Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
L iam
I wake up at five o'clock in the morning, and I'm still incredibly tired. I feel sad that Elisabetta has been giving me the silent treatment, but I understand why. I heard her whispering on the phone half the night, and I’m not sure who she was talking to. I don’t know if she was calling her dad to try to get him to change his mind or stop the wedding. For some reason, that irritates me.
I grab my phone and call Lucinda.
"Good morning, sir. How can I help you?"
"I just wanna know if there's been any updates from Franco."
"I mean, other than the signed contract, no," she says. "Everything's a go as far as I know. Why?"
"Elisabetta knows."
"Elisabetta?" She sounds confused. "Oh, the daughter, Elisabetta Franco."
"Yes, the daughter."
"She knows what? The truth about her father?"
"That I'm gonna marry her."
"Oh. How does she know that? Did her dad tell her?"
"I told her."
"But why would you do that, sir?"
"I… I just needed to tell her. There was something she said that made me feel especially guilty, and I didn't feel comfortable."
"So are you gonna tell her everything?"
"No, Lucinda. At this point, I'm just going to focus on the deal and ensure that everything goes smoothly."
"The contract says you're to be married to her for a minimum of three years. Does she know that, sir?"
"I guess she'll find out." I let out a deep sigh. "Anyway, I was just calling to see if Franco had sent any updates or changed his mind."
"No, sir. I think he's very eagerly awaiting the money you're going to be paying him."
"Well, as long as the contracts are drawn up and we can get the wedding to go through quickly, then I don't see any problems."
"Okay, sir. Well, if you don’t mind, I'm actually getting ready for the workday, so…"
"Okay. Thanks, Lucinda."
"You're welcome, Mr. Gallagher. You have a nice trip."
"Thank you."
I hang up and jump off the couch. I stretch my arms and walk over to the window and look outside. It's still dark.
I head back to the couch, and then, because I am an idiot, I walk to the bedroom door and open it slowly.
Elisabetta is still in bed, lying there. She's snoring lightly. I'm not sure what makes me do it, but I walk over to the side of the bed and look down at her. Her long, dark hair is covering half the pillow. She looks peaceful. Her lips are parted, and her chest moves up and down.
There's something about her that touches my heart, something that makes me feel like a bad man. I take a deep breath and turn around. I'm starting to feel like a creep watching her sleep. I accidentally walk into one of the side tables. "Fuck!" I say and then pause as I hear her stirring.
"What?" Elisabetta sits up and rubs her eyes. "Oh my gosh, what is going on? What are you doing in here, Liam?" She blinks and yawns as she stares at me.
I try not to gape as I gaze at her. She's wearing a tank top with no bra, and I can see her nipples poking through the thin material. My mouth feels dry.
Her eyes look me up and down and I notice that her pupils dilate slightly. I'm only wearing a pair of black briefs, and I still have my morning hard-on.
"Morning. Sorry, I was just checking to see if you were awake," I say quickly.
"What time is it?" She yawns and looks at the clock. "Oh my gosh, it's so early. Why would I be awake now?"
"Sorry, I thought?—"
"You thought what?" She crosses her arms and leans forward.
"I'm sorry, I just?—"
"You're such a creep, aren't you?"
"I'm just…" I pause. "Fine, I'm gonna be honest. I was curious if you were sleeping, and then I noticed that you were, and I had a look at you. And then I did feel like a little bit of a creep watching you sleep like you were Sleeping Beauty or something, so I decided to leave the bedroom. And when I did, I accidentally hit the?—"
"Okay, okay, I get it," she says. "No need for you to have a documentary about why you're the biggest creep in the world."
"So I went from the grumpiest creep to the biggest creep?"
"You went from grumpy boss to big creep, yes, you did." Her lips twitch slightly. "What time is our flight?"
"It's at 10:00 a.m."
"So do we have to be there at a certain time?"
"It's a chartered flight, so it's fine," I say, standing there.
I shift slightly, and I watch her eyes checking out my abs. "Like what you see?" I say.
"No," she responds tartly. "I'm still mad at you, by the way. Just because I caught you creeping in my bedroom doesn't mean that I forgive you for anything."
