CHAPTER 73 – CASPIAN
At home, Antonio kicks off his shoes and then just stands, uncertain and onedge. I set my keys down.
He watches me, his posture a question I’ve answered countless times and will keep answering whenever he needs me to.
I can tell he’s still hurting. Still comparing himself to others. Not realizing it is the other way around—he’s the standard I measure everything against.
“Come here.”
He comes, but there’s a strategy in it, in the way his mouth curves in promise. In the way his hands slide up my chest.
Rising to his toes, he brushes his lips against mine, slowly and teasingly—knowing exactly what that does to me.
I feel myself grow heavy with desire, the physical need for him tightening low in my body and threatening to override my better judgment.
“Let’s go upstairs,” he breathes, mouth sliding down my jaw, teeth grazing skin.
I let him continue for a while, standing like a cliff against a current. I don’t reciprocate, which only makes him speed up.
His tongue slips into my mouth, his body pressing more insistently against mine.
I slide one hand to his jaw and still him there, my thumb pressing firmly against his chin.
“Look at me.”
My voice is rougher than I intended, but he’s pushing all my buttons at once.
He doesn’t want to look. He tries one more kiss instead, hoping I’ll abandon the command.
I don’t.
“Antonio.”
Reluctantly, he looks up. His eyes are brimming with insecurity.
“There’s no emergency. No rush. I’m right here,” I say, letting my voice drop into that low, steady register that anchors him the best. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I know,” he says. The words trip over one another. “I thought maybe we could—”
He tries to kiss me again, but I won’t let him hide.
“You thought if you kept me busy, we wouldn’t have to talk about how hurt you feel.”
He stills. His fingers tighten in my shirt, bunching the fabric.
“I wasn’t.”
“You were,” I say gently.
He pivots, looking vulnerable and soft.
He cycles through his tactics like he’s testing locks, looking for the one that will open me. God, it’s hard not to let him get away with it when he looks at me like I’m the sun he orbits.
His entire world.
He also knows he’s the only one who can shift my world off its axis—and he shows no fucking mercy when he tries.
His eyes shine with unshed tears.
