Chapter Five #3
It was their last date before the departure.
Enzo had taken her to a quiet, candlelit dinner in the piazza, but the unspoken tension between them had cut the meal short.
They had walked back to her apartment in a charged, silence, the gravitational pull between them reaching a critical, undeniable mass.
The moment Arielle closed and locked the front door of her apartment, the silence violently fractured.
Enzo didn't wait. He stepped into her space, his large hands coming up to cup her face, his eyes burning with a fierce, ravenous heat. He didn't ask for permission; the answer was already written in the breathless rise and fall of her chest.
He crashed his mouth down onto hers.
Arielle gasped into the kiss, her hands instantly flying up to grip the lapels of his shirt.
It was a searing, desperate collision. Enzo kissed her with a staggering, starving intensity, his tongue sweeping past her lips to taste her, his breath hot and ragged against her skin.
He backed her up, pressing her gently but firmly against the wooden door, his large frame trapping her in his orbit.
"Ari," Enzo groaned, his voice a raw, broken vibration against her jaw as his lips trailed hot, open-mouthed kisses down the long, elegant column of her throat.
Arielle’s tactical control evaporated. Her hands moved frantically over his chest, tearing at the buttons of his shirt, desperate to feel the heat of his skin.
Enzo obliged instantly, shedding the garment and tossing it blindly onto the floor.
His chest was broad, muscled, and marked by the faint, jagged silver scar from the shotgun blast that had nearly killed him.
Arielle pressed her palm flat against the scar, right over his violently racing heart. Enzo shuddered at the touch, his eyes closing as a look of profound, agonizing reverence washed over his sharp features.
He scooped her effortlessly into his arms, carrying her through the small living room and into her bedroom. He followed her down into the soft, tangled sheets of her bed, his body hovering over hers, supporting his weight on his forearms so he wouldn't crush her.
He looked down at her in the moonlight. Her hair was splayed across the white pillows, her eyes dilated with a consuming heat.
"You are my ruin," Enzo whispered, his voice thick with unyielding devotion.
He reached down, his calloused fingers tracing the delicate line of her collarbone.
"I am hopelessly consumed by you. Tell me to stop, and I will walk out that door.
But if you let me stay, Ari... I am never letting you go. "
"I don't want you to go," Arielle swore, her voice breathless and fierce. She reached up, her hands sliding into his hair, pulling him back down to her. "Stay with me."
The intimacy that followed was a beautiful, overwhelming union of two souls surrendering their armor.
Enzo worshipped her. He stripped away her clothing with agonizingly slow, trembling hands, treating her body with a devastating reverence.
Every touch of his fingers was a deliberate act of devotion.
His hands mapped the athletic curves of her hips, the dip of her waist, and the soft flush of her skin, leaving a trail of burning kisses that made Arielle arch her back into the mattress with soft, breathless sighs.
He didn't rush. He held back his immense strength, moving with a slow, agonizing tenderness that sent a deep, liquid heat pooling in her stomach.
"Enzo," she gasped, her fingernails biting into the thick musculature of his shoulders as the heat in the room reached a boiling point.
When they finally came together, it was a torrential, breathless wave of sensation. Enzo moved with a deep, relentless, consuming rhythm. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his frame shuddering with the force of his emotion, whispering desperate, broken Italian promises against her skin.
Arielle met his intensity flawlessly, giving back as good as she received.
She wrapped her legs tightly around his hips, anchoring him to her, her hands gripping his broad back.
For the first time in eight years, the shadow ninja was not fighting for survival, or hiding from ghosts.
She was simply a woman, profoundly, fiercely alive in the arms of the man she loved.
They shattered together in the quiet darkness of the apartment, a deeply emotional, breathless release that left them both clinging to each other.
Enzo collapsed gently beside her, immediately pulling her flush against his chest, wrapping his arms around her to bury her in his warmth. He pressed a long, lingering kiss to the crown of her damp hair, his chest heaving as he tried to steady his ragged breathing.
Arielle lay with her head resting over his heart, her fingers lazily tracing the scarred skin of his chest. The coastal breeze ruffled the curtains, washing over their tangled bodies.
They were at peace, suspended in the quiet perfection of the night.
Arielle closed her eyes, listening to the steady beat of his heart.
She knew she still had to tell him the truth about who she was, and she knew the revelation would shock the Falco estate, but lying in his arms, the fear was gone.
She was finally ready to step out of the shadows.