12
ALESSANDRO
This is it, you spineless asshole.
There is no going back now.
If there’s one thing I’ve gotten good at over the years, it’s ignoring that nagging inner voice when it tells me the right thing to do.I’m a pro at tuning it out and doing whatever the hell I want.So why, as I pull into the garage attached to my apartment building, is that voice so damn loud?Plaguing me, screaming in my ear.Don’t do it!They’ll kill you for it.
I must have a death wish because I park in my usual spot without a word.My passenger is silent, too, but the more surprising thing is the way her phone hasn’t come out once, as far as I know.There are times I would swear that thing is attached to her hand.She’s lost in thought, the way I am.
There’s still time to turn back, but instead of doing that, I open her door and stand back, waiting for her to climb out.It might be better in the long run if she doesn’t.
She does.
We both have the same death wish.
Death is the last thing on my mind, though, when she tips her head back and looks up at me.Was I ever as innocent as this girl?There are so many unspoken questions shining in those wide, dark orbs.So much confusion and apprehension, but excitement, more than anything else.Excitement is what brought her here with me and keeps her standing still as I hook a finger under her chin, drawing her closer and lowering my head.
It’s different this time.That first brush against her plump, juicy lips goes slowly, no need to rush.No one is going to find us here, lost in each other, while I indulge again in what I’ve spent every minute since Friday afternoon thinking about.
All it takes is one soft, helpless sigh from her to make me rock-hard.The way she melts into me, how am I supposed to be strong enough to go without this?Somewhere during the last few weeks, I’ve become addicted to her.
Her arms close around me, and I groan into her mouth when her nails run down my back.Everything is so intense, so raw.This is hardly my first time, but I’m as excited and ready to explode as she is, kissing her deeply, soaking in her sweetness.
When she moves her hips, rubbing against where I’m hard and hot for her, one thing is obvious.We need to take this inside.Now.
Energy crackles between us as I lead her to the elevator doors directly accessible from the garage.While we wait for them to open, I can’t help but touch her, brushing a few loose curls from the nape of her neck.Soft, silky, like her skin.She closes her eyes and sways slightly, pursing her lips to release a soft sigh.
“You’re killing me,” she breathes out as the doors open.
The feeling is mutual.
Once we’re inside, I step up behind her, pulling her in by her hips to press against her ass.My lips skim the curve of her ear before my tongue traces the lobe.
“Alessandro…” she whispers, already breathing fast enough to make her tits heave.
“You’re a virgin, aren’t you?”I whisper in her ear, my hands sliding over her hips and thighs.When she stiffens, I place a kiss against her jaw, then her neck.“I’m not asking to embarrass you.But I would like to know for sure.Because I want it to be good for you.”
“You do?”God, the innocence.It’s almost enough to stop me, to make me end this, but I could just as easily stop breathing.It’s not happening.
The breath I release against her skin makes her shiver, but it’s the hand I run down her thigh to catch the hem of her dress and inch it up that makes her moan.“I want this,” she whispers.“So much.”
The elevator is crawling, but finally the doors open.I have to fight the impulse to lift Giulia off her feet and carry her down the hall at a run.There is no reason for her to have this power over me, but reason left the building a long time ago.Desire took its place, so intense that it wipes out everything else.
She’s almost hyperventilating by the time I open the apartment door.
“Are you okay?”I ask her.It’s alarming how fast she’s breathing.“Afraid the big bad wolf will bite?”
It’s meant to lighten the mood, but it seems to have the opposite effect, since her eyes look like they’re about to fall out of her head.
But when I touch a hand to her back, she loosens up and releases a deep breath.“Nervous,” she admits, spots of color popping up on her cheeks before she lowers her gaze to the floor.
“Look at me.”As gently as I can, I raise her chin the way I did out by the car before I decided to bring her here.“I’m not going to hurt you.Now or ever.”
And there I go, writing checks I’m not sure I can cash.I have hurt her in the past.If not directly, indirectly through attacks on her family.On people she loves.
That was the old me.Like it or not, that version of myself never had a long shelf life in the cards.I couldn’t go on that way indefinitely.There are times I look back in surprise that I made it as far as I did.
