“Easy, huh?”I smirk, but my pulse is still a drumline under my skin.He wasn’t just a good lay.Something about him hooked me in deep, sharp enough to hurt if I let it.
The grin softens.He studies me as if I’m some puzzle worth solving.“Name’s Adam.”
I roll it over in my head, slow.Adam.It tastes good in my mouth.“I’ll try to remember, in case I ever need to shout it again.”
His smile tilts wickedly.“You’ll definitely need to.”
The clock on the nightstand glows past three.I should go, shower off, grab a cab, pretend this was just a one-night thing.No strings.Clean break.
I sit up, hunt around for my jeans on the floor, but Adam’s arm snakes across my stomach, holding me down with an ease that feels practiced.“You’re not running out already,” he murmurs, voice thick with sleep and something else.
“Wasn’t planning to run.”I find my shirt half-crumpled under his heel, try to pull it free without waking him more.“Just… walk at a reasonable pace.”
He props himself on one elbow, hair a mess, grin lazy and dangerous.“Luca.”The way he says my name, like he already owns it, makes my pulse kick.“Stay.”
I shake my head, but he doesn’t let go.His hand traces idle patterns across my ribs, like he’s memorizing them.“You think you’re gonna disappear and I won’t notice?”he asks.“Not a chance.”
“Pretty sure that’s how disappearing works,” I mutter, but it comes out softer than I mean.He slides closer, lips brushing my shoulder, and every excuse I’ve lined up falls apart in the heat of that touch.
“Morning’s only a few hours away,” he says, low and persuasive.“If you leave now, I’ll spend the whole day wondering why you’re so eager to run.”
I glance at the door, then back at him.This was supposed to be easy.But Adram isn’t letting me keep it easy.
I huff out something between a laugh and a sigh.“Wouldn’t blame you.”
“Funny,” he says, lips brushing the back of my neck.“I was thinking I’d chain you to the bed.”
It’s a joke, but the way his hand slides over my hip isn’t.I freeze, not because I want to get away—God knows I don’t—but because I can feel myself caving.
“Adam…” I start, and it’s supposed to sound firm.It doesn’t.
“Stay,” he murmurs again, kissing that spot just under my jaw, slow and deliberate.“Just until morning.”
I should move.I should finish getting dressed.Instead, I’m standing here half in, half out of my jeans, with his mouth tracing every reason I had to leave into something fragile and unconvincing.
“Thought you didn’t like making things complicated,” I say, though my voice comes out low, almost unsteady.
“Oh, I love complicated,” he says, grinning against my skin.“Especially when you make it look this good.”
And just like that, my shirt hits the floor again.
I should be gone by now.But Adam leans against the headboard like sin itself, hair mussed, one arm folded behind his head, watching me with that sharp, amused smile that makes it impossible to breathe right.
“You were really walking out on this?”he asks, voice still rough from sleep and something else we didn’t waste time naming.
“I should,” I mutter, though it sounds like I’m trying to convince myself more than him.I manage one step toward the door before he says, “Luca,” slow and deliberate, like he’s been holding my name in his mouth all night and doesn’t plan on letting it go.
I stop.Damn it, I stop.
“Come here,” he says.Not loud.Not demanding.Just a quiet hook in the center of my chest.
I turn around.He doesn’t move, but his eyes rake over me like he’s ready to go again.The morning light hits him sideways, painting gold across his collarbone, and I swear my pulse trips over itself and I’m back at the edge of the bed, caught in his gravity.
He reaches for my wrist, fingers warm, a silent question I don’t bother answering because I’m already climbing back in.His laugh is low when I straddle his hips, his hands finding my waist like they were waiting there all night.
“Good,” he murmurs, lips grazing my jaw.“I wasn’t done with you anyway.”
And maybe I wasn’t done with him, either.
