Billionaire Brothers 2 : Love Has A Name (7 page)

Once we were seated side-by-side, which Lovello insisted on, we quietly went through the menu. He hadn’t been his usual flirty self since we left the fashion house and had only talked as much when he ran into his brother.

Without looking at me, he asked, “Decided on what you want?”

“Yeah. Who’ll wait us?”

He reached under the table and pressed a button that I hadn’t noticed before. Seconds later, a waiter walked out onto the balcony with a jug of chilled water. I made my order of Chicken Alfredo, and Lovello ordered Flat Iron Steak Sandwich. Once the waiter left, I decided to break the awkward silence. “You’ve been quiet, Pretty Boy.”

He jerked his face to me, frowning as if surprised at the observation. “I have?”

“Yep. But I don’t mind, really. The less you talk, the sooner this lunch will be over, and the deal will be sealed.”

Then if you don’t mind why the hell did you break the silence, liar?

“You really don’t like me, do you?”

In lieu of answering, I took up my glass of water and sipped, training my gaze forward.

Lovello sighed. “You see? If I’ve been silent, then
this
is why. I don’t know how to go about communicating with you. You’re just so strange … I-I don’t know … you’re different. One minute you’re straightforward, showing unconcealed hatred for me, and I think that’s who you are and how you truly feel. Fine, I can work with that. But then the next minute you have this … look in your eyes. And you don’t mind me touching you. That confuses me, so I’m not sure what end to approach you from because I never know what your reaction is going to be. And what’s with all the relieving sighs?”

I turned to him. “Then if I’m such a jigsaw puzzle, why are you putting yourself through all this trouble? Why continue to annoy me, being the bane of my existence?”

“Because I really want to get to know you, Axia. You’ve gotten to me. Big time.”

“And I want to
not
know you.”

“I get that. Stop trying to wound my ego at every turn.”

“Good. Then give it up!”

“No,” he said firmly.

“Why not? You know this isn’t going anywhere. I’m never going to sleep with you.”

“I just want to be able to make you smile. I’ve never seen you smile. You’re always so serious.” He sounded sincere enough.

“You’re going after an impossible goal, Pretty Boy.”

Smiling, he reached out his hand to brush his thumb over my cheek. “I like it when you call me that. In that faint Hispanic accent, it’s sexy as hell.”

Bemused as to why I didn’t recoil from his touch, I could only utter, “Then maybe I should stop.”

It was an enigma to me why I liked, no,
loved
the feel of his touch so much. Why I loved it when he held my hand and led me. Why I loved it when he possessively wrapped his arm around my waist. I’ve never been
that
girl: the girl who likes it when men do little things like that. Well, only once in my teenage years, for a fleeting moment when I’d just started dating my college boyfriend. But he’d quickly changed me from that girl, making me the unaffectionate wretch I am today.

Lovello’s touch, though, did something to me. His touch made me
want
to be touched. Made me
want
to be held by the hand and be tucked at his side.

His hand fell from my face at the same time he sighed, and for the first time I wished I knew what he was thinking. The blame of confusion shouldn’t be cast on him when I couldn’t even understand my own feelings. I was just as confused about my reactions as he was.

In a few minutes, the waiter was back with our food, and I was reminded how hungry I was. No time was spared between the second the waiter placed the dish on the table and the full fork of Chicken Alfredo that headed straight to my mouth.

“Guess someone’s hungry,” chuckled the Pretty Boy.

I looked up at him with a mouth full of pasta. “What? I love food! Don’t hate me for it.”

Lovello chuckled harder at the way the words muffled around the food in my mouth.

Chewing and swallowing everything before I spoke next, I asked, “Do you have any idea how many calories I burn per day with all those workout classes?”

“No idea.” He shook his head, still smiling.

“Three times as much as I eat. So this is nothing, it will all be gone with my next class.”

“I believe you, beauts. Because that body of yours…” he trailed off, eying my bare legs.

“Let’s not talk about my body, please.”

Lovello shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich. “Then what do you want to talk about?”

“You’re really asking me that question when I just made it clear to you that I desire to know nothing about you and prefer it if we
not
talk?”

He laughed, taking a drink of his lemonade. “Believe it or not, I’ve never done this before. So…”

“Never done what?”

“Take a girl out with the aim of trying to get to know her.”

“Yeah. Right.”

“I’m serious,” he said. “Okay, instead of taking them straight to my pad like most bachelors do, I ask them out to dinner because that kinda put them in the mood I want them to be in — and it’s also a deterrent against talk that I treated them like ‘a piece of meat’. Usually, once we order, I always find an excuse to leave the table and I don’t return until I know she’s finished eating. So, yes, I try to get to know them, but only in a Biblical sense. I feed them some fancy and expensive meat before they feed me theirs.”

He’d said earlier that he had never seen me laugh: if only he knew the incalculable times I had to fight my laughs from manifesting. The man was something else. “So what do you do in all that time you’re away from the table?”

He shrugged. “Head to whatever restaurant or lounge is next door and find some other girl to mess around with. You know, the girl I meet next door will be tomorrow night’s date.”

“And when you’re back at the table the girl doesn’t ask where you’ve been for the entire dinner or even sulk? You leaving doesn’t affect you getting to
know
her?”

“I’m a businessman. I was out on an emergency business call or taking a smoke.”

