Page 44 of Salvatore

He motions to their rooms down the hall. They rise as one, Gianno pulling Aedry into a hug, something that bothers me way more than it should, considering how motherly Aedry returns his affection.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” she tells him. She releases him and strokes the side of his face. “But nothing like this can happen again. Do you hear me? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Had it been me talking to Gianno like that, he would have reacted with anger, annoyance, or maybe both. With Aedry, his reaction is thick with guilt. He knows he disappointed her, and he probably senses her fear. “Okay,” he tells her.

She keeps her hand on his face and lifts up on her toes to kiss his cheek. When she releases him, he skulks away. I rise from the couch and move toward her when she gathers Apollo in her arms. My youngest brother isn’t a big guy. He’s getting taller, but he has a good twenty pounds of muscle to put on. Even still, Aedry seems so fragile against him. It’s not her height or her small frame that makes her appear so delicate. It’s her gentle nature. How could someone so soft have survived a world this hard . . .

I don’t ask her directly. I simply watch how this delicate woman attempts to shield my brother from harm within her embrace, and how easily he welcomes her. She whispers in his ear. I don’t hear everything, catching only bits and pieces. “You really scared me” and “Don’t ever be afraid to come to me.” But it’s the last thing she says that’s like a sledgehammer to my chest. “I love you.”

I don’t think I could feel anything harder than the blow that comes with those words until Apollo says, “I love you, too,” and I have to turn away.

Aedry has a major effect on my brothers, except I didn’t understand how much until that moment. She loves them, for real. And they love her right back. She’s a good woman. I should leave her alone and let her find her peace. But I can’t.

The moment she releases Apollo, I close in. I don’t wait for him to disappear down the hall and into his room before I touch her.

My hand trails down the length of her back as she tries to gather her things. “Hey,” I say, working to keep my voice tender.

Her grip tightens around her purse strap and she clutches her coat against her. “What are you doing?” she asks. Her voice is shaking, but in a different way than before.

I angle my hips and bow my head so my lips skim over her ear. “You said I couldn’t kiss you, again. You never said I had to keep my hands to myself.”

Her body shudders, causing her hip to lightly brush against my groin. I’m getting to her like I was when we were talking in front of her car. The way she reacts when I stroke her is like power firing through my veins, pumping liquid sex through me. I like having this effect on her. It gets me hard?no, she gets me hard.

Whether she knows it or not, she’s the one in control, the one calling the shots. If she tells me to stop, I will, no matter how much the rejection will rip me in half. For now, she hasn’t said anything, so I keep going, my caress of her body slow and thick with lust.

“So, when are you bringing me dinner?” I ask.

Whether she wants to smile or not, she does. She knows I’m messing with her and she wants to mess with me back. “I never said I’d cook for you.”

“Even though I want you to?”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you? Having some half-naked female in your kitchen slaving over the stove to make your manly self a hot meal.”

“Never said you had to be naked.” My lips skim over her ear, hitching her breath. “If you want to, though, I’ll let you. Just don’t plan on my brothers being here for the show.” I circle her waist. “My manly self wants you all to himself.”

I pull her back against my front, trailing my tongue over the curve of her ear. “I’m not sleeping with you,” she whispers, her voice tight.

“I’m not asking you to,” I say. “We’ll take things as slow as you want or not at all.” I step back enough to grip her waist and turn her.

Her face is pink with enough sizzle in her eyes to deepen my voice. “I don’t date women,” I tell her truthfully. “I sleep with them once or twice and don’t look back.”

She smiles then, but it’s not all that friendly. “That’s sounds like an awesome proposition. Where do I sign up?”

I chuckle, because she is that fucking cute. “Ask me when was the last time I took a woman to dinner.”

She stiffens, but that’s her only response. “I’m not sure if I ever had,” I confess. “It’s not my thing.”

“But sleeping with women is?” She’s not being bitchy. If anything, she sounds disappointed, and maybe sad, too.

My first instinct is to lie and protect her, exactly how I’ve been doing. But lying isn’t something I like doing, especially with her. So today, I spare her and tell her the truth. “Yeah.”

“Then what are you doing with me? Touching me like you are . . .” She shakes her head. “Salvatore, this isn’t a game. I won’t pretend that I don’t like you, because it’s clear that I do. But just because I’m attracted to you doesn’t mean I’ll allow myself to be used or mistreated.”

My thumbs skim over her hips. I’m trying to behave and not be so bold. But when she’s near me, I like her close and it’s where I want to keep her. “I’m not trying to do either,” I respond.

“Maybe not. But your actions warn me to keep my distance.”

“My mother was a virgin,” I say, cutting her off before I realize where I’m headed. “Until she married my father. She saved herself for someone good, except he was never good enough for her.”

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