A traitorous, trembling breath left my mouth at the power his body had over mine. All but my hands in that moment. I was still attempting to fight him. Breaking a sweat, although it seemed as if he were standing in a wintry wonderland. Underneath the surface of his skin, he was running hot, his palms almost scalding me. However, his demeanor was cool, aloof almost, except when I looked into his eyes. The peridotwas drained out, forced out by black. It made him look almost wicked.
Outlaw.
This was the reason the word was tattooed on his back. These men never lied about who they were—never lied, period.
My answer did not come quick enough. He pinned my wrists above my head, his body so close to mine, I was overheated and sweating. I made a frustrated noise that ripped through my chest.
“Fuck.” He stilled against me.
That one word… It had tasted sweet in his mouth, I could sense it. It was the sweet taste of surrender he was after, and he received it from me.
“Fear,” I whispered.
His eyes turned down, softer now, more yielding. He would form his look into whatever he felt I needed from him.
I only needed…him.
“You stubborn ass,” I barely got out. A sob exploded from my throat, and this time, when my hands went for him, he released me. I clung to his clothes, holding on for dear life, wishing it was his skin I could sink my hands into, all the way to his racing heart. “I am terrified of losing you! Can you not see? You are all I have! All I have. All I ever want!Need!”
“Fuck,” he said, and his voice sounded as strangled as mine. He began to kiss me while I released all of my deepest fears to him. He seemed to drink them down, even if they were poisonous, though they did not poison him. He seemed to grow stronger with all my weaknesses so he could conquer them.
“You love me,” he said, his voice deep and breathless.
“I do.” I flung myself into his embrace. He picked me up, my legs going around his waist, and we kissed. “I love you so much, Mariano Fausti! That word is not enough. What do you say when even one heart between two people does not seem as though it is enough? I do not know! Only God knows!”
We kissed as if our last breath depended on each other, each of us giving the other the breath of life.
“You have no idea what you fucking do to me,” he rasped out. “I can’t fucking control it. It’s the wildest thing I have ever felt in my life. I can’t fight it. I can’t live without it. It’smine.”
He stopped walking. I realized then we had been moving toward the shower.
This time, instead of his eyes taking from me, he was giving to me. His eyes were solid on mine. “If it’s in my power, I’ll do all I have to do to keep us both safe.”
“I keep you safe as well.” My voice was thick and sharp. “I will always have your back, Mariano Fausti.”
“My front too,” he said, his voice matching mine.
“All sides.” I nodded.
“My heart and soul,” he said. “That’s what you keep safe.”
“Whatever I have to do.”
His eyes locked on mine. “Fuck if I deserve you, Sistine Fausti, but fuck if anyone will come close to mine.”
He kissed me again, and before I realized it, we were in the shower. I do not remember much of it. All I remember was him. I was dazed when the cool air hit me, and he began to dry me off.
“Clothes,” I said. “I did not?—
“You did.” He pointed to the counter. When I had stormed our closet like an Italian tornado, I had snatched clothes for him and I. “Even when you’re pissed at me, Annie, you still love me.”
I grinned a little, fixing his hair. Then my heart sank when I remembered the conversation with my father and what it meant for us. Mariano picked me up, carried me over the broken pottery, and set me in bed. I lifted the covers, and he slid in beside me.
Our bodies seemed to come together at once.
We faced each other.
He searched my face, his hand caressing my skin, concentrating on my lips. “This is going to be over soon, my Annie,” he whispered. He took my hands in his, almost cradling them. He cleared his throat. “When something would go wrong in life, Mamma would go to the ends of the earth to protect Papà, and Papà would do the same for mamma. He’s left bodies in his wake when she was in trouble.”
