Chapter 4 Dinner’s Embrace Pt. 2

The question surprised her almost as much as the softness in his voice. For a man who had admitted he was accustomed to taking what he wanted, he was asking.

When she nodded, he didn't move.

“Tell me.”

“Yes.”

Only then did he lean in.

His lips found hers—not demanding, but deliberate. A question answered, a promise made. The city continued its indifferent spin below. Val broke the kiss just enough to breathe, his eyes still closed.

When he finally pulled back, his breathing was heavier, his forehead resting against hers. His hand remained at her waist, but he didn't move any further.

His hand tightened at her back, pulling her flush against him. The other came up to cup her face, his thumbs tracing her cheekbones with surprising gentleness. He stayed there for a moment, breathing her in as both of their breaths grew heavier.

“Three months of watching. Three hours of restraint, Zora. Tell me to stop and I will. Because all I want to do right now is continue what we just started.”

His eyes held hers.

“Tell me you want this, Zora. Not because of debt or obligation. Because your body's telling me yes, but I want to hear it from you.”

She looked up at him and bit her lip, a slight smile playing across her face.

“I want this, Val.”

Something in him broke loose at the words.

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him back down to her, kissing him with none of the hesitation of their first kiss. His arm banded around her waist as the kiss deepened, three months of wanting colliding with the reality of finally having her in his arms. His other hand threaded through her hair, tilting her face toward his.

When they finally broke apart, Val looked into her eyes, his control visibly hanging by a thread.

“Bedroom now!”

His voice was ragged against her lips. He guided her through the penthouse, past the floor-to-ceiling windows where the city was lit up. Enzo followed, then settled outside the closed door, a contented sigh-loyal, knowing that his person was safe.

The bedroom was dark except for the city lights that bled through the sheer curtains. Val cupped her face again, his breathing heavy.

“Last chance to tell me no, Zora.”

His eyes searched hers, still giving her the choice-even as his body screamed for her. She ripped the buttons off his shirt with a force he didn't expect, catching him completely by surprise—something that rarely happened. A low sound escaped him-surprise, desire, something raw.

“Christ, Zora.”

Buttons scattered across the floor, his shirt hanging open to reveal his scarred, muscled chest, marked by a life lived dangerously He didn’t move to stop her or help. He watched, then his restraint shattered. His hands found her waist, as he lifted her effortlessly.

Her legs wrapped around him instinctively as he carried her to the bed. The mattress gave beneath them.

“You’re stronger than you look. You’re an enigma, Zora.”

His voice was wrecked and amazed. He was used to control, to orchestrating every moment. She was taking it from him as he lowered himself over her, his breathing ragged, as he waited for her next move.

“I am a lot of things. Trying to define me will take you years.”

She chuckled and kissed him again.

“I haven’t done this with anyone besides myself in years. I might go a bit crazy for the first time, or peter out too quickly. I'm not sure.” She laughed.

He ground himself against her, then pulled back just enough to look at her. A low sound escaped him as he said,

“Go crazy then.”

His hands moved across her, unhurried but purposeful, learning the shape of her beneath his touch. He traced the curve of her shoulders, her ribs, the soft dip of her waist. His lips followed, pressing slow kisses along her collarbone as though three months of watching from a distance had left him determined not to rush a single moment now that she was finally in his arms.

“No rush, Zora. We have all night.”

Outside, the city pulsed. Inside, the rest of the world seemed to disappear, leaving only breath, heartbeats, and the choice they had both made to surrender.

He looked at her, waited-giving her control, even when every muscle in his body begged for him to take rather than to give. She flipped him over the moment she realized he had given her the power, and she finished taking off his clothes.

WOW, she thought as she looked at the Greek God-like body in front of her eyes, she licked her lips, then started to kiss his legs, teasingly moving upward after removing his pants. She headed to the promised land never taking her eyes from his. He held her gaze, caught somewhere between disbelief and the realization that wanting her from a distance had been nothing compared to this.

A strangled sound tore from his chest as her lips trailed heat up his inner thigh. For once, he stopped fighting to maintain control. The man who orchestrated empires, who bent wills without speaking, became putty under her touch. He could no longer hold her gaze as his head fell back against the pillow, lost in the pure ecstasy of the moment.

“Zora…”

His hands tightened around the sheets instead of reaching for her, the restraint deliberate despite everything his body was telling him to do. Every muscle tensed as she moved closer, and a rough breath escaped him.

`

“You're going to be the death of me...”

His voice cracked—rough, desperate, and honest in a way nothing else about him ever was. The city lights painted shadows across his chest as he watched her through half-lidded eyes. Three months of watching, wanting, and wondering had all converged on this moment. She took him in her hands, teasing him slowly with her tongue while never breaking eye contact, watching every reaction she drew from him.

Then suddenly, without warning, all the softness vanished. In one swift movement, she took him all the way to the back of her throat, leaving no time for him to anticipate what she was about to do.

His entire body went rigid.

A guttural cry tore from his throat, raw and involuntary, echoing off the penthouse walls. His hands abandoned the sheets and reached for her, finding her hair, then her shoulders, desperate for something solid to anchor himself against as the sheer intensity overwhelmed him.

