by Ella James
“You okay?”
“No.” I laugh, pushing up on one elbow. “And it’s your fault. Come here…” I sit up more. “And let me help you with that heavy, heavy package.”
His eyes twinkle as he stands instead. He laughs as he pulls his pants up, struggling to fasten them. He can barely fit himself in, and he’s so hard that his erection has to bend to stay below the waistline of his trousers.
“There’s a bedroom.” He points to a narrow hall behind us. “I don’t think anyone would come down into the boat, but…”
He helps me up, and we drift down a hallway, fingers laced. I can feel a dizzy echo of sensation as the yacht bobs on the water. Then we’re in the bedroom and he’s leading me to the bed. I reach for the zipper of my gown, and he unzips it for me, helps me out, and drapes it over an armchair. His eyes never leave mine as I sit on the edge of the mattress in my silk slip, crossing my ankles.
“You okay?” His hooded eyes squint at the corners.
His hand wraps around his erection, covered by black fabric.
“Are you?” I tease.
“I’m okay.” His voice is low. He swallows, and I beckon him closer. “Come here, Luca Galante.” He does, and I rub him through his pants until he grunts and sinks down on the mattress beside me.
“Lie down and undo your pants.”
He does, and I climb atop him, hiking my slip up so I can straddle him. I take his hard erection in my hands and stroke it. He quakes under me. I feel his legs tense.
“Unbutton your shirt,” I whisper. He can barely manage as I keep on stroking: firm grip at the base, then stroke upward and rub my palm around the head of him. He’s slick up there. I rub my finger carefully around, and he lets out a loud groan.
“Oh God—Elise.” His hands fist at his sides and then he’s breathing in gulps.
“Is this okay?”
“So good.” His hands stroke my thighs. His face is rapt, strained and exultant. “I feel like—I’m gonna—”
He swells under my fingers, and then his hand clamps over mine. He makes a hoarse sound, and I feel a burst of warmth. He moans and rolls his hips so he’s pressed into my hand. Then he’s sitting up and cursing, blinking at our hands.
“Oh shit. I’m sorry.”
“You…”
“I’m so sorry. It felt so fucking good,” he rasps. “I couldn’t stop it.”
My hand hovers over him. “I love it.”
“What?” He laughs.
“Yeah, I love everything about it.” I lean over, kiss his cheek, and then we’re lying by each other, sticky, hugging. He looks half asleep, but satisfied.
“Well, I guess Anne Rice was right about the dark arts.”
We both laugh at that, and he pulls a tissue from one of his pockets before he disappears into the bathroom, returning with a warm cloth for me. He’s subdued and happy. After we’re both clean, he pulls the covers over us and nudges his strong leg between mine, wraps both arms around my back, and brings my cheek to his throat. Then he kisses my hair.
“I love you,” he says again.
“I love you more.” I kiss his throat, a little flutter of my lips over his Adam’s apple—and that’s all it’s meant to be. But our mouths act like magnets. Soon we’re kissing harder, deeper. We’re both groaning, panting, and his fingers find my sweet spot through the layers of my slip and start me rolling my hips, rubbing against his hand as my legs fall open and my hand starts rubbing his arm.
“Ohh, Luca.”
“I can get you off again. Is that what you want, rosa?”
He leans down to use his mouth, but I can see the head of him is poking out of his pants. He’s hard again.
“We’re both…you know. And I want to…” I lick my lips, unable to confess I want to give him a blow job. “Let’s do sixty-nine.” My voice quivers. “I want to lick you.”
Luca squeezes himself and says, “You don’t have to.” He swallows audibly. “It’s not a trade.” He offers me this little strained smile, trying to convince me that he doesn’t care, I guess.
I wrap my hand around his nape, moving in to kiss his lips. “No one said I thought I had to, Galante.”
His eyes are half shut as he runs his hands down my arms, kisses my cheek.
