Page 53 of Unforgivable Ties

The weather must have cleared up. I snuggled into the blankets and enjoyed the warmth, but they were heavier than normal. I started to wake up more, my consciousness getting less hazy. A very familiar tattooed arm was draped around my waist, and had me pulled into his body.

“What are you doing?” I asked Vincenzo.

I wasn’t sure why I didn’t immediately push him away. I should be trying to protect myself from a heartbreak at all costs, but it just felt so right having him hold me like this. Like we were two pieces of a puzzle coming together.

“You were shivering in your sleep last night, and it was keeping me awake,” he muttered, his voice low and throaty with sleep. I felt the words vibrate against my back, the sound more a sensation than something I heard.

I could feel his breath, warm and steady, ghosting over the nape of my neck, sending shivers that had nothing to do with cold down my spine. Even though his body was steel muscle, it was so comfortable to lie against.

My cheeks turned bright red. There was a hardness digging into me that came from below his sculpted abs, that was nestled firmly into my ass. I could feel his dick straining to get out, begging to be tended to.

“What the fuck, Vincenzo?” I said.

“I haven’t gotten laid in months, and your bare ass is against my dick. What did you expect?” he replied, his voice hoarse and laced with irritation. His arm tightened around me, pulling me even closer to him.

Months?But I found that t-shirt with the glitter on it a few weeks ago. No, he had to be lying about the last time he slept with someone.

“We need to get up,” I muttered, but made no effort to move.

Vincenzo’s grip loosened as he sighed, his breath tickling the back of my neck. “You’re right,” he said, though his voice was thick with reluctance. He sat up, taking the warmth of his body with him. I instantly missed its comforting presence.

He hopped out of bed and I couldn’t help but gawk at his half naked form. The size of his bulge that was straining through his underwear was impossible to ignore. He had been hard for so long that fluid coming out of the tip had leaked through his underwear, creating a small wet spot. My cheeks flushed at the sight. It was absolutely sinful how good he looked.

“I’m going to take a shower and take care of this,” he said, glancing down at his dick. “After, you can shower and we’ll head out.”

He was so forward with talking about touching himself, so unabashed, that it caught me entirely off guard. It left me flustered in a way I hadn’t been in a long time, my face burning.

Vincenzo flashed a wicked grin at my embarrassment, his dark eyes sparkling with mischief and amusement. He walked towards the bathroom, his broad shoulders moving rhythmically with each step he took, a testament to the countless hours he spent lifting weights.

“Idiot,” I mumbled to myself, rolling my eyes at his audacity even as my heart thrummed in my chest.

I got up and made the bed, but found it impossible to ignore the soft sounds coming from the bathroom. The shower started running, followed by a low groan that sent shivers down my spine.

I busied myself with fluffing up the pillows and rearranging the throw blanket, trying to drown out the quiet, yet unmistakable, sounds of pleasure coming from the bathroom. But every groan that leaked through the bathroom door only added fuel to my imagination.

My heart nearly stopped as I heard a low groan of my name echo off the bathroom tile. It was a sound of pleasure, raw and unchained. Hearing my name from his lips in that way, with that tone, made the air in my lungs feel too thin to breathe.

“God, Stephanie,” he moaned again, this time more audibly than the last, his voice drawing out my name in a desperate plea. The sound reverberated through the room, raw and uncensored, leaking past the bathroom door and assaulting my senses. I felt a flush creep up my neck and spread across my cheeks.

He uttered my name one last time before letting out a deep moan, one so deep he must have reached the peak of his pleasure. I wondered what his ropes of come looked like right now, spurting out on the tile floor, swirling down the drain in coiling spirals of white. I wondered what his face looked like at that moment of sweet release, eyes squeezed shut, teeth biting into his bottom lip.

The shower turned off, and the door opened, releasing billows of steam into the room. Vincenzo stepped out with only a towel wrapped around his lower half. He fixed his gaze on me, walking up to me like a predator stalking their prey. His hands ran from my ribcage until they stopped at my ass, giving it a firm and possessive squeeze. His eyes were dark, the playful mischief from earlier replaced with a heated intensity that made my pulse quicken.

“You should join me next time,” he said, his voice a husky rumble that rippled through me.

I wanted to, so badly. But I knew it was a bad idea. Vincenzo would take my heart, crumple it up, then throw it in a meat grinder. We were better off as friends.

“I’m going to shower,” I blurted, near running to the bathroom.

After getting ready and saying goodbye to his family, Vincenzo and I headed back to the airport. The air between us on the way back was so charged that I didn’t dare step foot into the apartment alone with him. I texted Jessica, asking if she was available for some Christmas shopping and pleaded for her to meet me at the nearest mall.

She replied instantly, her excitement apparent in the rapid succession of emojis. These digital images felt disproportionally animated and loud amidst the quiet, tense atmosphere between Vincenzo and I. I glanced over at him, his eyes focused on the road ahead but body stiff with unspoken tension.

“You can just drop me off at Brookfield Place,” I said to him. “Jessica will give me a ride home.”

Hopefully, there would be no home tonight, and I could spend the night at her house. I needed a break from Vincenzo to reestablish the invisible barrier that I had worked so hard to maintain between us. But it felt like the barrier had cracks, and no matter how hard I tried to mend them, they could not befixed. It was just a matter of time before it shattered, and I would be swept up by the tide of longing that was Vincenzo.

“Is here good?” he asked, pulling into a parking structure.

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