I arrived at my
apartment at nine o’clock sharp and found Matteo waiting for me outside my
door. I’d had two martinis with dinner, and on top of the champagne, even food
hadn’t been enough to counteract the alcohol. I wasn’t about to stumble in
front of any trucks, but I was far more affected than I would have
preferred.
It was my own fault.
I’d known I would
see him. I’d known how important it was to be in possession of all my faculties
in his presence, but I’d indulged in the drinks anyway. I had told myself it
was my reward for spending a day with my family, but that wasn’t the truth of it.
Deep down, in a darkest part of me that I refused to acknowledge, I wanted to
drop my defenses.
All my life I’d kept
the world at gunpoint.
It was exhausting.
The ease of letting
go was shamefully alluring. He was my enemy. Of all people, he was the last person
I should entrust with my protection. And yet … that’s exactly what I’d done.
Handed myself over in a state of intoxication, unable to fully defend myself.
It was time to see
if Matteo De Luca would keep me afloat or use those capable hands to hold me
under.
He leaned his
muscled frame against the wall in a statement of casual indifference, but his
eyes betrayed him. Even with alcohol clouding my vision, I could still see the
ruthless storm that raged in his oceanic gaze. A majestic tidal wave of temper
and domination looking to break on my rocky shores.
He would annihilate
me.
Batter my jagged
defenses until he’d smoothed all my hard edges and whittled me away to my
foundations.
He pretended to be a
simple passing storm in the distance, but I knew the devastation he could
wreak. I could feel it not just in my bones but in my core where fissures of
lust uncoiled and warmed me from the inside out.
I wanted to launch
myself at him.
To kiss him. To kill
him.
To end the
debilitating torture of the unknown.
I wanted to
experience whatever it was Matteo had to offer, and I hated myself for it.
Unfortunately for me, my own self-loathing wasn’t enough to keep me from
inviting the lion inside my den. Without a word, I unlocked my door, feeling
his stealthy presence stalk behind me.
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