Page 58 of The Hitman

She cups her breasts in both hands. Her fingers skim over the dark brown tips.

I lick my lips. She giggles.

She’s torturing me.

I love it.

“Your underwear,” I say. My voice has fallen to a whisper.

Her hands smooth down her hips over the front of her underwear. “Yes?” she asks.

“You know what I want,” I tell her.

“Do I?”

My gaze moves back to her face. She’s a work of art. I want to tell her that, but I have to swallow the words. It’s unfair, even if it is the entire truth. What I say isn’t a lie, it’s just notastrue as my first impulse.

“I want you to take your underwear off.”

“Good to know. Do you want to hear what I want?”

“Yes,” I breathe as soon as she’s done speaking.Desperately,I stop myself from saying.

“I want you to tell me what to do.” She shivers as she says the words. “Tonight, I want you to decide every way we fuck.”

My dick is so hard it hurts, and I groan.

“I don’t want to come unless you tell me to. I don’t want to come until you say it’s okay.”

I can hear my breath in this small, quiet bathroom where I used to hide as soon as my father walked through the door. A part of my brain wants this, wants to let Zahra rewrite my memories of this place. I know it’s dangerous to lean into that because it won’t work, but I want to try. In a year, I want to remember what she looked like in this moment and remember only that; nothing that passed before.

I slide my hands up her arms, and she shudders violently at my touch. “You don’t strike me as the kind of person who likes to take orders.”

“A week ago, I would have said you were absolutely correct, but now I’m not so sure.” She blinks up at me and frowns. “I’m not sure about anything right now, and I’ve decided not to force it. Right now, this is what I want, and I want you to help me explore it.” The smile she levels at me is small and uncertain and still beautiful.

My hands move up her neck. I caress her jaw and chin. Touching her makes me shiver. My dick is bobbing, tapping against her hip excitedly. I’m leaking from the tip, and just knowing that I’m smearing come on her makes me feel weak and strong at the same time.

“Did you ever do this with that stronzo?” I ask. I can’t hide the jealousy in my voice.

“No. There’s a lot we never did.”

“What else?”

“Too much for the little time we have,” she says. “I fly out of Milan in two days.”

“Troppo presto,” I whisper to her.

“Yeah,” she breathes.

“So we will make the most of it.”

She nods and licks her lips again. “You take control tonight,” she says.

I nod, leaning toward her.

“And I’ll take control tomorrow.”

I freeze, and we make eye contact. She touches my waist, tentatively at first and then boldly. She flattens her palm against my stomach. I hold my breath. I hold myself completely still. For her.

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