Page 65 of Isaia

In the meantime, I want to break something, tear the room apart until there’s nothing left but us. If she thinks he’s the only one who cares enough to protect her, then she’s about to find outhow far I’ll go to make sure she never speaks of him with that kind of reverence again.

“You think he’s doing all this out of the goodness of his heart, Everly?”

“I know he is.” She sounds so fucking certain. There’s no hesitation. No second-guessing. She trusts him in a way that has me wanting to split the motherfucker’s skull. It makes my skin crawl, my vision blur, and I’m already planning a hundred different ways to make him bleed out all over my goddamn shoes.

“He’s not your protector, Everly,” I grind out. “He’s a fucking Paladino. Everything he does has a price, whether you see it or not.”

“And what about you, Isaia? Your families are the same. Live by the same rules, wield the same power. What’s your price?”

Without thinking, I close the distance between us, my hands gripping her arms as I pull her close.

“You want to know my price?” It’s a harsh whisper, my lips inches from hers. “I don’t want money. I don’t want alliances. I want you. Every fucking inch of you. And I’ll destroy anyone who thinks they can take you from me.”

“You hardly know me.”

“I know enough.” My thumb brushes along her jaw, my grip firm as I tilt her head to meet my gaze. “I’m the only man who knows what this pretty face of yours looks like when you come, remember? I know the way your body trembles when I touch you. What your cunt tastes like.” My lips graze her ear. “No one else will ever fucking know you like I do. I’ll make sure of it.”

A sharp hitch in her breath shatters through the uneven tension as those conflicted eyes lock onto mine. Soft, plump, rosy lips hover close, daring me to take what’s already mine.

I crash my mouth against hers—a rough, desperate kiss that’s as unapologetic as my obsession, as relentless as the fire burning through my veins.

My hands grip her like she’s the only thing keeping me grounded, and I pour everything into the kiss—my frustration, my need, my goddamn fixation on this woman.

Her hands push against my chest for a moment, then curl into my shirt, pulling me closer, and I groan into her mouth, loving the way she loses the fight to whatever the fuck this is between us.

She’s got my blood pounding like a goddamn war drum, the brutal clash of jealousy and obsession fueling a storm I don’t even want to control. I want to let it tear through everything, rip the world apart piece by piece, until there’s nothing left but her—bound to me, completely and utterly mine, in every way that fucking matters.

Her lips part, and I can tell she’s about to push back, throw up one of those walls she loves so much. But not this time, little troublemaker.

I grip the back of her neck, drawing her close, our mouths a collision of teeth and tongues, a brutal claim. She needs to understand, deep in her bones, that there’s no one else for her but me.

Not Paladino. Not anyone.

I don’t care how long they’ve known each other or how many late-night conversations they’ve had. I don’t care if he’s been her so-called savior, her friend, or her arranged fucking husband-to-be.

None of it matters.

Not his promises, not his protection, and sure as hell not his loyalty. Whatever history they share, whatever bond they think they have—it ends now.

Paladino can go fuck himself.

Their friendship? It means jack shit.

I’m the one who knows her every breath, every fucking sound she makes when she’s on the edge, and I’m the only man who will ever push her over it. No one else will ever touch her like I do, make her lose herself the way I can. I’m in her blood, her soul, whether she admits it or not.

She gasps into the kiss, and I take full advantage, sliding my tongue against hers, claiming her the way I’ve been dying to since the second Paladino walked into my place of business.

My café.

My fucking woman.

Her body softens, yielding to me, but I don’t ease up. This isn’t about comfort—it’s about possession. About embedding myself so deep in her flesh, her bones, her soul, she’ll never be able to scrub me out.

I walk her backward until her thighs hit the desk, and with a firm push, I lift her onto it.

The soft thud of her body against the wood ignites something primal, the air between us electric, and the tension so thick it feels like a living thing pressing down on my chest.

With everything in me, I want to fuck this woman right here, right now. I want to penetrate this sweet body of hers and rock her into oblivion, fuck her until she screams, until everything she’s ever known is erased and all that’s left is me.

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