Page 79 of A Taste Of Darkness

“Because the last thing I want is to kill them because they find you attractive.”

Every single rational thinking cell in my body wanted to ring with alarm, but they simply couldn’t. It was very odd for me, but so very Milo.

“Attraction is a compliment,” I said.

“No.” His voice wasn’t harsh by any means, but I could still tell he meant it. “A compliment is a polite expression of praise, admiration, or approval that is typically given to boost someone’s self-esteem, to make them feel good. Attraction is a multifaceted concept that refers to an emotional pull and, or interest. While it’s a natural instinctual part of human social dynamics, if one of them formed any form of attraction toward you, they’d be failing at their job. Whether it’s physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual attraction, it’s not needed to protect you. It’s overstepping a boundary.”

“And who set that boundary up?”

“For you? I did.”

I smiled, nodding slowly. “Because…?”

He grasped my face in one hand and pulled it closer to his. “Because the day any other man looks at you with some form of attraction is the same day I’ll turn into a cold-hearted killer, cuore mio. Whether they’re innocent or not, there’d be nothing that’d keep me from making sure they regret looking at you.”

I hummed. “Rule number one: You can’t kill someone because they looked at me.”

He leaned back and looked at me a little dumbstruck. “What?”

“You once said you wanted me to teach you how to become someone I could imagine myself being with. So, rule number one, you can’t kill anyone because they looked at me.”

Milo’s eyebrows fell into a frown. “Fine. It’s super boring but fine.”

I grinned widely. “It’s so cute how you?—”

“Don’t say what I do is cute.”

“But it is,” I vetoed. “It’s cute how protective you get. Abnormal and definitely not something I ever thought I’d consider adorable, but,…” I shrugged. “I’ll happily ignore the red flags for you.”

Before Milo could say anything, I launched myself at him. My arms wrapped around his neck, my hands snuck into his hair, and my lips pressed against his like he’d been gone for decades.

He kept his hands strictly on my waist, not moving an inch, and after a while, I had it with him. I could clearly tell that he wanted this just as much as I did. Even if it wasn’t for the way he kissed me ever so deeply, his erection that pressed against my thigh sure was a dead give-away.

While I now knew he had this underlying fear of accidentally crossing a boundary of mine, and I understood why he was so cautious, he already asked whether I was sure and I said yes.

So, I did the next best thing.

I pulled away from our kiss and looked him right in the eyes to watch out for his reaction as my hands reached behind my back and pulled on the string of my bikini top.

“Sterlie…” He didn’t look down, kept his gaze solely focused on my face, even when I removed the top from my body entirely and laid it down on the sand beside us.

“Tell me you don’t want this and I’ll put it back on.”

“It’s not that, cuore mio. It’s that I don’t think I’m good enough for you yet,” he replied.

“Show me your hands,” I said, and he did without questioning it. I took them in mine and slowly inched them closer to my mostly naked body. “You’re going to touch me now.” Maybe he felt better if I told him.

There was a bit of concern in his eyes, fear perhaps, but he didn’t stop me. Carefully, I laid his hands down on my ribs and softly guided them further up.

His breath came out thin, ragged, like touching me physically hurt him.

“Do you promise not to break my heart?” I asked just as I felt the tips of his fingers graze the underside of my breasts.

He nodded. “I would never.”

I smiled. Milo was the first guy I believed truly wouldn’t break my heart if I ever gave it to him. “That already makes you a hundred times better than any other guy I’ve seen before you.”

After giving him one final push, his hands finally cupped my breasts—so delicately, they felt like feathers grazing my skin.

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