Chapter 27
ISLA
Alessio cups the back of my head and brings my mouth to his, kissing me fiercely, like he’s afraid I’ll disappear and the only thing holding me on this earth is his lips on mine.
He may be right. I feel grounded here with him.
Anchored and safe. Like I’m finally where I belong. Where I’ve always belonged.
I’m sideways on his lap, riding without a seat belt for the first time in my life, but I don’t care about breaking what has been one of my cardinal rules, just after look both ways before crossing the street and brush your teeth every morning and night.
Because I’m alive.
I was rescued from the Bratva.
And, most importantly of all, because Alessio is holding me tightly, like he’s never letting go.
I’ve been clinging to him ever since he first caught me when I rushed across that spartan office and straight into his arms. I’m so relieved and overwhelmed that I can’t even summon my full fury at the way he was sending me off to the airport without so much as a goodbye.
I kiss him hard instead, trying to punish him with my lips, to show him how wrong he was for thinking he could get rid of me so easily.
There was one thought that kept pushing me through the horrors of those hours I spent tied up in that dank warehouse room, and it was him.
It was that I want to be with Alessio Andriani.
Nothing else matters. Not the fact that he’s a part of the Mafia, not the way we found each other, not the danger inherent in his life. Just him. This beautiful man.
By the time I come up for air, we’re both breathless.
I drink in the sight of him, his dark hair falling over his brow, his blue eyes glinting into mine with possessive heat, his mouth dark from my kisses, those slashing cheekbones and his wide jaw.
Every part of him is beloved to me. How could I have ever imagined I could be in this man’s arms and in his bed without falling in love?
Clearly, I’m an idiot.
“You were sending me away,” I say, and to my embarrassment, my voice cracks a little.
He caresses my cheek. “I was trying to keep you safe.”
“How’d that work out for you?”
He winces. “Not that fucking well.”
We stare at each other as the car takes us around a block, the city lights flooding in and out of the tinted windows, illuminating the angles of his face before sending him back into shadow.
I fiddle with the collar of his shirt. “You never asked me if I wanted to go.”
I feel his chest rise and fall with the heaviness of his breath. “What would you have said if I had?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I don’t think I understood my own feelings until I was being kicked out of the safe house by your brother.”
“You weren’t being kicked out,” he growls, his hand dropping to my thigh and giving me a gentle squeeze.
“Yes, I was. Lucky told me I had to go to the airport on your orders. You ghosted me.”
He works his jaw for a moment, his fingers gliding higher. “I didn’t ghost you.”
“Oh really? What do you call fucking me and then sending me off to the airport without a word?”
“Stupidity.” His fingers move closer to my pussy. “A mistake.” He skims his thumb directly over my clit. “The worst thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
I feel the jolt of that touch all the way to my toes, but I’m not going to be distracted. Not until I know where we stand. I grab his hand.
“Why?”
He laces his fingers through mine. “Because it put you in the crosshairs of those Bratva bastards. I’m going to ask you again, and I need you to tell me the truth, tesoro. Did those motherfuckers hurt you in any way?”
“My body is sore from the accident, but that’s all.”
“I want to kill them for what they did to you. I should, by all rights.”
I hear the vehemence in his voice, and I know he’s telling me the truth.
I shake my head. “No. I don’t want that.”
Streetlights flicker over his face. “You know it’s the way of things for me. My world isn’t like yours.”
“I know.”
“Does that scare you?”
I know what he’s asking me. At least, I think I do. Part of me is too afraid to believe it.
“A little,” I admit. “But if there’s anything I’ve learned in my life, it’s not to allow fear to rule me.”
Light floods his face once more as we make a traffic stop. His expression is harsh and hard and intense.
“You want to do this?”
“Do what?” I trail my fingers along his neck, feeling nervous.
I’ve never stepped out of my comfort zone like this before. But then, I’ve never felt this way about anyone else.
“Be with me,” he says. “Do you want to be with me? Because if you do, I’m not going to let you go.
I’m going to hold on to you so fucking tight, tesoro.
But I don’t live in your world, and I never will.
This part of me won’t ever change. I need you to understand that and want me anyway.
Because if you don’t, then this car is taking you to the airport, and I’ll get you the first flight out of here I can. ”
I stare at him, and I can barely breathe at the thought of leaving. That’s how I know I need to stay. That’s how I know I love him.
“You can try to take me to the airport, but I’m not getting out. You’ll have to drag me, kicking and screaming, all the way to the ticket counter. We’ll both probably get arrested and be put on the no-fly list. Is that what you really want?”
His fingers tense on mine. “Do you mean it?”
I nod, a calm coming over me that I haven’t felt in…well, ever. It’s acceptance. Knowing I’m making the right decision. That this is where I’m meant to be.
“I mean it. You’re stuck with me, Alessio Andriani.”
“Why?” His voice is hoarse.
I know what he wants. And as difficult as it is to be vulnerable, to be the one who says it first, I will. For him.
“Because I love you.”
He exhales like he was holding his breath. “Fuck, sweetheart. Say it again.”
“I love you.”
He yanks my mouth back to his and kisses me, hard and deep. His cock comes to life under me, going rigid. I tear my lips away, my pussy clenching and already aching for him, but my heart needs something else first.
“Your turn,” I tell him breathlessly.
He takes my face in both hands and stares up at me, the lights of a row of billboards spilling over him, and he has so much unguarded tenderness there for me to see that my breath catches.
“I fucking love you, Isla. More than I ever thought possible. So much it scares me.”
“Good.” I smile down at him, not sure where this is going to take us or what life has in store. But I do know that whatever happens, I want this man at my side. I’m his and he is mine. “Because I feel the same fucking way.”
His laugh is low and dark. “Now take off your leggings, tesoro, before I tear them into shreds. I need to be inside you.”
My smile deepens, and I reach for the waistband, pulling it down. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“I don’t remember asking.” He swats my ass. “Faster.”
My panties are already embarrassingly wet, and I shimmy out of my leggings at record speed, taking my black lace thong with them. “How’s that?”
He slides a hand between my legs, his finger gliding through my folds, and groans. “That’s fucking perfect, sweetheart. You’re dripping.”
“Yes.”
Alessio circles my clit, teasing me.
He yanks up my shirt and fastens his mouth on one nipple, sucking hard as he sinks a finger deep inside me. All I can do is moan. Thankfully, there’s a privacy screen between the driver and us. But I’m so far gone that I’m not even sure I’d care if there weren’t.
He releases my nipple long enough to command, “Take out my cock.” Then he latches on to the other nipple, licking and nipping me with his teeth.
I don’t hesitate, finding the fly on his trousers and unzipping him. When I reach inside, his dick springs free, thick and hot and ready for me. I stroke him a few times, teasing him the way he is me.
“Fuck,” he growls, withdrawing his finger. “Put me inside you, sweetheart.”
He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I line him up and sink down on him, taking him deep. “That’s it. You’re fucking perfect.”
He fills me, and it’s so good I practically see stars.
He grips my ass, helping me find the rhythm we both need.
It’s fast and frantic, his mouth on mine, my nails digging into his shoulders as I lift up and then sink down, taking all of him.
When he releases my butt with one hand and pinches my clit, I come undone for him, my pussy clenching around his cock.
He grips my hips and pumps into me with a merciless vigor that has me crying out his name as he fills me up with the hot rush of his release.
I collapse against him, barely able to catch my breath, his cock still inside me.
He grabs a handful of my hair and kisses me ravenously.
We’re messy. We’re wrong. But together, we’re right.
“Ti amo, tesoro,” he murmurs against my lips.