Page 118 of Untamed

My voice is wrecked when I speak, raw with the truth I never thought I’d say out loud—especially to her.

“I want you so fucking bad it hurts, bambina.”

She exhales, shaky and soft. “But not like this,” I whisper. “Not when I’m bleeding, not when I can’t hold you the way Ineedto.”

Her eyes search mine, and I see it, the question, the ache, the understanding.

I cup the side of her face like she’s something fragile. Like if I touch her too hard, I’ll break both of us.

“When my shoulder heals,” I murmur, “when I can hold you without flinching... I’ll show you what it means to be trulywanted. Not just fucked. Not just touched butworshipped.”

My throat goes tight.

“You deserve more than pain and impulse, Jordyn. You deserve every slow and tender kiss. Every fucking second of it. And I swear, when I’m whole again…” I press my lips to her temple and close my eyes. “…you’ll get all of me.”

Jordyn’s quiet for a second. I can feel her breathing steadily, then she pulls back enough to meet my eyes, and when they do, I see a flicker of something in her gaze...something, akin to wounded, perhaps.Shit. What is it I’ve said that has her looking at me like that?

“I thought you preferred your womenexperienced?” she utters, soft but pointed. “Didn’t you say you don’t do soft and gentle?”

Those words hit me like a wrecking ball straight to the gut.

Not because she’s wrong. Becauseshe is.

Because that was beforeshecame tumbling into my life. So, I shake my head, slow and firm, my thumb brushing over her soft cheek.

“I’ve had bodies. Heat and noise.” I pause, my voice thickening. “But this? This calm you give me…it’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever felt.”

I hear her breath catch, just a little, and I lean in, my lips brushing the shell of her ear. “And for the record? I’ve neverwantedto be gentle with anyone...ever. Never needed slow or soft.” I pull back just enough to look her in the eyes again, my hand splaying over her ribs, where her heart races beneath my palm. “But with you… I want to, bambina. I want to feel and breathe in every fucking second of it.”

That wounded look from before vanishes, and the corner of her lip tips up ever so slightly in a faint smile. The room is enveloped in the soft, golden light of dawn as the sun begins to rise. As much as I want to draw out this fleeting moment, keep her here, wrapped in silence and bare skin, amidst everything left unsaid, I am acutely aware of the time.

The staff will be arriving soon.

And if anyone sees her leaving my room like this, barefoot, hair a mess, skin flushed and wearingthatnightdress, it won’t be whispers. It’ll be carnage.

I draw back slightly, just enough to meet her gaze, though every fibre of my being craves to keep her near. “It’s almost dawn, you need to go, bambina,” I murmur, my voice a low, intimate rumble. “Before anyone notices you’re missing.”

She opens her mouth to argue, I can see it in the crease of her brow, the way her bottom lip trembles like she’s about to fight me on it.

But I don’t let her speak.

I dip my head and take her mouth in a kiss that ends the conversation.

It's not soft, nor gentle. It’sfinal. I pour into it everything I’m not ready to say yet. Everything Iwillsay, when the time is right. Her fingers curl in my hair, her body pressing into mine like she doesn’t want to leave.

I know, bambina. I don’t want you to go, either.

But when I draw back, my lips linger against hers, and I regrettably whisper, “Go, bambina. Before I change my mind and spread you out on this bed and make a fucking mess of you.”

I hear her gasp softly, and I smirk, just a little, because Iwanther to remember those words as she walks out of here.

I want her to feel them for the rest of the damn day.

She doesn’t move at first… just lingers there, lips swollen from my kiss, her breath uneven. Her eyes flick between mine like she’s etching the moment into her mind, like she knows we’re standing at the edge of something, and once she pulls away, the air won’t feel the same.

Then she leans in, one last time, andbrushes her nose against mine.

It’s so tender it fucking hurts.

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