Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

“Do you find me pretty?” she asked, drawing in that plump lower lip
between her teeth.
“Yes, I do.” My thumb stroked along the back of her hand—which I hadn’t
even realized I was still holding.
“Oh,” she said. “I wasn’t sure. You didn’t act as if you cared much.”
It was a good thing that I’d perfected my poker face over the years and a
necessary evil in my line of work. “I did and do find you very attractive.”
“Hmm. Usually I’m good at telling those things. Most men are really
obvious about their interest. They get that intense look as if they want to devour
you.”
Something angry and dark curled in my chest. “Did it happen often… that
men looked at you like that? As if they wanted to devour you?” Despite my best
intention, my voice held an edge it hadn’t before.
Giulia tilted her head, considering me in that quiet way of hers.
“Occasionally. Sometimes men who visited my father, sometimes strangers when
I was out with my bodyguards. It’s not like anyone ever approached me.”
“Good,” I growled.
Her eyebrows darted up. “Are you jealous?”
“Possessive. I don’t share well. Or at all.”
She laughed.
“That’s funny to you? I’m dead serious.”
She rolled her eyes. Rolled. Her. Eyes. I couldn’t even remember the last
time someone had dared roll their eyes at me.
“You get jealous over men watching me from afar, knowing full well that
you gave me my first kiss in church today? You never had to share me, nor will
you.”
“Have you ever given a man that look?” I questioned.
“No,” she said without hesitation.
“A sheltered upbringing doesn’t make you blind.”
She pursed her lips. “I never looked at men long enough to make up my
mind about them. It didn’t seem wise, considering I wasn’t going to be the one
choosing my husband.”
That was true. She had no say in the matter.