I took a steady breath and straightened my spine, wanting to show confidence.
“You’ve been gone awhile."
“Hmhmm.” He kept one shoulder flat against the wall as he watched me play with my key between my fingers. Then his gaze moved up. His bangs had fallen forward and covered the tops of his eyes, deepening the shadows around them.
“Tough night?”
“Yeah.” He nodded once.
“Is any of that your blood?”
“No.”
“Good.” I calmly set my purse and keys on the dresser. “I’d really like it if you’d come to bed with me.”
He pushed off the wall and stared down at me through hooded eyes. The blood splatter on his face had dried, and part of it cracked when he squinted. He was trying to read my mind, to see if it bothered me.
“I’m not sorry for what I have to do,” he whispered.
“Okay.” I knew he wasn’t.
“What are you thinking?”
“Truthfully?” I whispered, and he nodded, stepping closer, and I felt the pull he had on me coil tighter inside. “I want to be the person who makes this haunted look,” I brushed the back of my fingers down his temple and across the dried blood, “disappear.”
He grabbed my hand and held it to his cheek, closing his eyes. A painful expression flickered across his face.
“I want to make the world better, for you.” His eyes shot open, and I was once again held captive by his intensity. For a brief moment, I saw inside him. The good versus evil, the reasoning to do things he did that outweighed the good, and the love he had for me.
“How badly do you hurt?” He referred to my sore ribs.
“I barely feel them.”
“Mm.” He kissed my lips gently then headed into the bathroom. I wasn’t sure what I should do then, so I grabbed my bag and got ready for bed in the guest bathroom.
He was still in the shower when I returned, so I stripped down to nothing, took my nighttime pain pill, and settled under the cool sheets.
I allowed myself a brief moment to relish the fact I was in Elio’s bed, naked, and he was only a door away.
The pain pill took no time kicking in, and I felt my eyes grow heavy.
I had just given in to sleep when I felt the covers shift over my bare back, and his lips skimmed my shoulder blade. Slowly, I rolled to face him and stroked my hand down his short beard, seeing his face soften in the low light.
“Do you remember the first time we had sex?” I moaned as he started to kiss his way down my neck and across my chest. “I was terrified of the idea of a man touching me that way, but with you, it was as easy as breathing.”
He hovered over me, hooking my wrists and drawing them up and over my head. “I’ll never forget the moment I pushed inside of you. Your eyes widened and latched on to mine like an anchor. Then, when you let yourself go and trusted me, they softened just as the rest of you did.” He gently pushed my legs apart and nudged his erection at my opening. “I never got that out of my head.” Leaning down, he nipped at my erect nipple as he dragged his fingers through my arousal. My breath caught in my lungs as utopian warmth spread across my skin, awakening all the sensitive nerve endings. “As fucked up as our situation is right now,” he whispered, “at the end of the day, having you under me like this makes me sane.”
“We need to be care—” My words trailed off when he pushed all the way inside me with a hungry moan.
Both of his hands slid down my wrists, arms, to my chest where he palmed my breasts, pushing them together and ravenously licking between them. He began to move inside me to the rhythm of his tongue. I hooked my legs around his waist, wanting him deeper, and held on for the explosion that was brewing in the center of my stomach.
“Yes,” fell from my lips, and he suddenly leaned back on his legs, pulling me with him, so I was balanced on his lap. My wild hair fell all around us like a curtain. Both of us were breathing hard when he lifted me and gently brought me back down, stroking all the good spots at a painfully slow pace. Repositioning myself, I used my knees to lift myself and tried to take charge of the thrusts. He buried himself in my breasts again as he squeezed my hips.
“Yes,bella,” he groaned as my body built and built.
I was so wound by our sounds I could barely think straight. Caught up in the wildness of it all, I reached back and cupped his balls, giving them a little roll through my fingers.
“Jesus, Sienna!” He huffed through a flexed jaw, and when he shot his hips up to meet mine, he hit the perfect angle, and I leapt off the edge, falling to pieces in his arms. He continued to pump into me as he came with a groan.