"I understand that, and I wouldn't think that you would forgive me just because I was creeping into your bedroom."
"You know what I mean. I mean just because I didn't kill you because I caught you creeping in my bedroom. It's early. I'm getting my words confused."
"Okay. I understand. I can leave now if you want."
"Actually…" She shakes her head, and I stare at her in surprise.
"Oh, you don’t want me to leave?"
"I think we should talk."
"Okay. Now?"
"Yeah, now is as good a time as any, seeing as you woke me up. Thank you for that, by the way. I'll probably be a raging bitch all day because I'm never in a good mood when I get woken up early."
"Okay, so you get woken up early every single day, then?”
“Excuse me?”
I crack a smile and laugh. "Sorry, maybe it's the wrong time for a joke."
"Yeah, it is. Really, Liam, you're gonna try and get back on my good side by saying that I’m a raging bitch every single day?"
"I don't think you're a bitch any time of day." I walk over and take a seat on the mattress. "Is this okay?"
"It's fine," she says as she shifts away from me.
"Can I come up and lean against the wall or?—"
She stares at me for a couple of seconds. "No funny business."
I put my hands up in the air and give her my most innocent smile. "No funny business," I say.
I clamber up on the bed and lean back against the headboard. I'm close to her now, so close that I can feel the heat emanating from her skin.
Her hair is messy, and her cheeks are rosy. I can see that she's wearing a pair of short shorts with her tank top. The sheet slips slightly down her legs and I stare at a naked expanse of thigh and swallow hard. Fuck, she's sexy.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"I wanna know what the deal is."
"What what deal is?"
"About the marriage."
"I already told you. Your father wanted to marry you off, and I didn't think it was right that you could end up with a nobody or just a random creepy man, so I?—"
"So you decided to be the creepy man that would get me."
I press my lips together. "I decided that I thought it would be better for me to marry you than for you to end up with some horrible dude."
"Because you're not horrible?"
I throw my hands up in the air. "I mean, I don't know, am I horrible? Was I horrible before you found this out?"
She lets out a sigh. "Not completely horrible, but I mean, I wouldn’t say that you were gonna win any prizes for being great."
"I didn’t wanna win any prizes. I know you're upset with me because you found out a lot of things you didn't know, and I apologize for that, but honestly, none of it was personal to you, and?—"
"And what, I'm just meant to be okay with that now?"
"No, but I don't know how you would like to move forward. Would you like me to tell your father to cancel the contract and that you can marry someone else? Is that what you want?"
She shrugs.
"I mean, if that's really what you want, I can call him right now, and you can?—?
“I just don’t know, okay? I just don’t know. All of this is just overwhelming, and…" She blinks. "I just don't know!" She grabs a pillow and covers her face with it and screams into it.
"Hey, is everything okay?" I reach over and touch her shoulder. Her skin is silky soft.
She puts the pillow down on her lap and turns toward me. "No, it's not okay. I feel like a fucking idiot right now."
"You're not an idiot."
"I know I'm not an idiot, but I'm just conflicted."
"Because of what?"
"Because you're an asshole, yet I still am tempted by you, and I don't understand why."
"Oh," I say, smirking. "Tempted how?"
"Tempted…" She shakes her head. "You know what? It doesn't matter."
"So, this marriage, are we consummating it?"
"I don't know. I mean, I don't wanna consummate something with someone who's not interested in me sexually." She stares at me.
"I mean, that's true. I mean, because you're not interested in me sexually, are you?"
"Not at all," she says with a little smile.
"I didn't think you were." I grin at her. "I mean, maybe before but definitely not now."
"Exactly," she says, shaking her head. "Definitely not now."
"I mean," I say as I reach over and touch the side of her cheek, "you don't want me at all."
"Nope, I don't."
"My touch does nothing to you," I say, my thumb gently caressing her lower lip.
"Absolutely nothing."
"I could tell." My hand moves further down her shoulders and along her arms. She's shivering now.
She's staring at me with bated breath, and I wait for her to tell me to stop, but she doesn't.
"This does nothing to you, does it?" I reach my hand across her stomach, and she shakes her head.