“You smoke?”

“No.”

Another laugh stifled. “Seriously, are you that bored with life? To do shit like that?”

“Not life. The women. I’m bored with them. They’re all the same. That’s why I ‘do shit like that’,” he deadpanned.

Knowing that I couldn’t whip him on the back as much as I wanted to, leaving behind fiery red welts, I shook my head. “Change of subject, please.”

He nodded, but only continued to eat and said nothing further.

As much as I claimed I preferred the silence, I seriously couldn’t bear it when he was quiet. “So, you said yesterday was your birthday?”

“I thought you said you had no interest in knowing anything about me.”

“I know what I said,” I snapped. “But the silence is more overwhelming than your annoying voice.”

Pretty Boy Nelson chewed the last of his sandwich, wiped his mouth then sat back and grinned at me.

“What’s so funny?”

“You.”

“Fine, ass, you don’t have to answer the damn question.” I was vastly irritated.

“Yes. Yesterday was my birthday. August 10th,” he softly answered.

“So now you’re two years less than thirty?”

“Yes. You?”

As if he didn’t already know. “Five years less.”

“When is your birthday?”

“February 30th.”

Lovello threw his hands up. “I swear to God, Axia…”

“What, never had to labor for a lay before?”

“No. Never. And you’re
not
a lay.”

“Ha! You didn’t have to tell
me
that, Pretty Boy. I thought I made myself clear earlier. There’s nothing you could
ever
do to get between my legs.”

Lovello stared at me with serious eyes, not a trace of a smile or flirt. To match his stare, I shifted in the seat to face him. I couldn’t decipher his mood, whether he was irritated or contemplative, so I held his stare, trying to guage him. He slid closer to me, eating up the space between us while I pretended not to be intimidated. But then he leaned into me, forcing me to lean back. When he saw that, he continued leaning in while I continued reclining, fearing he might try to kiss me. He was close enough to let his nose brush against mine, and thrills surged through my body at the contact.

Looking up into the darkened gray of his eyes, I somehow forgot the mechanics of breathing and, unconsciously, brought my right leg up to the couch. My body was sizzling from head to sole, and I knew at that moment that, if he kissed me, it would be my undoing. I wouldn’t have the strength to fight back. The man simply knew how to weaken me, not that I showed it. As long as he didn’t kiss me, I’d do just fine. He didn’t stop leaning in until I was laying supine on the seat and his hands were palm-flat on either side of my head.
Dear God … Why wasn’t I fighting or pushing him way? Had I forgotten completely how to control myself?

Lovello brought his tempting peach-colored lips mere inches away from mine and I knew, I
knew
he would kiss me …

Or not.

Instead of blessing me with a kiss from those sexy lips, he brought them to my ear and whispered, “I hope you remember those words when I have you in my bed screaming and thrashing about. When I have you impaled … toes curling, back arching, hard thrusting, mewls and pleas for more … more … more of
me
. My mission, Axia, is to tame you. I’m going to teach you how to submit. How to smile. How to live.” He gently bit my earlobe and I struggled to remain stoic and not whimper. “I
will
get through to you. I
will
get you in my bed. I
will
get between your legs.”

Pretty Boy Nelson tilted his head and looked down at our position. I was on my back, one leg bent up in the seat and the other hung to the floor. And, yes, Lovello was right there between them. “Er, scratch the latter. I’m already between your legs.”

Unable to maintain my stoic stance any longer, I wordlessly pushed at his chest but that only made him chuckle. “Calm down, Cruella.”

He pressed a swift kiss to my cheek and abruptly stood up and grabbed my wrist before I could do or say anything. “I know your first inclination will be to hit me or tell me something nasty and then bolt. See? I’m getting to know you. I won’t keep you any longer because I know at this very moment you hate my guts. Let me take you back to work. We don’t have to talk.”

Silently angered that he was starting to calculate me too well, I did the smartest thing and kept quiet. That way, he’d never know if he was right or wrong and would only be more confused.

As he held my hand and led me off the balcony, glancing at me charily every two seconds, obviously not knowing what to make of my reaction, I warred with myself, wondering where my control was when I needed it. How could I have let him weaken me so easily? I was less mad at the fact that he’d played me so well into that position, and more mad at the fact that I’d wanted so desperately for his lips to touch mine.

Mierda …

IV

T
imo glared up at me through his small dark eyes, his fluffy brown and black fur vibrating in anticipation. The dog food rained down in his bowl, and his head was in the bowl before I even had time to remove the food bag. Gazing down at my beloved Yorkshire terrier, I became saddened that I had to do without him throughout the day. I used to take him to the gym with me, but that had turned out to a messy idea, because half the time I didn’t know where he’d run off to. So I started leaving him at home.

Timo possessed enough obedience to stay at home without destroying the house, plus he had his own little lair where he could run wild and do as he pleased. Sometimes I left him with Ally, my next door neighbor’s teenage daughter. She loved Timo as if he were her own and often took him on the weekends. He didn’t bark a lot and was always happy to see me when I came home, giddy as hell. I was sure to leave at least three full bowls of food and water before I left in the mornings, but by the time I’d get home, everything would be devoured and he’d be clawing at my leg vibrating for more. Sometimes I just looked at his tiny little frame and wondered where it all went.