“Promise me you won’t let anyone kill Luca,” I breathed.
He stroked my cheek. “I would never again do anything to hurt you, Emilia.”
“Not even for the mafia?”
“Not even for them.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise, on my life.” The life he was willing to let me take.
“I don’t want to love you.” It was as close to a confession as I could give him. The gun fell away from his chin before I dropped it to the counter beside me with a clatter. “But I don’t hate you, Gio.” I wasn’t sure I ever really had, no matter how hard I’d tried. I closed my eyes as I leaned into the gentle touch of his fingers on my cheek. “I forgive you,” I whispered.
I had no idea how freeing those words would be after weeks of fighting all these feelings I had for him. Those words tore down everything that stood between us, everything I had put there. It was just him and me and the vows that now bound us together.
He grasped my face in both hands and kissed me. He kissed me like he loved me and was begging me to love him back. My fingers threaded through his hair, tongue brushing his tentatively, pleading with him not to break the heart I’d just placed in his hands.
“I’m forgiven. Now I’ll make you forget anything that isn’t my name while you scream it.”
I was suddenly hot everywhere as his palms slid up the length of my spine to the row of tiny pearl buttons at my back. Then he yanked. Buttons sprang free, pinging across the kitchen and scattering off the hardwoods like rain, signaling the start of a storm.
“I think that was expensive,” I murmured against his lips.
“I’d pay twice as much just to get you naked.” He slid the lace down my shoulders, his lips following its descent in a burning trail. “I’ll buy you another one.”
“Are you planning on me needing to marry again?” I asked through ragged breaths.
His teeth nipped at my shoulder in warning. “Fuck no, you’re mine. Forever.”
“Forever is a long time.”
“It’s not nearly long enough for all the things I want to do to you...”
Gripping my hips, he picked me up and carried me through the apartment, his mouth covering my breasts in hot, open-mouthed kisses as he went. He kicked open the door to his bedroom and lowered me to the floor before slowly sliding the gown down my body. When I was left wearing only a thong, garter, and a pair of heels, he stepped back, his gaze sweeping over me.
“Fucking beautiful.” His lips met mine again in a brutal clash, like he could devour me. Hands slid over my body, tracing the line of each and every curve as though he were committing me to memory. It wasn’t until his fingers slipped beneath the scrap of material at my hips that I remembered I couldn’t do this. I stopped him, clasping both his wrists.
“Wait. I can’t…”
He lifted a brow. “Are you going to tell me you don’t want me, Emilia? Because we both know what I’ll find if I touch this pussy.”
“No, I…” My cheeks heated, and I cursed my own petulance when I’d decided to take my break from my pill early just so he couldn’t fuck me. I didn’t trust myself to stand by my principles and not give in to the lust that always burned so hot between us. So, I’d taken precautions. “I’m on my period.”
“Fuck.” A tortured groan slipped from him that did not sound at all like disappointment or disgust.
He fought my hold and pushed my thong down my thighs, dropping to his knees. He tapped my leg and made me step out of the underwear now at my ankles. My face was practically burning, even as curiosity slowly rose within me.
Warm hands dragged up the inside of my thighs before he gave a light tug on the string of my tampon. “You think that would stop me?”
“I don’t…it’s…” I felt like I was on the verge of passing out from embarrassment.
He chuckled as he kissed the inside of my thigh, right before sinking his teeth into the soft flesh. “Fuck, I want to devour you. Lift your leg for me.”
“Gio…”
“Lift.”
I did, and he gripped my thigh, tossing it over his shoulder right before he buried his face between my legs. I didn’t have time to be ashamed or try to stop him before his tongue lashed my clit and my legs threatened to buckle.
I cried out, fingers threading through his hair, leg curling against his back as it felt like he took a Taser to my nerve endings. Everything was so sensitive, so heightened, my entire body craving him.
It was dirty and forbidden, and I’d never been more turned on in my life. Gio made me feel like I was the most desirable woman in the world and nothing would stop him from having me. Certainly not Mother Nature.