Calum turned up the heat on the stove. Once the pan was sizzling, he poured in the pancake batter. Thank goodness Laurella believed in the ready-made variety, because he didn’t have a clue how to prepare the mixture from scratch.

He made a stack, along with a pile of bacon. He poured them each a glass of orange juice, his mind turning to the previous evening. His head spun with the speed at which he’d switched from thinking of Laurella as that damned woman to my damned woman. And the sex… holy hell.

“That smells amazing.”

Calum turned toward the bedroom. Laurella was leaning against the doorjamb, her hair piled high in a messy bun. She looked sexy as hell in a cream camisole top and a pair of short shorts. He raked his gaze over her. She really did have the sexiest legs. His stomach clenched as his mind replayed how she’d wrapped them around his waist. Next time, he’d see if he could persuade her to wear heels.

“Come and eat, then. Before it gets cold.” He set the plate of pancakes and bacon in the center of the small table and pulled up a chair. “What do you normally do on a weekend?” he asked, pouring maple syrup over his pancakes.

She shrugged. “Work.”

“Not the whole weekend, surely?”

Another shrug. “I don’t have anything else to do. I haven’t really had time to make friends.”

“But you went sightseeing with Alessia, right? I mean, you’ve seen New York.”

She shook her head. “I walked up and down Fifth Avenue. Several times. And I know every inch of Bloomingdales. Alessia likes to shop.”

“Sounds like my idea of Hell,” he muttered.

“It might surprise you, but it’s also mine.”

He chuckled. “That settles it, then. I’m taking you sightseeing today. I don’t know how far we’ll get, but I’m sure we’ll see a few of the main touristy bits.” He reached across the table and captured her hand. He lifted it to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “And just so you know, from now on, you’ll be busy on weekends.”

He refrained from adding “sucking my cock” as he would have if speaking to a woman like Vonny. Laurella was too classy for that. Not to mention that he had an inkling that if he did add such a crude comment, she’d probably cut off his favorite body part.

They finished eating breakfast. Laurella insisted on clearing the dishes while Calum shot home to change. He was back within the hour. He’d worked out a sightseeing route, although because it was already past ten, they wouldn’t be able to see a whole lot. Manhattan might only be thirteen miles long and two miles wide, but it packed masses into that small space.

“So, my personal tourist guide,” Laurella said, drawing a grin from him, “what do you have planned for me?”

“I thought we’d go from south to north. First stop: Statue of Liberty. For the rest, well, you’ll have to wait and see.”

“Oh, this is going to be so good.” She stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Calum. I hope this won’t be too boring for you, especially as you’re a native.”

“It won’t be boring,” he said, slipping his arm around her waist and tucking her into his side. “I’m with you.”

While they waited in line for the ferry to Liberty Island, Calum could barely take his eyes—or keep his hands—off Laurella. She kept pushing away the wisps of almost-black hair that the springtime breeze blew around her face.

“How long does it take to get there?” she asked.

“Only fifteen minutes or so.”

She smiled up at him, her eyes shining with excitement. “This is the best day I’ve had since coming to New York, and it’s barely started.”

He kissed her temple. “I’m offended. I thought a night in bed with me would beat most things.”

Her cheeks reddened. “Shush.” She glanced over her shoulder before looking back at him. “People might hear.”

He shrugged. “So? You’re worth shouting about. You’re a fireball in the sack, sweetheart.”

“Calum!” She dug him in the ribs, but he just laughed.

The gates opened, and people shuffled forward onto the ferry. Calum caught Laurella’s hand and, keeping a tight hold, walked up the plank. He went straight to the back, securing a good spot to watch Manhattan Island from a distance as the ferry headed out.

Within minutes, they’d set off. The wind picked up, and Laurella wrapped her jacket closer around her.

“C’mere.” Calum wrapped her in his arms. He rested his chin on her shoulder and pointed out various landmarks as they set sail from Manhattan. He watched her animated expression, and answered her questions, and an alien feeling stirred within him. Making Laurella smile was like winning a coveted award—except he wasn’t satisfied with just one prize. He wanted them all.