She was relentless, unforgiving in the delivery of her passion. Val—the man who broke people—was being broken by her. His body reacted before thought could catch up, chasing the sensation, chasing her. Sweat beaded across his chest as his breathing turned jagged and desperate.

“Fuck, Zora... Oh my God!”

After a few more moments, she pulled off him with a pop and paused, catching her breath. She then moved up his body, her intention clear as she shifted to straddle him. Val's hands found her waist, helping guide her into place as his eyes followed her, dark and hungry. His chest heaved beneath her as she settled over him.

“Yes, take what you need, I’m yours.”

His hands gripped her hips, steadying her but not controlling her, giving her the rhythm, the pace, the power—all of it hers. When she sunk down, his eyes rolled back. A groan escaped him-guttural, unfiltered.

“Ahhh, Jesus, Zora.”

His fingers dug into her skin when she found her own tempo.

The city lights spilled through the windows, casting shifting shadows across them as they found their rhythm together. Val couldn't take his eyes off her face—the pleasure, the confidence, the complete lack of hesitation as she took what she wanted from him. This was the Zora who had fascinated him from the beginning: unapologetic, fearless, entirely herself.

“That’s it. Ride me, baby…

She moaned as he met her movements.

“Yes… like that...”

She moved in slow circles as she took what she wanted from him. Gradually, her rhythm began to falter, pleasure overtaking her until the controlled movements became uneven and erratic. Val felt the change and finally took control, flipping her onto her back in one fluid motion and gently pinning her wrists above her head.

His eyes held hers.

“Let me finish this…”

His thrusts deepened, controlled and purposeful, hitting exactly where she needed them to. His forehead dropped to hers as he breathed her in. Her body tightened around him as her orgasm rapidly approached.

“Come for me, Zora... I want to feel it around me.”

His own breathing fractured as he felt her building toward the edge. He stayed close, his forehead pressed to hers, refusing to let the intensity pull him away from her.

“I've got you,” he said, his voice rough. “Don't hold back. Let go.”

She cried out his name as the pleasure finally overtook her, her body going slack beneath him. Hearing his name on her lips pushed Val past the last of his restraint. A hoarse cry escaped him as his body went rigid, the intensity leaving him breathless.

For several seconds, he simply stayed there, trying to catch his breath. Then he moved beside her and pulled her against his chest. His heart hammered beneath her ear, far too fast to hide how deeply the moment had affected him.

Neither of them spoke.

For once, Val didn't seem to need words.

Val's hand traced slow circles across her shoulder as their breathing gradually steadied. Neither of them seemed willing to move yet. Zora remained tucked against his chest, listening to the heavy beat of his heart beneath her ear while his fingers continued their absent path over her skin.

For Val, the silence felt different from the kind he was accustomed to. It wasn't empty or uncomfortable. There was another person beside him, and for once, he didn't feel the need to put distance between them when the physical part was over.

His arm tightened around her slightly. He kissed her forehead, then her temple, lingering there before finding her lips in a soft kiss.

“Stay with me, please,” he whispered.

Zora's only answer was a sleepy, satisfied “Mmmmm” as she settled closer against him.

They stayed that way for several minutes before Enzo's soft whine finally filtered through the bedroom door.

Zora chuckled against Val's chest.

“Can we let him in? He'll whine all night if we don't. And can I get a towel, please? I don't think I can move.”

He laughed—a real, unguarded sound—and rolled from the bed.

“Enzo’s been patient enough.”

He grabbed a towel from the en-suite and returned to clean her, his touch tender and careful. Then he opened the bedroom door, letting Enzo in before settling back into bed and pulling her close. Enzo curled up at the foot of the bed, content, and quickly settled into sleep.

“Stay,” he murmured, tightening his arm around her.

“I’m not ready for tonight to be over yet. Just lie here with me.”

Zora shifted closer, resting against his chest.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

He tightened his grip and buried his face in her hair.

For the first time in decades, the weight in his chest shifted.

Zora stirred against him, her leg sliding across his beneath the sheets as she tucked herself closer. Val smiled into her hair. She did it without waking, without knowing he was watching her, as though sleeping in his arms was the most natural thing in the world.

He pressed a quiet kiss to the top of her head.

“You stayed…” he whispered.

Zora made a sleepy sound and curled closer.

Val's smile grew.

He lay there listening to her breathe, his fingers moving slowly along her back. Every so often she shifted, and each time his arm tightened instinctively around her.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd shared a bed like this.

Women had slept in his bed before. That wasn't new.

This was.

Wanting them there afterward had never been part of it.

Enzo shifted at their feet with a heavy sigh, and Val glanced toward him.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “I know.”

Enzo didn't bother opening his eyes.

Val almost laughed.

The city continued beyond the windows, distant and irrelevant. Usually he could hear everything at night—the traffic below, the hum of the building, every small sound that accompanied being awake while everyone else slept.

Tonight, he heard her.

Her breathing.

The occasional sleepy sound she made.

The faint rustle of the sheets when she moved.

He didn't sleep.

He didn't want to.

He simply held her, afraid that if he closed his eyes, morning would come too quickly.

And maybe, somewhere beneath all that fear, was the ridiculous thought that if he stopped watching her for even a moment, she might disappear.

Like it was all just some kind of dream after all.

So he stayed awake.

Just to make sure she was still there.