Sinful Kisses by Emily Bowie
CHAPTER 8
The doctor steps out of the room with me, and I close the door. He has a nervous tic that annoys me. His gaze stays on the floor instead of looking me in the eye. “We have no way to tell how long her memory loss will last,” he whispers and glances toward the door, even though she can’t be seen. The room is soundproof; she’ll never hear us.
“Look at me when you’re speaking.”
His face shows concern that shouldn’t be there. The doctor has already grown attached to her, and she’s been sleeping for all but two of their interactions. Anger simmers in my blood that he’s not capable of doing his job. Silence stretches between us, and all I can hear is the buzzing this house thrives on.
“You said it might never come back, right?” I challenge, unwilling to deviate from my plan. I can use her condition to my advantage. This is good for me, because I need this to work. What I’ve told her is mostly true. I altered a few facts; that’s all.
He sighs out, “There’s no way of telling. She could wake up tomorrow and remember everything. I suggest whatever you are planning, you do it sooner rather than later.”
“How can I avoid her memories coming back?”
A humorless chuckle leaves him. “You can’t. But there could be triggers that will help accelerate the memory recall.”
“Like what?”
“Anything to do with her past life.” He makes it sound like keeping her memory away will be an impossible task. I make a mental note to think of a list of topics to avoid. Gia is a city girl through and through. This pig farm is the furthest thing from her past life.
My thumb swipes back and forth on my lower lip. The doctor hesitates, but then he shakes his head. He walks back into the room to do whatever he needs to make sure Gia won’t die on me.
“By that shit-eating grin of yours, your idea is going according to plan.” Maximus comes toward me. He’s not excited about my idea. If this backfires on us, we’ll be worse off for it. Max has always been a rule follower. He and I will never be welcomed back into society if we don’t show our allegiance to the family. And I’m not about to live the life of a pig farmer longer than I need to.
My plan is simple: I need to make Gia fall in love with me. Even if she gains her memory back, she’ll need to love me. Then I can rise to power. She is the key to my happiness and getting everything I want in life. Shouldn’t be that hard. It’s not like she remembers she hates my guts. I’m charismatic. I charm the panties off girls all the time. Now I need to focus that attention on Gia.
I have a feeling being here might help ease her out of her shell. From what I saw, she wants to escape from something. She might be fun to have around to entertain me. When I’m driven, I can make anything happen.
Once I get what I want, I can toss her aside. My heart is as black as they come because of my family. Our father never showed love—unless his love was through his fist when you didn’t do as he said. But that’s how he ran the show, and people respected him. They never guessed where he stood.
He cheated on our mother regularly. He didn’t even apologize when he got some random mistress pregnant with my half-sister. Instead, he placed them in a shitty house and called upon his daughter when he needed her. They were his property. Just like Gia will be my property soon.
I don’t think I could love even if I wanted to. It’s not like I had role models of how it should be. I know how to manipulate the situation to make it better for me. The beautiful Gia happens to be my ticket. This is the perfect plan, because it involves no emotion on my part. Just like with every other girl, I’ll charm, use, and forget when the time comes.
“You’re awake.” Igive Gia my charming smile, and she forces an uncertain one in return. “Great news.” I reach for her hand, placing a light kiss on her now warm skin.
“I have a feeling our views may differ when you say you have great news,” she sasses, but her face is completely genuine in that she’s not trying to be difficult.
“I suppose.” I pretend to think about her words. “Hopefully soon, that will change.”
Her lips purse, looking like she doesn’t believe me. I’m banking that it will be me that convinces her and not that her memories return.
“Well, what’s this great thing?”
“We get to move you back into our room.” Her eyes widen in shock, and she visibly swallows. We’re both staring at each other in this stalemate, and the room’s tension grows thicker. My eyes are drawn to her lips, and she swallows again. My eyes drift over her slender neck. I can’t help but imagine her on her knees. Would she submit to me? I can’t tell. Her baby doll eyes look innocent enough she would accept my guidance, but the fire in them says otherwise.
Taking a deep breath, I see her eyes are now fixated on my crotch, where my hardened dick is being strangled. I smile. I can almost hear the thudding of her heart. “Just imagine what it looks like when it’s not locked away.” Her beautiful gray eyes fly to mine. “Don’t worry; it’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” I lie, wanting to watch her reaction.
“Obviously it didn’t leave a lasting impression.” She smiles sweetly at me, not even bothering to hide her pleasure at knocking me down a few pegs.
Good thing I’m undeterred.
“Maybe you need a refresher on how much you like it.”
She laughs out loud, shaking her head. “I’m good. But thanks for the offer.” Her eyes travel down to my deflating crotch and she laughs again.
“Do you need help to walk?” I ask on a bored exhale.
“I lost my memory, not my ability to walk.”
“Suit yourself.” I pull the chair from the side of her bed, placing it on the other side of the room. My body falls down into it, prepared to enjoy her struggle. I’m not nice to girls. I don’t go out of my way to help. If Gia is going to laugh in my face, she’s going to get the real Romeo.
She sends me a smile that’s strained. Her legs slide over the edge, looking toned even though she hasn’t walked in about twelve days. I don’t miss the way her knuckles turn white, holding on to the bedframe as she hesitates to stand on her own. My lips hitch up as if to say Bet you wish you took my help.
She looks over at me, and instead of asking for assistance, she fucking laughs at me again. “You’re honestly not very good with women, are you?” she asks, lowering her feet to the ground. She takes a hesitant step, still holding onto the railing. “Oh my goodness,” she exclaims, looking at me worriedly.
Here it comes. Now she’ll realize I was trying to be helpful. Joke’s on her—I’m going to make her do this herself. I sink further into my chair, trying to look as comfortable as possible.
“I ruined you. You’re shitty at talking to women, because you never had to practice. I let you get away with stupid jokes and horrible flirting because I thought you were cute. Well, that was a bad mistake of my past self. Obviously, I was not thinking about my future self.” She shakes her head with a frown that looks like pity.
I jump to my feet, ready to tell her just how desirable I am to the opposite sex, when I realize I can’t. It would ruin the whole story I have set up.
“Don’t worry, Romeo. Think of this as a fresh start. You can practice on me. This time, I won’t be a bad girlfriend and let subpar lines fly.”
I practically growl, but I have to swallow it. “Fiancée, Gia. Not girlfriend,” I correct her, leaving the room and slamming the door behind me.
Gia fucking Rossi is getting in my head and digging deep under my skin. The farm dog comes barreling toward me, and I order, “Stop,” ready to take him by the collar if he doesn’t listen.
For the first time, he sits at my feet, wagging his tail. Now he fucking listens to me? This dog can attack on command but has no other listening abilities.
My feet scuff up the dirt as I take a walk around the farm, trying to clear my head. Having Gia so close might be harder than I thought. I’ve always been immune to women, but Gia is a different breed. I don’t need a know-it-all woman on my farm either. I’m going to have to pull off some amazing self-control around her.