They docked at Liberty Island, and Laurella slipped her hand through his arm, her excitement palpable as they melded into the crowds that flocked there in the thousands so that they could tell their friends and family they’d visited the symbol of freedom. The statue had been familiar to Calum his whole life—but seeing Laurella’s enthusiasm for what had become a mundane monument, he felt he should have been more appreciative.

“I heard you can climb it,” Laurella said. “Is that true?”

Calum nodded. “It’s quite a climb, though.”

“Have you done it?”

“Yes. A long time ago.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. “I guess you’ve done everything you’re going to show me today. There’s nothing new about it for you.”

He slipped his hands around her waist. When she tilted her face up to his, Calum brushed his lips over hers, the now familiar rush of desire thickening his cock, which pressed, almost painfully, against his zipper. “It’s all new, because I’m seeing it with you.”

“Oh, Calum.” She wrapped her hands around his neck and drew his mouth down to hers. They only broke apart when another tourist jostled them. The stranger muttered an apology before shuffling off.

“Do you want to climb to the crown?” Calum asked.

Laurella nodded enthusiastically. “I really do.”

“Good job I made reservations for us, then.” He’d had to call in a favor. Tickets to climb to the crown sold out weeks in advance. Luckily, he had a contact who’d pulled a few strings. It had only cost him a night’s stay in the penthouse, and dinner. Jax had offered the place for free, but Calum had refused. His brother was running a business, not a charity. Paying the significant sum was worth every penny to secure Laurella’s happiness.

Her forehead wrinkled. “You can’t just climb it.”

“Nope.”

She squealed with excitement and threw her arms around his neck, tucking her head under his chin. “You thought of everything.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if I didn’t spoil you this early on in our relationship.”

She drew back and studied his face. “Is that what this is? A relationship?”

Calum bent his head, stealing another kiss. “I told you, Laurella. You’re mine. I’m never letting you go.”

The words tumbled out of their own accord, but before she could say anything in response to such a revelation, he clutched her hand and headed over to the entrance, which would take them inside the statue. She was his. And he had no intention of letting her escape his clutches. But he wasn’t yet ready for a discussion about it. He was still struggling to get his head around how fast they’d moved from animosity to this strong connection they’d forged.

By the time they reached the top, both were out of breath, but the views were worth every agonizing step, especially when Laurella swept a hand over his ass, squeezed it, and whispered, “You are so getting laid tonight.”

“Where now?” she said when they stepped off the ferry back onto Manhattan Island. “I feel like a real tourist.”

“You are a tourist,” Calum stated. “You can’t say you live in New York until you’ve been here at least five years.”

She frowned. “Really?”

“No.” He laughed. “I didn’t take you for someone so gullible.”

She dug him with her elbow, catching him just underneath his ribs.

He grunted and rubbed the offending area. “Careful, now. If you damage me, I won’t be able to perform to the best of my abilities later.”

“If you accuse me of being gullible again, you won’t get the chance to perform,” she said, her tone teasing and light.

“Oh no you don’t.” He caught her around the waist and held her flush against his body. “You’ve made a deal with the Devil. No backing out now.”

All frivolity left her. She looked up at him with those dark, long-lash-framed, soulful eyes and blinked slowly. “I wouldn’t back out even if I could.”

A surge of desire flushed through him, and his cock thickened. She noticed and, instead of pulling back, wriggled closer.

“Carry on like that, and instead of the tourist hot spots of New York, the only sight you’ll see will be my naked body covering yours.”

She giggled. “You are such a man. Restraint, Calum. It’ll make tasting the honey all the sweeter.”

“Oh, believe me, sweetheart, I’ll be tasting your honey. Repeatedly. And if I remember rightly, it was you who couldn’t control yourself last night. Four times was a challenge even for me.”

Her eyes twinkled. “A gentleman shouldn’t remind a lady of such things.”

He gently flicked the end of her nose. “I love the way you speak. It’s so… not American.”

“That’s because I’m Italian.”

He laughed again. “That’s stating the obvious. Come on. If you thought the view from the top of the Statue of Liberty was good, it’s even more impressive from our next stop.”

“The Empire State Building?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Somewhere even better.”

