POSSESSION [Book 1 - DeLorenzo Desire]

VIII | The Kiss

GRACE

I should stop this.

I really should stop this.

As I felt Giovanni's hands sliding up my thighs, my thoughts of ending our kiss died on the tip of his tongue. I could feel my pulse pounding in my head. I could feel my limbs moving but I had no control over them. My hands slid back up his chest and around his neck. My legs tightened around him and pressed our bodies closer together.

This was the most indecent position I could be in with a man. With my boss. This was the most reckless behaviour I had ever engaged in. This jeopardised everything I was working for. Yet somehow, I loved it.

A strange sensation rolling across my chest finally helped me break the kiss. I could feel him staring at me as I stared at his lips, fascinated by the way he was inhaling my spent breaths.

That sensation spread across my chest again and we both looked down. Giovanni laughed and I looked up at him, brows furrowed.

"Telefono."

"What?"

"When you were taking photos with Angela, you said you wanted your phone close." His hand crept from my thigh, across my hip and up my waist.

"You said something about your purse being a pretty prison and threw it across the booth." His fingers slid between my breasts and my breath caught. I would swear blind I saw his eyes darken as I was looking at them. I froze as his fingers delved into the deep V of my dress and just barely missed brushing my nipple.

"You tucked your phone in here so you'd be... what did you call it again? 'Selfie-ready'?" A moment later he'd pulled it out and I could breathe again.

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about and decided right there and then that I needed water and not whisky after all. I could feel my cheeks heating with embarassment as I thanked him and took my phone. He stared at his hand for a couple of seconds before looking back at me with a smug grin.

I don't think I'd ever seen the arrogant prick look so pleased with himself.

Unnerved, I unlocked my phone and felt my heart sink as I looked at the screen. Four missed calls in the last five minutes. I untangled myself from Giovanni and pushed him away before hitting redial.

He followed me like a shadow as I started to walk away from the music but the call didn't even get to the second ring. I could hear a commotion in the background as she answered.

"Hope, what's wrong? Where are you?"

**********

Regret. Fear. Self-loathing. Stupidity.

My head swam with a wave of negative emotions. When they subsided, the nausea rose up in my throat and threatened to make me redecorate the interior of Luca's coupé.

Giovanni kept looking over at me concerned. I stared out the window and focused on my breathing. I wished he'd just focus on the road. I couldn't deal with this...him right now. I tried to get rid of him, I'm certain I acted like a brat and jeopardised my job but here he was. Speeding towards my house about to witness the train wreck that is my home life.

I was still trying to think of some way out of this. Some way to limit the damage that was about to occur. There was no quicker way to get home but maybe I could have him drop me off a block away and run to the house? Realistically, I wasn't running anywhere in the dress or the heels I had on. Maybe he could drop me off but I tell him to drive off straight away and not look at the house? Maybe I could pretend one of the neighbour's houses was mine until he was a little further up the road? God above, even in my inebriated state I could tell how stupid I sounded. I pondered until his voice pulled me from my thoughts.