angrily.
He smiled when she unconsciously licked her top lip where his taste still lingered. “This is Dunwoody Cove,” he said. “Everyone who comes here does so for a reason, Peyton. And as you reminded me, you might be close to my family but you are not my sister. And I don’t intend to play the role of big brother to you—in fact, far from it.”
He leaned down and swiped a quick kiss from her lips. “Get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As he headed for the door, he knew without looking that she was standing there stunned. But she would have plenty of time to figure things out because starting tomorrow, he was taking off the kid gloves and Peyton Mahoney wouldn’t know what hit her until it was too late.
Chapter 3
Peyton opened her eyes then closed them when the insistent throbbing in her head became almost unbearable. It had been years since she’d had a serious hangover. Not since her college days, and this one was off the charts.
She kept her eyes closed as snippets of the previous night slowly began coming together in her mind. She recalled having a little more to drink than she’d intended. And then Angelo had appeared out of nowhere, and the next thing she knew he walked her back to her room where she’d rushed to the bathroom to throw up. She vaguely recalled what happened after she’d come out of the bathroom, and suddenly her eyes sprang open when she remembered that Angelo had kissed her. She reached out and touched her lips. Had he really kissed her or had she just dreamt it? She turned her body and stared up at the ceiling. Ignoring the deep pounding in her head, she tried to recall everything that had happened in the hotel room last night once she’d stepped out of the bathroom. They had been talking about nothing much, and he had gotten ready to leave. He had walked over to her, pulled her off her feet and into his arms and…
She shook her head. No, she had to be imagining things. There was no way Sam’s sexy-and-handsome-as-sin brother would have kissed her. It had to be the side-effects of last night’s drinking binge that had her brain mushy.
But if that was the case, then why was the memory of being locked in Angelo’s arms so vividly clear? They did kiss, she thought. And then there was his touch. She remembered his hands grazing her spine, which was exposed in her backless dress. There had been the feel of her body plastered close to his, and even now she could feel the solid wall of muscles pressed against her.
Peyton closed her eyes, unsure whether her memories were reality or fantasy. At that moment, the only thing she was absolutely sure of was the persistent pounding in her head. That, combined with the memory of being held and kissed by Angelo, made her brain feel as if it was in overdrive. She tried clearing her head and found it nearly impossible to do so. The pounding and memories continued. And moments later she was pulled into another deep sleep.
* * *
Angelo leaned back in his chair, sipped his coffee and smiled. His kiss had taken Peyton by surprise last night—probably shocked the living daylights out of her. That was good, and it was something she might as well get used to, he thought.
He knew there was a possibility that she wouldn’t remember anything about last night. That was okay since at some point today he intended to make his desire for her quite obvious. He had two weeks, and he intended to use them wisely. He’d never pursued a woman before. But then he’d never tried either. But he planned to do so with a purpose and a resolve like no other.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here DeAngelo?”
He glanced up and wished he hadn’t. Lela Stillwell, the woman who had been a thorn in Sam’s side throughout high school. For some reason the two of them always butted heads and had never gotten along. He later found out why. Lela always put herself on a pedestal, especially with the help of an over-indulgent father, who happened to be one of Angelo’s father’s clients.
Lela had come into the office several times with her old man some years ago, and Angelo had once even considered having an affair with her. But that was before she had accused a pro football player of attempted rape. The authorities weren’t buying it and had detected holes in her story. Angelo’s father had gotten her to drop the charges, and she later admitted that she had falsely accused the athlete when he had brushed off her advances. Luckily he didn’t press charges against Lela, but that was only after her father reached an out-of-court settlement with the accused athlete. Her father had sent her to Paris for a year or so until the scandal died down. Evidently she was back.
“How are you, Lela?”
She slid into the seat across from him uninvited. “I’m doing fine now that I see that you’re here, Angelo.”
He gave her a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I don’t see why my presence would make a difference.”
“Don’t you?”
“Quite frankly, no,” he said, checking his watch. It was close to noon. If Peyton wasn’t up yet, then it was time for him to wake her up.
“I’m sure you know I’ve always been interested in you.”
“Have you?”
“Yes, and I think you’ve been interested in me as well. That unfortunate incident last year with Kevin Swank wasn’t my fault.”
He wondered how she could say that. When she had shown up at Swank’s home, security cameras had captured the entire incident. It hadn’t been hard to figure out who had been pursuing whom. There hadn’t been any inappropriate behavior on Kevin Swank’s part as Lela had claimed. She had nearly ruined his career and reputation with her allegations, which ultimately forced her father to fork over a hefty settlement to avoid a countersuit.
“I’ve been hearing a lot about you lately, Angelo,” she said, interrupting his thoughts. “Your name has been all in the news.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and you need the right woman by your side to help you handle all that media attention—one who is refined, elegant and poised.”
He looked over at her and couldn’t help but smile. The one thing Lela hadn’t mentioned was honest. That was definitely something she was not.
“Thanks for the suggestion,” he said, standing. “Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s someplace I need to be.”
Ignoring her, he took one last sip of coffee before walking off.
* * *
“Peyton.”
Her name sounded like a whisper uttered from the deep, husky voice that infiltrated the recesses of her deep sleep. She slowly opened her eyes, looked up and immediately connected with the most gorgeous and intense dark orbs staring down at her.
Her heart kicked up a beat when she thought back to the time she’d first been ensnared by Angelo’s eyes. She hadn’t been in the Di Meglio’s humongous house in the Hamptons for more than a few hours when Sam’s tall, gorgeous and handsome-as-sin brother walked through the door.
Bringing her thoughts back to the present, Peyton’s gaze shifted from his eyes to his mouth, and for a spellbinding moment she was mesmerized by the shape of his full and sensuous lips. They had kissed her last night and practically devoured her lips. Why? If he had been in the kissing mood, she was sure
