CHAPTER 24 JARED #2
Of all the roads I could have taken, all those turns I could have made, I somehow chose this one.
The one that led me straight to Mauro!
A fucking miracle… Unbelievable.
Mauro hands the papers back to the other man, who is now staring at me too. My showing up in a place like this must certainly be a strange sight.
My beautiful alpha starts walking toward me, and I swallow nervously because I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to say to him now.
When he reaches the car, I manage to squeeze out, "Hey, how's the work going?"
I immediately turn beet red because it's just so fucking stupid. Why the hell would I drive all the way to a construction site just to casually ask him how the work is going?
Mauro doesn't answer. He just stares at me, and I can see the confusion, surprise, and utter bewilderment on his face.
"Sorry. I don't want to bother you. I can see you're busy."
But Mauro quickly pulls out his phone and types a few sentences.
"Is everything okay? Did something happen?"
I shake my head quickly, my heart pounding in my chest. "No, nothing. I just came by because, you know, I was curious to see what you were up to," I babble.
I'm lying, and I know he can feel it. His eyes move uncertainly over my face, studying me. Ugh. I shouldn't lie, but… well, it just happened.
Mauro slowly bends over his phone and types a few sentences, but I can see he's hesitating over whether he should use the text-to-speech function. But then I reach out, quickly snatch his phone, and turn it toward me.
It says:
"Did you go looking for your True Mate? Do you still believe you'll find him?"
I hand the phone back because my throat suddenly feels tight. Should I keep pushing the lie? Maybe I should. After all, I'm almost certain he's hiding plenty of things from me too. But in the end, I decide not to say anything.
I start the engine.
"Sorry, I have to go," I say, placing my hands on the steering wheel, but Mauro reaches out and grabs my forearm.
He starts to type something on the screen with his free hand, but I don't let him. I pull my arm away and shift into reverse.
"I have to go!" I repeat, my cheeks burning. I start backing up, leaving him standing there at the construction site, phone still in his hand, staring after me…
There's nothing here for me.
The whole trip was just stupid. A waste of time. I decide to go back to Renato's mansion and make my final decision there.
Because I'm already 99.9 percent sure who my True Mate is. And I was so fucking blind.
◆◆◆
I stand beneath the shower, letting the water pour over my face as my mind finally begins to clear.
For the past several hours, I've been lying in my nest, obsessively turning over every possible scenario, every decision, analyzing all threads and aspects, and then torturing myself with visions of failure and the consequences of making the wrong choice.
There's one thing I can't deny anymore. Every part of my body wants only one thing, and I'm going to give it to myself no matter what happens afterward. I'm like an arrow flying in a single direction, one that can't be knocked off course.
Mauro.
I have to have him.
I dry my hair carefully, brushing it into long, pale golden waves. Then I slip on nothing but a thin tank top that reaches halfway down my thighs, leaving the rest of me bare.
For a moment, I stare at my reflection in the mirror. It's almost strange how completely the weakness of heat recovery has vanished. My body feels like itself again, filled with a rising energy that needs somewhere to go.
Then I hesitate for a moment and sit down, pulling out my phone to search for a website about sign language. I focus on three particular signs I want to learn.
I like you.
I want you.
I love you.
You never know which one might come in handy, and right now, I have one of them in mind. I quickly practice the signs, and they’re simple and fairly intuitive, so after a few minutes, I feel confident enough to use them and be understood.
After this, I spend a few moments listening at my bedroom door to make sure no one is walking through the hallway. Only when I'm certain it's empty do I open the door and head toward the room where I know Mauro sleeps.
I know he got back to Renato’s house an hour ago, and I hope he’s in his room.
Walking on the balls of my feet, I sneak through the hallway as quietly as I can. When I reach his door, I lightly scratch the wood, so softly that only an alpha's hearing could possibly catch the sound.
No answer comes, but I hear the faint rush of running water. Is Mauro in the shower?
I press the handle. The door is unlocked.
I slip inside and quietly close it behind me because I don’t want to risk standing out in the hallway for too long.
The room is most likely Mauro's childhood bedroom.
Maybe this was where he slept whenever he came here with his parents.
