She bites her lip. She knows it’s a trap. She knows asking it means opening a door she’s been avoiding since the second she saw me again. “Why…?” is all she says.
“Because you were the woman I wanted to marry. The one I gave my fucking heart to. And you chewed it up and spat it out. You were my great love—myonlylove. No amount of time can erase that. You were Emma Green, the girl who made me laugh, who made mefeel. Do you know how hard it is for me to feelanything, Em? Anything that makes my heart skip a beat? It hasn’t happened since the day you left me at the altar.”
“I was trying to protect you,” she whispers.
I slam the counter with my hand, furious. “From what?! Fromwhom?! We were perfect, we wereone—and you… you destroyed everything.”
She gets up and starts walking away.
“Emma!” I shout, chasing after her through the house. “Don’t walk away from this conversation! Weneedto have it!”
She runs upstairs and slams the door just before I reach her.
“Emma!” I bang on the door with a closed fist. “After everything we’ve been through—everything wewere—I need a damn explanation. I’m stuck, Emma. I can’t move on. I can’t stop dreaming about you, about the life we could’ve had. I’m bleeding out every time I think about your touch.Free me.”
Silence.
I’m about to give up when I hear the faintest sound on the other side.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice is nasal and shaky.
“So am I. I shouldn’t have yelled,” I whisper back.
The door creaks open slowly. Emma’s standing there with her arms crossed, face red and tear streaked. “I can’t… I can’t, Luca.”
“Can’t what?”
She inhales deeply, exhales through her mouth, and avoids my eyes. “Free you.”
And just like that, time stops. Gravity disappears. My whole world freezes.
Her bloodshot green eyes look at me—not with fear, not with regret—but with something else.
Guilt, maybe.
“W-why n-not?” I stammer, my voice shaky, but my feet carry me forward until I’m holding her face in my hands. “Tell me.”
I’m begging. Pleading.
And then, the softest whisper I’ve ever heard leaves her lips, “Because I can’t lose you again.”
And just like that, a flame of hope roars back to life in the middle of my chest.
I’m done hallucinating. The lion’s always been the king of the jungle—and I see no reason why he can’t devour the lamb too. I don’t think. I don’t hesitate for a single fucking second.
Like an emperor drunk on power, I step closer and cup her face in both hands.
Luca cups my face between his strong hands and kisses me—deeply, hungrily. It’s the kind of kiss that feels like it’s unlocking a door that had been bolted shut in his mind. He pulls me through the room without ever breaking the connection of our mouths, until we fall together onto his bed.
With dizzying precision, he peels the clothes from my body, leaving me bare on his white linen sheets.
Outside, the storm rages. Flashes of lightning spill through the windows, painting his skin in quicksilver. The wind hammers against the glass, palms bending and thrashing like they’re begging to break free, but none of it feels nearly as overwhelming as Luca’s hands on my breasts, his tongue on my stomach, the weight of him pressing into me.
“Luca…” I whimper when he pulls away to strip. I need him close.
And I need to stop thinking about what we’re doing.
“I’m right here,” he says, crawling back over me and caging me in with his solid arms. “Let me in, Em. I’m yours.”