After they’d walked all around Top of the Rock several times and Laurella had spent a while peering through the scenic viewer that magnified the city landscape, she straightened and beamed at him.

“I know I haven’t been to the top of the Empire State Building, but it’d be hard to beat this view. It’s magnificent.”

Calum took her hand, cold from the keen wind at that high elevation. He rubbed it between both of his. “It’s very much a personal choice, and there are those that argue either way. In my opinion, the view from here is better than the Empire State Building, because you’re more central. I’ll take you there another day, and then you can make up your own mind.”

“I’d like that,” she said, smiling up at him.

“Seen enough?”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get sick of this view, but yes, we can go now if you like.”

He checked his watch. “The next thing I have planned is a must-do for a tourist such as yourself. We have just enough time before our dinner reservations.”

She punched his arm. “Stop teasing me.”

They strolled up Fifth Avenue, past the gaudy Trump Tower on the right, before turning left alongside the Plaza Hotel.

“We must go to the Palm Court sometime,” Calum said with a nod toward the Plaza. “I assume you haven’t been yet?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s iconic. You have to go at least once.” He drew to a halt and pointed across the street, where a long line of horses and their adorned carriages were waiting for the next fare. “Want to take a ride with me?”

Her eyes lit up, and she stood on tiptoes to kiss him. “I’d love to.”

They crossed the street, and Calum helped her inside the back of a bright-red carriage. He briefly spoke to the driver and paid him for thirty minutes. He wished they had more time, but New York was one of those places that took much longer to get around than people thought.

Calum climbed in. He opened out the blanket, placed it around Laurella’s shoulders, and tucked her into his side. As they set off to the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves on the road, their driver began to point out areas of interest, but when they paid more attention to each other than to what he was saying, he simply smiled and left them to it.

“Good day?” Calum asked, nuzzling her neck.

She tilted to the side to give him better access. “The best day.” A sigh fell from her lips, a contented sound that swelled his chest.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t see more, but there’s always next weekend or the one after or the one after that.”

She grinned. “So you meant it before when you laid claim to all my weekends?”

“Yep.” He nibbled on her earlobe, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

“Calum,” she said in a warning tone.

“I like to hear my name on your lips.” He traced his tongue from the soft spot beneath her ear down the long column of her neck. “Especially when I’m inside you,” he added in a low voice.

“You’re getting me all hot and bothered,” she whispered.

“That’s the idea, beautiful.”

When the horse and carriage drew to a halt in the same place they’d set off from, Laurella pulled a sad face. “That was over so quickly.”

“We’ll do it again another time,” Calum said, jumping down onto the sidewalk. After helping Laurella from the carriage, he paid the driver, adding a healthy tip. The man deserved it after he’d picked up on the cue to keep quiet.

They rode the subway to a French restaurant in Soho, a longtime favorite of his. It was cozy without being clichéd, and the food was out of this world.

He stopped outside, and Laurella glanced up, squinting as she read the restaurant name. “Balthazar. Wasn’t he an angel in the Bible?”

Calum winked. “A fallen angel, actually.”

She rolled her eyes. “Figures.”

Such an American phrase spilling from her perfect Italian lips made him laugh. “We’ll make a Yank out of you yet.”

She stared at him in mock horror. “My papa would disown me.”

He pushed open the door and, with his hand at the small of her back, eased her inside. They were seated quickly, and once the waiter had taken their drinks order, they were left alone to peruse the menu.

“Have you been here before?” Laurella asked.

Calum nodded. “Many times.”

“Then what would you recommend?”

He waggled his eyebrows. “Oysters.”

Laurella shook her head. “I’m not sure your libido needs any more stoking.”

“I like it hot, and from what you showed me last night, so do you.”

Her eyes burned into him, hauntingly beautiful. Mesmerizing. He found he couldn’t look away, almost as though she’d trapped him in that moment with her gaze alone.

“I do like it hot. And varied.”

Fuck. Me.

He fidgeted in his chair, surreptitiously reaching beneath the heavy linen covering on the table to rearrange his junk before the damn thing bust through his jeans.

“Oysters it is, then,” he said, clearing his throat several times.