“Lie down,” I whisper. I see chills on his skin as he does as I ask. I notice his cheeks look flushed. His eyes are glazed, and as I look down at him, he unfastens his pants and pushes those and his boxer-briefs down. His erection springs up, and he leans up so he can grab me, lifting me easily over his torso, so that I’m situated over his face.
I laugh at the awkwardness as I sit up above him, keeping myself off him out of shyness.
“Please,” he groans.
“You’re sure?” I whisper.
He pulls down my underwear, positions me so I’m—literally—sitting on his face. My gaze latches onto his length and the way his hand looks working the flanged tip of himself. And it’s that sight that draws me forward. In between my legs, I’m warm and heavy. I shift down onto my hands and knees. I’m reaching for him as his tongue delves into my slit.
“Ahhhhh, Luca.”
Then his mouth clasps over my heat, and I’m taking his thick tip into my mouth. He starts to lick me and I wrap my lips around him, rolling my tongue all around and he is groaning…writhing…thrusting his tongue where it makes me crazy. I laugh with my mouth around him, and I feel his answering groan as it vibrates all through me.
We’re both shaking, sweating. I’m so close. So…ready. God, I want to be consumed by this, to feel it all. On a whim, I take him out of my mouth, shift so I’m off of him.
I watch as his eyes blink open.
“Do you have a condom, Luca?”
“Fuck.” He slides his hand down himself. “Rosa, don’t ask me that.”
I lie on my back, pull my slip up, and run a finger over myself where I’m throbbing. “I want to do it,” I whisper. “Tonight. I’m so…” I can’t say the words. “This is a good time for it. It might be the only time till college next fall.”
He’s on his knees beside me, looking shocked and alarmed. “You don’t want me to do that.”
I can’t help a giggle. “Yes I do.”
“It hurts for girls.”
“There’s no way you could hurt me.”
His hand covers me, his fingers tracing as I lift my hips to urge him inside.
“Luca, please,” I whisper. “I want it. And I feel…ready.”
He slides a finger into me, then draws it slowly out. He pushes two inside, and I moan. “Yesss.”
“I’m bigger.”
“I want bigger.”
He laughs, and it’s a strangled sound. “Elise.”
“I want to feel my love inside me. Right now.”
He shuts his eyes, and I know I’ve won. I’m grinning like a fool as he peers down at me.
“You’re sure?” He sounds hoarse.
I nod, and he blows a breath out, fishing something from his pocket.
“You did bring one. Can I help you put it on?”
He laughs and tears it open. “I don’t know. I think I’ll…” He trails off as he rolls it over his head. I watch as he smooths it down his thick length. He looks up at me with glassy eyes.
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, baby. I know it might hurt and I’m okay with that. It’ll only hurt the first time.”
He moves closer, kissing me until we’re breathless. Then he lays me down and teases me with his mouth, pushing his tongue into me until I’m screaming and my legs are locked around him.
“Luca, please!”
He spreads my legs and moves between them.
“I love you, Elise O’Hara. Always.” He rubs his tip through my slick heat till I’m groaning. Then he presses where I want him.
“Love you more.”
“Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.”
I breathe once, and then twice. Then he moves in with a hard thrust. There’s a
burst of pain—a stinging ache—and then he’s in me. A moan burbles from my throat. He thrusts again and I whimper. He’s so…in me. I move my hips and… “Ahhh.” It hurts…but it feels good, too. I shift my hips so my legs fall open wider, and he draws out slightly. I open my eyes, finding his face slack with pleasure.
He moves deeper and lets out a loud groan. “Ohhhh.” His entire gorgeous body shudders. For a second, he looks almost stricken. Then he grabs my hips and thrusts so deep I see stars. I’m groaning as he draws out slowly.
“You okay?” he groans back.
“Oh yes.”
He pushes in…and draws slowly back out. Then shoving in and pulling out…and in and out. Heat flushes through me, blooming mostly in between my legs, where pleasure ripples outward. I start breathing harder, tensing as I lift my hips toward him.
