Page 42 of Twisted Promise

Meryl insisted, “Anya, muzzle him.”

Not a single cell in her body felt animosity between them, so they were fine. Any chance of them behaving civilly would be a concern for the future, but for now, they could bicker and be as hostile as they wanted.

They knew what lines to never cross, and Anya appreciated their efforts.

Epilogue

__________

Anya

Something must be done.

The closer Christmas got, the longer he stuck by her side, watching her like she’d vaporize if he blinked. If she was still living in her apartment, then it’d be easier to brush it off. However, Alessio had packed up most of her things and moved her into his home in a more upscale, quiet neighborhood.

He said they lived together before, so there wasn’t a difference this time. She kept the apartment for days when they needed space to rewind in solitude. He was adamant he didn’t need space but compliantly paid for the rest of the year’s apartment rent upfront.

His house was big enough for him to be in the shower, a bubble bath she made for him to relax, and he did not notice her leaving for ten minutes. She then returned and took a shower in the other bathroom.

“Where did you go?”

She blinked in surprise as he asked with such an unmasked, accusatory tone in his voice. The phone in his hand flashed black, but she caught a glimpse of the security camera feed from the front door.

Her lips refused to stop quivering as she stepped into the conversation pit, a strange name for a sunken living room space filled with soft pillows.

She ran a hand through his velvety hair, noticing their scents were from the same line of shampoo and body wash. Her heart fluttered, not from guilt-ridden anxiety when he stared at her expectantly for an answer but from the stir of possessiveness skipping in her shaken breaths.

“I got you flowers,” she said with a small, hand-tied bouquet of blue hyacinths.

He was shocked, those dark clouds raging in his eyes drifting away as he keenly observed the pretty flowers and the soft smile on her face. Her cheeks burned from his unwavering attention, but she patiently waited while her heart pounded against her ribs.

“It’s the first time someone gave me flowers,” he uttered, his hands coming up slowly to grasp the flowers gently as if they were a fragment of his imagination.

“Do you like them?”

The usual impassive features cracked; his face flushed, his voice strained, and a small noise wrecked his throat with strain.

“Yeah,” he answered, and he looked so panicked yet pleased.

She said his name. He hummed distractedly as his eyes glued onto the blue petals, and she crawled closer to him. His back was trapped against the pillow cushion, the plumpness underneath her hand lingering an indented shape as she paused her advancement with mere inches between them.

“Thank you,” he muttered, “for them.”

His thick chest heaved, and he shot a weak glare at her. “But don’t think what you did—”

She placed her hand on the curved imprint in his pants, and the plastic wrapping paper crinkled over his choked breath. He tried to steel his resolve with a scowl as he set the flowers safelyto the side and wrapped his hand around her wrist, but he didn’t pull it away.

He could, with the mesmerizing strength of an archer, but Alessio simply pressed the pad of his finger to her pulse.

Every time she saw him pull the bowstring back, the leather grip between his firm and steady fingers, he mirrored the unyielding anticipation with an arrow to her heart.

Always the center and always with the poise of the brightest constellation.

She palmed his cock through the thin material of his pants. He had to know how distracting he was with messy hair and crumbled pleasure on his face. Broad shoulders tensed as he leaned further into the cushion, his deathly grip steering her palm to press harder on his thick cock as he clicked his tongue at her trance.

Her wrist wiggled lightly, shaking off his grip, and she hooked a teasing finger under the loose waistband. Little by little, much to the annoyed noise in his chest, she dragged it down to release his cock from its uncomfortable confines.

He was big, so delectably thick, with a throbbing vein that made her salivate. Her fingers didn’t meet around his cock, and he seemed to purr at the sight as she rubbed him lazily.

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