Page 219 of Rosetti Family New York
Need and heat tear through me, and she’s everything I want. I push into her, one thrust that takes us both by surprise. She cries out, clutching me closer, and I’m all the way in, buried deep in the tight, hot grip of her.
“Oh god,” she breathes, wrapping around me, moving with me. “Rafaele!”
My name on her lips is pure heaven.
I hold still, trying to catch my breath, trying to keep some small part of control. It doesn’t last. She rocks against me, and I’m gone. There’s no going slow. Not now. We collide again and again, reckless and hard, bodies and hearts and every goddamn thing we are.
The kitchen disappears. The world disappears. She is everything, everything, everything.
I thought I’d scare her, thought I’d break her. But she keeps pace with me, fearless and wild, like I’m the one who needs saving. Like I’m the one coming undone.
“Rafe,” she says, voice half plea, half command. “Don’t you dare hold back.”
She makes me feel limitless, like I could crush this whole house, this whole city, if I needed to. The only thing I need, though, is her.
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I say, and I take her like I mean it.
I find a rhythm, a brutal, beautiful rhythm, and it drives us both to the edge. The only thing keeping me sane is knowing she’s right there with me. Knowing I’m the one pushing her to this point, the one making her wild and raw and so fucking beautiful I can’t stand it. Her body starts to tighten around me, and it sets me off. I lose it, thrusting like a madman, and she screams, my name, her own release, everything. We shatter together, an explosion that rocks the world.
My heart is a drum, my body a live wire. I sink against her, pulling her up into my arms. It’s not just sweat binding us together. It’s the raw need we’ve tried to pretend wasn’t there. The same raw need that will kill me if she ever leaves.
“Jesus, Sloane,” I manage, voice hoarse and wrecked. “The best worst idea I’ve ever had.”
She smiles, the happiest smile I’ve ever seen, and I kiss it. Hard and fierce and forever.
“You don’t say,” she whispers against my lips.
I’ve never been like this with anyone. I never knew I could be.
We untangle slowly, hearts still pounding. I carry her to the lounge room, where a fire is blazing in the hearth, drag a blanket from the couch, and pull her to the floor with me. She nestles in, and it feels like home. It feels like everything I’ve never had, never known I could have. She tilts her face up to mine, cheeky and full of fire.
“This your way of telling me I’m stuck with you?”
I brush the hair back from her face, let her see the truth, the madness, the pure fucking awe.
“Yeah, it is,” I say. “You’re mine, Carter.”
21
Sloane
Iwake up in a snowstorm, all tangled in white, only to find I’m wrapped around him. Rafe watches me with his ice-blue eyes, like maybe I’m a vision he dreamed up. We’re in my bed in the upstairs guest room, where he carried me last night when I was too boneless to walk.
I haven’t slept so soundly in years. No nightmares filled with blood, with sharp knives and matted fur, with the horror in my father’s eyes. Just pure, dreamless sleep. It’s a small miracle, this feeling. I’m not used to waking up to anything but fear, but this is warm and real and bright.
Rafe pulls me even closer. I grin like an idiot.
“Still here?” he murmurs.
Instead of answering, I roll on top of him. His gravelly laugh turns into a moan.
We’re both already naked, which saves time. I straddle him and rock my hips, feeling the urgency, the wanting. My heart is wild in my chest. My pulse sings. His hands slide down, grabbing me, guiding me. I know he’ll drive me insane before I have a chance to catch my breath. We’re no more than a tangle of limbs,no more than a flash of heat. I feel the strength of him, the depth of him, and he makes it last until I’m desperate for more. Until I can’t take it. Until I’m gasping.
He grips my waist, flips me over, and fucks me like I’m the last woman he’ll ever have. Like I’m the first. He’s brutal and beautiful. He’s relentless. I dig my nails into his back, pulling him closer, wanting everything he can give. It’s too good. Too much. We’re frenzied, tangled, exploding in each other. He buries his face in my neck, and I hold on tight, tighter, taking everything and more, feeling myself come undone. He’s there too. He’s right there with me. We come down, clutching at each other, gasping for air. This is a miracle, and I’m not letting go.
“Crazy,” he mutters against my skin.
I tuck my head under his chin, curl into him like I’m trying to memorize the moment. I’ve never felt like this. I’ve never been like this with anyone. It should scare me, the way it’s fast and wild and uncontrollable. But instead, it’s perfect. No fear. No hesitation. No doubt.