I can feel it coming. It’s a balloon of sensation, swelling in between my legs until I’m screaming his name and it bursts, spreading through me and then fading into one spasming aftershock that spreads pure bliss through every cell.
I feel Luca’s body jerk and hear his soft grunt. He murmurs a curse, and then he’s pulling out—too quickly. He’s lying beside me—collapsing, really—and he’s pulling me against him, whispering, “Are you okay?”
The last thing I remember before closing my eyes is my own voice, saying, “I’ve never been better.”
Chapter Seventeen
Luca
She falls asleep afterward, and I stare at her for a long time. I love her, and I love that she feels safe enough with me to fall asleep.
And do everything that made her so sleepy.
I don’t know how to make any of this last, but I know I love her.
I cuddle up to her for a while, feeling almost tired enough to sleep—except I can’t, because this vessel is the property of one Lamberto Arnoldi. What I know from Tony is that it’s here until the morning and the passcode is Lambo’s daughter’s birthday, backwards. It was a risk to bring Elise here, but I think only for me. And it was worth it.
I let her sleep while I clean myself up. Then she starts to wake up, and I lie back down beside her, facing her, so I’m the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes.
“I’m not a virgin,” she says.
I feign surprise. “Oh really?”
Her lips curl into a big grin. “I always hated that word: virgin. Like you’re a thing. Somebody’s ward or something, that they need to protect.”
She is someone’s ward—she’s mine—and I’ll always protect her.
I run my hand over her hair and then lean down to kiss her lips. “I love you. How do you feel?”
“Like a woman.” She wiggles her brows and laughs as she sits up and smooths her silky dress thing down. Then she looks at me, more serious. “I feel good. It didn’t hurt that much. Well, that’s not true—it did—but it was fast, and then it felt amazing.”
Her cheeks redden. I smile, and she fans them. “It takes a lot for me to turn this red, mister. This is your fault.” She jabs my shirt, then scoots closer to me. “How about for you?” she whispers.
“How do you think?” I hug her close and rub my cheek against her hair. Then I swoop her up and carry her into the bathroom, kiss her cheek, and leave her to it. She comes out a few minutes later looking tired but happy.
I help her back into her dress, and then it’s time to go. She laughs when I offer to carry her back to the limo.
“I’m sore,” she whispers, “but I can still walk.”
Still I help her into the car, shut the door behind us, and pull her close as she leans leans her head on my shoulder during the ride back to the Arnoldi mansion.
“I love you,” she whispers.
“I love you.”
“Come to Columbia with me. Please. We can live together. I’ll have a place.”
A sort of buzzing without sound starts in my throat and spreads into my chest.
“Working hard. That’s the key, you know. Hard work takes you everywhere.”
Elise is talking, but I can’t hear her.
“You think you could go to college? Ha! You can have the shoe store. If it’s good for your old man, it can be good enough for you.”
“…We could watch TV between classes and cook together at night.”
I stare at the window as she spills out all her dreams, the unrealistic things, her hopes—and hope for her is something she can hold onto. For me it’s just a mirage. I can’t leave my mom and Soren. I’ve been thinking on it, but I just can’t see a way.
I look down at her. She’s looking up at me.
She whispers, “What do you think?”
“About college?” I manage.
Elise nods.
I swallow, noticing how dry my throat is. I don’t know what I can tell her. Honesty would crush her. I don’t want to lie. Her eyes are wide and warm. I say, “I’d like that.”
“You’re lying.”
“You want me to be honest?”
“I don’t know. What would honest be like?”
I try hard to keep my shit together. This night is about her. It’s not about my fucking anger.
“Tell me, Luca. I want to know.”
“It would be like I can’t go. I don’t need college to run a shoe store, do I?”
I can see the restraint on her face as her lips tauten.
“Who will watch my mom and Soren if I’m not there? No one—is the answer. Everything would go to shit, and it would all be my fault. For being selfish…with you. Because that’s what I want to do. I want to pick you, Elise, but I’m never, ever going to be able to.” I gulp more air down. “You should break this shit off with me.”
