The Avoidance of Love (The Daniels' Sisters Book 2) (10 page)

It was at that point that I saw him look down and realize that I was shouting at him in only a towel. A predatory gaze appeared in his eyes and I suddenly felt very naked and very vulnerable. He focused on the small amount of cleavage that was visible from the way I had wrapped the fluffy white towel around my body. He licked his lips and I couldn’t help but mimic the action, which caused his attention to move to my mouth. He took a step closer; I didn’t realize I was retreating until the back of my legs hit the bed. I stiffened, so I didn’t land flat on my back. His arms shot out and his hands grabbed me and pulled me closer to him. I clung to my towel to make sure it didn’t fall.

“I will do everything I can just to piss you off at least once a day if that’s how you react. It has to be the hottest thing that I have ever seen a woman do.” He took one of my hands away from the towel, and even though I didn’t know what he was going to do, I let him. He moved my hand down, so it was resting on the huge erection he was sporting. I gasped slightly, but I didn’t move my hand away.

“One day, I’m going to get those lips of yours around my cock, Mara, but not before I’ve pleasured you in every way possible so that you’re ruined for all men except for me.” His hand began snaking underneath the bottom of my towel, and I shivered when I felt a finger stroke along the entrance to my core; it was now soaking wet and it wasn’t from the shower. He groaned and leaned his head down on my shoulder.

“Mara, you are so fucking wet. Please, tell me now that this is all because of me.” He continued to stroke me with one finger mercilessly. I couldn’t have spoken if I’d wanted to. His finger entered me so excruciatingly slow I thought I was going to die from pleasure. That was before he entered a second and then a third finger. “I want to hear you say it, Mara.”

I opened my mouth to say something; God knows what. Then he rubbed my clit with just the right amount of pressure that everything exploded, my legs buckled and I experienced an orgasm so intense that, on any other day, I would believe was impossible to experience. Jace scooped me up before I could fall and gently placed me on the center of the bed.

Our eyes locked when he lay next to me. I felt him peel away the towel and his gaze travelled down the length of my body before he looked into my eyes once more. “You’re beautiful, you know that.” He brought his fingers to his lips; I assumed they were the ones that he had brought me to my knees with, and sucked them one by one. “Inside and out.” I almost came again at his words and the sight of him sucking my juices off his fingers.

I thought he would stop there. A part of me was hoping. A very small, insignificant part of me was hoping, and it just walked out the room with my common sense.

His lips brushed against my collarbone, and I shivered in anticipation. I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anything in my life. I wanted him next to me, on top of me, and most importantly, inside me.

He leaned down to kiss me, lightly nipping my lower lip before he possessed my mouth like it was the last time he would ever kiss again. My arms came up of their own volition and held him closer. Banging on the door made us both freeze. He smiled down at me, “Are you expecting someone?”

I couldn’t help but return his smirk. “Don’t be silly. I don’t know anyone here but you, and I haven’t ordered room service.”

“Jace, are you in there?” That was Brielle’s voice. A bucket of ice-cold water came crashing down on me, snapping back into reality. What the fuck was I doing? I pushed Jace off me and scrambled off the bed.

“You should answer that.” I practically ran back to the bathroom as fast as my feet could carry me and shut the door.

I could hear Brielle’s giggle from the other side of the door and I was able to make out something about the guys looking for him, and he needed to go and get ready. I waited until I heard the door shut again and turned on the shower just in case he was still in my room, just to let him know I wouldn’t be coming out for a while. I heard him stop outside the door. I imagined he was contemplating whether to knock or not.

“BonBon?”

I pretended I couldn’t hear him and eventually he left.

After I showered again to wash the scent of Jace off my body, I quickly got dressed and left the hotel. I was ready to explore just as I had planned before Jace had come to my room. I could get some design ideas and clear him out of my head before dinner later. Hopefully.

AS A SPECIAL guest of Jace Bryce, the hotel arranged for a local tour guide who spoke English to take me wherever I wanted to go. When the tour guide arrived, it took me several minutes to find the vehicle he was proposing to drive me around in. At first glance, it didn’t look safe enough to be on the ground. On my last glance, my opinion hadn’t changed, but you know what they say about a beggar and choice. A small consolation was that he was extremely cute. Tall, dark, and handsome sprang to mind, although I could tell he was a few years younger than I was. As long as he was over eighteen, I didn’t see why I couldn’t shamelessly ogle him in the car.

He introduced himself as Alex and informed me that we would be starting our tour at the museums. I have to admit I was more than excited. I had never been to Italy before and Florence had been on my list of places to visit. It wasn’t a holiday, but this was as close as I had been to one. I had my camera—that Tara had bought for my thirtieth birthday—in my bag. She had picked the best one based on her research, and it was perfect for cataloguing images that would help with my designs.

The museums were beautiful and the architecture absolutely inspiring. I had never seen anything like this in my life. I could have spent the whole day just here, but I knew I didn’t have enough time. Just when I had accepted that it was time for me to move on, my stomach growled remind me that I hadn’t eaten at all today.

“You have not eaten?” Alex was closer than I had realized. He had followed me around for the better part of the day, insisting that he would keep me safe since I was exploring alone. I shook my head at his statement. “A beautiful woman like you should take better care of herself. Come, I will take you somewhere very nice to eat.”

“That would be lovely.”

I followed Alex through the streets, occasionally wondering to myself if he was taking me to his gang of sex slave traders to ship to me to some drug lord to join his harem of other stolen women. Yet, I was blindly following him.

We eventually came to an al fresco restaurant that seemed very busy. I was hungry now and I didn’t want to wait all day to be seated, and then for the food to arrive.

“Wait here, beautiful. I’m just going to get us a table.”

