His deliberate pace made her groan and lift her hips trying to make him go faster. He pulled away with a smile.
“Because I love you so much my chest hurts when I think about you.”
He flexed again, this time going deeper, teasing delicate inner tissues until she wanted to cry in frustration. Her eyes began to close but he stopped his forward motion.
“No. Look at me, Bella.”
Her eye flashed open and she stared straight at him. Even though it was dark, the only light coming from the nightlight in the bathroom, she swore she saw deep into his soul. He was letting her in, closer than she’d ever been.
And all she could think about was making him go farther, deeper.
“Put your hands on me.” His voice was little more than a husky rasp as he forced himself deeper, centimeter by centimeter. “I need you to touch me. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.”
How long had she dreamed of him saying just that? She couldn’t get enough of him.
Raising her hands to his shoulders, she tilted her pelvis and he slid a few more centimeters. His skin was warm, almost overheated, and a light sheen of sweat made her hands glide over his skin.
Lowering his forehead to hers, he thrust and seated himself fully, wrapping his arms around her. “God, Bella. Don’t move. Just let me stay here.”
Working her arms between them, she linked them around his waist and rubbed her breasts against his chest. “I’ll never let you go.”
She felt his release start in the shudder of his shoulders and his sharply indrawn breath. Sealing his mouth over hers, he began to move, setting a deliberate rhythm. He was fighting off the inevitable, but it was a battle neither of them would lose.
She met him thrust for thrust, clenching her inner muscles on his inward glide, wringing a groan from him.
Her love for him rose up in a suffocating wave of emotion and she clutched him tighter, their skin stuck together with sweat, breathing through their noses so they didn’t have to break the kiss.
And then her body convulsed in a sharp orgasm, blindsiding her, dragging him with her.
He ripped his mouth from hers and threw his head back, pressing his hips forward.
When his cock finally stopped pulsing, he fell to her side, his uneven breathing brushing her neck, sending goosebumps along her skin.
Several minutes later, as his breathing regulated, she wondered if he’d fallen asleep again. But he rolled to his back and pulled her with him until her head rested on his chest. His hands rubbed up and down her back.
His heart pounding under her ear, she knew she’d be able to sleep now, even though it was almost time to get up.
She loved this man. And even though her brother was counting on her to handle the meeting this morning, she’d blow it off in a heartbeat if Steven asked her to run away with him. She’d go anywhere he wanted, do anything he wanted. He had to know that.
“What happened last night, Steven?”
His hands stopped and he drew in deep breath. He was silent for so long she thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“I ran out of the hotel,” he started, “after I heard the gunshot. One second I saw Cole lying on the ground, and the next I woke up in a room. I had no idea where I was. And then …”
She felt him shake his head.
“And then a
folletta
dropped out of the trap door in the ceiling.”
It took her a few seconds to process what he’d said. Then she rolled to the side to switch on the bedside lamp and propped herself on one elbow. He wore the closed expression he got when he knew she wasn’t going to like what he said. She’d always assumed it was stubbornness. Now she knew it for what it was. Uncertainty.
“Are you sure you weren’t drugged?”
He nodded.
“And you really met a
folletta
?”
She watched his mouth turn up at the corners at the awe in her voice. Her father had told the most amazing bedtime stories about the legendary creatures.
“Yeah. And…” He sighed, his expression turning dark. “And a woman who said she was the goddess Turan.”
Her mouth literally dropped open. “You met someone who said she was Turan? Goddess Turan of the
Involuti
, who disappeared two
millennia
ago?”
He nodded. “And the strange part is, I believe her.”
* * *
Half an hour later, they’d each given a rundown of the night’s events.
Bella, so comfortable in her nudity, sat naked on the bed. She was a constant temptation so Steven moved to the chair in front of the window. Early morning light seeped under the curtains, signaling the encroaching return to reality.
“Are you going to join the
boschetta
?”
