Page 26 of Third Degree

I saw the blue home illuminated by the glow of the fairy lights around the garden, and everything in me wanted him so desperately. I bounded toward it, noticing his car in the driveway.

I slowed as I neared his front door and knocked gently.

In an instant, he opened it, and I was breathless, partly from running a mile down the road and the other half because this man had just saved me from a lifetime of sadness.

A lifetime of pain. A lifetime of—

Instinctually, I threw my hands around his neck and leaned up on my toes, pressing my mouth to his. He pulled me inside, wrapped me tightly against his chest, and picked me up, closing the door behind us so my toes were off the ground.

Our kiss was rabid and full of intention. I was desperate to give him the vulnerability he had just given to me. I was willing to give him everything of mine. Time stood still, the outside world fading into insignificance. For in that singular moment, only he and I existed, bound by an ethereal bond that transcended the constraints of reality.

“Gianna.” He pulled away, but only for a moment when I pushed him against the back of the couch, making him fall into it and sitting on top of him. “You don’t have to…”

I pressed my lips to his and forced my tongue into his mouth, sliding it in and out. I explored every crevice of his mouth as his tongue pushed into mine.

He pulled us up and lifted me off his lap.

“Gianna.” He was breathless, and I was desperate for more, an unfamiliar yet needy ache growing inside my chest.

“I have never met someone who was so willing to just blindly defend me. So willing to put their own life and future on the line for me.” I looked at him as if searching for the answers I longed for. “Why?” I asked, sliding closer to him so my hands could explore the depths of his skin.

“Because you deserve it.” It was an answer so simple, yet it buried the weight of the truth that passed between us. This connection we had somehow forged in just a couple weeks had been what I would see in a movie or read in a book. It was just… there.

For a moment, I didn’t feel that intense and overwhelming sadness that often plagued me. In this moment, I was simply present. I was even… happy.

11

Elio

37 years old

The way her black hair contrasted against her silky skin. The way her dark Italian features were prominent. The way she spoke. The way her hands naturally ran down my arms when I spoke. She was everything I had been searching for. She embodied all I’d ever sought, the essence that completed my heart.

But alas, she remained the one I could never call mine, forever beyond my reach.

She was sitting in my lap and knowing what I did now, I also knew that she had the one thing I couldn’t take from her.

“Are you a virgin?” I asked her, my hands pulling hers into my lap as we sat on the couch. She just nodded her response back at me. I’d assumed that was the case, based on the very fact that she hadn’t been kissed before and the lifestyle that she was raised in.

“It’s okay, though,” she murmured, sliding toward me. “I want to give you all of me.”

I pulled back from her and searched her face, knowing the sacrifice she was making, and if anyone found out she was no longer a virgin, she would have to wear the same mark my late wife did.

We weren’t married when we had sex for the first time. We were just seniors in high school and our hormones got the best of us. Her father found out and forced us to marry after claiming I had marred their daughter.

I loved Bea, but I also knew there was no other choice after that point for me. I had to marry her regardless of if I was a teenager. Our first son was what came out of all of it and the best thing that happened to us, but if I had to go back and do it all over again, I would.

“We can’t.” I pushed her away and tried to move to the other side of the couch when she slid next to me.

“I know.” Her agreement made me realize that I had done the right thing in respecting that boundary. I wasn’t just some horny teenager today.

“We can… do other things,” she suggested, placing her silky tongue on my cheek and dragging it along the side of my face. My cock twitched in anticipation.

“Gianna,” I growled at her, knowing that if we started down this path, there was no stopping or pulling back from it.

“Please,” she begged. Hearing the desperation slip from her mouth made me envision how her pretty little lips would look around me. “Elio.” My name came out of her mouth as if it belonged there. Witnessing the fervent plea in her eyes, aching for what I yearned for, stirred a tumultuous fire within the depths of my being. The magnetic pull between us was undeniable—a potent cocktail of temptation.

“Fuck it.” I grabbed her by the waist, and I knew there was no coming back. She was desperate. I also knew our time was limited to days, so having one taste to satiate this insane hunger was all I needed.

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