Page 77 of Falling Into Forever
Well, I try to roll over. I only make it two inches onto my side when I hit a human wall.
“Argh. What the. How the. What?” After my initial scream, each word pitches higher until I sound like a shrill stadium announcer.
“Good morning, Oscar. Glad to see you wake up angry and it’s not only me who makes you that way.”
Finally, I suck air into my lungs like it’ll be my last, and I push up onto my knees, which causes the sheet to pool at my sides. My snarled hair blocks my vision again, so I pull it from my face with both hands. I’m still crushing my hair to my skull when my vision clears, and a too-charming smile nearly blinds me.
“Dante,” I hiss.
“Don’t do it,” he demands. His voice is husky with sleep and wraps around my core like the most powerful vibrator.
Like lifting a zipper, every muscle in my body tenses in a slow incline from my toes to my ears, even as a flush races across my skin. Memories invade every sense. Images of him above me and in me. His smell. His touch. His words. Our taste.
“Do what?” Jesus. I am bitchy in the morning. That’s easy to forget when you wake up alone every day for years.
“Don’t pull away.” He lifts onto one elbow and does a lazy perusal of my body. The heat in his gaze licks across my skin like flames. I’d be convinced his hands were on me if I wasn’t presently glaring at him.
“I’m. Not.” My teeth clench until my jaw aches, and I’m not sure if it’s my normal morning attitude or fear of what comes next.
“Are you sure?” Is he mocking me?
Am I sure? He told me his rules. He said if we did this, he wouldn’t be able to leave again. He said…
“Saylor?”
Jesus. When did I close my stinking eyes again? Am I dreaming? As inconspicuously as possible, I pinch my thigh. “Ouch.” Dang it. Not sleeping.
Dante’s rich silvery laughter makes my nipples pebble to painful points. My body has always had a physical reaction to the sound of him. It’s annoying and pretty inconvenient at the moment.
“You’re not dreaming, Oscar. And you’re not going back on your word. I’m here with you, and that’s not changing.”
With one harsh tug from his muscular arms, I fall forward into his kiss, and my body uncoils into a pool of mush. Soft lips and rough whiskers kiss me and ghost over my jaw, down my neck, and back again. The scrape of his stubble abrading my skin is the most delicious kind of pain.
“Sassy?” Grady’s voice slices through the air like a bullhorn.
“What’s he doing here?” Dante grumbles.
“What? What time is it?”
I crawl over him and reach for my phone. Noon? How the hell is it noon? “Shit. We overslept. He’s dropping Lilly off for her shift.” I roll again and misjudge the edge of the mattress, and I land on my ass with a loud thud.
“Sass?” Grady’s boots clomp loudly up the stairs, the sound pounding in my skull as I scramble to do—something. This is what I get for giving him a key.
“Ah, I’m coming. Hold on,” I yell.
Dante laughs and moves languidly through the room. But he still manages to get dressed before I’ve even stood up.
“I’ve got it,” he says, offering me a hand.
I’m enslaved by his needy gaze that never leaves my naked body as I uncurl from the floor.
“Fuck.” He sighs before turning and going to intercept Grady.
“Tell him I’ll be down in five,” I call to his back.
Fuck doesn’t begin to cover it. Something tells me my life is about to get really freaking messy.
But at least you’re living.I spin in place, and a chill wraps around my body as sweat dots my skin. The words that ghosted through my mind sounded exactly like my sister, and they were gone as quickly as they came. It’s enough to stall the air in my lungs.