It has been repainted, but the wardrobe is still unusually low, an old wooden chest sits against one wall, probably once filled with toys, and a large painting of several superheroes still hangs where no one seems to have bothered taking it down in years.
The bed has clearly been replaced, but it doesn't match the rest of the furniture. It gives me the impression that Mauro doesn't actually live here most of the time.
But if not here… then where? I have a pretty good idea by now where he normally lives. Some twenty-minute walk from here…
I stand in the middle of the room, unsure what to do. A moment later, the sound of the shower stops.
I remain perfectly still, surrounded by absolute silence as I wait for what comes next. I hear wet footsteps against the bathroom floor, followed by the rough scrape of a towel drying skin.
Then the bathroom door opens, and Mauro steps out.
Wow.
I have to admire his incredible nerves. If I'd walked into my room and found someone standing in the middle of it, I probably would've let out a startled shriek and jumped a foot into the air.
Mauro is naked, his golden skin still damp, a towel draped loosely over one shoulder.
He looks at me for a long moment.
Then, very slowly, he enters the room and sits down on the edge of his bed.
The gesture’s meaning is clear to me.
Whatever happens now has to come from me.
It has to be my decision.
For a few seconds, I simply stand there looking at him, his damp curls falling around his gorgeous face.
I raise my hands and make the signs, pointing at myself and then at him. I hold my open palms out in front of me, then pull them toward myself as if drawing something closer, signing:
"I want you."
Then I add aloud, "And I refuse to be ashamed of it." The second part comes out almost proudly.
Mauro's eyes widen slightly, and he lets out a small breath.
Then I walk toward him, slowly lifting my tank top over my head before tossing it onto the floor. Mauro's eyes travel over my body before settling on the pendant around my neck.
I take one step closer, then another, until I'm standing directly in front of him, my bare stomach level with his face.
Then I place my hands on his shoulders and lower myself onto his lap, straddling him.
"From the very first moment I saw you, my heart whispered that you were my True Mate, even when my mind kept desperately trying to come up with arguments against it.
Every cell in my body believes it's you, and I feel that my search is over.
I want to be with you, if that's what you want too, if you can accept my past. If yes…
then I'm here for you, and you can have me in whatever way you choose. "
Mauro's expression grows serious. He lifts his hand to his own chest, touching his heart… and then mine.
Not a single word is spoken, yet I understand everything.
My fingers glide gently along the back of his neck, lightly teasing the scent glands there.
"I want to feel you inside me, I want you to fill me up completely," I whisper, trailing my lips along his cheek, grazing his mouth every now and then in fleeting touches. "In every way, not only physical."
His breath catches as our lips brush, probably because at the same time I begin to lower my hips, and my entrance lightly glides over his hard cock as I’m lining it up.
But I’m far from hurrying to sink down. I move my hips in slow, gentle sways from side to side, almost massaging the head of his dick with my hole. I rock lazily, teasing him, promising him the bliss without actually going down yet. I'm just savoring the moment.
Leisurely, I keep grinding like that when Mauro’s fingers suddenly slide down my spine, tracing the crack of my ass before circling my opening.
He rubs it in small swirls, massaging my entrance and spreading my slick around.
All the while, we keep exchanging these light, wet kisses, our tongues tangling hungrily and sensually, playing with each other.
Suddenly, Mauro’s hands shift, gripping my waist. He doesn't let me tease him anymore; he presses my hole firmly against the head of his cock, sliding me down maybe half an inch onto the glans. He looks up at me, and his lips move silently, forming words I can read clearly.
'Do you consent?'
Instead of answering with words, I give a firm thrust of my hips, tensing my thighs as I push my body down, impaling myself on his hot, swollen rod, going halfway down it.
For a moment, I just stare at him, and he stares back, waiting.
Then, I settle lower and lower, never breaking eye contact, until I finally slide all the way down. I feel him so deep inside me that it almost feels like he's creating a bulge in my stomach.
We stay like that for a heartbeat, fused tightly together.
Then I whisper, "I know why we haven't had that famous First Touch and First Orgasm… because we've already experienced it, haven't we?"
Mauro’s gaze intensifies, his eyes boring into mine for a second, his expression telling me everything, before he gives a soft smile and a slight nod.