Chapter 14
Valentina
I heard the first clap of thunder right after ending the call with my parents. The lights flickered off, plunging the bedroom into semi-darkness. Great. Just great.
Grumbling under my breath, I snatched up my burner phone and headed out of my bedroom to find Enzo. He was in the living room, already grabbing hold of a giant toolbox.
More thunder. This time it rattled the entire house as torrents of rain banged against the windows.
I stared at the toolbox in shock. “You’re not going out in this storm.”
“The ceiling is already leaking,” he said, pointing to a wet spot on the carpet.
Sure enough, it was. And based on the pitter-patter sound that was getting louder and louder, it was leaking elsewhere too.
“I have to patch up the roof,” he said.
“You can’t go out there on your own,” I said firmly with a shake of my head. “It’s too dangerous.”
“It’ll get even more dangerous if the place floods,” he warned. “I need you to put buckets under the leaks and deal with any water coming in from under the doors or through the windows.”
I hated to admit defeat. Hated to admit that Enzo was right. But he was. We couldn’t afford for the place to flood. There was no civilization for miles around, and if we got flooded out, we’d be stranded in the middle of nowhere with no real shelter.
“Fine. I’ll take indoors and you take outdoors,” I said, finally conceding.
With Enzo making his way outside to deal with the room, I got started on grabbing every available bucket and bowl I found in the house, using them to catch any leaks.
Then, I worked on boarding up the safehouse.
I taped windows shut. I shoved threadbare towels and curtains against the bottom of locked doors.
After that I went to further inspect our rooms, starting with mine.
First, I made sure that the balcony door to my room was properly locked.
Next, I went to Enzo’s room. His windows were shut, but it still felt extra cold.
Probably because his room was mostly made of stone rather than wood.
Feeling the chill, I went to retrieve a long lighter from our recently bought supplies and lit the living room fire.
With the living room warmer, I returned to Enzo’s room to light the fire in the fireplace.
I carelessly turned away from the fireplace, suddenly crashing against something rock solid.
It was Enzo. I had smacked into a wall of pure muscle.
His shirt was half opened, top buttons undone to reveal his upper chest, hard and perfectly sculpted.
He’d been drenched thanks to the rain, and his damp shirt stuck to his skin, outlining his torso and highlighting the muscles of his abdomen.
My heart started to race. Alarm bells went off in my head.
Not due to anything Enzo had done, but because I was frozen in place.
Too overcome by desire to remember to move out of the way.
The heat of his hard body was making it impossible for me to think clearly.
Even if I could think through this haze of lust, my desire was winning out.
“Fuck, I’m sorry. Didn’t know you were in here.” He lifted an eyebrow, looking concerned. “You okay?”
“Yes. I just came in to light a fire,” I said. In that moment, I caught the double meaning of my words and a heat crept up my face. “Maybe I should have asked before I came in—”
“Under my roof you never have to ask permission,” he said, cutting me off.
Fire blazed in his eyes then. His gaze roamed up and down my body, wandering down to my throat before going back up to settle on meeting my eyes.
Enzo’s gaze was heavy, hungry with intent.
He was studying me, taking me in with obvious approval.
His nostrils flared, a vein in his forehead throbbing with barely restrained lust. Clearly, he was pleased to have found me in his bedroom no matter how hard he was fighting it.
“You never have to ask for anything, Valentina.”
An electric heat sparked between us, his voice a low inviting rumble that made me feel like I was welcome to do anything I wanted. Clearly, the desire I’d been feeling was mutual. I could hear it in his tone and see it in his eyes.
There was something so arresting about his face. Brooding good looks, a square jaw, and intense, almost severe dark-brown eyes. In some moments he was so breathtakingly handsome that it hurt to look at him.
The blatant appreciation in his eyes turned into something far more wicked. A devilish desire burned behind his eyes, the sheer want that I saw sent bands of heat up and down my body.
“I should leave,” I said, giving him a way out. Giving both of us a way out that I didn’t want to take.
“You don’t have to,” he said.
