I lean into him, my lips brushing the scarred ink, reverent. My voice shakes as I whisper against his skin. "You never lost me, Raffael. Not really. Even when you thought you had."
His answer hits me harder than I expected. "I inked her into my skin because even when I couldn’t have you, I needed to remember why I was building everything. Every scar, every fight, every night alone, it was always for you."
For a heartbeat, the storm outside is nothing compared to the one that breaks open inside me. Power floods my veins, hot and shocking, like someone turned a light back on in the hollow spaces I thought were dead forever. He made this—his empire, his body, his scars—for me.
I can’t sit still another second. I rise to my feet, my hands trembling but sure as they pull my slacks off. The fabric falls away, then the rest follows, until I’m bare before him, scars and all. For once, I don’t flinch. I don’t hide.
His eyes darken, and his breath comes out sharp, but he doesn’t move—not until I tug at his jeans. He obeys, helping me shove them down, and when he kicks them aside, his cock springs free, hard and thick. The sight of it makes my mouth water. My pulse stutters. God, he’s beautiful. Brutal and beautiful.
I’m already wet for him. Soaked, aching, desperate. Not like before, never like before. Roberto always needed to force it, needed lube, and still it was pain. This… this is heat. This hunger. This is mine.
I straddle him, my knees sinking into the sofa cushions as I guide him to me. The stretch when he pushes inside makes us both gasp. His head falls back against the couch, and my nails dig into his shoulders for leverage.
"Christ," he groans, his voice sounds raw, almost broken, his hands clutch my hips like he’s afraid I’ll vanish. "You’re so fucking tight. You are a goddess, Sophia. My goddess."
The words make me shiver, make me press down harder, taking him deeper, until he’s filling me completely. My body clenches around him, and his moan rumbles against my chest.
My mind reels. This is what it’s supposed to be. Not pain. Not humiliation. Not silence while I prayed for it to be over. This is fire licking through my veins, pleasure curling my toes, the kind of connection that makes my entire body come alive. I move, rocking over him, and each thrust sparks higher, harder. I’m already close,teetering on the edge, shocked at how fast my body responds to him. My head tips back, a moan tears from my lips, because he feels so good inside me, better than I ever dared imagine.
And all I can think is:So this is what it means to be wanted.
The storm rages beyond the glass, the wind howls, and rain lashes the house like it wants to break its way inside. A thunderbolt cracks so close that the windows shudder, lightning blazes white through the room, and I gasp, but it’s not fear that seizes me. It’s him. It’s us.
Raffael groans beneath me, the sound is rough, guttural, like he’s holding himself back on purpose. His hands find my breasts, cupping the soft weight, reverent even as his thumbs brush over my nipples. Heat sparks low in my belly, sharp and insistent. Then he leans forward, takes one peak into his mouth, and my entire body jolts.
"Raffael—oh God," I gasp, as my fingers knot in his damp hair.
He sucks, hard enough to make me whimper, then soothes with his tongue, tugging with his teeth just enough to send another wave of heat crashing through me. My hips rock faster, harder, chasing that unbearable edge. The thunder booms again, shaking the walls, and his moan vibrates against my skin.
"Fuck, bella mia," he groans against my breast, his voice muffled. "Take it. Take everything."
He rocks his hips up, and I do. It explodes inside me, white-hot, shattering. My body seizes, my walls clench tight around him, and pleasure crashes over me so violently I almost sob. My nails rake down his back, my cry tangles with the roar of the storm, and my orgasm tears through me with a force I’ve never known.
It’s new. All of it. Every shudder, every wave, every pulse of his cock buried deep inside me. I’ve never felt this kind of pleasure before. Never felt powerful and free in the same breath.
Lightning flashes again, and I see him beneath me, his head thrown back, eyes half-lidded, sweat slick on his scarred skin. His expression is wild, undone, like I’m destroying him in the best possible way.
For the first time in years, I don’t feel broken. I feel alive.
"Raffael!" I scream his name, raw and unrestrained, the sound ripping straight from my soul.
His roar tears through the storm, deeper than thunder, primal and unrelenting as his body bucks beneath mine. He comes inside me, hot and thick, spilling into me like he’s branding me from the inside out.
It’s not just release—it’s a claim.
A vow.
A surrender.
His hands clutch my hips like he’s anchoring himself to the only thing keeping him tethered to this earth. Hischest heaves, his eyes burn into mine, and in that moment, I know, there’s no undoing this. No taking it back.
We’re fused.
Not broken. Not lost.
We’re alive. And we’re together.
Our days settle into a slow,dangerous normal that feels like a promise. Not the loud kind that comes with speeches and rings, but the quiet kind that comes from routine, one small, solid brick after another, until a wall stands. Breakfast. A walk through the trees. Her sessions with Esther, while I drown in other people’s problems in the backroom of my life.
