The plane lurched forward, and she closed her eyes. Her hands clenched into fists as the plane picked up speed and took to the air.
She was afraid.
How had I forgotten that she was afraid of flying? Placing my arm next to hers, I used my pinky to rub a small circle on the back of her hand.
She didn’t move or make a sound. She just sat there shaking with fear.
“It’s okay,” I murmured over and over again. “It’s going to be all right, Sophia. deep breaths.”
Her chest moved, heaving under the simple white T-shirt.
“Do you remember that time we all went to Paris, I think you were about fifteen and—"
Her eyes snapped open. “Stop it, Matteo.”
Taken aback, I frowned. “I was just trying to get you to remember—"
She cut me off. “I don’t want to remember, Matteo. I don’t want to be here with you. I want to be at home with the people I love. If my brother didn’t need me to help him, then I would have happily gone through my life never seeing your smug, arrogant, lying face again,” she hissed. “Oh, is that why you are here?”
Cocking my head to the side, I leaned forward, invading her space but not quite touching her. Even so, she leaned back, desperately trying to put some space between us.
“You’re doing this to help your brother.”
Her lips thinned and then disappeared altogether, and my eyes fixed on them. I’d always hated it when she did that.
Her lips were so full and kissable.
Reaching out, I rubbed my thumb across them, coaxing them out so I could feel their softness.
Her eyes widened. “Yes,” she whispered.
The moment her lips opened, my thumb pushed into her mouth, swiping against her tongue and silencing her.
“And what exactly are you doing to help your brother?”
I had wondered why she had suddenly agreed to come with me. Why had all the fight left her?
She glared at me, and my smile grew.
“You’re here with me because I want you to be, Sophia.” Sliding my thumb from her mouth, I curled my fingers around her jaw, leaving a smudge of wetness against her cheek.
“Everything is because I want it to be. You want to know what I have taken from your family?” I lowered my voice. “Everything I could. But I think taking you will be the best of them all.”
“You’re a monster,” she hissed.
“And you’re the one who made me that way, Sophia.” I drew her closer, inch by inch, until every breath we took brushed our chests together.
She was close enough to kiss, close enough that her scent tickled my senses and made it hard to think.
“You let me fall for you, let me fuck you.” My fingers tightened.
I was going to kiss her, I might even take her right here in the cabin where the staff could see.
“You let me fall in love with you,” I hissed. “And then you ripped my heart out.”
Surging forward, I brought my lips to hers, in a gentle sliding of my lips against hers.
A wave of need zapped through me like a million volts of electricity. It was like no time had passed at all. I might as well have been the same lovesick fool I’d been six years ago.
