Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) (41 page)

“Who was that?”

Natalie turns. Anthony is lying on his stomach with his eyes closed.

She snuggles back under the covers. “My sister.”

“Does she always call so early?”

“It’s ten o’clock.”

Anthony’s eyes open. “Seriously?”

“I know. I was shocked when I saw it, too.” Natalie can’t remember the last time she slept so deeply.

He scoots closer and nuzzles her neck. “Good morning, Miss Natalie.”

The room is on the cold side and Anthony’s warm body feels toasty wrapped around her. His dark stubble is as rough as sandpaper, but she likes it.

“Good morning,” she whispers, winding her arms around his neck.

His mouth slides up to hers, his beard abrading her skin, before closing in on her mouth. Their tongues stroke each other languidly. His hips move as his erection rubs against her thigh.

“We’re out of condoms,” he murmurs huskily. “But there are plenty of other things we can do with each other.”

Natalie’s mind immediately tries to figure out what “other things” he’s talking about. She thinks she knows, but . . .

“I can’t believe I haven’t tasted you yet,” he continues. “That’s a travesty we have to fix as soon as possible.”

Her breath hitches. She swallows and her thighs spasm.
Yes,
please. God.
It’s been such a long time. For whatever reason, Peter stopped doing it years ago.

Anthony rises up on his elbow and gazes down at her, stroking her hair.

Even in the harsh morning light, he still looks incredible. His dark hair is rumpled, but instead of having dorky bed hair, it’s mussed and curling onto his forehead in a way that actually adds to his appeal. His rich brown eyes are clear and his skin unmarred.

He’s so far out of my league I might as well be living on Pluto.

The thought intimidates her. Anthony intimidates her. She never wakes up looking good. In fact, she’s sure her hair is sticking out and her skin is blotchy and pink with a fresh zit or two thrown in for good measure.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, his dark brows drawing together. He’s astonishingly perceptive, too. When she thinks about the inner Anthony, she feels comfortable and at ease. But it’s the outer Anthony who puts her nerves on edge.

“Nothing,” she says. “I’m just feeling shy again.”

“There’s nothing for you to be shy about. That reminds me,” he gets a boyish grin, “now that it’s light outside, I finally get to see you naked.” He starts pulling the sheets down, but Natalie clutches them tight.

“I don’t think so.”

“Come on, you’re kidding, right?”

“You might be disappointed. I’m not as pretty as you are.”

Anthony rolls his eyes. “How about you let me be the judge?”

She doesn’t say anything.

“You’re going to have to get out of this bed sometime,” he reminds her. “I’ll see you then.”

Natalie figures she’ll wrap herself in the sheet when she gets up. She glances at him. By his expression, he knows she’s working on her escape strategy.

“I saw you naked last night,” he says, changing tactics. “And trust me—you totally turn me on, so there’s no reason to still be shy.”

But it was dim last night, everything draped in a deep red glow. She knows she’s probably going overboard with all this, but after being told for years by Peter that she’s unattractive—a part of her believes it.

“How about we start slow,” Anthony suggests. “You could maybe let me see your breasts?”

He sounds so hopeful, it’s hard to say no. And she appreciates that he’s being patient with her.

“Please,” he adds for good measure.

“All right, I’ll show you.” She sits up, leaning back against the pillow. Her hands are still gripping the sheets. Then taking a deep breath, she slowly lowers them.

Anthony is watching her as if it’s Christmas morning, and when the sheets are finally at her waist his expression doesn’t change.

“See, I was right,” he says, his voice huskier than before. “You’re gorgeous, Natalie.”

He was wrong last night. Natalie’s nipples aren’t pink or brown, but a dusky rose color. And her skin is like milk. Pale and smooth. His tan fingers are a stark contrast against her.

“You’re even prettier than I remember,” he murmurs. Letting his hand stroke the underside of her breast, his thumb moves up, rolling over her nipple.

Her breath catches.

“Thank you for showing me,” he says, meeting her gaze.

Natalie puts her hand on his jaw. “I’m sorry I’m being like this.”

He swallows and shakes his head. “It’s okay.” His thinking is already getting muddled by her naked body. “We’ll figure it out.”

She nods and he bends over to kiss her left breast, when suddenly her phone starts blaring “Bad Reputation” again.

“Ignore it,” he says. “I have a whole list of dirty things I plan to do to you this morning, so there’s no time for you to be taking phone calls.”

Their eyes meet and his cock stiffens even more when he sees the heat in hers. Apparently, she’s on board with his dirty plans.

“Bad Reputation” finally stops as Anthony is running both his hands over her breasts, kneading and molding them while Natalie lies back like a goddess watching him. Her cheeks have a pretty pink flush and he can tell she’s getting turned on.

“Does that feel nice?”

“Yes.” Her eyes darken with desire. He bends over to take one of her nipples in his mouth when “Bad Reputation” starts blaring again.

Natalie sighs. “She’s never going to stop calling. I should answer it.”

“Can’t it wait?”

Then suddenly his own phone starts, too,
Star Wars
music blasting from inside his motorcycle jacket.

“
Madonna mia!”
Anthony says in frustration, sitting up. The dueling phones go on for about twenty seconds. “This is ridiculous.”

“I should call her back. She’s probably worried. If I don’t call her, she’ll show up soon to check on me.”

“Why would she be worried?” Anthony asks, getting up to go grab his phone, just in case it’s Serena.

