Chapter 20
Vanessa
“What the hell are you doing?”
Lorenzo’s question, mixed with laughter and shock, has me jumping slightly.
“What does it look like we’re doing?” I glance from him to Leo, who’s splashing around in the little plastic pool I had delivered, while I lie on my belly in my bikini, half playing with him and half reading a chapter that I need to get done for my quiz later.
“We’re trying to combat the Florida heat in September. ”
Lorenzo continues to look at me like I’ve lost my mind, and I roll my eyes.
“Listen, when you’re from South Harbor Point, you learn to be resourceful. It’s hot, and we needed to cool down.”
“Dada!” Leo squawks as he slaps the water.
I lift my book so it doesn’t get wet and set it on the chair. “Tell him, Monkey! We’re playing in the pool since we’re stuck in this house.”
It’s been a week since I was almost taken, and Lorenzo made it clear that other than me going to the casino to go to work—which he wasn’t happy about—we needed to stay inside. They’ve even doubled the guards outside the door and added more to the perimeter of the building.
“You’re so fucking cute,” Lorenzo says, leaning over and giving me a quick kiss, which causes butterflies to attack my chest.
He’s started to kiss me on a regular basis since our date night, and every single time, no matter how quick or deep the kiss is, it lights my body up.
At night, when we’re lying in bed—since he now sleeps with me every night—he holds me while we talk and kiss until we fall asleep. But despite the underlying sexual tension—which is so thick that I feel like we could choke on it—we never take it any further.
“Why wouldn’t you just use the pool upstairs?”
His comment snaps me from my thoughts.
“Pool? What pool?”
He looks at me like I’ve grown two heads and then curses under his breath. “I never gave you the full tour …”
“Tour of what?”
“Oh, Wild Card.” He chuckles, grabbing Leo’s towel and lifting him out of the plastic pool. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”
“Are you freaking serious?” I say in awe as I take in the plunge pool and hot tub that’s on the second floor of Lorenzo’s condo. I didn’t even know he had a second floor!
My gaze tracks across the spacious area. There are several lounge chairs, a six-person table and chairs, and a small, covered outdoor kitchen. Immediately, images of Leo and me spending Sundays out here, playing in the pool, while Lorenzo barbecues us lunch flits through my mind.
“We should throw a pool party,” I tell him. “Invite your friends and our sisters over. They could bring the kids. I bet Leo would love playing with them. You could barbecue something delicious, and I’d bake a dessert, or maybe we could do, like, a potluck, where everyone brought a dish …”
Lorenzo’s eyes meet mine, his brows furrowed, and I quickly backtrack, afraid I overstepped.
“I mean, only if you want to. It’s your place and your friends. And I didn’t mean to—”
“Stop,” he says. “That’s not why I made that face. Hillary hated my friends, and when I mentioned inviting them over once, she threw a fit, saying she didn’t want to deal with having company over and if I insisted on having people over, I’d better hire a catering company.”
“Wow,” I breathe. “She sounds like a blast.”
Lorenzo barks out a laugh. “I didn’t see it at the time, but we weren’t really compatible.”
“And we are?” I ask, flinching when I realize how that sounded—like I’m fishing for compliments.
“Yeah,” Lorenzo says, stepping over to me and palming the side of my face. “I think we are.”
He leans in and presses a soft kiss to my lips, but the kiss is interrupted when Leo squeals, wanting to be let down.
“You realize that now that I know about this place, I’m never going to want to leave,” I joke, taking Leo from Lorenzo and throwing the towel to the side so I can bring him into the water with me.
I step into the pool and glare at Lorenzo. “And it’s heated,” I moan, making him chuckle. “I can’t believe you kept this oasis a secret.”
I descend the steps, and Lorenzo drops a floatie for Leo into the pool that must’ve been stored out of sight. I place him in it, and he splashes happily, almost knocking his hat off his head.
“Tonight, after Leo goes to bed, don’t be surprised if you find me lounging in this pool or hot tub.”
I waggle my brows, and Lorenzo’s gaze turns heated.
“Don’t be surprised to find me joining you.” His lips curve into a mischievous smirk, and my lady parts tingle. “But for now, how about I throw on my swim shorts to join you both, and then later, I’ll grill some steak and veggies for dinner?”
“That sounds like the best plan you’ve ever had.”
Unfortunately, after our pool date and dinner, Lorenzo excused himself to his office to deal with a work emergency.
He usually doesn’t miss Leo’s bedtime routine, so I was shocked when he didn’t come out after his bath or when I gave him his bottle and then put him to bed.
