The Rossi boy

Chapter 23

I was in shock. About the kiss, about the words. I couldn't seem to react. What in the world was happening?

I stood there, eyes tightly closed, feeling his shaky and shallow breathing fan my face. His forehead pressed on the crown of my head as his body heat surrounded me in warm waves that smell like him. A smell I found myself sniffing after he's laid on my bed, or if I'm wearing his clothes, or even if he's standing close by.

"Come on, people That's it for tonight's show!" I heard Jason's voice in the background as the crowd was being reeled away and back into the party. "Our boy doesn't need witnesses for this. Get your share of romance on your own".

The disappointed sounds and the retreating footsteps only added to my anxiety.

I was so afraid to open my eyes, so shocked, confused, conflicted, excited All at once. Deep down, I was scared shitless to open them and find Lucas and his friends laughing their asses off in some kind of prank, than to face him and the last five minutes of our lives properly. I wouldn't be able to cope with the embarrassment, the humiliation and the pain.

Because even if I don't want to admit it to myself, I've been in love with him since forever. I learned to live with the fact that he'd never look at me like the same way and kind of crushed on Adrien as te next logical step. But I never stopped feeling that hole in the pit of my stomach when I looked at him, that burn under my skin whenever he touches me.

There were this moments when I caught him looking at me so intensely, so serious, that I started to think he knew how I felt. Then, as he noticed me looking back, he'd roll his eyes with annoyance and disgust and look away. The awkward smile would die on my lips and the burn in my chest, the vile taste of bitterness would settle in. I would go for days without even glancing his way.

Some times I wonder if he ever stopped to really think about my behavior around him if he ever noticed how I would stand anything for him. Even his cruelty and indifference. How I'd silently go to pick him up at parties, how I'd watch over him when he was drunk or hungover, how I covered for him with Marie and Vittorio... Did he think I'd do that for anybody?

If this was, in fact, some kind of prank, I would never be able so swallow my broken heart back in.

If I opened my eyes and found the shacking of his hands on the sides of my face is because he was laughing at me, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from crying.

If I opened my eyes to see Lucas wearing that malicious grin, the eyes I dream of showing disdain, I would collapse altogether.

I felt the comforting weight lifting up from my head and my heart skipped a beat.

"Isabelle... Please." He said with strangled voice, barely a whisper, while his hands softly motioned for my head to face up. "Please, look at me..."

His thumb traced the outline of my lips, slowly, tenderly, compelling me.

I finally did.

My eyes fell on the green ones immediately. They were glazed with emotion and restlessness.

"I could never hate you, no matter what you do. You hurt me, time and time again and I'm still standing here, bleeding my heart out so you can see it once and for all."

He held my face and looked me straight in the eyes. Not a trace of humor or doubt on his features.

"I've been in love with you ever since I was old enough to understand why boys and girls don't take baths together without swimming suits."

I gasped.

"But you always look at me like I'm annoying you, Like you can't stand to be in the same room with me..." I blurted out before even thinking about it.

He shut his eyes closed and swallowed hard. When he opened them, there was so much regret in them that it made my stomach churn.

"The only reason I couldn't stand to be in the same room as you was because I was afraid to loose it and finally kiss your brains out. It's been harder and harder to restrain myself around you. I can't do it anymore, Belle." He sighed and pressed his forehead in mine again. "I can't convince myself that I don't love you and I don't want to be with you. I can't shut up about it and watch you go out with Jasper Forrest or any other guy. Not even Adrien. I'm sorry, Belle, I know I'm selfish, but I can't hold it in anymore."

The words were all scrambled together in my tongue, I couldn't get them out. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him, so many situations I wanted to clear out...

"... And if you don't feel the same, I can take it. I can accept it and leave you alone. But please, please... Don't run away from me, from my family. They love you as much as I do and it would brake their hearts to lose you because of me."

He sounded so troubled, so sincere... He was actually tortured by the thought of me cutting ties with all the Rossi if he confessed his feelings?

"Did you think I would cut my relationship to your family if I didn't love you back?"

"... Or if we did go out and then break up. I thought of every possible way... Wait..."

He said and stopped talking, forcing me to look at him in the eyes again.

"Did you say 'IF I DIDN'T', back there?" He demanded.

There was a spark of hope in the green that made my heart clench in happiness.

Was I even allowed to be happy for it? Was I capable of making him happy? I was a broken girl, from the very beginning of my life. I never knew or witnessed love in the romantic way. My Grandma was already a widow when I was born, and my parents were the polar opposite of a loving couple. The only people who was an example of it, the best one I could ever wish for, are Marie and Vittorio. And they raised this miracle of a man before me.

If I didn't know how, he would teach me how to love him. They would all teach me.

"Yes..." I confirmed, blushing my cheeks red hot.

I had this irresistible urge to comfort him, to run my hands through his soft hair, and close his eyelids with the tip of my fingers.

I stared at him for a moment, trying to absorb everything that had been said. He just watched me as intensely as I did until his lips softly pressed in mine with the sweetest of contacts. The most careful and soft brush followed by a warmth I've never felt before.

His hand pressed in the small of my back, pushing me forward, against his rock solid torso.

"I love you, Isabelle Sophia Jhones. I've always have. And if you have me, I'll work my ass off to make you fall in love with me..." A promise he didn't need to make, because my heart was already his.

"Good thing you are a hard worker..." I answered with a timid smile, unable to disclose my feelings to him. Still unconvinced this was not a joke or a dream.

"I am..." He said and kissed me again. Only this time, he really put his hot blooded nature on it.

I've never been kissed like that. Never.

A few seconds on it and my toes were curling and I was a hot and bothered mess.

The Rossi boy became a new kind of danger. To my mental health and to my panties.