I put a hand over my face because my heart is racing and my eyes feel achy. This is what it all comes down to. This is what it always has. She’s wasting her time with me.
I feel her hand on my back, then her body up against my side. Then her arm around me. She pulls me back, halfway atop her. I let her because I can’t not.
She hugs me hard and strokes my back a few times. “You don’t have to pick me. Ever. Pick your family, and I’ll pick you.”
My throat aches. “You shouldn’t.”
“I’m not asking. I’m not choosing because I chose already. I’m not scared of what challenges you have coming at you. I don’t care. You’re my heart. You are the only thing that keeps me going, Luca. I need you.”
She kisses me, and I return it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
I don’t know for what exactly. I don’t need a reason.
I just know somehow, it’s going to go wrong.
Chapter Eighteen
Luca
The last week of senior year. There’s so much shit to do. Turn in textbooks and football shit. Get fitted for our caps and gowns. Go for one last meeting with the academic counselors.
I like it, though, because I get to do it all with her.
“How’d you do this to me anyway?” I’m looking at her through my half-shut eyelids. Elise’s pretty face is blurred by my dark lashes.
“How’d I do what?” She smiles—upside down, because I’ve got my head in her lap.
“Make me start hiding out in closets.”
Her fingers stroke through my hair. “Are you sure I’m to blame? It was you who orchestrated everything.” Her face lights up. “Remember? The day I brought the bear and you saved me in the bathroom?”
I grin. “I remember.” I told Diamond she was my girlfriend hours later.
Elise sighs. “I’m so glad Bec’s doing better now. Like, so glad. Way fewer seizures. More alert. This medicine they’ve got her on now is a game changer.”
I’m so fucking happy, too. Worry for her sister is a heavy weight for Elise. In my English class this year, we talked about how everybody has this one thing in their life that seems unsolvable. That makes them see life in a bad light. All E wants is for Becca to be well. So it’s what I want, too. “Can I see her again sometime?”
Sh
e smiles brightly. “Do you want to?”
“Of course. This time I’m bringing something, though.”
“Bringing something?”
“Yeah, you know, like something she would want. Or like. Some kind of toy or…I don’t know, a trinket.”
She starts blinking fast, and for a second, I don’t get why. Then I do, and my stomach does a slow roll. I sit up. “Hey, don’t cry. La mia rosa…” I hug her, and she hugs me tighter.
She sniffs and then draws back so she can peer up at me. “Why are you the best thing ever?”
It’s so ludicrous, it makes me laugh. “I don’t think so, vita mia.”
“What does that mean?”
I kiss her forehead as I pull her up against me again. “Look it up on your laptop, mio caro tesoro.”
Her eyes widen. “Caro!”
I smile. “Tu sei il mio caro.”
“Caro! What does caro mean? Or cara. Does that mean something?”
“Somebody else calling you cara?” I tease.
“My dad did…when I was little.”
Something catches in my throat. I swallow. “Your dad called you cara?”
“A long time ago.” Her face looks startled. “What’s it mean?”
“It means ‘dear’ or ‘dear one.’”
She nods. “Strange. You know, we’re Irish. Or I’m half.”
“He knows la lingua Italiana is the prettiest. Just like his daughter.”
She smiles, and then I help her up. “C’mon. Before that driver of yours gets suspicious.”
“I swear I feel like he’s reporting to my dad. Is that insane?” she asks as we walk down the hall toward the cafeteria, where she’ll exit out a side door.
“I’d assume he is. Unless you really trust him.”
“I don’t know. He’s always been nice to me.” She’s biting her lip, and I can feel my dick take notice.
“Don’t do that.” I grab her hand and squeeze it. She gives me a wicked grin.
“Really?” She’s whispering, even though we’re the only ones around; our graduation rehearsal ended an hour ago.
I arch my brows and try to adjust myself, smirking as I do. “Really.”
