Penny For An Italian Thought

Part 15: The Deal

He had found the files! I really didn't know if I could wait until the next day to meet Jack. I had found one thing that could be the key to my freedom. Now, all I needed was a hacking expert. Chloe worked in IT and was a software engineer, but I didn't know if I could tell her. More importantly, could I trust her? Burke did say that he had help from the IT department, but he also said that Chloe wasn't part of it. Could he be lying? I don't know. But Chloe was one of my closest friends. I was there with her through her parents' divorce. She was a girl of principles and I didn't think that Chloe was capable of cheating. I didn't know any other person with a skill in software and coding. Maybe I could talk to her and not indulge in the details. So I decided, I was going to ask Chloe for help.

     I heard a door open and out came Alex wearing - nothing! Just a towel around his waist! His hair were dripping from the shower and my gaze dropped to his perfectly chiselled front. From his shoulder to his waist, the man was sculpted to perfection. His abs were prominent enough for my fingers to twitch for a feel of them. His v-shaped torso entered the towel with such grace that a gym freak would blush. He crossed his arms across his chest making me stop my drooling stare and look at his grinning face. Uh-oh, he had seem me drooling at his over the top, perfect physique.

"Like what you see? Not that I can blame you."

That smug, arrogant, egotistical brat! I jumped out of my trance and turned my back to him as blush crept into my cheeks.

"Go and put some clothes on! Don't you have any manners? Do you always roam naked in front of your guests?"

     I was so utterly embarrassed to be caught staring for what seemed like an eternity. Ugh, good looking men and their irresistible...

Stop! He isn't that good looking! You were just taken by surprise by his half nakedness. No one is that good looking.

"Hey, if you cannot control yourself, I have a perfectly comfortable bed where we could, you know..."

     This man was so much of himself, that I would have taken pleasure in throwing a vase at him.

Take a deep breath, Bree.

"About that, we need to set some boundaries."

I was slowing turning around to face him. I was sure that my face looked like a turnip.

"Brianna, I was joking."

I was facing him now, but I mostly looked at my feet while talking about this embarrassing topic.

"You were, but seeing that this is going way too fast, we won't go any further than, um,  kissing, till I am ready for anything. We are going to live under the same roof for a few days, which is why this rule is the need of the hour."

     He frowned at that and looked deep in thought for a while. Then his lips curved into a half sided smile. That meant he had a thing in mind.

"We'll see about that."

"No, none of that seeing deal. You have to promise. Or else I'm leaving. I'm better of with David and Ellie."

"I promise."

He really had a weird grin thing going on and I just couldn't believe his promise.

"You have to shake on it." I put my hand forward for him to shake.

"That's not how I seal a deal, cara." He moved forward to seal it with a kiss.

"You're forgetting the promise already. We're alone and you know where this could lead. Shake on it now."