I wiggled my eyebrows. “No, but I bet you can be... persuaded.”

“By you?”

“Obviously.”

“Mmmm... I don’t think so, Mr. Sloane. You lack the proper persuasion tools.”

That was a sweet challenge.

“And what might those be?”

“Think I’m gonna make it easy for you?”

“Give me a hint.”

Val spoke the next words with utmost seriousness. “Well, bribery works better than persuasion, if I’m honest. If my sisters are to be believed, I can be talked into crazy things whenever there is ice cream involved. I, on the other hand, can convince them to do crazy things with my famous cheesecake.”

Noted.

“I have other persuasion tools.”

“Such as?”

I lowered my gaze to her mouth, keeping it there until she darted out the tip of her tongue, wetting her lips.

She flexed her back and wobbled backward a little. I brought a hand to her arm to stabilize her, afraid she’d land in the fountain otherwise. She looked up at me from under those long lashes, and I didn’t even register moving my hand from her arm to cup her face, resting my thumb just under her mouth. She parted her lips, releasing a shaky exhale, and I couldn’t stay away anymore. I closed the distance between us and spoke against her lips.

“I’m going to kiss you, Valentina.”

When she gave me a low moan as an answer, I crushed my mouth to hers. I slid my hand to the back of her head. When I sucked a little on her tongue, she groaned right into my mouth.

With my free hand, I drew her closer. I needed more than her lips. I wanted the warmth of her body, to feel her sweet curves. No, that was a mistake... because now that she was pressed against me, I became greedier still, wanting to feel her skin. I lost all sense of space and time, right until I realized she was whispering my name. Then I pulled her in my lap, moving my hands up her legs.

Her skin broke out in goose bumps. When I moved past her knees, her hips slid forward an inch. When I cupped her ass, my fingers didn’t encounter fabric, and for a split second, I thought she wasn’t wearing panties. At the thought of her bare, I nearly lost my mind.

I instantly turned rock-hard, and Val felt it because I’d pressed her into me. My hand moved from bare skin onto lace as I ran my finger over the scrap of fabric between her ass cheeks. I wanted a taste of her. I wanted to drop to my knees, remove those tiny panties, spread her wide, and work her with my mouth until she exploded.

I moved my lips down to her jaw, to her earlobe.

“I can’t stop kissing you,” I confessed. “Or touching you.”