Chapter Fifty-Five Ella
Chapter Fifty-Five
Ella
Tiero’s gaze holds me captive.
He wants all of me.
But I can’t give him that. Not if I want to walk away with something of myself still intact.
He lowers his mouth to mine, taking my lips gentler now. As always, I melt into him. He just has that power over me.
“Say you agree, cuore mio,” he murmurs against my lips.
The way he says it makes my heart stutter. My body leans toward him instinctively, already softening, opening, wanting.
Everything inside me screams yes.
It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt a man so intimately. And to have Tiero that way…
To feel him inside me without that thin barrier. With nothing muted or held back. The idea is intoxicating. Dangerous.
I imagine his breath against my neck, his body moving with mine, the closeness so complete there would be nowhere left to hide.
It would be more than just physical. At least for me.
And that’s exactly the problem.
What am I even doing, contemplating this?
No.
I am leaving in less than two days, and most likely will never see him again.
I really do need this last barrier.
The realization stings. Tears prick behind my eyes, and I blink them away before they can fall.
My heart is already going to fracture when I say goodbye. I don’t need to bind myself to him in a way that will make the break unbearable.
Tiero pulls back slightly, searching my face.
He sees it. The hesitation. The war playing out behind my eyes.
“What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?” he asks quietly.
I swallow.
God, I hate disappointing him.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, forcing the words out before I lose my nerve. “I’m not comfortable with that.”
Nor am I telling him the real reason.
My mind races, grasping for something practical. Something he can’t argue with that’s still true.
“I’m paranoid about falling pregnant,” I say, my voice barely steady. “The pill isn’t foolproof, and I’m going home in a couple of days. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy us. I’d be thinking about consequences the whole time.”
For a second, something flickers across his face.
Disappointment. And… something I can’t quite decipher.
He isn’t used to being denied. And part of me doesn’t want to deny him. But I just can’t risk… myself.
Tiero nods once.
“I understand,” he says. “It’s okay.”
But his jaw remains clenched, and the mood has taken an unmistakable nosedive.
“I’m really sorry,” I murmur again, moving closer. I press small, apologetic kisses along his jaw, his cheek, the corner of his mouth.
He inhales slowly, holds it, then exhales.
His shoulders drop as if he’s forcing himself to let it go.
I kiss him, and he responds in a nanosecond. His lips are different now. Harder, more demanding. His hand slides into my hair, tilting my head to deepen the kiss. My body arches into him as his tongue strokes mine ravenously. Want unfurls inside me, and liquid warmth gathers between my thighs.
I cling to his shoulders, fingers digging into solid muscle to steady myself as the intensity builds.
We’re both panting when he pulls away. Without warning, he grips my waist and turns me on the bed, positioning me in front of him.
There is no hesitation now. No coaxing. No careful hands mapping my body first.
He unties my bikini bottoms. They’re soaked from watching his striptease earlier, and from the way he’s been kissing me, demanding my surrender.
The mattress shifts as he reaches for protection from a small drawer built into the bed frame. The faint tear of foil slices through the charged air between us.
A second later, his hands are back on me. He pulls me against him, cupping between my legs to check if I’m ready for him.
I so am. I want him… no, need him. But I also realize I want to please him and make things right between us again.
He enters me in one decisive thrust.
My breath fractures.
There is no slow adjustment, no patient buildup the way he usually takes me apart. He moves again immediately, harder, deeper, as if driving something out of his system.
A rough groan tears from his chest.
Each thrust is controlled but forceful, measured but unrelenting.
The stretch burns before melting into heat. My body responds despite the edge to it. Or maybe because of it.
The line between pleasure and pain blurs until I cannot tell which I am feeling.
I cry out with each thrust. He’s so deep.
He might destroy my last barrier with his sheer intensity.
My heart is racing, my mouth open, trying to draw in enough air. But it’s a struggle. I’m too overcome with all the sensations coursing through my body.
His fingers dig into my hips. “Fuck, you take me so well. You’re made for me, princess,” he moans. “Only me.”
My mind is too busy noting the increase in his pace to register his words.
He keeps hammering into me, and I fall onto my elbows, not able to hold myself up any longer.
It changes the angle, and Tiero’s thrusts reach even deeper.
I whimper and moan as pleasure takes over, my body barely keeping up with his onslaught.
I wouldn’t have thought I’d like being taken like this, but there’s reckless freedom in it, a relief in letting go.
Tiero’s thighs are slapping against me, the sound heightening my arousal.
A few more thrusts and I reach the point of no return. Stars burst in my vision, every nerve in my body firing at the same time.
“Yes. Come on my cock, princess.” And I do, screaming his name.
