Chapter 31
GAbrIELA
My heart slams against my chest as thoughts scatter in every direction. But there’s really only one that matters.
“You’re…Eros.”
“I think you already knew that.” His pupils flare, drowning the amber of his eyes in darkness. “You just needed to come to terms with it.”
“But why?” My lip wobbles. “You’ve hated me for so long.”
He shifts his weight, settling between my thighs as he grinds his erection against me. “Does this feel like I hate you?”
The familiar press of his body on top of mine ejects a broken sound from my throat.
“Does it feel like I hate you when I’m in your bed, claiming every part of you?” He teases his lips against mine. “Or what about when I do this?”
“So…you like me?”
My communication skills have reverted to the most primitive settings, but at the moment, I don’t really care.
“I like you, Gabi.” He kisses his way down my neck, sucking and biting me just as Eros does. “I like you a whole fucking lot.”
A rush of warmth floods my veins as my body surrenders, and I melt into the bed, losing myself in the moment.
“You’ve been inside me,” I rasp, the thought tumbling out unfiltered.
“I’ve been inside every part of you.” His voice dips, letting me know how much he likes that.
“And you killed your cousin.” My fingers press into his back as his teeth scrape over my jaw.
“He was my least favorite cousin.”
“You said you had a girlfriend.” A whisper of pain bleeds through the words.
He pauses to look at me, regret softening his tone. “I said it because I was going to see you, and I didn’t think it through. It was a bad joke.”
A fist rattling the door startles me, but Romeo’s gaze doesn’t move from mine.
“Romeo,” Angelo clips out. “My wife would like a word.”
“I just want to make sure Gabi’s okay,” Abella says from the other side of the door.
A ripple of tension moves through Romeo’s body, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, vulnerability flashes in his eyes. I think he’s afraid I’ll ask to leave.
“Well?” he murmurs. “Are you okay being alone with the big, bad wolf, Gabriela?”
“I’m alright,” I call out, loud enough for Abella to hear me. “Please don’t worry about me.”
“Okay.” Relief slips through her voice. “We’ll leave you alone then.”
When everything falls quiet outside the door, Romeo’s thumb grazes my cheek.
“Tell me you want me inside you.”
I search his eyes—warm and so full of hunger, I can’t deny that this is real.
As a montage of the last five years crashes through my thoughts, I see everything through a new lens.
The quiet things he did for me. The way he watched me, memorizing every detail of my life, even when I was convinced he despised me. We bickered, played games, and exchanged stupid barbs. But through it all, one thing never changed.
The thought rises inside me, sudden and overwhelming.
I’m in love with him.
I’ve never stopped loving him.
A sob bursts free before I can stop it.
He stills, pain flickering in his eyes as he tries to pull away.
“Don’t,” I plead.
He doesn’t move in either direction as he meets my gaze, his face more guarded than it was just a moment ago.
“I want you inside me.”
“You’re crying.” His voice comes out rough.
“I’m just emotional,” I confess. “I wanted it to be you. I didn’t even realize how much I wanted that until right now.”
The tension dissolves from his body as he eases himself closer, a low sound of approval rumbling through him.
“You know you trespassed again.” His lips brush against mine. “That means I’m going to have to incarcerate you. At least a full day.”
“Technically, you kidnapped me.”
“You can’t kidnap something that’s already yours.”
Those words spark between us, igniting a desperate rush as we come together. He angles my head back, capturing my mouth with his.
We must have kissed a thousand times by now, but this one lays me bare in a way the others never did.
There’s nothing to hide behind—no mask, no armor.
Stripped of that protection, I’m making a conscious choice to give myself to him.
I’m raw and exposed, but those emotions are swallowed by the intoxicating flood of pleasure soaking into my veins.
Beneath the surface, there’s a storm of feelings I’m not ready to explore. Uncertainty. Fear. Vulnerability. But right now, my only focus is the singular thought looping through my brain.
It’s always been him.
His palms glide over my hips, skimming the fabric of my sweater as he pushes it up to my ribcage.
“Wait.” I breathe the words against his lips. “I want to see you too.”
A shudder moves through him as he nods, reluctantly pulling away to undress. At the same time, I tug off my sweater, then he helps me with my skirt and shoes.
Once we’re both naked, he stands at the foot of the bed, letting me drink in the sight of him.
He’s the dangerous kind of beautiful—the one that ends in heartbreak and ruins me for everyone else.
