“Just thinking. Thinking there’s more to you.”

“Ah, flattery.”

I glare up but he’s smiling, and there’s concern there in his face, too. I take a breath. “And this whole thing…” I sweep a hand in the air before bringing it back to rest on his naked, warm chest. It’s a beautiful work of art, his chest. All of him is. “All the pain and suffering and everything. I don’t want to sit here and moan about my stupid brother. I am smarter than him. And I guess I want to do something so Molly didn’t die in vain. If she really is dead.”

I need to add that last part, because there’s a stubborn corner of me that won’t accept it until I see the receipts.

“And now there’s all this, and I don’t know what to think. That’s what I’m thinking.”

“You have to trust me, Heaven. I’m going to protect you, just as I was instructed to do. And I’ll make sure you get everything you deserve.”

My shoulders slump, and I let out a sigh. “Sometimes when I think back on my life and what’s happened over the past few years, I wonder if I already have.”

“Things change, Heaven. Always. But you with me keeps you safe. And your brother’s going to find out how much power we can both wield.”

I almost laugh. I haven’t decided if I want that. Then again, I don’t have a choice. But right now, in the darkness, with him holding me, it looks different.

Better.

Maybe something I can and want to do.

With him.

“Maybe,” I say, drawing a pattern on his chest. “Maybe I’m willing to do that.”

“Maybe you’re willing to do a whole lot of things,” he whispers, his breath hot against my cheek. “Like take pleasure in the now.”

“I need to forget,” I say as he pushes me back down on the mattress.

“You’re so fucking hot, Heaven. I can’t get enough.”

I part my thighs for him, gazing up. “And what about you, Matteo? There’s a story with the random cryptic comments you keep making. You said?—”

“Later,amore mio.”He shakes his head, angling himself over me, a look of intensity shadowing his features. The head of his cock grazes my pussy. I lick the palm of my hand and grasp the thick shaft, using long strokes to massage his length.

“Later?”

“I’ve got better things to do right now.” And he takes my mouth in a searing kiss as he thrusts into my hand, his fingers on me, pushing into me. “Ah, you’re so fucking wet.”

He pulls my hand away and slams into me to the hilt and I cry out.

A part of me wanted sweetness.

But I needed this.

Hard, hot. The bad memories fucked out of me for a little while.

I wrap my thighs about his narrow hips and meet him thrust for thrust. We fuck wildly, his cock filling me, my pussy pulsating around him with small orgasms as he bottoms out, hitting me just right inside, and they build and build until I scream out his name, coming hard.

Matteo keeps drilling me, harder, faster, like he needs to fuck his demons away and I love it. Again, the need and pleasure builds and as he comes, spurting into me, his hot seed filling me, I orgasm again.

He collapses down on me, staying burrowed inside me. I love the stretch, the fullness. And I want him like that forever.

Oh, dear God, am I developing feelings for this man? It’s too soon to think that, all I know is my heart beats hard and fast when he looks at me in a certain way. My pulse flutters when he touches me, and when he holds me, I want to stay there forever.

I’ve had boyfriends. I’ve fucked guys, but this? I’ve never had this.

He starts to move again and I realize with shock he’s still hard.