Tiero fists my hair and pulls me up, his large hand possessively encircling my throat. He holds me close to his body as he keeps pounding into me.
Sensitive and overstimulated, he wrings a second climax from my body. I shatter, spasm around him, ablaze and alive in a new, exhilarating way.
“You are mine, Ella,” he growls, voice thick and raw. “All mine.”
This time the words register, even in my blissed-out haze, slamming into me harder than his body does.
Mine.
The possessiveness in that one word feels less like a claim and more like a truth. My pulse races even faster, every nerve alight.
He keeps moving with ruthless precision, driving deeper, harder, as if marking the declaration into my skin.
One, two, three more savage thrusts and his control finally fractures.
His body goes rigid against mine as his cock jerks inside me, a deep, rumbling groan vibrating through both of us.
For a few seconds, neither of us moves.
The world narrows to breath and heat, and the crash of the sea somewhere beyond us.
He pulls me back against him and we collapse onto the daybed, skin slick with sweat, lungs burning. His arm slides around my waist, drawing me into him from behind.
Oh my God.
That was… something else.
Raw. Extreme. Unfiltered.
My body hums, still trembling in the aftermath, every muscle loose and spent in a way that seems almost unreal. I feel wrung out and wide open at the same time.
Snug in his arms, I watch the changing colors of the sky. Behind me, Tiero’s chest rises and falls against my back, slower now, steadier. The weight of his arm around my waist is warm and anchoring, his palm splayed possessively over my stomach as if he’s afraid I might disappear.
I stroke his arm gently, tracing the hard line of muscle beneath my fingertips, reveling in how close I feel to him in this moment. How intertwined.
After a while, his arm grows heavier, his breathing deepening until it evens out completely. His grip loosens a little, signaling he’s fallen asleep.
Despite my exhaustion, I lie awake, staring at the darkening sky.
I hated disappointing him. And yet my decision still feels right.
Tiero and I aren’t in an actual relationship. This is a vacation fling, no matter how close we might be.
The fear I voiced earlier is not a whim either. It is real. Being a single mom is one of my worst nightmares. I won’t gamble everything on two days of heat, no matter how consuming it feels.
Hopefully, he won’t bring up the subject again. He saw my resolve, and no man wants to be rejected twice.
The warm summer breeze drifts over my skin as the island grows quieter and the sounds of night wrap around us.
Contentment settles over me like a silk sheet.
Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself in a place like this. Curled in the arms of a man who looks like he stepped out of mythology. On his private island. Having the most intoxicating sex of my life.
A girl could get used to this.
But she’d better not.
Reality will not be gentle in a couple of days.
Why didn’t I guard my heart more carefully?
A dull ache spreads through my chest as my departure on Sunday creeps closer in my mind. Tears gather before I can stop them. They roll silently down my cheeks.
Don’t go there. Not now.
What I feared would happen has happened, hasn’t it?
But hadn’t I known all along that I’m not cut out for a casual fling?
As I lie here in Tiero’s arms, I can’t deny the truth any longer.
I’ve fallen in love with him.
Head over heels.
How could I not?
He didn’t just charm me. He dismantled me thoroughly with those steady eyes, his devastating smile, and the way he makes me feel like the only woman in existence.
And in less than two days, I have to walk away.
The tears spill freely now despite my efforts to contain them.
Eventually, I’ll get over him.
Won’t I?
I squeeze my eyes shut.
What if I don’t?
The day we met flickers through my mind. The way the world seemed to stop, to shift on its axis. The way something inside me clicked into place without permission.
What if he’s my person?
My soulmate?
I force the thought away before it consumes me.
Instead, I focus on the solid weight of him behind me. His arm draped around my waist. The steady rise and fall of his chest against my back.
Being held like this feels dangerously close to belonging.
No, not going there, remember?
But what difference does it make? Trying to create distance now won’t make it hurt any less when I leave. The pain is coming either way.
I might as well make our time together count. Tiero’s warmth behind me beckons, and I can’t help but press closer, craving more contact.
He responds instantly, his length hardening against me.
You’d think after our explosive coupling earlier, we’d be satiated for a while. But desire blooms again.
I turn in his arms. His eyes slowly open, instantly finding mine.
He rises onto his elbows, looking down at me, something raw flickering behind his gaze.
“Why can’t I get enough of you?” he murmurs. “I’ve had you over and over, and I only want you more. What are you doing to me?”
The vulnerability in his voice undoes me.
“It’s the same for me,” I whisper.
I trace his jaw with my fingertips, memorizing the angles of his face as if I can store them for later.
Then I pull him down to me, needing his lips on mine.
We make love then. Raw, passionate love that lets our hearts speak the words that don’t pass our lips.