Page 55 of Taboo Flames

“Only for you,” I tell her softly. Then I hear her gentle, even breaths and realize she fell asleep right in the middle of talking. I feel a sense of relief that she didn’t hear my over-sentimental words.

I slip out of bed, pull off the soiled covers carefully so as not to wake her up, and get a warm washcloth to wipe in between her legs.

I’m tempted to eat her pussy into another orgasm, but ultimately decide to let her sleep.

She looks angelic in her sleep, the naughty smirk and calculating looks wiped from her face as she slumbers.

I rejoin her in bed and pull her into my arms. She smells like flowers and sex, and it’s the most enticing scent I’ve ever smelled. I fall into a deep sleep with her in my arms.

A chokingblackness finds me in my sleep, dark and choking. I can’t breathe, the thick, dark substance filling my nose and lungs. Everywhere I look, there is darkness, and I can hear Mama’s voice screaming for me.

“Mama,” I call out into the darkness.

“You ruined my life,” she shrieks, rising up before me, hard eyes on mine. “You are the devil! You should die. Die!”

When she reaches out for me, her hands turning into sharp claws, I stumble backward, and then I’m falling, and falling, and?—

“Gio, Gio!” a soft, lilting voice snaps into my mind. “Wake up. It’s just a dream. It’s just?—”

The only thought in my head is that there’s someone in my room, and I have to defend myself. I reach out, grab the person’s neck, and flip the person down onto the bed, my teeth bared savagely.

I’m going to crush the intruder’s neck under my hands. I’m going to kill them before they kill me. Just like I always have.

But instantly, my gaze clears, and I see that it’s Aurora trashing beneath me, her face turning a vivid blue from the oxygen shortage.

With a shocked gasp, I leap away from her to the other side of the room, horrified by my actions.

“Princess—” She coughs loudly as she struggles to her feet, only to stumble. I reach for her.

“D—don’t touch me,” she croaks, holding her throat. She coughs again and backs away from me slowly.

“Aurora, wait, it was—” I take a step closer.

“Don’t come near me!” she screeches hoarsely and looks at me in terror. I’ve seen hundreds of people look at me like that, and in the past, it brought me satisfaction, but at that moment, I realized I never wanted Aurora to look at me like this again.

“Stay away from me.” There are tears clinging to her eyes, and it cuts deep into my chest. She spins around and runs out of my room.

I pursue after her, but she’s too damn fast. She barges into one of the guest bedrooms and slams the door shut. I hear the bolt turn on the door, and it feels like a gunshot straight to my chest.

I press my forehead to the door, feeling completely wrecked, and that’s when I hear it. The sound of the woman I’m supposed to be protecting weeping because of my own actions.

CHAPTER 15

Aurora

Idon’t sleep much that night. I’m caught between heart-wrenching hurt that Gio could harm me like that and extreme worry for him.

Eventually, though, worry for him wins out, backed up by my curiosity. It doesn’t help that Fabio’s words of warning begin to play in my head in an endless loop.

What’s Gio hiding, or what hasn’t he said?

Whatever it is, I have to find out. Not just to satisfy my curiosity. It’s obvious that I’ve begun to feel for Gio, something far more than a simple crush on my brother’s best friend and past just the boundaries of a physical relationship.

If we are to have any hope of going any further, I have to know exactly what I’m dealing with here. I can’t just jump headfirst into a situation I know nothing about.

The first hints of dawn are playing on the sky when I sneak out of Gio's house, my heart pounding with the fear of discovery.

I don’t exactly want to see Gio right now. I don’t want him to distract me from what I’m about to do, and if I’m being honest,I’m still a bit nervous to be alone with him after what happened last night.

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