“I’ve already told you to stop calling me that, Luca.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. “Would your sister kiss you like this?” she asked, sliding her tongue into his mouth.
She broke the kiss, leaving them both breathless. “Um, I don’t think so, but I’ve never had a sister. All I’m saying is, if we do this, I won’t want us going back to well, us,” he said.
“Agreed,” she said. “I don’t want to go back to us being strangers, Luca, because that was what we had become. I missed you, andI don’t want to have to do that anymore. Promise me that you won’t disappear from my life again,” she said.
He looked into her eyes and nodded. “I promise. I won’t ghost you.” He planned on keeping her just where he had her, so disappearing from her life wasn’t an option, but they could discuss all that later. Right now, he wanted to concentrate on getting her naked and making her scream out his name at least a dozen times before they got some shut-eye.
He tugged his T-shirt up her body and helped her pull it off. “Was it okay that I borrowed your shirt?” she asked.
“More than okay,” he hoarsely agreed as he looked her body over. She was lying in his bed wearing only her skimpy, lacy panties, and he damn near swallowed his tongue.
“You all right?” she asked.
“I just need a minute,” he admitted. He was ready to come in his pants if he didn’t get himself under control. All he really wanted to do was take his time with her. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispered. She gifted him with another shy smile, and he couldn’t seem to control his roaming hands as they worked their way down her body to her breasts. She thrust herself into his hands and moaned out his name, telling him that she needed more from him. He’d give her that and everything else. All she had to do was ask.
He leaned down and kissed her—slow and deep, in a way that claimed her. It wasn’t rushed or careless. His mouth moved over hers like he was sealing a promise, and Sophia melted beneath him, her fingers tangling in his hair as if she were afraid that he might vanish if she let go.
“I’m right here,” he murmured against her lips, as if he’d read the fear beneath her actions. “And I’m not going anywhere, Sophia.” Her answer was a soft sound in her throat as she arched into him, her body speaking louder than anything she could say in return. Luca groaned, the sound low and rough, and shifted his weight so he could stretch out beside her instead of over her, giving her space even as he pulled her close.
His hands explored her slowly, reverently, learning the curves of her like he’d been waiting years for permission to do so. Every brush of his fingers made her shiver and snuggle closer to him. Every touch made her breathe his name like it was the only word she knew, and he couldn’t get enough of her.
“Tell me if you want me to stop,” he said again, his voice tight with control. He was on the edge of breaking, but he wouldn’t let her know that.
She shook her head, her eyes dark and her lips swollen from his kisses. “Don’t stop,” she ordered. Those two words were all he needed. Luca kissed his way down her throat, taking his time, making her gasp and writhe beneath him. He wanted to make her feel seen, wanted, and safe all at once. When her hands slid down his back, urging him closer, he smiled against her skin—slow, satisfied, and certain. The rest of the world faded away.
There was only heat and whispered words between them. The way his name left her lips was like a promise she intended to keep. And when they finally came together, it wasn’t rushed or reckless—it was deliberate, intense, and full of everything they’d been denying for far too long.
He didn’t ask because he didn’t need to. She had already given him the permission that he needed to take what he wanted from her, and when she cried out his name, he knew that he wasn’tgoing to last much longer. Luca pumped in and out of her body until he found his own release, shouting out her name.
They lay tangled up together in his sheets. Sophia rested her head on his chest and listened to the steady rhythm of his heart, and he couldn’t remember a time in his life when he had felt so content. He had told himself for so long now that she wasn’t for him, but he was wrong. If he had known back then what he knew now, he would have been a better man. Sophia was his now, and that was all that mattered. He just hoped that he’d be the kind of man who deserved her, but he had a feeling that he’d never live up to that expectation, even if it was one that he had put on himself.
“This,” she said quietly, tracing lazy circles over his skin, “changes everything.”
Luca kissed the top of her head, holding her tighter. “It does,” he agreed. “This is us now. I just need to know that you’re okay with it.”
“I am,” she breathed.
They lay in bed, tangled up together, the house silent around them. Sophia lay curled against his chest, his arm wrapped around her, his fingers tracing lazy circles on her back.
Luca stared up at the ceiling, his heart pounding—not with adrenaline this time, but with something heavier. Everything between them had changed, and they both knew it. For the first time in his life, the thought didn’t scare him nearly as much as it should have. He was done denying his feelings for Sophia. He just hoped to God that she felt the same way.
SOPHIA
The next morning, she woke up tangled in a hot man and smiled to herself when she remembered what had happened between her and Luca. She had waited so long to be with Luca that she wasn’t sure she’d ever want to go back to her old life. Now that she had had a taste of him, she wanted more—she wanted everything with him, and he seemed to want the same.
“I have an idea,” he whispered from behind her. He pressed his erection onto her hip, making her giggle.
“I’m beginning to think that you have a one-track mind,” she teased.
“Okay, I have an idea for after we do my first idea,” he breathed, kissing his way down her neck from behind. “How about I take you to Aurora’s bakery, and we can grab something sweet for breakfast?”
She hummed her approval, and he rolled her over to rest on top of him. “I’d like that,” she said, straddling his cock. She couldget used to waking up this way every morning, and when Luca slipped inside of her, she couldn’t help but take what she needed from him, riding him until she found her release. It was heady knowing that she had so much power over him as she watched Luca lose himself deep inside of her.
Sophia collapsed on top of him, and he chuckled, wrapping his arms around her body. “So, donuts,” she whispered against his neck.
“Yep, she has plenty of those, but we'd better get moving. If Rocco and Tony get there first, there won’t be many left. Those two can pack away the donuts.”
“You guys can eat sweets and still look like you do?” she asked. “Now, I’m jealous.”
