My hand slipped up his arm, my nails clawing at his skin. My other hand reached for his neck, wanting to bring him closer, needing for him to kiss me again. When he did, it felt like the entire world burned, leaving only the two of us to melt into each other.
He withdrew his hand from between my legs, and then he entered me so hard that my back arched again, and a strangled sound escaped from between our lips.
“That’s it,Rosalia,” he said. “Take me even deeper.” He groaned as he moved, inch by delicious inch. “Deeper.”
I opened myself up to him fully, my body straining to accommodate his size, but the mixture of pain and pleasure felt so damn good that tears slipped down my cheeks.
“Niello,” I barely got out. “You feel so good. So damn good.”
A hiss escaped my lips when he pulled out and then entered me in a long, slow, hard stroke. He wasn’t fucking me with savage intent, but still, my body worked to keep up with his. What we were doing felt much more personal. I didn’t think it was possible, but hewasgoing deeper inside of me, and I understood what he meant when he said that I’d gotten under his skin.
He was so far under my skin that I could feel him in places that should have been mine alone. But they weren’t. I had invited him in, like I’d invited him to share my bed, and I knew without a doubt that he’d always be there.Per sempre.
He had gone deeper than skin, than bone, and made a mark that couldn’t be erased.
“MyRosalia,” he said, his neck tilting back, his eyes closing. His mouth parted as he buried himself even deeper inside of me. A hiss escaped my lips again, before the sweet pleasure came back and I sighed out a long, trembling breath.
Even though time felt nonexistent, nothing or no one stopping us, I could measure it so soundly by the pace of our bodies. It felt like his body moved with mine forever, until our flesh gave in and submitted to each other much too soon.
Being with him felt like that dance at Club D. While the music played, the world stopped, and it only returned when the last note faded.
As he emptied himself inside of me, an animalistic noise left his mouth, and it made me feel powerful, like I could set a crown on my head and run the entire world.
If I could bring this man to let his guard down, nothing could conquer me. Except for him. He had drained every ounce of energy from my body, and every part of me was sensitive, the slightest of his touches a live wire.
He was still inside of me as he set his forehead against mine. “My Rosalia,” he said. “My Midnight Rose.”
My eyes slowly opened. “You gave me that name, didn’t you?”
“Sì,” he said. “You come alive at night. It was my secret—finding a night-blooming rose in a world where they all bloom during the day, and that rose was on fire. You burned in a darkness that I couldn’t fucking find my way out of.”
“Niello,” I whispered, setting my hand on his cheek. It was as hard as granite. His looks were as savage as his hands.
He kissed my palm and looked me in the eye. I said five words that would be as final as the etching on my grave.
“It’s time to end this.”
Before he could answer, I whispered “ti amo”against his lips. Then I opened myself up to him again, burning for him before morning came.
31
Rosalia
Niello sat in a comfortable chair in the front room, reading a book by candlelight. Even though he only glanced up every so often, it still felt like he had his eyes on me the entire time I paced.
He was like lightning in a bottle. Collected, and so dangerous, one touch and it was all over. Me? I was like thunder. My thoughts seemed loud and rumbling, but there was really no harm.
I felt as trapped as lightning, but with the power level of thunder.
I wanted our situation over, and I wanted it over that second. I needed our daughter to be with us. I needed a new life with my husband, one where we were not constantly looking over our shoulders.
He turned the page, his eyes on the words. “I can keep you occupied, if you’re bored.”
When our eyes met, he winked at me. I was so taken back by the simple action that I couldn’t even respond. It wasn’t often that I’d seen the human side of him at Club D, but when we were together, he was only a man.
Mine.
He grinned as he turned back to his book.
