My heartbeat is still thundering, hers fluttering against my chest like something wild trying to steady itself. Her lips are swollen from my mouth, her hair tangled against the pillow, cheeks flushed with warmth that has nothing to do with the room.
And she’s looking at me. Not like she’s afraid or confused. But like something inside her has finally clicked into place.
Which is dangerous.
For her.
For me.
For both of us.
I brush a thumb over her cheek, watching the way she leans into the touch without thinking. That small, unconscious movement hits harder than anything we just did. She lays her hand over my heartbeat and I almost break. Because I know what I’m capable of. I know what loving a man like me does to people.
But she doesn’t pull away.
She whispers, “Lorenzo…” like she’s afraid the moment will slip away if she speaks too loudly.
I kiss her forehead, slow and claiming. “Rest,cara.”
Her eyes flutter shut—not because she’s tired, but because she trusts me enough to let go for a second. And that trust hits like a blade to the ribs.
I’ve never been surer of a plan in my life.
Hours later, she pads into the bathroom, wearing nothing but one of my shirts. It hangs loose on her, brushing her thighs,swallowing her whole in a way that makes something primal surge inside me.
She doesn’t know I’m watching from the doorway. She doesn’t know her wearing my clothes is enough to make my pulse spike.
She reaches for the pill case on the counter—her birth control. My placebos.
She pops out a pill and places it on her tongue. I watch—silent, unmoving, predatory—as she swallows. The sight undoes something in me. Her throat works and then she turns to me with a smile.
“We should dress before Rosa shows up.”
I’m still processing what I just witnessed. She doesn’t know she’s taking nothing. She doesn’t know I’ve already made up my mind about our future. She doesn’t know I’m standing here memorizing the shape of her body in my shirt, the softness of her mouth, the trust in her eyes.
But she will.
I close the distance between us, cupping her jaw with a touch that’s gentle only on the surface.
“Perfect,” I say. “You’re perfect.”
Her breath catches just enough for me to feel it.
And as she stands there, unaware she just swallowed a promise she didn’t agree to, I realize the truth settling into my bones.
She thinks last night changed everything for her.
She has no idea how much it changed for me.
20
Birdie
“I was thinking,” Lorenzo says as we step out of the shower, water still clinging to his chest, “that you should just move into my bedroom.”
We’ve been…seeingeach other for a week now.
I snort before I can stop myself.
