Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Matteo
I couldn’t stop thinking about what the man in the club had said before I’d knocked out half his teeth and blown apart his kneecap in a rage.
Gio had known about me and Sophia from the beginning.
If that was true, then it changed everything.
“Sophia?” I slipped inside the dark, quiet penthouse and was met with nothing but silence.
Kicking off my shoes, I went in search of her. I found her asleep, the blankets crumpled around her waist. There wasn’t much light, but enough to see the smooth outline of her slender legs and the peaceful way her lips had parted.
I couldn’t help it. I stifled back a groan. Sophia was mine. Did it really matter who knew it now or even who knew it back then?
What mattered was the here and now.
Tiptoeing forward, I knelt on the edge of the mattress, reaching for her so I could bring her awake slowly and kiss her.
“Matteo,” she moaned my name, stopping me in my tracks. Only she wasn’t calling for me to stop. Somehow, I had invaded her dreams.
“Please, Matteo,” she moaned again,
A small triumphant smile spread across my face. Oh, I had invaded her dreams, all right, and I knew just what she was dreaming about because I knew the tone of her voice when she was turned on.
“Please.”
I let my fingers slide up her calf, slowly tiptoeing up her slim legs. “I’m here, baby. Just relax.”
Inch by inch, I let my fingers climb, and she shifted her weight, rolling onto her back and giving me clear and easy access.
My dirty girl wanted me to touch her. And truth be told, I needed that as well. I needed to touch her so I could lose myself in her and forget the mess of the last six years.
It had all started with her, and I knew it would end with her as well.
Sliding between her legs, I settled myself on my stomach. My fingers played over her skin, and lips as well, until her moans changed.
Blowing a long, hot breath against her, I speared her with my fingers and worked her from the inside out.
“Matteo,” she cried out again, this time louder and clearer. My smile grew. I knew the woman writhing against my hand, and I knew the noises she made when she was getting close. She was getting close now. She was also not asleep. I would put money on that.
Another breath that made her shudder, and then I closed my lips around her clit and flicked my tongue against it. Crying out, Sophia grabbed at my hair, tangling her fingers into it and riding wantonly against my face and fingers.
This was the Sophia I needed right now. This naughty, needy, wild woman. The one who couldn’t say no to me even if she tried.
So much had happened between us over the years, most of it bad, but when we came together like this, there was no stopping us.
Like magnets, we always came together.
“That’s it, princess.” I nipped at her and groaned. There was something sublimely hot about watching my fingers slide in and out of her pink, dripping pussy and knowing that I was the reason she was losing control.
“You taste like sunshine and happiness.” I closed my eyes and latched back onto her, taking in all of her with one long lick. “You taste like the only happiness I have ever known.” I groaned.
Wasn’t that the truth?
Her hips lifted off the bed, and her release washed over her, soaking my lips and chin.
“Matteo!” she screamed.
My eyes snapped open to find her staring down at me from beneath her lashes. Her cheeks were flushed.
Fuck.
Need flowed through me in a violent burst. Lifting my head, I thrust two fingers back inside of her, working her through her orgasm.
“I was wondering when you were going to stop pretending to be asleep, Sophia.” Grinning, I climbed up her body. Working my fingers in and out of her, I settled myself over her, nipping at the swell of her breasts, sucking on those tight, pink nipples which grew harder and tighter still.
“Tell me you want this.” I worked her harder, not letting the orgasm slow or fade. “Tell me you want me.”
Sophia’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her body jerked violently.
“Tell me,” I ordered, even though I wasn’t even sure she was capable of words.
“I want this,” she mumbled, and I could have roared with triumph. Jumping off the bed, I jerkily stripped my clothes off. Buttons popped and scattered across the floor, and then I was back in bed.
“Tell me you want me.” I fell on top of her, my hand guiding my throbbing cock to her slick opening and inching inside slowly.
I wanted to make the most of this moment, savor it and lock it away in my memories forever, so no matter what happened between us, I would have this.
“I need you.”
My eyes rolled. She didn’t want me, but she needed me. It was everything I had ever wanted to hear.
She needed me. And I needed her. There was want there, of course there was. Between us, there would always be want, but more than anything, we needed each other.
I had always known that.
Just like I had always known she was mine,
Catching her wrists, I forced them down on either side of her head, trapping them there, and it was only when she was like that, all wide-eyed and totally submissive, that I let myself fully sink into her.
Her tight, wet channel closed around me like a warm leather glove.
I moved slowly, almost lazily. Pulling almost all the way out before sliding home again, and that’s exactly what she was, even when I didn’t want to admit it. She was my home.
