𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐓- 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐘𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎 - 𝟏𝟖+

CHAPTER NINE

A N D R E A

It was always the same crimsons in my dream, and this time was no different. Except this time, when I broke free from my nightmare, I didn't wake up alone, Lorenzo's murky scent was embracing me, the soft notes of wood caressing my skin. And without thinking anything, I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and pulled him to me, wanting more of him.

"Andrea." His hot breath fanned my neck, and I wanted to reply, but my throat closed up as the reminders of the horrifying dream shook me again, "Andrea?"

I swallowed, "Just please don't say anything...." I'd barely managed to string my sentence together when my throat closed up, and the tears I'd stopped myself from crying every time Carlo had haunted me in my sleep broke free.

"You told me it wasn't often," His ire was apparent even in his whispered words, but I couldn't find it in myself to tell him that even in death, Carlo wasn't leaving me alone.

"I kn–know," I managed to speak without choking up again, "and they weren't,"

Lorenzo pushed up on his elbows, forcing me to concede my hold on his neck as he looked at me, "Define often,"

"Lorenzo..."

He looked like he had more to say, but instead, he exhaled, pushing his head down on the pillow beside mine. "You need to start being honest with me, mia cara, or this time you will really kill us both,"

The sudden softness in his voice startled me, and when he was trying to straighten, I couldn't help but look at his face. He stilled before staring at my face with a faraway look I couldn't place.

Lorenzo's incandescence heated me up, and the ache for him returned with a fervor that was a stranger to me. And in a total eclipse of rationality, I pressed my lips against his, seeking him out in our darkness. His muscles seized up beneath my arms, but he didn't pull away. I knew better than to take his silence as encouragement, but I couldn't stop myself from swiping my tongue against his lower lip.

His silent rejection stung more than I ever wanted to admit. His earlier warning rang in my ears when he'd told me not to be a fool, but none of it mattered because I'd gone and done the most foolish thing possible. I'd fallen in love with him.

A lone tear slipped from my left eye, I loosened my arms from around his neck, and they dropped down beside me. I'd almost turned my face away when his hand cupped my jaw, holding me still. I didn't even understand what had happened, except that his lips were now on mine, and somehow my hands had found their way back into his hair.

His lips against mine were enough to make my head spin, but even with the electricity simmering in my veins, I could make out the dominance behind his caresses. He didn't deepen the kiss, teasing me with calloused anticipation, and with subtle rhapsody, he took over my senses.

I arched my neck, seeking more of him, but he knew just how to give himself in assiduous doses, making me drown for him every single time before he'd breathe the air back into my lungs. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and only when I moved my hips against his did he deepen the kiss, battling my tongue with his before taking my mouth with sheer force that made my head spin and my vision turn black.

I hadn't realized when a moan slipped past my lips, and while he swallowed my voice, he'd felt it. Somehow, that was enough to push him out of the trance he'd been in, and he broke the contact between our lips, his face hovering above mine as his warm, fast breaths fanned my face. I arched my neck, trying to seek him out again, when he pulled his face away, pinning me with his hard gaze.

"Don't do this again," his soft murmur had my eyes fluttering close, "unless you want me to fuck you, and it will be nothing more than a fuck."

His venomous words had my eyes snapping open, and widening as I watched him push himself off of me, and turn to his side of the bed. I traced my lips with my fingers as the realization washed on me that this wasn't his surrender. It was simply him reestablishing the dynamics of our uncertain relationship. He might have let me have him for a little while, but he'd thrown me away just as fast.