Less than five minutes later, Alex came back out, followed by two waiters carrying a table and a chair. They placed them both next to the other tables and went inside.

“They’ll be back out to dress the table in a minute.”

“How did you manage to get them to bring out an extra table?”

Alex chuckled. “It wasn’t hard. This is my cousin’s restaurant. He owes me a very big favor, so this is nothing.”

He gestured at me to sit once the waiters had laid the table. The menu seemed very traditional, and Alex assured me that the food was really good and the reason it was so busy.

When our food arrived, a lot sooner than I had anticipated, it was so good I could have sat there and eaten all day. Alex laughed at the surprise on my face when I took my first mouthful of pappardelle with boar sauce.

“This is heaven. What do they put in this? Crack?”

“Crack?” Alex looked perplexed.

“A drug.”

“Oh,” he laughed, shaking his head. “No, just good ingredients that come from my farm.” Now I was confused.

“You own a farm? I thought you were a tour guide.” Alex was still smiling while I connected farming to being a tour guide.

“It’s a family farm. It was my grandfather’s but my dad didn’t want to take it on. He is an accountant, so he oversees the farm finances. I grew up on the farm, and I love it, so it was natural for me to take over.”

“And the tour guiding thing?”

“Just a hobby. Before I took over the farm, I used to work for some of the smaller hotels acting as a tour guide for their guests. It’s fun, and it means I get to sightsee myself. It’s always good to keep in touch with what is happening in the city. I have help on the farm, so if it’s quiet I help the local hotels out.”

About an hour later, his cousins joined us. I thought Alex was very good looking, but his cousin Max was something else entirely. Max was much taller and muscular. Stubble covered his face and he couldn’t have been much older than Alex. They were very similar in looks and could easily pass for brothers. Max sat down with his brothers, Gio and Nico, along with several bottles of wine.

“I couldn’t possibly drink anymore.” I shook my hand in front of my glass to let them know not to pour anything. They paid no mind to what I said and poured anyway. Alex leaned in, even though he didn’t whisper.

“It is very rude to decline the offering.”

“I didn’t mean to.” I really hadn’t meant to be rude this time. I had enjoyed their food, and I had really enjoyed Alex’s company. For the first time in weeks, I felt at ease.

“Drink up, pretty lady,” Max bellowed.

As soon as the wine touched my lips, I groaned. I had never tasted anything so good. It was fruity and fresh. I drained my glass within seconds and held it out for more. I finished two more glasses just as quickly. I heard Nico giggle at me.

“Alex, have you picked up an alcoholic stray today?”

I frowned in his direction. I was neither an alcoholic nor a stray.

“If you can’t handle a girl who likes her drink, that’s your problem, but I do not appreciate being called an alcoholic or a stray.” Nico looked a little stunned, but I wasn’t interested in hearing a response from him either. I turned back to Max and held out my glass. All of them finally laughed and Max filled my glass once more.

The brothers were in a similar position to Alex. They had taken over their father’s restaurant, and also owned a small vineyard near Alex’s farm that produced the wine I was chugging like water. All three of them were trained chefs, but it was Gio, the quiet one out of the bunch, that was head chef.

“So you enjoyed the food, pretty lady?” Gio asked me quietly and I was definitely beginning to feel the effects of all the wine I’d downed. He was far less raucous than his brothers were. He seemed to enjoy observing their antics and laughing at them rather than getting involved or initiating a joke. Max was loud and very proud of that fact, whereas Nico was the jokester of the pack.

“The food was delicious. I’ve never tasted anything like it.” Gio signaled a waiter to bring over some more appetizers. “It’s a shame the actual restaurant doesn’t match the quality of the food.” Max immediately sat upright as though I had slapped him.

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with our restaurant?”

“What’s right with it? It’s an architect’s nightmare! Just look around. I mean I know there’s a rustic look that some places go for, but this is just old and dilapidated. Not a good look.” Max was starting to go red in his face. I’d like to blame the wine for my bluntness, but I had never been one to be diplomatic about my thoughts when it came to architecture and design.

Nico started to laugh and Gio’s shoulders were also shuddering while he shook his head. “I told you, brother that we needed to update the restaurant. Just be thankful the pretty lady pointed it out to you so clearly.”

“Ok, pretty lady. What would you do with the place?”

I outlined my ideas for the restaurant while I wrapped my lips around more of the food. I’d never really designed anything commercial, but my day in Florence really inspired me.

“Hmmmm. You have some good ideas. When are you going to start?”

“Pardon me?”

“You’ve made your suggestions. I like them. When are you going to start making our restaurant look like your vision?”

“I can’t just start like that. And this is just a conversation. A general chit chat, so to speak. You can’t be serious.”

“Pretty lady, I never joke about our restaurant.”

“You leave your details when you go back with Alex, and we will talk more seriously when you are ready. I will be waiting, so if you do not contact me, I will come and find you.” If it weren’t for the fact he was smiling, I would have taken what he said as a threat. My back was already bristling.

When I couldn’t eat any more, I sat back and watched them all chat with each other before a question popped into my head and I couldn’t help but ask.

“Which one of you owes Alex the massive favor and what is it?” Alex couldn’t contain his laughter, but all the brothers looked embarrassed and sheepish. Finally, Nico spoke up.

“Technically, we all owe him a favor, but it’s my fault. I stole his girlfriend, whom he might have been engaged to at the time. Although the way I see it, I did him a favor, so he should owe me.” Now they were all laughing again.

“Can you explain?”

Alex had been dating a young girl who he didn’t particularly love but as he had been with her for so long, he thought the right thing to do was ask her to marry him. He didn’t know that his cousin Nico was also dating her. The girl was playing them both because she didn’t know they were related. He went on to share the story of how the girl was caught and how the brothers and their cousin had covered for each other.