Page 129 of The Silence Lies

“For you, maybe,” I grumble. I still have to think about the other two guys in her life that are willing to go to war for this woman.

“No one will get past me, I promise.”

I hold onto the thought of her endearing promises; the ones that she abides by. Promises are the foundation of Donna Bianchi, making her the strong leader that she is. She doesn’t need to use brute force because her word carries more weight.

We lapse into a soft silence. Just like all the times before, it’s comfortable. It has always been like this between us. I chalk it up to the amount of times we’ve been in each other’s company and she’s had to settle for my silence. It’s a cycle we run through every night until she surrenders to her exhaustion. I don’t mind so much. Here, in the depths of this room, I get to see a new side of Sera that I don’t think she has shared with the others yet. It spreads a profound warmth through me that I don’t want to lose.

“Do you ever wish your life was different?” she whispers into the darkness.

The question reaches deeper than our usual conversations, but it seems like something is bothering her, so I’ll bite. “I’ve never really thought about it,” I mumble into her hair. “Do you?”

She takes a deep breath, her chest pressing against my side while her fingers stroke idle circles over my pec. “Would it make me a bad person if I said no?”

My jaw feathers with all the unspoken words I wish I could say. There’s an entire dictionary dedicated to describing everything about Serafina, but a bad person? She couldn’t even come close to that. “You don’t have a bad bone in your body, Principessa. You’re strong, stubborn, defiant. But a bad person? No.”

Sera squeezes herself against me. I can already tell that my words mean something to her and when she lets out a little sigh, she melts a little further into me.

“I missed you today,” she hums, breaking through my torrent of adoring thoughts.

My heart seems to beat faster and heavier at those words. I’d like to put it down to the fact that I’m always by her side, but the sincerity in her voice tells me it’s more than that. I’ve missed her too. These nightly visits are what I look forward to the most. Since I haven’t been given the all clear yet, I feel like a loose end, just wasting the day away.

“Bad day?” My arm instinctually wraps tighter around her. I’m not a stranger to the feelings that have developed between us over the last few months. Even the last week has intensified how I’m feeling, and I want nothing more than to be able to take away whatever bothers Sera so she can focus on more important things.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” she replies with conviction, and I have no doubt that’s true. She can handle anything that comes her way; I’ve seen firsthand how strong and powerful she is.

“Anything you want to talk about?”

Sera shakes her head, her hair tickling my neck. “No, I just wanted to see you.”

“I didn’t realize my presence meant so much to you,” I smirk into the darkness. Though she obviously can’t see my expression, she still slaps me playfully, lifting up to brush her nose with mine. It’s intoxicatingly intimate. Another push in the direction where boundaries start to cross over into uncharted territory.

“It does,” she says firmly, her hand stroking my face. “You do.”

A part of me aches at the thought of her being so close, yet still untouchable. One inch closer and there would be nowhere for me to go.

Her breath skates over my face, the fresh scent of mint making me all too aware of my own. But she doesn’t seem to mind. She leans in further, a hiccup of air hanging between us. “It scares me, you know?”

“What does?” I frown, my own insecurities making my voice gravelly.

“Being afraid to lose you, when you’re not even mine to lose.” Her fingertips dance along my jawline as her admission sinks in. We’re toeing the fine line of employer and employee, and though her father gave me strict instructions to keep his daughter safe, I can’t find it in me to care that this isn’t what he was referring to.

Pushing my fingers through her hair, I let her settle her weight on me. “I’m not going anywhere, Principessa.”

The thread of tension that has been building ever since we met seems to snap. It’s slow at first, the way she kisses me; barely a brush across my lips yet I feel it all the way down to my toes. The room seems to fall away from the subtlest of kisses. I feel every fiber of my being responding to her proximity, to her touch. One brush isn’t enough, though, even if it feels like she’s testing the waters.

I’m done with stepping so close to the edge of our boundaries, done with treading water in the hopes someone might pull me back to safety. I want to drown in Bianchi, just like Marchese, just like Fontana.

I grab the back of her neck, closing what little distance is between us. The space between us explodes as our lips slide against one another’s. Every inch of me reacts to her. My heart keeps missing beats, my fingers tangle in her hair, desperate for more, but I can’t bring her close enough.

A soft mewl escapes her as our tongues tangle. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten lost in a kiss quite like this before. All I can seem to focus on is this kiss, the way her lips move with mine, the way her skin feels beneath my touch. She’s the effortless beauty you crave so badly that when you finally get it, there’s nothing to compare it to.

Sera is the first to pull away. I’m not sure if it’s regret or shame that makes her do it. Her breath stutters as I stroke my thumb over her cheek. She doesn’t retreat, which I guess is a good sign, but there’s still the lingering sensation of doubt that I can’t shake.

“I never thanked you,” she whispers softly.

“For what?”

She reaches between us, her fingertips tracing the bandage over my stomach. “For this. For saving me. I hate that you took a bullet—“

---