Page 66 of Stolen Vows

In the moment, it doesn’t occur to me how quickly that time can come to an end.

24

LEO

When the sun finally comes up, my dick feels like it’s going to fall off.

I haven’t had a night with so much sex in—well,ever.

Christ, is that right? Before Stella, dating was too risky, so most rendezvous were limited to one-time things. A quick tryst in a dark room before a meeting or stolen when my father was out of town. Regardless of if I was with a man or woman, there was never an opportunity to prolong the pleasure.

Moreover, I never found myself wanting to. I was satisfied with fleeting moments, and yet from the second Stella Ricci was offered to me in that church seven years ago, the idea of her being a temporary fixture has never sat right with me.

Even when I was accepting the offer on the premise of taking something from Rafael, I knew I wouldn’t be happy with having her once. I hadn’t spent half my adolescence watching her, admiring her, only to be blessed with a few pressurized minutes of forced affection.

With Stella, I wanted itall. Despite knowing she didn’t feel the same and that she was looking for an escape before she evencame to Saint Paul’s. My desire to keep her, to make her mine, was intrinsic.

My eyes find the rising sun past the mansion outside, and I tuck Stella’s sleeping form closer into me. Her eyelashes brush the tops of her cheeks, pinkened from the long night we’ve had, and there’s still a sheen of sweat gleaming against her skin.

Studies say it takes a man eighty-eight days to fall in love.

I believe it took me eighty-eight seconds, one single kiss, and the transfer of a razor blade from her mouth to mine.

A single verse sung during church choir—the perfect melody—heard when I was just a boy sitting in the back row of the nave and hating that I had to be there. Yet, when she opened her mouth to sing, it was impossible to focus on anything else. Her voice captivated me from that moment, like a spell weaved around my soul.

I’ve been careening off the cliff ever since.

Stella’s body tenses, and her brown eyes squint up at me from where her head rests on my chest. “Are you watching me sleep?”

“Depends.” I squeeze her hip, then wrap a fistful of her hair around my fingers. “Does it make me a pervert stalker if I say yes?”

“Well, it doesn’t make younotone.” Using her hand to push herself into a sitting position, she lets the comforter fall off us, then lifts onto her knees.

I swallow over a lump in my throat as her hair curtains her body, her nipples peeking through the silken waves. When she hooks a leg over my waist, straddling me without any prompting, my heart grows heavy in my chest.

“Stella,” I warn, my cock springing to life at the mere brush of her cunt against it.

“What?” She bats her eyelashes, sliding her slit over my shaft. “I’m just trying to get closer to you. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

“This isn’t theonlything I wanted.”

Still, it’s no use. I’ve created a little monster, and she isn’t listening to me; her cunt is fully intent on getting its fill, and I can’t help the dread that laces my insides, wondering if that’s all she plans on doing with me. If this is as close as she’ll let herself get.

I suppose I don’t exactly deserve more, but that doesn’t stop my soul from craving it.

The tip of my dick slips in as she shimmies her ass backward, and we gasp collectively.

“Fuck,” I grind out, fisting the sheets. “How is it possible that I haven’t ruined this yet?”

“You can’t ruin fate.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Is that so?”

Her mouth parts as she slowly—so goddamn slow—pushes down on me, letting my cock split her open. She’s so wet and perfect that my vision blurs, and my back bows off the mattress with the sensation of being fully seated in her.

“That’s what this feels like, right?” she whispers, leaning with her palms on my shoulders. Her tits swing in my face as she starts to tentatively ride me. “Years have passed, and it’s like we’re picking up right where we left off. Almost as if time stood still in the distance between us, waiting for our reunion.”

She flushes a deep fuchsia, and my nerves draw taut.

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