a smile touching her lips as her anxiety dissipated.
He was nervous, too. She could tell.
He met her gaze, returning her smile, as he climbed between her legs, hiking her knees up. Dante hesitated before lining up and slowly pushing in. Gabriella closed her eyes as he stretched her, hearing him let out a strained groan.
She certainly wasn't a virgin, but it had been a while.
"Fuck, you feel good." He pushed the whole way in before pulling back out, moving slowly, over and over. She chanced a peek at him, seeing his eyes fixed between them, watching where he disappeared inside of her. As if he sensed her gaze, he smirked. "It's a beautiful sight."
"Oh?" she whispered as he lay down on top of her, pulling her to him. She wrapped her arms around him as he increased the pace a bit, still taking it easy, his thrusts restrained.
It struck her, maybe too late, that he was still injured. He shouldn't have been exerting himself. She started to say something, worried, when he nuzzled into her neck, his husky voice wiping out all thoughts except for his words. "You've got such a beautiful pussy. So beautiful. I could lose myself inside of you for days, baby."
Her eyes fluttered closed. "I wish you would."
"I will, if you want. Stay right here and fuck you forever."
His teeth sunk into her neck, grazing her skin, as he sucked and licked at her flesh. She gasped, fisting the back of his shirt, wrapping her legs around his waist so he could fill her deeper.
Gabriella couldn't wrap her mind around it. It wasn't sinking in. Her world was becoming chaos because of this man. Feelings she'd never had before swirled inside of her, filling her up as he filled her to the hilt. Her chest ached as she shakily breathed, her lungs just not getting enough oxygen. Dante Galante was on top of her, inside of her, when just weeks earlier the world thought he was dead. But he wasn't—he was alive, and breathing, and so utterly intoxicating. She got drunk on the air around him, floating higher every time she breathed him in.
The stubborn, infuriating, reckless idiot had overtaken her carefully controlled life without even knowing it.
He rose up a bit, looking her in the eyes, shifting position to thrust harder. She moaned, leaning her head back, her voice catching every time his hips slammed into hers. Pain jabbed her insides, a beautiful ache brewing in her gut. "Oh God."
"You like that, baby?" He kissed along her collarbones. "Tell me how it feels."
"So good," she whispered. "I feel... uhh, there's so much inside of me, I'm going to explode."
As soon as she said it, she felt it—the undeniable swell of pleasure sweeping through her body. Tingles encased her as she trembled beneath him, her body convulsing around him.
"Fuck," he growled, his mouth on her throat. He bit down, yet again, as his thrusts grew erratic. He slammed into her hard a few times, groaning, before stilling on top of her, panting.
Gabriella loosened her hold on him, her hands slipping beneath his undershirt to rub his sweaty back, her fingertips grazing the bandage on his side. She tugged on the shirt, attempting to take it off, when he pulled away from her, pulling out to stand up.
He said not a word.
Dante headed straight for the bathroom and sat down on the edge of the bed beside her when he returned a minute later.
Gabriella sat up, covering herself with the sheet.
"Don't do that," Dante said, casting her a sidelong look. "You're beautiful. Don't be self-conscious."
"I'm not… usually." She frowned. "I'm kind of the only one naked here."
"Oh." He glanced down at himself. "I never bother undressing."
"Ouch."
"I didn't mean it that way, like you weren't worth the trouble," he said, reaching up to rub his chest. "Just not a fan of people pitying me, so I don't give them the chance."
"I don't pity you."
"I know."
"Are you okay, though? Your side, I mean…"
"It hurts like a son of a bitch."
Ugh. "Do you want me to—?"
She started to ask if he wanted her to look at it, but he cut her off, crawling into the bed and pulling her to him. "I'll be fine. Just out of practice. Need some time to recover, but Jesus fuck… that pussy was worth the pain, baby."
Tingles crept through her at those words. "If that's you out of practice, full-strength might be too much for me."
Dante laughed. Sweeping her hair aside, he kissed her