“I said no.” His grip tightens on my hips, holding me still when I try to press back against him. “Ask me again when you’re not in heat. If you still want it then, we’ll talk.”
The rejection stings more than it should. A sob catches in my throat, thick and choking. I can’t even trap the bastard in a bond. All this, and I don’t even get to come up on top.
“Luca.” He leans over me just as another sob shudders through me. He pulls me up, my back flush against his chest. One arm bands across my ribs, holding me against him. “Breathe with me.”
I try to match my breathing to his, feeling his heartbeat against my spine, and slowly, his steadiness pulls me back from whatever edge I was teetering on.
Warm lips brush my shoulder, right where a bond mark would go. He doesn’t bite. Instead, he presses slow, open-mouthed kisses there, his tongue tracing the sensitive gland until my whole body shivers.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs against my skin. “I’ve got you.”
The tension in my body starts to unwind, muscle by muscle. My breathing evens out. The frantic desperation recedes just enough that I can think again. Feel something other than raw need.
“That’s it,” he says quietly. “Just breathe with me.”
I hate how his voice soothes me. Despise how my body trusts him when my mind knows better. But I can’t fight itanymore. Can’t fight him, can’t fight this, or deny what my body demands.
He starts moving again, slower, each thrust deliciously deeper. I feel every inch of him dragging against my prostate, sliding in and out, torturously, melting my mind completely.
Enzo knows my body now like a weapon he’s mastered. He’s learned every sensitive spot that makes me lose control. And right now, he wields that knowledge with precision, touching me in every place that makes me gasp.
And I take it. Over and over, thrust after agonizing thrust.
One hand reaches around to stroke my cock. His grip is firm but careful, matching the rhythm of his hips. The other stays splayed across my chest, right over my hammering heart, like he’s counting every beat.
“You’re close,” he says against my neck, and it’s not a question.
I am. I can feel it building. It’s different from before, not the desperate, clawing release of heat but something deeper. Something that feels like it might shatter me into pieces too small to ever reassemble.
“Let go,” he murmurs. His hand tightens on my cock, thumb swiping over the head.
But the weight of his words lands differently, with a meaning that goes deeper than the orgasm building at the base of my spine. He’s asking for more than that.
He’s asking me to stop fighting. To stop carrying the weight of Marco’s death alone. To let someone else hold me, even if that someone is him.
“I can’t—” My voice splinters. I don’t know if I’m talking about coming or crying or giving up the only thing that’s kept me going for six months. “I can’t—”
“You’ve been holding on so tight.” His lips find that spot on my shoulder again, pressing soft kisses there. “Carrying so much. You don’t have to do it alone anymore.”
“You don’t understand—” The words choke off into something between a sob and a moan. “If I let go, there’s nothing left. Nothing but—”
“Me,” he finishes quietly. “There’s me. And I know you don’t want that. I know you hate this, hate what I represent. But right now, in this moment, let me carry it for you.”
My throat closes up. My eyes burn with tears I’ve been choking back for six months.
“I’ve got you,” he promises against my skin, his arm tightening across my chest. “I swear to God, Luca, I’ve got you. Just let it go.”
And I realize he’s asking me to trust him. Not forever. Not with my revenge or my future or anything beyond this room. Just this—this moment, this breath, this impossible thing growing between us that I don’t have a name for.
And something in me just… surrenders.
The orgasm rolls through me like a tidal wave, starting at the base of my spine and spreading outward until every cell in my body is vibrating with it. My vision blurs as tears finally spill hot and fast down my cheeks, and his name tears from my throat. It’s neither a scream nor a moan. Just his name.
“Enzo.”
I feel him thrust deep one last time, feel his cock pulse inside me as he follows me over the edge with a groan that vibrates through my entire body.
For a moment, everything goes silent. Only our ragged panting fills the quiet room.
