concerned.” Dipping his head, he ran his nose along my jaw, ghosting a kiss over my lips. “I will do whatever it takes to protect you. Even if it means ending him.”
A shudder racked through me. I didn’t like hearing Nicco talk like this, but he was right. This was who he was. How could I deny this part of him when I loved the other parts so deeply?
“I know.” I wound my hands around his neck, pulling him closer. “I love you, Niccolò Marchetti, all of you.”
I felt the tension leave his body. Nicco needed this. He needed my acceptance.
No words were spoken as he hitched my thigh around his hip and sank into me with one smooth glide. “Fuck, Bambolina...” His voice was thick with desire. I ran my tongue along the seam of his mouth, desperate for more. More kisses, more sensation, just more of him.
Nicco rocked into me in a torturous rhythm; slow measured strokes that made it difficult to breathe. He was everywhere, his lips on my neck, his tongue and teeth marking my skin, his hard body caging me to the bed, loving me. Filling me so completely I was drowning in him.
“Mine,” he whispered into my ear, rocking harder. Deeper. “Sei mia.”
I clung to him as he pushed me closer to the edge. Being with Nicco was like being in the eye of a storm. Wild and reckless and unpredictable but awe inspiring, nonetheless.
The way we loved, the way our bodies came together as one, it was more than just lust. More than love. It was transcendent.
It was Fate working her will, binding two lives together until not even death could part them.
It should have terrified me.
It didn’t.
With Nicco I felt whole. I felt home. I couldn’t explain it, couldn’t even really understand it, it just was.
“I love you,” I breathed, grabbing his jaw and kissing him hungrily. Desperately. “I love you so much.”
“Sei il più grande amore della mia vita.”
Our skin was damp, our moans breathy. Nicco hitched my legs higher, grinding against me in the most delicious way. It created the perfect friction, making my stomach coil tight and my toes curl into the soft sheets.
“Come for me, Bambolina.” He kissed me, swallowing my moans as waves of pleasure rippled through me.
My body shuddered, but he didn’t stop. His pace was relentless, as if he was trying to imprint himself on my soul.
Maybe he didn’t realize he was already there.
Branded on my heart.
Etched into the very fiber of my soul.
“It’s okay,” I dug my fingers in his hair, peppering tiny kisses over his face. “You can let go now.”
A low growl built in his throat as he came inside me. His eyes were almost black, his expression lost.
“Nicco,” I whispered against his mouth. “Come back to me.”
He blinked, his expression softening. “You’re okay.” His voice cracked.
“I’m okay.” I laid my palm on his cheek. “I’m right here.”
Nicco’s body began to tremble as he dropped his face to the crook of my shoulder. “I can’t lose you,” he murmured against my damp skin. “I can never lose you, Arianne.”
“You won’t,” I whispered.
You won’t.
After taking a shower together, we found Enzo in the main room.
“Don’t mind me,” he grunted, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth.
“We were just—”
He silenced Nicco with a knowing look. I smothered a giggle, burying myself into Nicco’s side. “I’m hungry,” I murmured.
“I’m not surprised.” Enzo smirked.
“Watch it,” Nicco jabbed a finger at his cousin.
“Where’s Matteo?” I asked, slipping out of Nicco’s arm and going over to the refrigerator.
“He’s helping hold down the fort back home.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
“Does she always ask this many questions?” Enzo raised a brow, and Nicco chuckled.
“Thanks for doing that...” the two of them fell into conversation, but I tried not to eavesdrop.
All that mattered was I was here with Nicco.
We could figure out the rest, together.
I checked the refrigerator for supplies and pulled out ingredients to make sandwiches. “You two hungry?” I called.
“Is the sky blue?” Enzo shot back and I poked my tongue out at him. He acted like the big bad wolf, but I was slowly figuring out he wasn’t a bad guy. He was just guarded, layers of ice frozen around his heart.
“Are you always so smug?”
His brows drew together. “Watch it, Principessa. Just because you’re Nicco’s girl doesn’t mean I won’t—”
The box of eggs clattered to the floor, cracking in a pile of sticky yolk.
“Arianne?” Nicco rushed over to my side. “What is it?”