Warm amber eyes framed by dark lashes. A strong, sculpted jaw. Prominent cheekbones. Lips that are downright sinful. They’re the features that haunt me in my dreams and waking hours—the composition of a man I’ve tried so hard to forget.
I realize now, it was always an impossible task.
My eyes carve a path down the column of his neck, exploring the inked canvas of his skin. There are so many intricate details, I could study them for hours.
His entire body is a work of art. A solid mass of muscle, flesh, and bone—as devastating as it is lethal.
My gaze drifts over his ridged abs, tracing that faint dusting of dark hair that leads to his cock. He’s so hard it looks painful, and I can’t help wondering how he ever fit that inside me. But right now, there’s nothing I want more.
“Had your fill?” Gravel edges his voice.
I bite my lip and nod. “For now.”
He tosses the covers back on one side of the bed, then lifts me up and drapes me over the sheet so my head rests against his pillow.
For a moment, he just stands there like it’s hitting him all over again.
I’m in his bed.
We’re both naked.
And soon, he’ll be inside me without any barriers to shield us from the intimacy of the moment.
My pulse quickens as the bed dips beneath his weight, and he lowers his body over mine, settling his hips between my thighs.
For a long stretch, he stares at me like he’s memorizing every detail of my face, though I’m certain he already has.
It doesn’t feel awkward to hold his gaze, and truthfully, I can’t seem to pull my eyes away from him. I imagined this moment for so long, and now that I’m in it, I never want it to end.
He leans closer, the warmth of his body penetrating mine as he buries his face in my neck and breathes me in. A low groan vibrates in his throat, and I feel it between my thighs. But now that he has me naked, he seems to be in no rush.
His lips ghost over my skin, bathing me in slow, reverent kisses. I think if I let him, he could do this all day. But I’m aching for him, desperate to feel him inside me, and I need him to know it.
“Romeo.” My fingers slide over the base of his neck, clinging to him as my nipples scrape against his chest. “Please.”
He lets out a deep, feral growl of satisfaction as his lips brush against my ear.
“Are you wet for me, baby?”
“Yes,” I answer breathlessly.
He grinds his cock between my thighs, leaving no question that I’m soaked for him.
“Fuck,” he curses under his breath. “Non sai quello che mi fai.”
I moan at the sound of Italian rolling off his tongue, too caught up in the moment to register what it means. There isn’t time to think about it as he reaches down and guides his cock to my entrance.
He lifts his gaze to mine, holding it as he eases into me. My body stretches to accommodate him, and that feeling of pressure and fullness wrenches another broken sound from my throat.
Heat smolders in the depths of his eyes, and his lips part as the intensity of the moment grips us both.
Romeo Vitale is inside me.
My body sinks into the bed as I relax around him, completely his for the taking.
His fingers glide through my hair, cradling the back of my head as his lips settle over mine. He kisses me deep and slow as we come together, electricity humming through every nerve ending.
He rocks into me, setting an unhurried pace as goosebumps scatter over my skin. It’s different this time, and the pulsing beat of his heart tells me I’m not the only one who feels it. There’s a current arcing between us, more intense than anything else we’ve ever shared.
It’s addictive…and terrifying.
I scrape my fingers over his bare back, pulling him as close as I possibly can as the fire consumes us.
The low, rough sounds ripping from his throat bleed into something primal as he thrusts deeper, harder, losing control of himself. I feel every throbbing inch of him, every tremor, every ragged breath. It feeds the wounded part of me—the need to be wanted by him.
My body trembles, muscles pulling tight as pressure builds. It isn’t a slow unraveling. He’s pushing me right to the edge, and when he pulls back to look at me, a visceral spark of possession flares in his eyes. It sends me spiraling into oblivion so fast, I barely have time to brace for it.
I come hard, rolling waves of pleasure crashing through me as I contract around him. It’s relentless, racking my body as he fucks me through the orgasm. He draws it out until I’m completely boneless, a languid warmth spreading through my veins as my senses slowly return.
When I open my eyes to meet his, he’s still watching me, the tendons in his neck straining as he hangs on by a thread. He’s holding out for something, and in the next heartbeat, I find out what it is.
“Say it again.”
I don’t have to ask what he means.
I reach up and touch his face, watching his throat work as I whisper his name again.
He buries himself inside me, a powerful tremor shuddering through him as he comes with a long, painful groan.