She dipped her chin, glancing up at him through those unbelievably long lashes, one of the first features he’d noticed about her all those months ago.

Her foot rubbed against his leg. “Are you turned on right now?”

He’d been sipping water when she asked that. He almost spat it out but managed to swallow. “You know I am.”

That foot crept upward. Sometime between sitting down and right then, she’d removed her shoes. Damn. When had she slipped them off? Her toes curled over his erection, and he almost leaped out of his chair. A quiet groan eased from his throat. Then her foot was gone.

“Why—”

She jerked her head. The waiter was patiently standing by their table, his face as red as the window banner advertising the name of the restaurant. Their wine was in an ice bucket by the side of the table. Calum had been so entranced by what Laurella had been doing to him that he hadn’t even realized they weren’t alone.

“Are you ready to order, sir, madam?” the waiter asked, unable to make eye contact. His pen was poised over his pad, and his face had the look of someone who wanted to be anywhere but where he was.

Calum grinned at Laurella and mouthed, “Busted.”

She giggled. “Yes, we’re ready. He’ll order for both of us.”

Calum gave the menu a cursory glance, even though he knew it by heart. “The oysters du jour and two portions of the braised short ribs.” He held the menus out to the side.

The grateful waiter took them and scurried away.

“That poor man,” Laurella said, still chuckling.

Calum poured them each a glass of wine. “That was all you. And here I was thinking I’m the badly behaved one.”

She sipped her wine, and her foot began exploring once more. “Now, where were we?”

By the time they’d finished dinner, both of them were running hot. The second they got outside, Laurella dragged Calum down a side street where the crowds were less thick. There were still plenty of people around, although she didn’t seem to care. She pushed him up against the wall and kissed him. The control was all hers. He was simply a passenger along for the ride. And what a ride it was.

His cell buzzed, but he ignored it. Nothing could be more important than tangling tongues with the hottest girl he’d ever met. He’d always thought being in charge was the turn on, but how wrong he’d been. Giving control to someone else, especially one as sexy as Laurella, stirred him up something fierce inside.

When his cell buzzed again, he inwardly cursed. His lips were still connected to hers as he took it from his pocket and glanced at the screen. Zane. What the hell did he want?

“Who is it?” she murmured, her red, swollen lips urging him to put his mouth on her again.

“Zane.” He swiped to answer. “What?” he snapped into the phone.

“Where are you?” Zane asked, sounding mightily pissed off.

“Why?”

“Because we’re all sitting in Fred’s like a bunch of dicks, waiting for you.”

Fuck. He’d forgotten. The first Saturday of every third month, he and his old college buddies met up for a night of pool and beer.

“Shit.” He looked down at Laurella, whose eyes were misty with desire, an undoubted mirror image of his own. “Sorry, Zane, I need to bail.”

“Are you sick?”

“No.”

“Is Jax okay?”

Calum frowned. Where the hell was he going with this? “Yes.”

“Cole? Nate? All good?”

Realization crept in. “Yes,” he said in a resigned tone.

“Then you’re coming. Unless you’re in a life-or-death situation, you don’t bail.” He paused. “Are you with a chick? Because if you are, put her in a cab and get over here. Bros before hoes, remember? That’s the code.”

Calum let out a frustrated breath. “No, I’m not with a chick.”

“What’s the matter?” Laurella whispered.

“Hang on,” he said to Zane before putting his cell on mute. “Every few weeks, Zane and I meet up with the guys we went to college with. I completely forgot it’s tonight.”

Laurella hid her disappointment behind a wry grin. “Then you must go.”

Calum curved a hand around her neck and pecked her lips. “I’d rather be with you.”

She shook her head. “Bros before hoes, remember?” When he showed his surprise, she laughed. “Tell Zane he’s got a loud mouth.”

“Shit. Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. You go. Have fun with your friends. I don’t want to come between you and your life, Calum. If we were in Milan instead of New York, and it was me going out with my girlfriends, I’d still go. Sisters before misters, right?”

He laughed. “Okay, but I’m coming over tomorrow, and we’re spending the whole day in bed.”

Her smile built slowly. “That’s what Sundays are for.”