Page 58 of Texting My Mafia Savior

I kiss him before he can say,Mother. I know why he needs to talk like this. He wants to imagine a future far brighter than the present, a world where he can be normal. I can’t let him say it, though. I can’t commit to that. Even committing to the other stuff is something I’m not sure about.

“Okay, then,” he says, his warm breath tickling over me. “What about Snapshot, my perfect photographer? That’s what you gave me when I first saw you—a snapshot of what my lifecouldbe.”

I put my hand on his chest. His heart has never pounded so hard. He’s clearly still in fight-or-flight mode from what he’s had to do tonight. “Snapshot sounds perfect.”

“Let’s go to bed,” he says. “Don’t worry. I won’t pounce on you. I just want to hold you. When I take your virginity, it won’t be with this shadow hanging over us.”

I try to hide my natural response—unfair hurt. Doesn’t he want me? He’s been through so much tonight. It’s not fair for me to expect anything. But I feel closer to him than I ever have before. He’s crossed a line for me and Aunt Lucy. Nobody butmysavior ever would.

“I want to be held by you,” I whisper, standing and taking his hand.

CHAPTER 24

NICO

Iwasn’t being totally honest with Arriana before.

I told her I just wanted to hold her, but that was only because of the way she was looking at me. I’m not even sure she realized there were flecks of fear in her gorgeous eyes, a tic of terror in her perfect lips.

Lying awake, I cradle her, sliding my hand through her hair. She breathes softly. Lying like this with her, with her warmth pressed against me and the shape of her mounds tempting me through her shirt. I can almost forget. She’s taken off her bra. For comfort, I guess but it’s driving me wild.

When I close my eyes, I see the events of tonight. I hear their screams. They were terrible men. Dominic proved it at the end by saying all those twisted things about Lucy. She’s been through a lot for me, my best friend, risking everything so I could be with her niece.

I kiss Arria’s forehead. She moans sleepily and wriggles closer to me, her hand resting sleepily on my bare chest. A tickleof tension moves up my rod, stiffening me and awakening my desire.

Opening my eyes, I look down at her hair across the pillows. It’s so much better than confronting the shadows inside. When I’m with her, the past, the future, nothing and nobody else exists. She’s exactly what I called her earlier—my Snapshot, making the bright light of the camera, the moment, the only relevant thing.

Tomorrow, disaster might strike. Perhaps someone witnessed my disposal of the bodies. Her father might make her choose between her family and our relationship. She could disappear on her travels, somewhere without cell service, where we can’t coax our flames with texting.

Tonight, somehow, miraculously, everything is perfect… with her.

I went overboard when we were in the living room together. She recoiled slightly when I called myself ‘husband’ and ‘father.’ She doesn’t want to commit to something so drastic, so quickly. I’m not sure I want to, either. It’s been a high-stress night, to put it mildly. But when I said it, it felt real. I felt sure. I can’t deny that.

She wriggles against me, her hand sliding over my stomach. Every nerve in me blazes with desire. My arousal aches as she slides her tempting touch over my abs. My cock, unlike my mind, isn’t confused about anything that happens between us. Lust surges through me.

She moans again, her hand slipping lower toward my underwear. I should wake her up. Maybe she’s having a dream about us. It better be. I hate thinking of her with any other man. Just the thought of it makes me sick.

She’s almost stroked her hand over my dick when I finally give her a soft shake. “Snapshot,” I whisper.

“I’m already awake.” She keeps moving her hand. “I’ve been awake this whole time, trying to be respectful and just hold you like you said. But you’re half naked, and we’re both more than half crazy, and I just can’t stop.”

A shuddering breath escapes me when she reaches into my underwear and wraps her hand around my cock. My shaft is solid. She squeezes with enough pressure to let me know she’s as hungry as I am, then she strokes from my precome-coated end to my base, spreading the wetness, making me slick.

“Oh, fuck,” I growl. “You don’t know what you’re starting, angel.”

With her hand still on me, she looks up and props one hand on my chest. “I knowexactlywhat I’m starting.”

She can’t completely hide her nerves. It’s natural. This is going to be her first time. The knowledge burns through me—her first time. Nobody else is ever going to touch her. My head is spinning.Ever?What right do I have to think of that?

I am. I can’t help it. I don’t fight it.

She’s mine. I’m done denying it.

“You’re so beautiful,” I tell her, rolling over so I’m on top, holding myself up so I can drink in her features.

She makes a beguiling sound as I slide my hand down her body. When I glide my hand over her curvaceousness and into her shorts, she removes her hand from my underwear, grabs my bare arms, and sinks her nails in like she’s trying to tether herself to me.

I push my hand into her underwear. Her folds feel inflamed, swollen with lust, clear evidence of her desire, a sign we belong together.

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