Bella’s head cocked to the side, her chin propped on her bent knee. “Do you think I should? I wasn’t raised
streghe
. I barely remember the most basic spells because I don’t use them and I’d have to learn the rituals from scratch. I know they said they wanted new blood but …”
“But what?”
She sighed. “But what if I screw it up?”
“You’re stronger than that, Bella. You won’t screw up.”
He knew that down to his bones. She’d make a phenomenal priestess, though he wasn’t quite sure what the position entailed. He didn’t think Bella knew all the details either.
Still, he knew Bella. She’d be great at whatever she put her mind to.
Shaking her head, she let her gaze drop for a second. “So, the…goddess said you’re not really
Mal
?”
It was the second time she’d asked this questions but he still didn’t know exactly what to say. He’d ducked it the first time around but he knew she wasn’t going to let him get away with it a second time.
He shook his head. “Not exactly, no. Her exact words were I was ‘born straddling the line.’ I don’t have a clue what line she means.”
“But she was talking about choices, that you would have to make a choice. Does that mean you can choose
not
to be
Mal
?”
Hope sucked.
Steven knew that for a fact. Because sooner or later, you were going to lose it and be crushed. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.” That would be too damn easy and nothing was easy when dealing with deities.
Bella bit her top lip. “Does she know who shot Cole?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “So what good is she?”
Steven laughed, short and sharp. “I wouldn’t ask her that if you ever meet her.”
Bella frowned harder, the little lines between her eyes now furrows. “Yeah, I’m not that stupid. So now what?”
“Honestly, I don’t have a clue.” And didn’t that just suck? “I think we just have to continue forward, see what happens.”
He took a deep breath and stopped at the window, pulling back the curtains to let in the still-weak morning sun.
Seconds later, Bella pressed her naked body against his back. Her strong arms encircled his waist and squeezed tight.
“We’ll figure it out.” She spoke the words against his skin, the heat of her breath and her lips branding his skin. “I need you, Steven. Don’t leave me again. Not now.”
Turning in her embrace, he stared down at her, lacing his fingers through her hair. “I like it like this. Bares your neck.”
She smiled, taken off guard by his words. “Cole says it makes me look like a teenager.”
“You were the hottest teenager I’d ever seen. But if I’d touched you before you turned eighteen, my dad would’ve strung me up by my toenails. I’m still not sure he approved of us.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered. As much as I loved your dad, I would have done anything to have you. There’s never been anyone else for me. There never will.”
His heart contracted until he swore the ache would take up permanent residence there. He’d lived like a monk without her. He hadn’t wanted anyone else. Had only ever wanted this woman.
Maybe…
Her smiled turned bittersweet. “Let’s just get through today, Steven.”
He sighed. It was going to be a long day.
* * *
“So, how’s this going to work again?”
Amy Jo forced herself to draw in a deep breath through her nose and release it through her mouth. Diego stood to her left, Marco on her right in their— Well, in Diego’s bedroom. She had to admit their presence was making this a little easier. At least, she wasn’t freaking out. Yet.
And considering it was only eight in the morning, the fact that she was coherent was somewhat of a miracle. Lately, she’d become a night owl and last night she hadn’t gotten much sleep.
The woman in front of her smiled. “It’s not much different than taking a nap. Really, it’ll be painless.”
Andrea Guiliani was a short, curvy woman with straight dark hair hanging to her waist, rounded features and wide sherry-brown eyes. She looked like a hippie in her gypsy skirt and peasant blouse, and she smiled a lot, as if the motion was second nature. But Amy Jo saw sorrow in her eyes. It comforted her, made her feel she wasn’t the only one who felt lost.
“And I won’t remember anything?”
That terrified her. She remembered enough. She didn’t need to know what else, if anything, had happened that night.
Andrea—she’d pronounced it Ahn-dray-ah, with a hint of an Italian accent—shook her head. “Not if you don’t want to.”
“And you promise not to ask too many…” she struggled for a word to say what she meant without having to spell it out, “invasive questions?”
