Page 94 of Captivated

Even the sheet!

That left Liliana naked on her bed, chilled from the cool air hitting her exposed skin, and glowering at Joe from her back on the bed. At the footboard, Joe just grinned in that smug way of his as he held her blankets in one hand.

“You ass,” she said.

Joe shrugged one broad shoulder, naked but for the boxer-briefs he wore. “Time to get up, I said.”

It was only then that Liliana noticed that it was the light in her bedroom that had been turned on, and not the usual sunlight filtering in from the window. In fact, by the looks of the darkness shadowing the slightly open curtains, the sun hadn’t even rose in the sky yet.

Jesus.

Liliana rolled to her stomach, and reached for the alarm clock. Sure enough, the time showcasing how early it was made her want to scream. “It’s five in the morning, Joe!”

“Yep—time to get up.”

“Are you crazy?”

She snatched a magazine off the bedside stand, and tossed it at him. Joe gave her a lopsided smirk as he easily caught the magazine with his hand, and then with a flick of his wrist, threw it to the foot of her bed like it had never been a problem to him in the first place.

“I have to go,” Joe said.

Liliana sunk into the bed. “What?”

“I have to head out, and I didn’t think you would appreciate it very much if I didn’t at least wake you up to let you know.”

Damn.

She probably wouldn’t have reacted well; she couldn’t help the way even the idea of a slight from this man made her want to run for the hills. She understood that wasn’t his intention, but her only way of protecting herself now was to just … well, run.

“Figured you might want to say goodbye—it’ll be a bit before we’ll see each other. Business, you know.”

Liliana’s brow furrowed. “What business?”

Joe only smiled. “Some things to finish up, that’s all.”

“Oh.”

“So, are you getting up, or what? Because I didn’t make breakfast for it to fucking go cold, donna.”

She laughed, and pushed up from the bed. “When you put it like that …”

Joe’s hand smacked hard against her ass as she passed him by. She didn’t jump from the surprise, but she did give him a little wink over her shoulder as she headed for the bathroom. He only grinned right back.

This man …

What was he doing to her?

Whatever it was, Liliana liked it.

A lot.

“And put on some clothes, you’re going to have a guest shortly,” Joe called just as she slipped into the bathroom.

“What, who?”

“Not important.”

“Joe—”