Page 199 of Ruin Me With Lies
Her giggling…It’s the prettiest sound I’ve ever heard.
This is all I’ve wanted—to touch her, breathe her in, feel her against me.I could die right now, and it would be with a smile.I need nothing more.Just her.
All of her.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Soraya
SOFTSTEFANO IS HERE.
After everything he’s been through these last couple of months, I was expecting a man at his wit’s end.Aggravated.Irritated.Rancorous.Demanding answers.
I was geared up to face his justified anger.But Soft Stefano caught me off guard.Knocked me completely off kilter.This is the Stefano from that unforgettable weekend at his Summerlin house.The Stefano who looked at me like I was made of gold.Who touched me tenderly, softly, held me close.Who snuggled and cuddled and kept me glued to him, skin to skin.
The Stefano who made me fall in love with him all over again.
After everything, how isthisStefano the one standing in front of me?
See, this is what keeps me under his spell.Every time I think I have him figured out, he shows me another side of himself.Does the unexpected.
I’ve been raw and on edge for weeks.Wired with tension.Gutted by guilt.And up until he opened his eyes, looked at me, touched me, kissed me...
I didn’t know this was the version of him Ineededto show up.
When I came down from sparring and heard he was here, I dropped everything and ran like a gazelle to get to him.
Finding him intact, alive, peacefully asleep in the grass—the mostun-Stefano thing I’ve ever seen—I felt calming relief at first.But the longer I sat there watching him sleep, the more dread crept in as anxious thoughts crawled around my mind…
How much did Dad tell him?Does he still want to be with me?Is all of this too much for him?Have I ruined him completely?
And then…he woke up.
And he looked at me with those soft, contented eyes, like I was his favorite view in the world.
And just like that, it soothed everything in me, like a balm over every raw nerve.Quelled the panic, gave me reassurance.
I’m still in there...
And now, filthy and grimy as I am, he won’t stop trying to kiss and grope me, making the walk to the house take twice as long as it should.
“Can you knock it off for a minute so we can get up the hill?”I ask through a laugh as he nuzzles the side of my neck.
He grumbles something unintelligible, then steps in front of me and dips slightly.“Hop on.”
“What?”
“We’ll get there faster if I carry you.Just backseat drive.”He snaps his fingers.“Come on.”
“It’s areallylong climb up that hill, Stefano.”
He cocks his head, challenging.“Calling me weak?”
Well, if he insists…
With a shrug, I climb onto his back and wrap my legs around his waist.“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He straightens and pats the side of my thigh.“All good back there?”
