Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
I gave him a doubtful look, though I had to admit that his kisses definitely wreaked havoc on my senses. He deepened the kiss, his tongue demanding as it teased me. I knew someone could come out at any moment, but I simply couldn’t find the strength to end our kiss. Samuel tasted of the red wine that he’d drunk, tart with a hint of berries. Soon, my skin was flushed, and my lap felt hot. Samuel got down on his knees and pressed his face in my lap with a groan. “I want nothing more than to eat you right here.”
I tugged at his hair. The pressure of his face against where I ached for him and the additional heat almost drove me insane. But we couldn’t do anything in his parents’ house. That would be uncouth, as Samuel would put it. Samuel looked up, and I knew we’d be in trouble. “Don’t,” I whispered, but it sounded half-hearted.
Samuel raised his brows. “Don’t what?” His low voice sent a shiver down my back. He reached one hand under my dress, stroking along the lacy top of my stockings before he pushed two fingers into my panties, finding me damp.
His eyes challenged me. “Don’t what?”
The alcohol had definitely lowered his inhibitions. I wished I had the same excuse, but my body simply ached for his touch.
Steps sounded. My eyes widened in anxiety. Samuel quickly extracted his fingers from under my skirt, pushed them into his mouth to lick them clean, and straightened just when Ines appeared behind the window and raised four thick photo albums with a delighted expression on her face.
I quickly excused myself to the bathroom to freshen up before I returned to the living room. Danilo, Samuel, and Pietro were already tasting some expensive port.
Samuel’s eyes locked on mine, and a new wave of heat rushed through my body. I tore my gaze away as I moved toward Sofia and Ines, who sat at the coffee table with one of the photo albums open in front of them.
The men quickly excused themselves to Pietro’s office, obviously not in the mood to take a stroll down memory lane. It was quite late when Samuel decided it was time to head home, and that was when the atmosphere became uncomfortable.
“Can one of your men drive Sofia and me to our hotel?” Danilo asked Pietro. “I don’t drink and drive since Emma’s accident.”
Pietro nodded. “That seems wise.”
Danilo sent Samuel a hard look. “What about you? I’m sure your father can also spare another man to drive you home.”
Samuel narrowed his eyes at my brother.
“You could spend the night here,” Ines said with a disarming smile at Samuel. “Then we could spend Christmas morning together.”
We were invited for lunch anyway. “That sounds wonderful,” I said quickly. I didn’t want to stab Samuel in the back by expressing my unease of having him drive us home in his state. He didn’t have any outward signs of being drunk, but I doubted the men had held back while they chatted in Pietro’s office. Samuel was confident in his abilities, but I didn’t want to tempt fate, not after my accident.
“Your present is at our house,” Samuel said.
“We can exchange presents later. I don’t mind.”
Samuel looked into my eyes for a while, then gave a terse nod. “Why not?”
Danilo gave me a small nod, obviously pleased with the outcome. I sent him a warning look. A comment from him might provoke Samuel again.
When Samuel and I lay in bed a short while later in the dark, he murmured, “You trust your brother’s judgment more than mine.”
I tensed. He was pressed up behind my back, and in the dark, I wouldn’t have had a chance to make out his expression anyway. “I trust you,” I said. “But I don’t trust the alcohol, especially not when it comes to driving. A drunk driver almost killed me, Samuel.”
“I know,” Samuel rumbled, then pressed a kiss to my neck. “That’s why I agreed to spend the night here.”
When I entered the ballet studio in my tutu, I immediately relaxed despite my previous tension. Samuel and I had had an argument in the morning because I’d found him in his office again. He had fallen asleep at his desk with a half-empty bottle of liquor beside him. For the first couple of weeks after Christmas, it had seemed like he was drinking much less, but maybe he’d simply gotten better at hiding it from me. The thought worried me tremendously. I touched the gold necklace of an origami crane that Samuel had given me for Christmas and took a deep breath.
Dancing had become my new reprieve. In the past, it had been a source of pressure and anxiety for me, so I’d never missed it as much as I thought I would, but now freed of expectations, I had rediscovered my love for ballet.