“I’m giving you a hard time, Lilah. Don’t pull your hair out over it.” He glanced up and winked at me as he licked some of the icing from his fingers.
Snapping my gaze from his, I silently scolded my body for reacting. I felt my nipples puckering under my tank, and I knew I didn’t have a bra on.
It wasn’t my fault the man was as hot as he was or that I still remembered everything he excelled at in the bedroom.
I cleared my throat. “Thanks for bringing food.” I tried to stare at that instead. I hadn’t had a good meal in days. The hotel never served food like this, and obviously the food in jail was a joke. “Where did you get it?”
“Just downstairs.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Dante, I’ve been to all these restaurants.”
“But you haven’t been with me to all these restaurants, have you?” He smiled big enough for that dimple to indent his cheek, and I rolled my eyes. My body was never not going to be attracted to him.
He brought it all over to me. Then he sat in the chair across from me, lifted one of his leather loafers onto the knee of his gray slacks, and stared at me as he leaned back.
“Um, what are you doing?” I waved my hand at the chair and table where he lounged.
“Watching you eat,” he said matter-of-factly as he pulled at the collar of his tailored white shirt. “Put food in your mouth.”
The smell of frosting was too good to pass up, even if he wasn’t going to eat with me. I sliced a piece off the pastry and popped it into my mouth. “I’m not going to eat all this.” I said around the food, and then I let it melt and enjoyed the sweet, savory taste all at once. I hummed and then said, “You should eat too.”
“I worked out and ate already.”
“You did all that? Are you down the hall? When did you wake up?”
He shrugged. “Before you.”
“And you showered and got ready, obviously, because this”—I motioned with my fork—“is not the way I’m used to seeing you dress.”
“Guess we both have to get used to one another’s new wardrobes.”
I rolled my eyes. “Mine is much more casual than yours.”
“Yours is going to get us both in trouble.”
I shook my head and ignored him. I wasn’t going to indulge his big brother attitude. I could wear what I wanted, when I wanted to wear it. It was something I made sure to do here, along with a lot of other things. I deserved not to worry about what other people were thinking or what I should be doing after spending so much of my life doing the exact opposite.
He checked his phone while I ate in silence. I tried my best not to ask him a million questions, because it was better to start on the right foot.
“So, I should thank you for the room upgrade.” I’d had a better night’s rest than I thought I would. “Like I said, the bed is really soft, and today I’ll probably end up jumping on it since I have more energy.”
“Jump on it? Really, Lilah?” He shook his head at my idea of fun.
“Try it before you knock it.”
“I don’t jump on beds, Lamb,” he said through a smile.
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
“Well, why not? It’s fun.”
He quirked a brow at me. “There are other fun things to do on a bed.”
I blew a raspberry and continued eating my food. I practically shoveled it into my mouth so I didn’t have to respond.
When I’d cleared the plate, I glanced up to find him trying to hold back a grin. “You done avoiding my comment now?”
“Oh my God.” I grabbed my plate and went to put it in the sink. “You could just drop it.”
“Fine.” He rubbed his head and got up, testing the softness of the bed by pressing his large hand against it. “Guess it has good bouncing power.”
Maybe it was because I felt like we needed to kill the awkwardness between us, or maybe I needed to just lighten the damn mood, but instead of agreeing with him, I shoved him hard. He fell into the plush pillows. Or glided. I knew he’d let me because Dante was practically immovable when he wanted to be.
I jumped up on the bed and sprung up and down, with him lying there. He looked up at me as I said, “Soft, huh?”
“You look like you did when you were about twelve.” He put both his hands behind his head as he lay there.
I plopped down next to him and stared at his big body taking up half the bed. Muscle on muscle on muscle. The tattoos on his neck peeked out from his collar. I didn’t know what was farther down, on his chest. Never got a chance to really look since he got inked, but now my fingers itched to peel back the shirt and see.