Page 32 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

She let her hands drift down his chest, loving the tensile strength of him. From the first moment, it was his strength with an underbelly of kindness that had lured her in. A part of her, she thought, would always crave that from him, even as she tried to be stronger.

Strong enough to not need him in that way, to earn herself a place in his life that wasn’t based on sex or emotion or some vague feeling in her belly.

Her palms drifted farther down to the rock-hard slab of his abdomen. Her fingers sneaked in between the buttons on his shirt, eager to feel the rough swirls of his hair. Just as she reached the band of his trousers, Adriano turned her, with a deftness she always found surprising for a man of such bulk.

By the time she could catch her breath, she was pressed up against the cold glass, the edges of her cardigan pulled open. Her lace bra was no barrier, making her nipples pull tight.

In front of her, Milan shone against the night sky in all its splendor. The light from the skyscrapers was the only light inside the office. Her shuddering breath drew a smoky ring on the glass as Adrian roughly pulled the cups of her bra down and filled his hands with her breasts.

His mouth found that spot at the arch of her shoulder and neck where she was extra sensitive. He dragged his teeth down that spot at the exact moment that his fingers flicked at her nipple.

Nyra gave a low moan, pushing herself into him. The imprint of his hard shaft against her bottom made her panties damp.

“Christo, I’ve missed touching you,” he whispered, his lips pulling and tugging at her tender flesh. He kneaded and cupped her breasts, the rough calluses of his palms sending sparks of heat down to her core.

“Please, Adriano,” she said, arcing into him. “I need…”

“What,bella?” he said, punctuating the question with a tug of her other nipple. Heated sparks arrowed down to her core. And the weight of his body against hers increased. His hands drifted down from her breasts, his long fingers splaying over her belly. Over the tautly stretched skin of her bump.

A sudden stillness enveloped him, the sound of his rough breaths harsh in the silence and he jerked back. A whimper escaped her. Without his claiming touch and his heat, her bare nipples scrunched against the sudden cold. She adjusted her bra, but left the flaps of her cardigan open.

It was the first time he’d touched her belly since she’d begun changing. And she knew it was a shock, as much as it was for her, every day.

Mustering her strength, she turned around to find him pushing a hand through his thick waves, something like panic touching his eyes.

Around her, automated lights came on, ruining the intimate moment with a bright glare. Only now did she see the deep grooves etched around his mouth, the dark circles cradling his eyes.

Guilt pricked her. She had pretty much unleashed the worst-case scenario on him, and he was the one dealing with the consequences. She’d always seen him as larger than life, this…unbending, powerful figure who needed nothing and no one. But that was a disservice to him, wasn’t it? To the real man he was, made of flesh and blood and emotions, just like her?

“Adriano?” she said, reaching out to touch him.

He pulled back. “I pushed you against the wall. Christo, Nyra!”

“You did, but your hand was on my belly when you flipped me. Of all the things you had me do in the last year, you never hurt me before. And you won’t now.”

“In this, you trust me?”

Heat streaked her cheeks. “Yes. Don’t ask me to explain it.”

“You’re truly not hurt?”

“Not in the way you think.”

He came to her then, all crackling hunger and magnetic energy, his hands clasping her cheeks. His gaze drilling into her as if he meant to see through to her soul. “How do you hurt, then?”

She leaned in and rubbed her lips over his jaw. His beard was rough against her sensitive skin and so deliciously tormenting. “I miss you in our bed, Adriano. And not just those perfect orgasms you dole out before sleep. I miss…being held by you. Most of my adult life, I’ve been alone. Until you got me addicted to you. Can we please return to that?”

Hands on her shoulders, he gently pushed her back, his gaze clinging to her breasts. She didn’t know whether to smile or sigh. “Your body has changed.”

“Apparently that’s what happens when you’re growing two humans.”

“I like it. You’re rounder, lusher. Too thin before,” he said with a sudden wicked upturn of his lips.

Nyra swatted his stomach with the back of her hand. “Hey! It’s bad enough I feel…different in my own skin. None of my old clothes fit and I’m hungry all the time. And horny,” she added.

His nostrils flared, and he pulled the thin bow of his upper lip with his teeth. “Now you know how I feel around you,” he said, biting his lower lip.

“Oh, please, your body’s like a finely honed sword. If anything, you’re aging like a fine wine,” she said, snorting.

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