She laughed softly. “Possibly to torture men when they are required to make the bed in the morning.”
He made a rude sound and backed out of the room. “Sleep well. I’ll see you when you’re feeling more rested.”
With that, he disappeared and Brianna was left to explore the beautiful room by herself.
She looked at the bed, smiling at how inviting it looked. She thought she would just lie down for a few minutes but as she snuggled up among the pillows, she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. The stress of the past few days, plus the challenge of keeping up with Rocco left her exhausted.
A bit later, Rocco looked at his watch and smiled with anticipation. His lovely houseguest had been sleeping for two hours. He probably should let her sleep a bit longer, but he was eager to see her bright, cheerful smile again. And hopefully hold her soft, delectable body in his arms once more.
He opened the door to the room and looked in on her, spotting her curled up among the pillows. Again, he was struck by how fairy-like she seemed. With her eyes closed, her long, dark lashes fanned out against her pale skin. And those lips were just too enticing to resist. Bending low, he intended to just kiss her softly to wake her up. But when her lips moved against his, he couldn’t pull away. Her hand even came up, holding his head in place.
Rocco braced his arms on the mattress on either side of her, keeping his body apart but enjoying her kiss, following her lead.
He knew the instant she woke up more fully and deepened the kiss, enjoying the way her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer. He groaned when her body curled against his, her leg shifting so she was cradling his erection against her warm body.
A man could only take so much enticement, he thought with regret. And he was reaching his limit quickly. “Brianna, if you don’t mean what you’re doing to me, then you have to stop.”
She was slow to react, her eyes fluttering open and her body arching against his slightly. But as soon as reality hit her, she froze, her eyes focusing up into his.
“Oh goodness,” she gasped. Those soft, tender hands that had been fluttering against his skin quickly fell away and Rocco almost groaned at how fast she tried to wiggle away from him.
He stood up and looked down at her, trying to get his body back under control. “I only came up to see if you were hungry for some lunch,” he said, noticing that his voice sounded deeper than normal.
Brianna looked up at him, blushing as her eyes caught on his body’s reaction and she was ashamed. “Lunch,” she said as if testing the word and the idea. She licked her lips, unaware that his passion filled eyes were watching her every movement. “Um…yes,” she thought quickly. “Lunch would be very nice. Thank you.”
He stepped backwards but grabbed both of her arms, pulling her against him and holding her still. “Brianna, I stopped because I don’t want anything less than what we shared the previous night. And I wanted you to be fully aware, making the decision to be with me with your mind fully conscious.”
She started to shake her head, but his hands slid down from her waist to her hips, pulling her close and she was shocked by the hardness against her stomach.
“Don’t even think that we’re not going to enjoy each other again. Don’t lie to yourself and don’t lie to me. We will be together, Brianna. There’s no way we can stop ourselves. You know it and I know it. Even your body is rebelling against your crazy need to ignore what’s happening between us.”
“I’m not…” she started to say.
“No. Don’t speak. I’m not going to allow you to ignore this.” He took a deep breath even while one hand moved back up her back, sending shivers everywhere to reinforce his point. “Let’s go have some lunch. Then how about exploring in the snow?” he suggested.
Brianna latched onto that, eager to get out of the house where he was fast becoming too much of a temptation. “Lunch and a walk would be very nice. Thank you.”
They went down to the dining room and feasted on a warm casserole filled with vegetables and spicy chicken. During the whole meal, Rocco interrogated her on her job, her goals and tried to question her about her friends and her past. But Brianna drew the line at revealing any personal information about her growing up years. She never told anyone about being in a foster home, about the horrors of losing her parents at such an early age and the fear of being alone. And there was no way she would tell him anything about Nikki or Rachel. Her friends were precious to her, more like sisters. The three of them had grown up so poor and so filled with the heartache of that poverty, they had a special bond.
Nikki had been their protector, Rachel had been their tutor and Brianna had been the one both of them came to for comfort when someone said a horrible comment or a boy tried to make a move on one of them, thinking that poverty equaled low morals.
So all of that might be true, and possibly even pertinent to some of the questions he was asking, but she avoided all mention of her friends, protecting them from this man she didn’t trust.
Well, she shouldn’t trust him…as soon as she said the world in her mind, she realized that they just didn’t feel right. But surely it was impossible to start trusting someone she barely knew.
Wasn’t it?
“Okay, so you’ve interrogated me,” she interrupted when their plates were taken away by the ever-efficient housekeeper, “now it’s my turn.”
“Outside,” he came back.
Brianna blinked, not sure what he was saying. “Outside?”
“Yes. I’ll answer all of your questions, but it has to be outside.”
Brianna looked out the large windows of the cozy dining room, her eyes lighting up at the idea of tromping through the fresh snow. And then she realized that she only had one pair of jeans and the sweatshirt she’d worn yesterday. “I can’t go outside. I don’t have anything to wear.”
His housekeeper walked in at that moment to clear the rest of the table. “My daughter’s away for college but she left most of her clothes here. You may borrow anything you’d like.” She picked up the casserole dish. “I’ll have my husband bring over some snow clothes and other items. And never worry about your clothes. I’ll have them washed and ironed for you whenever you need them.”
She walked back out and Brianna saw Rocco’s triumphant expression. Since she loved walking through the snow, she didn’t fight the option. “Fine! You win,” she acquiesced, throwing up her hands with an exasperated laugh.