Page 73 of The Billionaire Mismatch

You promised…

Sadie’s voice rings in my head, and I swallow back my excitement.

But at the same time, I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not doing anything at all. I’m working out in a hotel gym. I’m on a stair climber. In tight pants that make my ass look great, a strappy bra, a day-old tan, and smell like coconut from my leave-in conditioner.

I grip the bars, breathing heavily. I don’t usually go this fast, on the stair climber or with guys. Then I slow to a stop and turn around.

Luca is staring up at me, his eyes darker than the storm outside.

“I guess it works…” I say, my chest rising and falling with adrenaline.

“Sure looks like it,” he says, and I step down the climber. For a moment, Luca just stands there in my way. I wonder if he would bend me over here in a gym where anyone could walk in at any time.

Then he steps aside.

“I think I need some water,” I say, making my way over to the fountain.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I smile, though my chest is still rising and falling pretty visibly. “Just a little…winded,” I say.

You mean distracted…Sadie’s voice pops into my head again.

“Maybe we should do something more relaxing,” he suggests.

“What did you have in mind?” I ask.

A smirk crawls across his lips. And even though I’m not sure if it’s a smile I can trust, I decide to follow it anyway.

Luca leads me outside. The rain is still falling pretty heavily, but he grabs me by the hand and tugs me across the sidewalk in a very un-Luca move. I say un-Luca because he doesn’t strike me as someone who goes for walks in the rain.

“You’re not thinking of going for a swim, are you?” I shout over the storm.

“Not exactly,” he says, and my eyes widen.

“The ocean?” I ask with slight concern.

“Just trust me,” he says and the next thing I know, we are descending a small staircase of winding steps into a cave that is the pool grotto. Somehow, it’s designed to keep rushing rainwater out and the heat of the grotto in. It’s dark, humid, and warm. The sound of the raindrops sounds like white noise.

“Oh,” I let out because while it’s kind of crazy, it’s also pretty amazing.

“Nice, right?” he asks.

“Are we supposed to be in here during a storm?” I ask. “I’m pretty sure it’s closed.”

“And?” Luca asks, stepping out of his shoes.

“And there’s probably cameras,” I say.

“Cameras blurred by sheets of water. I doubt anyone is watching them right now.”

Luca steps into the water and sinks down with a sigh. Then he looks up at me.

“Aren’t you going to come in?” he asks. “It feels amazing on sore muscles, and if I had to guess, you have a lot of those.”

I give him a look and he gives me a smirk.

“I don’t have my swimsuit,” I say. “My gym clothes don’t exactly double as a bikini.”