“Then we’re good.” She rolled over and dropped the pillow behind her. “All I have to worry about is my dignity being completely destroyed when I asked you to kiss me like your brother was kissing his girlfriends on the train.”
Tino arched an eyebrow at her. “You think that’s the worst thing that could happen to your dignity?”
“I’m pretty sure it is.” She rested on her side and tucked her hands under her cheek. “I’m mortified, Tino.”
“Madonn’.” He stretched out next to her. “What’s it like to be you? I have no idea, but it sounds awesome.”
“You think I’m spoiled?” she asked, feeling her cheeks heat again. “You think I’m a princess.”
“I know you’re a princess,” he said without hesitating and then turned his head and gave her a smile. “But I like it.”
“Stop trying to make me feel better.” She hit him with her pillow. “I know it’s your obligation as my friend to try and make me feel better for throwing myself at you.”
“Yeah, it was a real hardship for me,” Tino whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. “Last night was the nicest thing that’s happened to me in a long time, Bri. You make me want to hide from my life. To just spend my time taking care of you instead.” He reached beneath the blanket she was sleeping under and found her thigh, caressing it. “I could give you your dignity back. You want it?”
The last time Tino asked her that, Brianna ended up sweating and moaning under him until the sun came up.
She gave a slight nod to hide the way her breath caught. Then she confessed, “I want it.”
This time when he slid his hand past the fringe of her cutoffs, Brianna let her thighs fall open for him without the nudge, which made Tino groan noticeably. The invitation was blatant, and Brianna knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t seem to help it.
Tino jerked the blanket off, exposing her. Then he leaned down and kissed the crease of her knee. He lifted his gaze to stare at the place between her spread legs, giving her a look that made Brianna feel hot all over. He licked his lips but didn’t seem deliberate about it. It was more unconscious, like he was thinking about something very dirty.
And she was unquestionably hot now.
But he said, “No,” as though talking to himself and moved lower instead, kissing her calf.
“No?” she repeated, unable to hide the hitch of disappointment.
So far this was doing absolutely nothing to restore her dignity.
“I don’t deserve it,” he decided for both of them. “I’ll just think about it instead. I’ve got lotsa practice.”
“Think about what?”
“If you have to ask, then I definitely don’t deserve it.” He ran his lips lower down her calf, whispering against her skin, “We’ll play a different game.”
She fought to keep her breathing even as he kissed her ankle. He licked at the top of her foot, and she tried to jerk it back. “What are you doing?”
“Worshipping you.” He kissed her big toe, even though she was struggling to get her foot out of his hand. “Why are you fighting me?”
“Dancer feet.” She tried again to pull her foot free, but his hold was iron tight. “Stop it.”
“I like dancer feet,” he said with one of those dazzling smiles that should get him anything he wanted. “Especially your dancer feet.”
“No.” She kicked out, catching his shoulder when she finally got her foot free, but he just laughed at her. “No touching my feet.”
“Why?” He leaned down and kissed her other ankle, completely ignoring her embarrassment.
“They’re ugly.” She tried to pull her other foot out of Tino’s grasp when he licked at her heel. “Come on, Tino. Stop it. I don’t even want you looking at them. I certainly don’t want you licking them.”
“They make you beautiful. They help you do amazing things.” Tino kissed a bruise on the arch of her foot. “You should love these feet, Brianna. You should be proud of them. They make you who you are.”
She was quiet for a long time and then took a shuddering breath when she realized she was hiding her bruises and scars from Tino. Like they were something to be ashamed of, and that was the last thing she wanted him to think she believed. It wasn’t easy. Everything in her wanted to pull free, but she didn’t fight his hold on her.
“Why do you want to do this?” she asked when he licked at the arch of her foot again.
“’Cause you matter.” He said it so solemnly it gave her chills. He kissed her little toe. “To me you matter. It’s not much, but—”
“It’s everything,” she said quickly, feeling almost three years’ worth of confessions rising in her chest. She was fairly certain she’d been madly, hopelessly in love with him since the first time she saw him smile at her in the summer sunshine on that trampoline. “Tino—”
She was cut off when the door opened.
“Maledizione!” Tino shouted at his brother. “Get the fuck out, Casanova!”
Tino hadn’t let go of her foot like any normal man would, because judging by the look on Nova’s face, it probably seemed really bizarre to an outside observer. Nova’s eyes were wide, like nothing in him could processes what he was seeing.