“Because of what happened between us over the bakery.”

He feels a flash of guilt and then annoyance. “I apologized for that.”

“Did you?”

“Yes, I did.”

She sighs. “All right, whatever.” She looks over at him. “Who called you?”

“My brother.” Anthony is holding his phone, flipping through the recent calls. He sees the voicemail from Gio, but decides to listen to it later.

“You have a brother?” Natalie’s eyes are wandering over his naked body as he walks back toward her. His cock is at half-mast. But with that expression on her face, he suspects it won’t be long before it’s flying at full-mast again.

He sits down on the bed.

“Does he look like you?” Her eyes are still absorbing him.

Anthony chuckles to himself. It’s the first question all women ask when they find out he has a brother. “Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we look alike somewhat.”

“I see.”

Not a satisfying answer, he realizes, but it’s the truth. Most women want to know if his brother is good looking, but Anthony never knows how to answer that, either.

“What’s his name?”

“Giovanni.”

“Is he an astronomer, too?”

Anthony shakes his head. “No, he’s a pediatric surgeon.”

“Wow, really? That’s impressive.”

“It is. And he’s very good at what he does.”

“He must be kind of intense.”

Anthony nods. It’s an astute observation. “Yes, he is intense. Very.”

“Are you guys close? Like Lindsay and me?”

“Not like you and your sister, but we’re somewhat close. My brother travels even more than I do for work, so we don’t see each other very often.”

Natalie rolls over onto her side, unfortunately pulling the sheets back up with her, covering herself. “I’ve never heard you mention him before, but I guess I don’t really know that much about you.”

Anthony hears the mild reprimand in her words. He knows he’s told her little about himself, but it’s an old habit. He seldom shares many details about his personal life with his lovers. It just makes for fewer complications.

“My brother’s kind of a character. In some ways he’s a saint, but in other ways he’s the biggest asshole you’ll ever meet.”

“Really? He must be great with kids, though.”

“He is. Serena adores him.”

“So how is he an asshole?”

Anthony doesn’t answer. Instead, he moves closer to her on the bed and pushes her long blonde hair aside, lets his hand glide down over the smooth skin on her back. “Your skin is so soft. I could sit here all day and touch you.”

She turns her head to study him. “Maybe I’ll let you touch me all day.”

“Will you?”

“Yes, but let me call my sister first.”

“What are you going to tell her?” He’s curious to hear her answer. He doesn’t want to be on the bad side of all these people who are important to her, but at the same time, what’s done is done.

“I’m not sure.” Natalie thinks about it. “But I’d like to talk to her alone, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all. Go right ahead.” He motions toward the door. “I’ll just wait here in bed for you.”

Anthony knows she’s not going to get up naked after all the fuss she made about it earlier, but he can’t resist teasing her. Challenging her, even.

The room is quiet. Natalie remains still, but her eyes narrow on him. There’s a stubborn set to that sexy mouth.

And then to Anthony’s utter astonishment, she throws the sheets aside and sits up.

“Fine.” A little smile plays around the edges of her lips, though her eyes are hot with emotion. “I’ll just go talk to her in the hall.”

Natalie slides out of bed, grabs her phone, and then leans down to kiss him. “I’ll be right back.”

Stunned, Anthony watches her walk across the room, his eyes glued to her body, taking in every luscious curve. Every bounce and jiggle. His mouth goes dry.

Damn.

Natalie is hot. She’s not skinny, and she’s built like a real woman, which is exactly the way he likes it. Plump ass and round hips, narrow waist, and then of course there are those magnificent breasts. She’s far sexier than any fantasy image of her he’s tried to come up with.

When she gets to the dresser, she unfortunately picks up that blue cardigan sweater from last night and covers herself with it. As she reaches the door, she turns and looks at him over her shoulder.

Their eyes meet and he can see this was a big deal for her.

“Hurry,” he tells her. His list of dirty things can’t wait, and when she gets back he’s starting at the very top.

Natalie is in the hallway leaning on the wall to catch her breath.

I did it!

It’s all Anthony’s doing, though. No man has ever looked at her the way he does. With such blatant desire.

The phone in her hand starts playing “Bad Reputation” again.

“Hey, Lindsay,” Natalie says, answering it immediately.

“Where have you been? I’ve been calling nonstop!”

“I know, I turned my phone off and forgot to turn it back on.” Natalie cringes at the lie. She hates to lie to anyone, especially Lindsay, but she isn’t ready to explain the situation with Anthony. Truth is, she isn’t even sure what the situation is yet. Plus she suspects Lindsay isn’t going to support this, not after what happened with the bakery. Both Lindsay and Blair are going to think she’s lost her mind.

And maybe I have.

But then she thinks back to last night, to the best sex of her life. To the way Anthony keeps looking at her as if she’s eye candy. And she doesn’t care if she’s lost her mind.

I need this. It’s as simple as that.

It doesn’t mean she wants to tell anyone about it yet.

Lindsay asks what she’s been doing and Natalie tells her about watching movies and eating popcorn.
At least that part is true.

“Are you okay?” she asks. “You sound funny.”

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m fine.”

“Hmm.” Lindsay considers things. Natalie hopes she sounds convincing. She’s actually a pretty good liar, a skill she unfortunately honed during childhood, but Lindsay is better. Plus, her sister is like a bloodhound if she gets even the slightest whiff that someone isn’t telling her the truth. “I could come home. Oliver and I don’t have any special plans today.”