Page 55 of Knot Made to Break: Part One

It was more than that. Deeper. I didn’t trust the world with her. Too many people had failed our sweet Omega in her short lifetime, and there was no one more invested in her safety and well-being than me and my brothers. But I knew keeping Kitania came at a cost.

“Our world… it’s not for the faint of heart. But if you give us a chance, if you stay, we’ll protect you from it as much as we can.”

She leaned into me, her warmth and softness a balm against all my jagged edges. “I’m stronger than I look.”

The quiet conviction in her voice prodded at the part of me that still clung to shreds of idealistic hope, the foolish notion that I wasn’t too dark and damaged for this beautiful woman who carried so much light inside herself, it was fucking blinding. That I might be worthy of her.

I tightened my hold, a futile attempt to keep her tethered to me before this life swallowed her whole. “I hope to fuck you are, sweetness. Because once you’re in? There’s no going back.”

As if she sensed my self-recrimination, those hands gripping my shirt flattened against my chest, and she pushed. Surprising the hell out of me, she swung her leg over my lap, settling a thigh on either side of mine, straddling me.

“Good,” she practically purred, her palms sliding up until they cupped my face. “Because I’m not interested in going back, Gio. I only want to move forward. Withyou.”

twenty-one

GIOVANNI

My hands foundthe sides of Kitania’s thighs, stroking up and down. Her words landed directly in the center of my chest, giving me fuckin’ life. It was the first time I’d ever heard her say she wanted me so blatantly.

My fingers flexed against the soft cotton of her pajamas as I struggled to hold on to my self-control.

“Dolcezza…” I rasped out a warning, even as my body sang in approval, reveling in the warmth of her pressed so intimately against me.

“What does that mean?” she whispered, and her sweet breath fanned over my face from how close she was. “Dolcezza?”

I hummed happily at the lilt she’d spun onto the word. “It means ‘sweetness’ in Italian. A fitting pet name, don’t you think?”

The apples of her cheeks darkened to a dusky pink. Those eyes, the cool blue of a cloudless summer evening, bore into mine with an intensity that stole my breath. “You all havenicknames for me. Perhaps I’ll come up with some for each of you,” she murmured, her fingers distracting the fuck out of me as they wandered up and over my buzzed hair. The sharp nails scraped lightly over my head, and I groaned. “Maybe I should call you G,” she wondered aloud.

“For Gio?” I barely had two brain cells to rub together, so entranced by what she was doing to me.

The little vixen scratched those nails down the back of my neck.Fuckin’ hell.

“No,” she mused with a smile. “For ‘god.’”

Christ, she had no idea how much I liked that. “You think I’m a god?”

“You’re as close to a god on earth as I’ve ever seen.”

A purr rumbled to life in my chest. All for her. “I’m going to kiss you now,” I murmured, voice rough with my barely contained need. How I’d lasted this long was a goddamn miracle.

“Good,” Kitania whispered, her breath warm against my lips. “I-I want you to.”

That little hitch made me pause and search her eyes. There was desire there, but also a flicker of something else. Apprehension? It was enough to make me freeze. I’d never do something she wasn’t ready for.

“Are you… sure?” It would kill me to pull away, but I’d fucking do it.

“Yes.” Her answer was resolute, but that hint of uncertainty lingered.

“What is it, sweetness?” I asked, my thumbs tracing soothing circles on her outer thighs.

She bit her lip, her gaze dropping. “I-I’ve never been kissed.”

I went positively still. “You’ve never been kissed?”

Kitania shyly looked away, her fingers fidgeting with the neckline of my shirt. “I’m not a virgin. You know that,” she whispered. “That was stolen from me.”

A growl tore from my throat because ‘stolen’ was too innocent a word for what Kitania had been through. The ugly truth is that she’d been raped. Repeatedly. Held hostage and abused day after fucking day. And the thought of it made white hot rage burn through my veins.

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