جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 140

Alessia ─ ∘❉∘ ─ I wasn’t used to sharing a bed with a man. Not with someone whose presence felt permanent, heavy, impossible to ignore. I hadn’t slept next to anyone in almost twenty years. I’d learned how to stretch myself across a mattress, how to take up space, how to sleep without adjusting my breathing to someone else’s rhythm. But now he was there. Rino lay beside me, flat on his back, one arm thrown above his head, the other resting near mine, not touching, but close enough that I was aware of the heat coming off his skin. I remembered that one night a few months back, the accidental one. We fell asleep without meaning to. This was different. This time, I stayed awake. I watched him. His face was relaxed in sleep, stripped of its usual sharpness, no scowl, no control, just a man who had spent too many years fighting the world and hadn’t realized his body still carried that tension even now. Rino was beautiful. He knew it. He’d always known it. He used it like a wea

Rino ─𖤝─ The moment my lips met hers, the world narrowed down to the taste of salt and the heat of her mouth. I didn’t rush. I took my time, my mouth slanted over hers as I felt her breath hitch against my tongue. It was a slow, deep pull, the kind of kiss that felt like a permanent claim. I tasted the cold ocean on her lips, but the inside of her mouth was a furnace, sweet and inviting. I bit down on her bottom lip just enough to make her gasp before my tongue swept in to soothe the sting, tangling with hers. My hands slid from the small of her back down to her hips, my fingers digging into the wet, bunched-up silk of her dress. I hiked her up, guiding her legs to lock around my waist. The friction of her thighs against my hips, even through the water, sent a jolt of pure electricity straight to my gut. She let out a soft, broken sound against my mouth, her fingers tightening in my hair, pulling me closer as if she were trying to crawl inside my skin. I obliged, crushing her

Alessia ─ ∘❉∘ ─ The sun was starting to dip again, turning the sky into a mix of purple and gold. I stood at the entrance of the maze. Rino had chosen a deep red dress for me to wear and it fit me perfectly, the fabric cool against my legs but doing nothing to stop the heat rising in my blood. I stared into the dark, narrow mouth of the garden. From the terrace this morning, I hadn't just been looking, I’d been mapping. Left at the broken stone, three rights past the tall cypress, skip the first two openings to the north. I wasn't just some girl he could scare with old ghost stories. I was the woman and I knew how to handle a bit of darkness. I felt his eyes on me before I heard him. I turned my head, looking back. Rino was leaning against a stone pillar, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. He hadn't bothered with a shirt, just a pair of dark trousers slung low on his hips. The smoke curled around his head in the still air. He looked smug and totally convinced th

Rino ─𖤝─ "The florist is next door," she announced, skipping ahead while I followed two paces behind. The shop was a jungle of lilies and peonies. The old woman behind the counter turned white the second I stepped through the door, her eyes darting to the bulge of my 9mm beneath my shirt. I ignored her, my eyes fixed on Alessia. She wasn't looking at the roses. She wasn't looking at the delicate baby’s breath. She was standing in front of a massive, ancient terracotta pot containing a fully grown lemon tree. "This one," she said, tapping the rim with a smirk. "I think it would look perfect on the east balcony." "Alessia, you have to be fucking joking," I rasped, looking at the monstrosity. I looked at the pot. Then I looked at her. My dick was still hard, my patience was a thin, and I was about to haul a tree through a crowded village square. "Pick it up," she ordered. I let out a low curse that made the florist cross herself. I stepped up to the pot, braced my fee

Alessia ─ ∘❉∘ ─ I kicked off my heels the second the bedroom door clicked shut, letting them thud onto the thick carpet. I didn’t turn on the lights. I didn’t need them. The moonlight was pouring through the balcony windows, turning the whole room into silver. I walked over to the floor-length mirror and just stared at myself. My hair was a mess from his hands, and my red lipstick was mostly smudged onto his collar and lips, but I didn’t looked... cherished. I touched my bottom lip with my thumb, right where he’d kissed me, and I couldn't stop the goofy, giddy smile from spreading across my face. I felt like I was floating. My heart was still thumping against my ribs that reminded me of how his chest felt against mine in the library. "God, Alessia, really? It was Rino Lombardi all this time?" I whispered to the empty room, my voice sounding airy and breathless. I reached behind me, my fingers fumbling with the zipper of my dress. As the black silk slid down my body and pooled at