Damn this man.
“And I wanted to spend time with you,” he murmured against her lips, his forehead touching hers, “because I don’t do that enough.”
“We spend all day together. We’re living in the same place, and we don’t leave it often, if at all.”
“It’s not enough. It’s easy to be with you, Ginevra. Too easy.”
Yeah, she understood the feeling well.
And still when she looked in his eyes, she was sure something else lingered there, too. His need to have someone else with them, too, but that person wasn’t there.
Which was also strange ...
Because she felt that, too.
What were these men doing to her?
10.
Alessio
“I want coffee.”
Alessio didn’t bother to look up from a new set of knives Corrado had laid out across the desk for him to admire. “Then, make one.”
“No, from that place down the street.”
Corrado peeked up at Alessio to smile. “Ah, the café down the block. She thought it was cute when we drove past yesterday.”
“Yeah,” Ginevra said in the doorway, “that place. Can I walk down—”
“No,” Alessio said.
“But ... it’s a block away. And no one even knows I’m here.”
Alessio turned away from the knives all at once, done with them now that something better had his attention. Ginevra, that was. “If you want to walk down to the café, then that’s what we’ll do. Let’s find your coat.”
“You’re busy.”
“And Corrado’s middle name is Paul,” Alessio said, because it was as ridiculous as her statement. “What does it matter? Now, I’m not busy. Let’s go.”
He didn’t give her the chance to argue it further before heading past her in the doorway with a wave that demanded for her to follow. He wasn’t so busy that he couldn’t come back to the damn knives another day, no matter how nice they were. If she wanted coffee from the place down the block, then that’s what they would do.
“Pick me up one of those Danishes!” Corrado called after him.
“Diabetes in a paper bag, got it.”
“Fuck off, Les.”
“But not a lie.”
“Wait for me,” Ginevra muttered, jogging to catch up with Alessio in the hallway. “I’m just saying, I could have walked down by myself.”
“And then if something happened—”
“It wouldn’t.”
Alessio shrugged. “Well, it won’t now. Will it?”
She huffed in the front hallway.
He pulled her coat from the hook and handed it to her with a grin.
“Besides,” he added, “I need a walk.”
“What, like a restless puppy?”
His grin turned playful in a blink.
“Exactly like that.”
Mostly.
“Really?” she asked.
Alessio made a noise under his breath. “Listen, if I can’t fuck my issues out, I might as well walk them out, huh?”
Ginevra’s cheeks pinked.
God.
He had no clue how this woman was both innocent and sexy.
“Let’s go,” he said, yanking open the penthouse door.
“Should we get you a leash?”
Her teasing tone had him shaking his head. The sassiness, though? Definitely his favorite.
• • •
“Les?”
“Hmm?”
The sky, a bright blue for the second of September, stayed clear overhead. He hadn’t been spending enough time outside.
When Ginevra didn’t respond to his prompt, Alessio gave her all of his attention. He didn’t miss how she tried to avoid his gaze by using her to-go cup of coffee as a shield in front of her face when she sipped from it.
“Ginevra, what is it?”
She peeked over at him. “Well ...”
“Say whatever, woman.”
“Why haven’t you kissed me since the day in the library?”
Alessio blinked, surprised at the question. “I’m ... not sure.”
“Oh.”
Her dimmed tone made a tightness clench in his chest. Mostly because, to him, the sound echoed with rejection. She had to realize that was the furthest thing from the case with him and her, and Corrado.
“Is that what you want?” he asked.
Ginevra laughed and glanced away. “I asked why, if you might have a reason.”
“And that’s not an answer to my question, Ginny.”
“Because I don’t know, either.”
Alessio chuckled, stepping closer to her side as they continued their walk down the street. Close enough to wrap an arm around her side, hold tight to her waist, and pull her into his body. Like this, he was able to press a quick kiss to her temple, which he did to have the softness of her skin and her scent against his lips.
Only a tease.
A promise.
A hint of what he wanted to do.
“I’ve been busy unpacking my shit,” Alessio murmured against her skin, tightening his hold on her waist, “and it had nothing to do with you on a personal level. Your presence, yes, but not you. But yes, I think about you, and what I would like from you, often.”
“Do you?”
“More than I should—feelings make things dangerous, Ginevra.”
“It always comes back to that for you, right?”
“Pardon?”
“How you feel, or what feeling something might do to you.”
He stiffened.
She wasn’t wrong.
“Yes,” he said, “and I needed to make sure what happened here, with you, had nothing to do with him.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t want to have you only because he does, Ginny. And I wasn’t sure if that’s what was happening here, or not.”
She stopped their walk, turning, so both faced each other. He didn’t mind because now he saw her eyes, and she had all his attention. His truths were always in his stare.
He wanted her to know.
All of it.
“Maybe I lied,” she whispered.
Alessio arched a brow. “Oh? Hard to believe.”
“I want you to kiss me, and more, but this is overwhelming, and confusing for me. It’s easier for me to do the simple thing because I don’t have to overthink, or worry about the consequences of what this all means. And—”
Quite enough of that.
Her rambling.
He only needed I want you to kiss me, and would happily give her what she wanted. Right fucking now, honestly. Alessio liked to give everyone their space, but especially this woman and Corrado because shit was easier.
He was tired of easy.
The only way the three of them might figure this out was if they closed all the distance and opened every single door. Wide open, right?
Yeah.
Alessio leaned down and grazed his lips against Ginevra’s with a gentle kiss. At first. Enough to taste her, and the lingering bitter sweet coffee she’d been sipping on during their walk. And that’s all it took for her to inch closer, for her hand to snake up against his stomach before her palm laid flat to his chest, pressing hard.
Not to move him back, no.