Chapter 10
After dinner, Lorenzo comes looking for me.
“Lola, can we talk?” He touches my arm lightly.
“I don’t want to talk to you.” I pull my arm away and step back.
Sara looks at Lorenzo.
“What did you do?”
“I’m an idiot, Sara,” he replies, looking at me.
“Good thing you know it,” I jab.
I decide to head up to my room and Sofia comes with me.
“Sis, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, Sofia.”
“What did Lorenzo do? He’s not a bad guy, Lola. He does more for us than anyone else ever has.”
“Okay, Sofia. But we didn’t ask him to do any of this, did we?”
“No, but you know why we’re here—because of Dad. It’s not our fault, or Lorenzo’s.”
“Sofia, there are other things going on here, okay?”
“What? The fact that Lorenzo wants you? That’s been obvious since the first day he came to get you from our house, Lola. And by the way, you want him too. I don’t know why you’re playing so hard to get.”
“Are you crazy? Go to sleep, Sofia. What do you know about any of this?”
“I’m going, but things will change once you admit how he makes you feel. I’ve caught you staring at him and drooling countless times, Lola.”
“Go to sleep. You don’t know anything—you’re only fourteen.”
“Almost fifteen, and I still see things.”
“Go,” I shout, laughing.
She leaves and I’m left alone with my thoughts. I feel a powerful attraction to Lorenzo, but I can’t let him see it.
He bought me. He thinks having money solves everything—that people with money get whatever they want.
I can’t give in to what my body wants. If I do, I’ll just be proving to him that money really can buy anything.
I hear a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I say.
He comes in and closes the door. I look at him from where I’m sitting, lifting only my eyes.
“Lola, I came to apologize. I lost my head. I acted on emotion.”
I don’t say anything. He walks over to the new flower Mike gave me to replace the other one.
“Get away from there,” I tell him.
“I’m not going to break it again.” He turns to face me.
“I really hope that doesn’t happen again.” I frown.
“I already apologized.”
“Are you going to fire Mike?” I cross my arms.
“No. I was upset. I’m not going to fire the kid. Would you really have left with him?” He moves closer to the bed.
“I have nothing going on with Mike. He was just being kind and offered me an orchid. He seems like a good guy, and he’s just doing his job.”
Lorenzo comes over to me and crouches down, caresses my shoulder, and looks into my eyes.
“I was wrong, and I’m asking you to forgive me for what I did. I... felt jealous.”
“Jealous? You feel jealous over something that isn’t yours?”
“Only of you.”
He leans in and kisses me slowly, but I don’t respond. He pulls me against his body and I can’t resist—I kiss him back. He caresses my waist, then slips his hand under my dress to my thigh and squeezes. I push him away.
“Get out of here. I haven’t forgiven you.”
He stands up, and once again I notice the bulge straining against his pants. I run my tongue over my lips and bite down. I’m so curious to see all of that without clothes, because even like this, it looks huge.
On the other hand, it scares me. I realize he’s noticed me staring, and he speaks.
“See what you do to me?” He runs his tongue over his lip, and it does something to me.
He turns and leaves the room without another word, and I’m left there burning with desire for something I’ve never known.
I want Lorenzo. He makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. I’ve never had a boyfriend—I kissed a few boys back in school, but that’s it.
I have to admit I’m confused. Lorenzo is a man who can have any woman he wants, so why does he want me?
I don’t know, but he clearly wants this—every time he touches me, every time he’s near me, I can tell he’s aroused, and I get turned on too. Will something ever happen between us?
I’ve thought about giving in to his advances, but what if he just wants to use me? Play with me?
I feel something stronger than that. I think I actually like him. But the thing is, he bought me—he paid for me. Can you really feel something for a person who took you in exchange for a debt?
Even though what happened turned out to be a good thing, Sofia and I live like princesses now. We have the best of everything, we eat well—nothing like when we were living with my father.
Now we live in a gorgeous house—the kind I never imagined I’d even set foot in, let alone call home. We have designer clothes, and a single dress costs more than groceries and bills combined at my father’s place.
Maybe I’m being ungrateful. Tomorrow I’ll find Lorenzo and tell him that if he really wants me, I want him too. I’m going to embrace what life is offering me without questioning it.
Not to mention Lorenzo is hot—I’ve got nothing to lose. I remember how embarrassed he looked when he caught me staring at his arousal.
He’s incredibly handsome, and if I say I don’t want him, I’d be lying to myself.