Then I look down at him and meet his gaze as I begin to move.
“You’re perfect,” he breathes against my ear as I arch above him, his hands resting on my hips. “Dangerous and perfect and absolutely fucking mine.”
I set a slow pace at first, slow and languorous and smooth; but as we fall deeper into each others’ eyes, the pace quickens, until I’m leaning forward, my hands bracing on either side of his head as I rock back to meet him.
He pulls his knees up and thrusts upward into me.
Our faces are only inches apart, our breaths ragged and our skin gleaming with a fine sheen of sweat.
Something uncurls in my belly, a tingling sensation that starts off small but slowly grows—like a fire beginning to spread in a forest.
“Mine,” I whisper to him, my hips meeting his.
“Yours,” he agrees, his voice tight with need. “Yours. Forever.”
Those words push me over the edge and Alessandro falls with me, shuddering our releases together as I collapse onto his chest.
We lie tangled together on his office floor, both of us breathing hard and sticky with sweat.
The late afternoon sun streams through his windows, casting long shadows across our naked bodies.
“This is what it feels like,” I murmur, tracing patterns on his chest.
“What?” His voice is low and husky as he drags a hand through my hair.
“Authentic connection. Being wanted not despite my darkness but because of my complete self.” I look up at him, studying his face in the golden light. “Including the parts that other people fear or try to change.”
Alessandro frowns. “Matteo never tried to change you.”
The mention of Matteo makes my chest tighten with complicated emotions—anger, hurt, loss, and something that might be guilt about how I treated him and his—mine, I don’t know—family.
“Matteo tried to protect me from what I am. You’re helping me become it.” I press a kiss to his collarbone. “There’s a difference.”
He pulls me up so I can stare into his eyes. “And what are you becoming?” His gaze is piercing.
I consider the question seriously. “Something dangerous. Something that takes the best parts of all of them and makes it mine. I don’t have to be just like Giuseppe or just like Sophia anymore—I can be all of it.”
He hums. “That’s a dangerous combination.”
“The most dangerous.” I smile against his skin. “But also the most effective.”
Alessandro’s arms tighten around me. “Are you ready for what that means? For how people will see you once they understand what you’re capable of?”
I shrug. “I stopped caring what people think when I realized I could make them scared of me instead. Being feared is way more useful than being liked.”
“And us? What are we now?”
I look up at him. “We’re…I don’t know. We’re fucked up, probably. But we work together. We both like the dangerous stuff, and we don’t try to change each other.”
Alessandro’s chuckle is throaty and low. “Even knowing it might mess you up?”
The question makes me think.
Because yeah, there’s definitely a cost to this.
Every time I enjoy hurting someone, every time I choose to be violent instead of nice—it’s changing me.
“I liked it too much today,” I admit, fingers trailing over his chest as I gather my thoughts. “Hurting Torres. Not just because I had to, but because it felt good to have that kind of control over someone.”
