How many women have you been with?”
He didn’t have to reply because his face said it all.
“That’s what I thought,” I said. “But you were my first. My first kiss, my first suck, my first anything, and I’ll point out that I’m still a virgin—which is pretty damned stupid given my age. So you’ll have to excuse me if I ignore everything that just came out of your pompous, self-righteous mouth. You have no clue what it’s like to be me or what it feels like to want things you’ll never have or to get a thrill from a little attention because I know in my heart that’s all I’ll ever get. So yeah, I wouldn’t mind a good-looking guy like Patricio taking me back to his place for a night of cheap sex.” I threw up my hands. “Sounds fucking awesome to me!”
He stared with a livid expression, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
“Don’t!” I pointed my finger in his face. “Don’t you dare get angry with me for wanting to be wanted.”
“I’m not,” he growled bitterly.
“Fuck you. Yes, you are.”
“I’m angry because I want you,” he barked.
I stopped breathing.
“How’s it possible, Lily?” he seethed, his hazel eyes filling with an unfathomable hardness. “How is it possible for me to want someone like you as much as I do?”
The mixed emotions poured in. He said he’d wanted me for more than “therapy,” and the thought struck me hard—pulse spinning out of control, skin tingling with excitement, my core producing an overwhelming sensation of throbs and aches begging for one thing and one thing only. Him inside me. On the other hand, the way he’d delivered the message—shock and disbelief that someone so great as him could genuinely want me—was a fucking insult. On the other hand—yes, I’ve got three hands—he was right; a man like him, with a stranger-than-hell phobia, feeling an attraction for me was pretty damned crazy. Or amazingly twisted and masochistic.
I swallowed the shock and excitement. “Someone really smart once told me that if I wanted something, I had to get my hands dirty.”
“You think it’s that easy?” he growled in a way that made his words sound more like “I already know that; don’t be an idiot,” which really made me mad.
“Yeah. I do,” I snarled back. “You big pussy.”
I don’t think I’d ever called a person that name for real—maybe just my brother in jest—but I’d definitely have to use it more often. Because I’d never seen a human being more pissed off as Mr. Cole was right then and there. Like he wanted to grab me and tear me a new one.
Finally! Something that gets under your skin. The “p” word!
“Don’t ever speak to me like that, Lily,” he said, his eyes narrowed on my face, his pulse ticking away on his neck.
But that only made me want to push his buttons harder. I wanted him to snap, explode, lose his cool polished exterior and show me a little of those uncivilized claws he’d tried to bring out in me.
I leaned in, staring into his sexy, fury-filled eyes. “I call it like I see it, Mr. Cole. And right now, I see a fucking coward. I bet the only reason you’re holding back is because you’re afraid I’ll laugh when your dick goes limp.”