Dirty Lies

PLEASE?

There was a knock at the bathroom door.

"Sky," a male voice said softly.

With a racing heart, I flung open the door, allowing Luca to slip inside, locking it behind him while I stared in surprise.

His lips were slanted in a sexy smirk. Before I could speak, Luca pressed me against a wall painted with a mural of green parrots flying over a vineyard. His body was heavy, insistent, and his heat seeped into my every pore.

His lips were fierce and urgent, as he gripped the side of my neck with his hand tighter than ever, and kissed me violently. Tonight, he smelled different, faintly of spice and wood.

"Sky, I can't get you out of my head," he whispered into my ear. "I thought about you nonstop while I was in Miami."

Holy crap, his accent...

He plundered my mouth, and I greedily accepted it, wanting more of his sweet taste.

Luca's other hand wound its way up my dress, and his fingers raked over the thin fabric of my black cotton panties.

I turned my head so he could claim my neck with his mouth, trying not to gasp out loud as he stroked me with a delicate and tantalizing touch. My clit throbbed, and I wanted him touch me, to slide his hand to the perfect spot.

But when I tried to move his hand into my panties, he resisted.

"Please," I whispered, feeling out of control and desperate. "Please?"

Luca shook his head and kept teasing me, brushing his fingers over me with a feather-light touch as he inhaled my neck with ferocity. I pressed my face into his shoulder, biting him was the only way I could keep from crying out loud from pleasure.

And frustration.

Why was he doing this to me here? Did I even care why? I grabbed his head and pulled his lips close, wanting to consume him.

He whispered something in Italian in a raw, low voice.

I rubbed the heel of my hand over his jeans, feeling his hard length under the rough denim. When I folded my arms around his neck, he took his hand from between my legs.

Grinding his hips into mine, I felt only white-hot need as we rocked our bodies together. All I wanted was release.

"Luca..." I gasped, barely able to form words through my thin breaths. "Oh, fuck, Luca."

His lips grazed my neck and rested just underneath my earlobe. It was a good thing he had pinned me to the wall, otherwise I would have crumpled to the floor when he again whispered in my ear with that accent.

"I have actually, physically craved you. It's as if I need you to live, like air or water or food. Ti desidero."

Abruptly, he stopped.

He was grinning. Licking the corner of his mouth, he leaned in for a soft kiss.. I panted and was about to ask him what he was doing when he kissed me again.

"See you tomorrow night at yoga," he whispered in my ear. Then he walked out of the bathroom. Before the door could close, I watched him enter the men's room across the hall.

I was flushed and flustered. My hair was wild. My entire body trembled, and between my legs, I was a wet, slippery mess.

Leaning back on the wall, I tried to catch my breath. Being this intensely sexual was so foreign to me. Never had I felt this with James...or anyone. Luca made me want to unleash every sexual fantasy I had.

Lately, I had lots of them. Tonight would go on the list.

This all-consuming need pushed me to the edge of my comfort zone, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it. I was.

Maybe too much.

I slicked my hair back into a ponytail and put on some red lipstick, hoping to hide the freshly kissed look. Soaping my hands, I ran my wrists under cool water for a long time, hoping the scorching feeling inside me would go away.

Would my friends suspect what happened?

My heart beating double-time, I walked out past the bar and Luca. He tipped his beer to his mouth and caught my eye as he did, but I only allowed that for a second. I didn't want to stare at him because my face would flush even more.

What kind of game was he playing?

I was so turned on, it almost terrified me. Since James, my only real relationship, I aimed for order and predictability, not frenzied groping in bathrooms. Wasn't this exactly what I was looking for? Wasn't this what Emily had suggested, and wasn't it the exact reason I'd demanded Luca be with me exclusively?

When I returned to the table, my coworkers were immersed in an absurd conversation and barely noticed as I sat.

"I am not covering a feature story about the nudist trailer park in Fort Myers. I don't care how much Jill wants me to. I'm not wasting my time on that," said Megan.

"All of the people you don't want to see naked are at the nudist resorts," Kira agreed, her tone matter-of-fact.

"So gross," Megan said before looking at me. "Hey, did you run into Mr. Fuckable on your way to the bathroom? We saw him go down that hall right after you."

"Oh, no. I didn't." I shook my head and hoped the red in my cheeks had receded.

I picked up the wine list and pretended to read. Touching my chin with my index finger, I wondered if Luca's stubble had left a mark, because my skin felt raw. My lips felt raw too. In fact, my entire soul felt hypersensitive and rubbed bare.

"Suuure," said Kira. "It was probably like that scene at the coffee shop in the movie Unfaithful."

I shot her a confused look over the top of the menu. Kira was always talking about movies. She wrote unpaid film reviews for the paper in hopes of someday becoming a critic.

"Did you see that movie? Diane What's-her-name and that handsome French actor? He slips into the coffee shop and screws her senseless as her friends are sitting there unaware. It was so hot."

I shrugged and took a gulp of sangria. Out the corner of my eye I watched Luca toss a few bills on the bar then stride away without giving me a glance.

"Nope. Must have missed that one, Kira."

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