I waited for a good thirty minutes to see if he would emerge, but when he didn’t, I decided to head up to the hot tub without him.
With the baby monitor where I can see and hear it, I take off my cover-up and hit the button for the bubbles. Then I click play on my playlist on my phone and glide down the couple of steps, finding a curved bench seat with a massaging jet to relax on.
I can’t remember the last time I felt this at peace. Even with everything going on with my piece-of-shit stepfather, for the first time, I feel content. And I know that’s because of Lorenzo and Leo.
I spend my days with the sweetest boy, and when I’m not working my shifts at the casino—I only work three a week since I make good money during those three shifts—I spend my evenings with Lorenzo.
I’m passing all my classes. I finished Bri’s dress, which she loved, and I’ve started to sew baby pieces with Leo and Alba, Dani’s daughter—who I spent the day with when Dani had an appointment, and her nannies had the day off—as inspiration.
I’ve submitted a few pieces to my professor to be considered as part of my final project, and she’s given it the green light.
“You’re thinking too hard for a woman who’s sitting in a hot tub under the stars.”
I chuckle and glance over at Lorenzo, who’s standing above me in his swim shorts, sans shirt. He wore a shirt earlier, so I didn’t get to ogle his muscles, but now, I get to do just that. And since Leo is in bed, I won’t be interrupted.
“Get your work problem sorted?” I ask as he drops his phone onto the lounge chair and descends the steps into the hot tub.
“I don’t want to talk about work.” He steps into my space and, gripping the tops of my thighs, spreads my legs apart.
“I want to talk about how sexy you look in this tiny fucking bikini.” He lifts his hand and runs it along the string that leads to the triangle covering my left breast. “Of course it’s white, like the angel you are …
with cherries all over it.” He grins wolfishly, running the tip of his finger along the material and stopping at my nipple. “Did you buy this for me?”
“Why would I buy this bikini for you?” I breathe out, glancing down at my now-hardened nipple, thanks to his touch.
“Because …” He lowers the top of the triangle, exposing my nipple. “I’m the one who popped your cherry.”
Oh, holy fucking hell. He did not just say that.
I open my mouth to tell him the truth, but the words won’t come out—because how the hell do you tell the person who thinks you had sex with him so you wouldn’t be sold to a sex trafficker that you two didn’t have sex and you’re still a virgin?
But before I can figure out what to say, Lorenzo’s mouth is on mine.
The heated kiss quickly turns into more when his hand palms my breast, and then he pinches my nipple, sending waves of pleasure straight to my core.
I’ve never done anything like this with anyone, not wanting to put myself in the position of having to stop a guy, knowing that I wouldn’t be having sex with him.
But right now, every thought, other than being with Lorenzo, flies off the balcony and into the wind. Because I don’t just want him. I need him.
“Lorenzo,” I moan when he breaks the kiss and trails his strong yet soft lips down my neck and over my collarbone. “I … I need …”
My legs clench around his waist, and he chuckles, the melodic sound reverberating through my body.
“I got you,” he says, palming my breast and licking my nipple.
I glance down, enraptured by the way he wraps his lips around the hardened peak and sucks it into his mouth, sending jolts of electricity to my lady parts.
Can a woman come from nipple stimulation alone?
I don’t have time to find out because Lorenzo lifts me onto the edge of the hot tub and then pushes my chest down so I’m leaning back on my hands with my legs open for him.
“Fuck,” he breathes. “This body …”
He runs his tongue along the center of my abdomen, swirling it around my navel, flicking the barbell I have in it, then continues his way down to the apex of my legs.
“I’ve been dreaming about eating your pussy,” he murmurs, pulling my bikini bottoms down my legs and tossing them to the side. “The night we were together, did I eat this pussy?”
He glances up at me, and I swallow thickly, hating myself for my lies.
“No,” I choke out. “You didn’t go down on me.”
Not a lie since nothing happened between us …
“Well, that’s about to change.”
With a heated look, he spreads my legs wider, exposing me to him, and then disappears between them. I can’t see what he’s doing down there, but the moment his tongue slides up my center, I let out a loud moan.
I’ve never had anyone down there before, and my vibrators have nothing on this man’s tongue. He licks and sucks and flicks my clit, until I’m shaking with built-up tension, my body coiled so tightly that I might implode if it doesn’t get relief soon.
As if Lorenzo can hear my thoughts, he glances up at me and says, “Touch yourself, baby. Massage those perfect tits while I make you come.”