Diego stiffened behind her but stayed silent. As much as she wanted him here, she didn’t want him to know anymore than he already did about that night.
Andrea nodded, her expression sobering. “I promise to keep the questions specifically targeted.”
Okay, that was probably as good as it was gonna get. Amy Jo nodded and took a deep breath. “Alright, let’s get it over with.”
She lay on the bed and prayed Andrea could dig something useful out of her memories.
* * *
“Whoa, brat. If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you were trying a little
too
hard.”
Stepping through the bedroom door, Bella covered a wince at the weakness of Cole’s voice. But she made a good show of it, looking down at her outfit and frowning.
“What are you talking about, you idiot? I look amazing.”
Following her into the room, Steven shut the door behind him, so it was just the three of them and the ever-present Dorian.
Cole smiled, so Cole-like that she breathed a little easier as she stopped at his bedside to take his hand. If it made him smile like that, she’d play this to the hilt.
“I’ve never seen you in a suit, especially not one that’s so…”
“Hot?” Steven supplied.
Cole shot him a look. “Don’t even go there go. She’s still my sister.” Then he returned his sharp gaze to her. “You ready?”
She nodded, though she felt anything but ready. “Yes.”
Cole shook his head. “You know, you’d be a little more convincing if you didn’t look like you’re going to puke.”
“Screw you, Cole. I’ll be fine.” If she could just make five older, stronger and wiser men believe her.
Yeah, good luck with that, Princess.
“Nice mouth. Hey.” Cole tugged on her hand. “I know you can do this, Bella, or I would’ve pushed off the meeting. And if you can’t, well, then they weren’t going to listen to me, either.”
That was complete bullshit and everyone in the room knew it. Cole was the royal
legio
. Even as children, he’d been the one to take charge of everything, from who got to go first in hide and seek to how many minutes she should brush her teeth at night. As a teenager growing up in a house of men, without her mother, it’d driven her nuts. Now she realized he was just a natural born leader.
“Cole—”
“Bella,” he cut her off, staring into her eyes, his still shadowed with so much pain. “You can do this. You’re Luporeale, just like me. You know what needs to be done. You know what’s at stake. The
lucani
have to get behind us on this or everyone will suffer.
“Watch out for Angelone, he’ll try to do an end run. He’s been a pain in my ass since I took the sceptre. Quinn will back you one hundred percent. Patrick and Levanti will need to be convinced. Trust Weichelt to steer you if you need help. Barrasso is solid to the core but the legion comes first with him.”
She knew all of this. At least, she tried to tell herself she did. She hadn’t completely stuck her head in the ground the past few years. She listened when Cole talked about what he did. She’d just never considered having to deal with this stuff. The army had always been Cole’s job. She couldn’t be bothered.
Stupid girl.
Now she had to go into that room and convince five formidable, hardened veterans who had more than thirty years on her, to listen to a twenty-five-year-old female whose only claims to fame were a degree in veterinary medicine and the shared genes of two men they highly regarded.
“Bella, breathe.”
She drew air into her starved lungs and stared at Cole. His smile, though weak, had returned.
“Sweetheart,
you
are our stealth weapon. They all love you. They still talk about the day you were born like it was a national holiday. The first girl born to a royal family in nearly a century. They treasure you. If you ask me, they’re just going soft in their old age because I know what a brat you really are. But they
will
listen to you, even if they think they’re only placating you.”
His teasing eased her fears a little. But, he was right, to a degree.
Those grizzled veterans
had
always had a soft spot for her. And if they gave out degrees for wrapping men around fingers, she’d have a doctorate.
She’d use it to her advantage. She didn’t have to do exactly what Cole would do. She could do it her way.
“Okay.” She nodded. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Eighteen
Steven watched Bella walk into the meeting room like she owned it.
In a previous life, Cole must have been a motivational speaker. Or emperor, which probably wasn’t far off the mark.