Love Arranged (Lakefront Billionaires, #3)(74)

I can’t handle his blank stare, so I look away. “I wanted to hate you. I really did. But you’re so damn…”

“Charming?” He cracks a smile.

“Annoying and persistent and so damn hard to dislike, especially when you open up to me because you don’t trust anyone.”

The timing between his breaths becomes smaller, and I press my hand against his heart to find it rapidly beating beneath my palm.

“Tell me I’m not alone in this,” I demand, my voice strained. “Tell me you want me, that you feel this same, undeniable pull toward me, even if you’re determined to not act on it.”

He stares at me with that dark, brooding gaze of his. “I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Does it matter? Because either way, you’re right. I won’t act on it.”

“Why not?” I want to shake him around. “Give me a good reason.”

“Because I’ll never be able to give you what you want. I can’t. I’m incapable of loving someone else, and if anyone deserves the happy ending they want, it’s you.”

It feels like he’s carving me open with every heartbreaking sentence that pours out of his mouth.

“How would you know if you haven’t even tried?”

“Because people like me—people like my father—we don’t love. We don’t know how to. Instead we obsess, to the point of making ourselves sick over someone else.” He teases the chain of my bracelet, and goose bumps spread up my arm from a simple brush of his thumb across my pulse point.

“Love is obsession. They go hand in hand.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Love is good. It’s pure. What goes on in my head…it’s the complete opposite.”

“Like?”

He laughs. “I’m not going to tell you.”

“What do you have to lose? If your thoughts are so bad…if they’re truly as awful as you say they are, shouldn’t it scare me away for good?”

The corded muscles in his neck strain, and his fingers dig into the fabric of the couch.

“I think you don’t want to tell me because what if I end up liking it?” I drag my hand up his lapel, noting how his breathing changes from my touch alone.

“What if I want to be obsessed over?” I lean forward and press my mouth to his ear. “What if I want to be possessed?”

I swear to God, Lorenzo trembles. The seams of the couch split from how hard his fingers are digging into the material.

I kiss the shell of his ear. “Because if you refuse to give me that, then I’ll find someone who will.”

His hand snaps up and wraps around the back of my neck, his firm hold sending a pulsing sensation through my lower half. “Stop.”

“Why? I’m talking out scenarios with you since you’re so invested in me getting my happily-ever-after and all.”

Within a blink of an eye, Lorenzo flips us until my back is pressed against the couch and he’s hovering over me. He keeps most of his weight off me, which is thoughtful, but I want more.

“You don’t talk about other men while wearing my ring.”

“Let me solve that problem, then.” I reach to remove it, but he grabs both my hands and pins them above my head.

“Take that ring off and I’ll superglue it to your finger.”

“Sounds a bit drastic for a three-month engagement, don’t you think?”

The strained sound that comes out of his mouth sends a wave of arousal through me that is so strong, I end up squirming underneath him. My eyes go round, and he hisses through gritted teeth when I accidentally rub up against his erection.

Because I can’t resist, I repeat the move, this time making Lorenzo groan. “Who knew the topic of me getting with another man would make you so hot and bothered?”

Something visibly snaps behind his eyes, and the beast I was taunting?

He finally decides to reveal himself, and I instantly go from being the predator to becoming the prey.





CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE


Lorenzo


If I kiss Lily right now, in private without an audience, it will change everything.

I don’t want to ruin the connection we’ve built over the last six weeks, but I also know I can’t resist.

Not after she told me she wants to be possessed.

One kiss won’t ruin an arrangement, right? We are two mature adults who have kissed plenty of times over the last six weeks, so what’s one more?

My mind goes blank as I lean forward and brush my lips across her collarbone. She inhales sharply, and I smile against her skin as I leave a path of kisses across her chest. My mouth traces the delicate curve of her neck before it lingers at the corner of her mouth.

“Don’t forget. You wanted this,” I mutter against her skin.

She nods, her eyes glazed over like she’s under my spell, only for them to slam shut when I seal my mouth over hers.

At first I’m reserved, teasing her with soft pecks that leave her squirming underneath me. Testing, teasing, yearning.

Only for the private moment to be shattered by Willow knocking on the door to let us know that Dahlia took Rosa home because she wasn’t feeling well. Lily shoves me away, jumps off the couch, and calls her sister to figure out what happened.