“Yeah.” She looked past me up at the ceiling.
“And how did that go down?”
“Better than I expected, actually.”
I straightened my arms and pushed myself up, feeling confused as hell. “But that’s good, then, right?”
She placed her hands on her forehead, weaving her fingertips through her hair. “I guess.”
I cocked a brow. “But now your secret is out in the open, and you have no idea what to expect from Antonio.”
She sighed. “Yeah.”
“Tell me what you told Antonio.”
All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed with the need to know her secret. I’d already figured out her secret had something to do with Enzio and that he had somehow hurt her badly. But now I wanted to knowhowhe hurt her, and how deep her scars went.
She covered her eyes with her palms. “Not tonight, please, Lorik. I already had to relive it when I told Antonio. For now, I just want to try to forget.”
There was desperation in her voice, and even though I was the world’s biggest prier, I decided to not push it. Something told me she had been pushed enough during the last few days.
“Okay,” I conceded—for now.
I put my elbows down above her shoulders and placed my hands on her head, wiping the hair out of her face. Our gazes met, and then it happened. A moment. One of those moments you read about in books or saw in a movie, a moment between lovers where something shifts. You didn’t know what it was, what was happening, all you knew was it was happening. She blinked, her thick, black eyelashes framing dark eyes that possessed the power to stun me into silence. I’d said it before, that she was beautiful, but right then her beauty surpassed every thought I ever had about how perfect she was. There were soft, faint, little freckles scattered over her nose and under her eyes, freckles I hadn’t noticed before. And there was a tiny beauty mark just above where the dimple appeared every time she smiled.What the fuck is happening to me?Since when did I notice stuff like freckles, beauty marks, and dimples? I only used to notice tits, ass, and shaven pussies, that was it. But now, this close, I saw so much more. I saw her—Karina. Even though she acted as tough as nails, her eyes gave it away. The sadness, the heartache, and the need to break free. Like a trapped bird, she longed for freedom, something she would never have as long as she was a Valenti.
Leaning down, I kissed her warm, heart-shaped lips gently, softly, as if they could break. Her eyes closed, but I kept mine open. I wanted to see her, watch her, make sure I didn’t miss a fucking thing. It was like time stopped and reality seized all around us. There was nothing but us and this moment. It was weird, insane, and incredibly disarming because I’d always been a free-spirited kind of guy, never allowing feelings and emotions to tie me down. But in that moment, I was feeling a whole lot of emotions I’d never felt before…and it scared the shit out of me.
Karina moved her hips beneath me, and an ache shot up my cock straight through my spine. I wanted her. I wanted her now, later, tomorrow, next week, next month…next year. I wanted her for as long as possible, for as long as my future would permit.
Oh, my God, I was turning into a pussy.
I jolted upright and pushed myself off the bed. The feelings crashing against my chest in waves of emotion weren’t exactly what I expected. Maybe it was because I’d never felt them before, and it took me by surprise. It was really fucking intense.
“What’s wrong?” Karina pushed herself up on her elbows. My gaze flitted down to her beautiful, perky tits, and I craved to taste more of her, to suck one of those hard nipples into my mouth. But it was more than that. My cock was rock hard, my body nothing but tight muscles and raw instinct. But there was also this gnawing feeling on the inside of my chest that was making me want to do so much more than just screw her. I want to make love to her, I want to give her the best of me—all of me.
I need a motherfucking drink.
With a few quick, long strides, I was out the door and rushing down the hall to the kitchen. Beer, bourbon, whiskey, I didn’t give a fuck what it was, I needed to consume something that would make the feelings eating at my chest go away.
“What just happened?”
I grabbed a beer and shut the fridge before turning to face her. She was still gloriously naked, leaning against the wall, looking as sexy and delicious as sin. My cock was my worst enemy at the moment.
“It’s nothing. I just…I need a beer.”
She sauntered closer to me, and once again my eyes found her naked body, my gaze traveling from her voluptuous tits to her bare pussy, and then back up again.Goddammit, why can’t I stop wanting her?
Karina stopped about two feet away, staring at me like she could see right through my soul. “Are you sure? Because it seemed like you were there one second, then gone the next. Like I lost you there.”
If you only knew…
I cleared my throat. “Nope. I’m still here.” I tried to play down my awkward behavior, and without my fucking consent, my gaze drifted down to her pussy again. My cock jolted. “See,” I pointed at my dick, “he’s here too.”
She laughed…she fucking laughed, and it was the best goddamn sound I had ever heard.
Her curls hung down her shoulders in wild disarray, and she swept them back, allowing them to fall around her face. If I could paint a motherfucking picture, I’d have painted that right there. Picasso could kiss my ass.
Without thinking straight, I slammed my beer down on the counter and grabbed her, pulling her hard against me. With one hand on her hip, I palmed her cheek with the other, staring down into her eyes. “What the fuck are you doing to me?”