Page 84 of Salvatore

Chapter Twenty-Two

Salvatore

Aedry won’t look at me, won’t talk to me. What I said, about not being with anyone since her, is the truth. I meant to make her feel better?to reinforce who she is to me. But in admitting my past deeds, I fed her more of my poison and now she’s dying before me.

She shrivels in her seat, like a wilting rose that once bloomed before I came along. I should let her go, back into the sun where she belongs and away from the damage I alone cause. But I can’t. I may be her poison, but she’s the one who gives me life.

When I pull in front of her building, I know she’s going to run. This time, she’s not going to slam that door in my face. I hit my seatbelt release before I finish pulling to the curb. I barely shift my ride into park before she storms away. I don’t bother reaching for her. Instead, I move quickly, around the front of my SUV, hitting my key fob just as she bounds up the stairs to the main entrance.

My hand shoots out, blocking the door when she tries to swing it closed. She doesn’t turn back, hurrying up the stairs. She knows I’m right behind her, keeping pace even when she pushes faster. At the top is where she flat-out runs, reaching her door and unlocking it. I’m not running, but I am hauling ass. I catch the door before she can shut it and prowl inside, slamming it behind me.

She whips around, backing away as I flip the deadbolt. “I’m not okay with this,” she says.

Her eyes widen as I shrug out of my coat and jacket and toss them over the back of the bar stool. “Not okay with what?” I ask, loosening my collar.

She knows what I want and what I’m after. I tug the buttons of my dress shirt open, popping one off with the speed and force I’m using to peel out of my shirt. “I’m not okay with you being with other women,” she stammers. She jerks her chin as I expose my bare chest. “Salvatore . . .”

I strip out of rest of my clothes, growing harder with each step I take toward her. She edges away, through the small living room, through the opening in her sheer curtains, and around the bed. I follow close, my steps relaxed, my posture easy, despite the heat searing its way through my groin. Her back smacks against the corner. There’s nowhere else for her to go.

The shit Vin pulled sparked a possessive trait fierce enough to make me want to tear his throat out. That lingering kiss was meant to tempt her into his darkness and to give her a taste of what he wanted to do to her.

He doesn’t get to have her. No one does.

I’ll destroy anyone who tries to hurt her.

“Sal . . .” she says, as I draw closer.

Her tone drips with sex, the same way it does before I make her come.

A primal need to claim her overrides my senses, blurring my vision in a lust-filled haze. I need her legs wrapped around me and her begging me for it, just like I need to pump into her deep and fill her.

My hands slap against the wall on either side of her. “I won’t be with you if you’re with someone else,” she stammers. “Do you hear me? I won’t put up with that.”

I take her hand in mine and kiss it, then slip it between us, gliding it over my stiff length. “Does it feel like I want anyone else?” I ask, my voice a hungry growl.

She trembles, but it’s not out of fear. As much as I need her body and as much as it’s killing me to wait, I’ll never force her. She knows it.

Again, she trembles when my lips pass along the curve of her neck. “You’re who I want. You’re who I need,” I whisper between flicks of my tongue. “Can you feel it, Adrianna? This is what you do to me.”

My hold is loose enough for her to break away, she doesn’t, keeping her strokes steady.

My hand leaves her, once again slapping against the wall as my head falls forward and my body curls around her. “I want you,” I grunt against her ear, as her grip tightens and her speed increases. “I want you forever . . .”

I grit my teeth, gasping when she abruptly releases me. “I’m sorry,” she says, her fingertips grazing along my chest, luring my focus toward her face. “I’m so sorry . . .” Her expression is stunned as she searches my features.

It’s what she asks that nails me hard in the gut, knowing that if I answer there’s no going back.

“Did you say ‘forever’?” she asks, so softly I barely hear her.

I struggle to speak, every breath I’m taking burning with how bad I need to be inside her. “Don’t you know what you mean to me?” I ask.

She shakes her head slowly, biting down on her bottom lip. My fingers smooth across her jaw line as I tell her the truth, feeling each word down to my soul. “I love you, Adrianna,” I rasp. “You’re my fucking world.”

Tears flood her eyes, shimmering her dark blue eyes like jewels. “I love you, too,” she whispers.

Her arms coil around my neck as my body and lips meld with hers. We’re only kissing, but already she’s whimpering the way she does when she starts to peak. She wants me. But I need to prove exactly how much I want her.

She breaks our kiss as I grind against her, her head falling back against the wall as she shrugs free of her coat and she hikes up her skirt. My mouth lowers to her neck and my hands seek out her breasts, pulling down the front of her dress to expose the tightening tips.

Aedry jolts as I suck. The wait has been too much for me and for her. She moves the crotch of her panties aside and reaches for me, rubbing the thick tip of my erection against her folds. But for what I want to do to her, I need her panties off. I tear them from her hips in one quick motion and haul her up to my waist.

I rush us to the bed, tossing her legs over my shoulders as I lower her to the bed. Any other night, I’d fall to my knees, dip my tongue between her legs, and play. But tonight is not the night I can take things slow. I slide into her in one easy motion. But when I thrust, it’s deep, fast, and feral.

Aedry writhes beneath me, her body sliding against the sheets with each slam of my hips, swearing?screaming?moaning my name.

My hands grasp her ankles tight, carnal hunger increasing my speed. Each orgasm I give her causes her body to grip me tighter. I’m no match for the spasms clenching me. In one ruthless explosion I succumb, falling forward into her embrace.

I clutch her against me. “I love you,” I gasp, kissing her face, lips, throat. “I swear to Christ, I’ll never let you go . . .”

---