I looked up at him and saw his smoldering eyes. There was a lust in those depths that matched my own. Seeing him in such a primal, borderline animalistic state made me feel bold. Left me feeling breathless. “In that case, I want to stay.”
Without hesitating, he pulled me to him, placing his hands on the small of my back as he pressed me close. So close that I felt the hardness of his arousal through the clothes that separated us.
My body trembled against his.
“I want you, princess,” he told me. “More than I have ever wanted anyone or anything.”
My pulse raced, his stark words leaving me speechless and panting for breath.
Heat spread through me, across my skin, simmering my blood past its boiling point.
The lust that we’d barely been able to tamp down was quickly winning out.
There was no holding it back now. Even if there was a chance at holding it back, I wanted to let the desire take over.
I wanted to surrender myself and finally lose all control.
In his arms, up against his hard body, I was ready to do things I knew I shouldn’t.
Dying to finally discover what I had denied myself all this time.
The fire crackled. The wind howled. It might as well have been what was happening to my body as desire set me aflame and feverish longing stormed through my body.
“But if you don’t share that or if you want to wait, then I can be a patient man.
The wait will kill me, but for you, I can be anything.
Patient, gentle, civilized.” His eyes were on mine as he spoke, his stare piercing right through me as he sought a response.
Then his gaze fell to my lips. As if he wanted to not only hear what I said next, but watch my mouth as I spoke as well.
“Enzo, I want you,” I said fiercely. “That’s what I want. All of you. I don’t need you to be someone else.”
A growl escaped him. Liquid heat pooled between my legs at the sound. A low, thundering sound that echoed through my body—a predator howling his pursuit.
His beautifully arrogant mouth was on mine.
It was firm at first as he pressed his mouth to mine, and then insistent.
Demanding as the heat of his mouth branded me.
I was burning. The heat left me feverish and near delirious with a desire that overtook my senses.
I was shaking in his arms, my body coming alive as we shared our first genuine kiss.
Not something to serve as a distraction.
Not for the camera. This was real. A carnal, bruising attempt to make up for lost time.
I moaned, hungry for more of his attention.
In response, his tongue brutally parted my quivering lips, scalding heat renewing my fevered lust. Our tongues collided.
He dragged his tongue across mine, caressing and exploring without restraint.
He took my mouth expertly, swirling his tongue in time to the aching pulse between my legs.
Suddenly I felt like I was drowning. Sinking down into an abyss.
Getting lost in sensation. It left me feeling frightened that I’d never be able to find my way back out.
There was a good chance that I would get so swept away in all this that I lost my head and never got to enjoy this exquisite moment with him.
As if sensing my apprehension, Enzo tore his mouth away, wrapping his arms around my waist to bring me closer. He rested his forehead against mine, breathing heavily. “Talk to me, Valentina.”
That melted me. Make me feel so safe in his powerful arms that I knew nothing could hurt me then.
Not our enemies. Not the storm. Not my own fears.
Enzo was my protector. A strong, sensual presence who put me at ease and made me ache with longing at the same time.
The sheer, raw power of him gave me strength and let me know that I could conquer anything. Even him.
“We’ve never shared a real kiss before. We’ve faked them this whole time,” I whispered. “But now that this is real, we don’t have to pretend. So, we have to tell each other the truth.”
“The truth is that I’ve wanted this from the moment I saw you that night at the opera,” he said. “That night I was dying to see you so much that I stole a look before our formal introduction,” he said. “What did you want to tell me, princess?”
There was no mockery in the way he said that final word. Instead, it was said in possessive yet affectionate tones. Desire combined with reverence. A passion unlike anything I’d ever heard before.
When I hesitated, he said, “Valentina,” pronouncing my name like it was the most precious thing in the world to him. Something to be treasured.
I grabbed onto his damp lapels. “I wanted to tell you that I want us to enjoy every moment of this. I don’t want to hold back. So don’t let me.”
I was asking him to help me be bold. To be there with me as I took the pleasure that was rightfully mine. Because there was a sensual, wild woman underneath my icy control. I needed him to see that she was there. Waiting to be unleashed when we met as equals.