The only place in the entire world where I could be me was with her.
“Matteo, please,” she begged and wrapped her legs around my waist, drawing me in closer and meeting each of my thrusts with her own. “I need you.”
“I need you.” Loosening my grip on her, I slammed home again and again. “I need you to need me.”
Losing control, I let myself feel everything. How her body felt under me, how her pussy felt pulsating around me as another orgasm began to take hold.
We came together, our lips crashing together to muffle the moans and screams that flowed from her lips. I swallowed them all down. I ate them like I had just eaten her pussy.
Until she went liquid in my arms and completely spent, I fell to the side and pulled her with me. My lips never left hers, even though it felt like I would never be able to catch my breath ever again.
“I need you to need me,” I murmured again into her mouth.
And there it was: my ultimate truth. There was only one thing in the entire world that made me vulnerable, and it was my need to be wanted and needed by her.
Not just loved, that wasn’t enough.
Slowly, lazily, she lifted her hands to my face and traced it with her fingertips.
“I do need you, Matteo,” she whispered. “You will never know how much I need you. How much I want you.”
I closed my eyes, leaning into her hand. “Do you mean that?”
“Open your eyes and look at me,” she said softly.
Taking a deep breath, I did what she asked, and the air got stuck in my throat. She was looking at me with such tenderness.
She was looking at me with…dare I say it? Love.
“I mean it,” she whispered. “I’ve always wanted and needed you, Matteo. Before you even knew I existed.”
Tracing her lips with mine, I let the happiness roll over me. “I’ve always known you existed, Sophia,” I said against her mouth with a smile.
“Okay.” She rolled her eyes. “Even before you realized I was a woman and not just Gio’s annoying little sister?”
I pulled away. Gio. Fuck Gio. Especially if what I had heard earlier was true.
Sensing my sudden change of mood, Sophia let her hand fall down into the space between us. “You’re mad at me again.”
Wildly, I looked at her. A million thoughts scattered in my head when I did.
It didn’t matter if Gio knew or even suspected we’d had feelings for each other all those years ago.
It didn’t even matter that I knew he told everyone that it had been my family and me specifically who had called for that hit.
I knew he didn’t have proof, but he had gone after my family as revenge anyway.
Gio had started this war between our families. Not me and not Sophia.
“I’m not angry at you.” Gathering her up in my arms, I held her close and nuzzled into her throat. Even after wild, sweaty sex, she still smelled like all the good things in the world.
Letting out a sigh, I relaxed against her. “I’m not angry at you, Sophia,” I admitted. “I’m angry at the entire world.”
Brown eyes widened. “Why?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Why am I angry at the world?” Reaching out, I caressed her face. “Because it took you away from me for six years. Because even now, you are not really mine.”
“I am yours,” she said in a rush, and there was no pause in her voice. She wasn’t lying. I felt myself smile. And this time, I didn’t even try to hide it.
“Good.” Wrapping her tightly in my arms, I held her for a second, and it was enough. Just being with her like this was enough.
It didn’t matter what the others thought or said. All that mattered was what we thought and said, and Sophia said she was mine.
“It’s not going to be easy,” I whispered. “Being together is not going to be easy. There’s a reason your brother forced you back into my life, Sophia, and I need to know what that is.”
“I know it’s not going to be easy. Nothing worth having is ever easy, Matteo.”
Yeah, she was right about that. But I knew she was worth it.
She had always been worth it.
“I think your brother knew about us before,” I whispered.
She didn’t answer me.
Maybe I said it so softly and she hadn’t heard me. Shifting my weight, I glanced down at her.
Asleep.
She was asleep, and this time she wasn’t faking it. Her breasts rose and fell evenly, and her lips were half-parted. She looked like a damn sleeping angel in my arms, completely content.
If she was hiding something bad from me, she wouldn’t have looked so peaceful. So it wasn’t her. Yes, she had secrets, but not bad ones.
It was Gio who was up to something, but I had known that from the beginning. I would keep digging, but I would savor this as well.
Pressing my lips to her forehead, I fell back into the pillows, but I didn’t close my eyes. How could I when she looked so beautiful?
Sophia was mine, she had always been, and would always be mine, and if I found out that Gio had taken her away from me six years ago, then I would burn his empire to the ground.
One thing was certain, though: he would never get her away from me now.
“I love you,” I whispered to her sleeping form. “I have always loved you.” Another kiss, this one of her half-parted lips, and I went back to watching her.
I’d spend the night watching her sleep if I had to, just so I could make this moment last.
And one thing was perfectly clear to me.
I would die before I ever gave her up.