Page 17 of His UnBearable Touch

“Is in the hallway.” He saw the shock register on her face and smiled. “You don’t believe me?”

She shook her head. “That’s the trouble, Valerio. I believe you. Don’t ask me how I know that you managed to pry it out of the frame, but I know. What I don’t know,” she smoothed her hand over his chest to work out some of the wrinkles she’s twisted into the fabric, “is how I’m going to fix it so I can get some sleep.”

“I’ll fix it.”

“You mean I’ll fix it.”

Valerio glared at his brother, his arm tightening ever so slightly around Allegra’s generous curves. “Mine.”

Uberto’s laughter only made Valerio draw her closer. “Relax. You know I’m not going to try and steal her from you.”

Allegra tensed just a little. “Who is it?”

Gesturing for Uberto to move closer, Valerio gently touched the soft skin under her chin, lifting her face up so he could see her face instead of the top of her head. “My little brother.”

“Little, my ass.” Uberto wasn’t known for holding his tongue. “I could kick your ass, ‘big’ brother.”

Allegra’s arm pushed across Valerio’s stomach as if she could hold him back. Her touch sent all kinds of delicious sensations through his body. “You won’t,” she wondered aloud, “will you? Hurt your brother?”

Valerio saw Uberto’s reaction as plain as day even in the darkness of her apartment. The youngest Orsino knew how to growl and snap like the rest of them and more practice in bluster. He wasn’t afraid to let emotions ride him hard. It was part of his nature and what made him the fiercest of the three even if he was the youngest. Over the years, Valerio had seen many an emotion reflected in his brother’s dark gaze, but this was perhaps a first.

Uberto was concerned… and strangely enough, silent.

Taking Allegra’s hand in his, Valerio brought it up to his lips and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “He won’t, Stellina. My brother would defend each of us with his last breath, but hurt us? Only by accident. Childish wrestling.”

“Childish?” Uberto huffed, his eyes darkening in the shadows. “But I wasn’t the one who broke down her door.”

Valerio felt a growl roll through his chest and Allegra’s answering shudder. He fought down his bear to help her relax against him, she had no idea what lay beneath his skin and now was not the time to delve into that truth. “I’ll call someone.”

“Already done.” Uberto’s voice was smug. “You were a little busy cuddling and I don’t think I want to sit around waiting until you dragged yourself away.”

“You wouldn’t joke if you-”

“Don’t say it, brother. Don’t finish that thought. You don’t understand. Just go.” His brother’s usual bluster had changed to something darker, angrier. “I’ll stay here and wait for the crew, take her home and get some rest.”

His bear was tired of the conversation. The sound of ‘home’ in their ears was heaven. Standing up from the bed, Valerio brought Allegra along with him, carefully cradled in his arms.

“I can,” she clutched at his shoulder, trembling slightly, “I can walk.”

“Let me hold you.” He leaned into her temple, inhaling her scent, filling his lungs with her. “Please, let me.”

He felt the tension bleed from her body as she relaxed against him. A little yawn escaped her lips as she leaned her head against his shoulder. “Just don’t drop me.”

His bear wanted to argue with her words, as if they’d ever let anything happen to her. Valerio ignored the growling objection and carried Allegra through the front room and out into the hall.

The only problem he was going to have was letting her go… ever again.

Chapter Five

With her first indrawn, semi-conscious breath, Allegra stretched under the covers. The room was oddly warm, almost as if she’d somehow curled up beside the heating unit in the wall. Startled, she blinked her eyes to clear her vision, an old habit that she’d never managed to outgrow, even after all these years, no matter how many times she’d woken up to the darkness before her. The surface beneath her was soft, as if the bed cradled her body in comfort. “So I’m not on the floor.”

“Hardly.” The voice that answered her held a hint of humor somewhere beneath the brittle surface of tension. “You’re in our bed.”

Our. That woke her completely, pushing her up from the bed on a bent arm beside a warm, hard body.

She felt a blanket draw up and over her arm and up to her shoulder. “Go back to sleep, Stellina. There’s more than an hour before you have to be awake.”

Once the blanket was draped over her body, warm fingertips trailed over her cheek.

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