"What does nothing to me? I don't even know what you're talking about."
"Oh, okay." I move my hand lightly up her right breast.
She stares at me defiantly.
"This also does nothing to you."
"Not a thing."
I pull the top down and expose her nipple.
She stares at me. Her lips are trembling. "Still nothing."
"I didn't think so," I say as my thumb gently caresses her nipple.
She stares at me and shifts slightly. I grin at her. "Still nothing, right?"
"Absolutely nothing."
"I didn't think so."
I lean forward, and her eyes widen. I stare at her for a second and smile. She gazes back at me wordlessly. I lean my head down and take her nipple into my mouth and suck on it gently. She shudders slightly. I nibble on the nipple and tug it.
I look back up at her. "Nothing, right?"
"Nope, barely even felt that."
"Oh, that's good," I say as I slide my hand down her stomach toward the top of her shorts. "Still nothing, right?"
"Absolutely nothing," she says.
My hand slides underneath her panties, and she shivers slightly. "Still nothing?" I ask.
"Not a thing."
I grin at her as I slip my fingers between her legs and rub gently
She's already wet. I look at her.
"Not a thing."
"Pity," I say as I slide my hand back out.
"What?" she says, and I grin.
I reach for her hand and place it on top of my briefs. I wait to see if she's gonna do anything. I grin back at her as she squeezes my hardness.
"That does nothing to me either."
"Of course, it doesn’t,” she says. “I wasn’t touching you to do anything.”
“Good, because it means nothing to me.”
She stares at me for a couple of seconds, and then she reaches down underneath the elastic, and I feel her fingers on my cock. She squeezes gently, and I close my eyes. The touch of her cool skin against my member is doing things to me that should be illegal. “That feels like absolutely nothing.”
“Good,” she says.
I watch as she pulls her hand out, and I’m scared that she’s gonna stop, but then she pulls my briefs all the way off until they get to my ankles. She slides off of the bed, and I watch her pulling them off and throwing them to the ground.
“Still nothing, right?” She grins at me.
“Absolutely nothing.”
“That’s good.”
I watch as she pulls her top off, and her naked breasts jiggle against her chest. I lick my lips, then grab her hand and pull her up onto the bed again. I look at her and kiss her on the lips. She kisses me back hard, and I run my fingers down the side of her body to her shorts.
She pulls away, gasping. "Still nothing."
I pull her shorts and panties down quickly and throw them to the ground. She's naked now.
"This feels like I am about to go to sleep," she says. "I feel absolutely nothing."
"That's great," I say, "because I feel nothing, too."
I lay her back and hover over her, letting my cock gently rest against the top of her stomach. I lower myself slightly, grab her face, and kiss her hard. She reaches up and squeezes my shoulders, then runs her fingers down my back. My chest crushes against her breasts as I kiss her. Her hands move to my ass and squeeze, and I groan as I kiss down the side of her neck towards her breasts again. I take her left nipple into my mouth and suckle as my right finger and thumb play with her other nipple.
"Still nothing," she moans, gasping.
I kiss down to her stomach and open her legs wide. I suck on her clit for a couple of seconds, and I can hear her whining and moaning as her body shifts on the bed.
"Still nothing."
"Pity," I say, grinning as I roll over onto my back. "I guess I'll stop."
"I guess you should," she says, glaring at me.
I wonder what she's gonna do next. She doesn't disappoint me. She rolls over and sits on me. I feel her pussy against my cock, rubbing gently. Her clit's rubbing against my head, and I want to slide into her so badly, but I know that I can't. Not yet.
"I feel absolutely nothing when I do this," she says. "Absolutely nothing."
She's panting hard now, and I reach up and grab her breast as she continues to rub herself off on me. I close my eyes. Fuck, this feels so good. I wanna grab her hips and slam her down on me. I want her to ride me hard and fast. I want to…
"Yawn," she says loudly as she looks at me, her long hair cascading down her back. I feel the tip of my cock at her entrance, and I think she's about to slide down on me when she rolls off of me, leans over, gives me a kiss on the cheek, and then closes her eyes. "Think I'm gonna go back to sleep. I feel absolutely nothing."