Page 35 of Forsaken Promises

We moan together, feeling our bodies become one. My hands scrabble to grip the bedding as I meet his every thrust. I’m on the brink of climax, the pleasure consuming me.

His pelvis slams against my backside as his cock pulses inside me, then sweet release.

My cry mingles with his as his thrusts begin to slow. We both collapse over the bed, our breaths heavy.

I feel a sense of triumph wash over me as our chests heave, our skin slick with sweat. I’ve proven my point. I’ve shown him that I can take what I want from him without giving anything in return.

But even as I bask in the afterglow of my victory, even as I tell myself that this changes nothing between us… I can’t shake the feeling that I’m only fooling myself, that no matter how hard I try to deny it, no matter how fiercely I cling to my anger and my pride…

There will always be a part of me that belongs to him, a part of me that will never be able to let him go, no matter how much I may want to.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, a harsh truth that I’ve been running from for far too long. But as I lie there in the tangled sheets, with his scent still clinging to my skin and his taste still lingering on my tongue…

I know that I can’t keep running forever, that eventually, I’ll have to face the demons of my past and the desires of my heart.

And when that day comes, when I’m forced to confront the love that still burns between us…

I can only pray that I’ll have the strength to walk away, to save myself from the heartbreak that I know will come, the pain that I’ve already endured once before.

Because loving Dominico Sicura is a dangerous game, a gamble that I’m not sure I’m willing to take again.

Not when the stakes are so high and the price of losing is more than I can bear.

* * *

As the firstlight of dawn starts to filter through the curtains, I find myself drifting off to sleep despite my best efforts to stay awake. My body is exhausted, every muscle aching with the sweet soreness that comes from hours of sex.

Beside me, Dom is already asleep, his arm draped possessively over my waist and his face relaxed in a way that makes him look younger, more vulnerable. I can’t help but stare at him for a long moment, my heart clenching with a mixture of tenderness and regret.

In sleep, he looks so much like the boy I once knew. The boy who stole my heart with his crooked smile and his reckless spirit. The boy who promised me forever before he cruelly pushed me away.

I want to hate him for what he did to me. I want to hold onto the anger and the bitterness that have sustained me for so long, the armor that has kept my heart safe from further pain.

But looking at him now, with the soft light of morning casting shadows across his face… I can’t help but feel a flicker of something else. Something warm and tender and achingly familiar, something that feels dangerously close to love.

I push the thought away, burying it deep down where it can’t hurt me. I can’t afford to let myself feel that way again, can’t risk the devastation that I know will come if I allow myself to hope for a future that can never be.

This is just physical, I remind myself firmly, a way to satisfy the needs of our bodies, to fulfill the duties of our marriage. It doesn’t mean anything beyond that, no matter how much my traitorous heart may wish otherwise.

With a sigh, I close my eyes and let myself drift off to sleep, my body curling instinctively into the warmth of Dom’s embrace. Tomorrow, I’ll put my walls back up. Tomorrow, I’ll be the perfect Sicura wife, cold and untouchable and unbreakable.

But for now, in the quiet stillness of this moment… I let myself pretend. I let myself imagine a world where we could be together, where the past could be forgiven and the future could be ours to shape.

It’s a beautiful dream, a fleeting fantasy that I know can never come true. But as I surrender to the pull of sleep, as I let myself be carried away on the currents of my own imagination…

I can’t help but wish that it could be real. That somehow, against all odds and all reason, we could find a way to make this work. To build a life together, a love that could weather any storm and overcome any obstacle.

But I know better than to hope for the impossible. I know that the only way to survive this marriage, to keep my heart intact and my soul unbroken, is to keep my distance.

Because loving Dom is a risk that I can’t afford to take. A gamble that I know I’ll always lose, no matter how much I may long for a different outcome.

And so I let myself have this moment, this one stolen glimpse of the happiness that could have been. And then I lock it away, deep down in the secret corners of my heart.

Never to be spoken of again, never to be acknowledged in the harsh light of day.

A bittersweet memory, a haunting reminder of the love that I once knew.

And the future that I know I can never have.

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