Page 134 of The Silence Lies

There’s no room for hesitation or second-guessing, though. Levi leans forward, capturing my own mouth with bruising force.

It should feel weird to relinquish control to someone like Levi, but it doesn’t actually feel that strange at all. It feels normal; natural even. He kisses me like a man starved, his hands capturing the back of my head to hold me in place. He devours me. I’m so lost in the magnitude of the kiss that it isn’t until we break away, breathless and stunned, that I realize Sera has slipped away from us.

“Where are you going?” Levi calls after her at the door to the den. “I thought we were going to watch a movie?”

Sera shrugs. “I think you guys should talk. I need to tell Gio the good news.”

“What good news?” Levi shouts, but Sera just closes the door on him. “What good news?” he asks me.

I lean back on the couch, trying to steady my erratic heart rate. “I think she means that we’re okay with her and Gio.”

“Right,” Levi sighs. “Are you really okay with it?”

I shrug. There isn’t any other way to be. Sera has already laid down the ground rules that it’s all or nothing when it comes to Levi and I. I sense she’s now incorporating Giovanni into the equation, which means sharing her is going to be a hell of a lot harder. But if what just happened between Levi and I means anything, I think I’m okay with sharing.

“Sera’s right, isn’t she?” He turns his head to face me. The faint scar above his brow moves when he frowns. I’ve never considered a guy to be beautiful. Sure, I’ve appreciated how good looking Raf is, but I never once thought I would be in this position with Levi Marchese. But he is beautiful. Levi has that boyish quality that makes you want to keep smiling, no matter how mad you are at him. And that’s something I’m not quite ready to let go of.

“Fontana?”

“Yeah?” I answer, snapping out of my thoughts.

“What were you thinking about?” he smiles, shifting his body closer to mine.

I clear my throat. It suddenly feels hot and stuffy, like this shirt needs to come off.

Levi’s, too.

The proximity of his body has me tugging at my collar. I’m not even wearing a tie but I’m starting to sweat from the intensity of his stare and the kiss we just shared.

Levi’s hand cups my cheek, turning me to face him again.

I lick my lips, my throat tightening as I try to swallow past the lump of air. He’s so close that I could kiss him all over, and I want to. Some part of me is now attuned to Levi, magnetized to his being. I’m addicted to the way he kisses, and I’m slightly worried that I want more than that.

“You need to stop thinking so much,” Levi laughs, closing the remaining distance between us.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” he smiles, his lips just a breath away from mine. “Whatever this is, let’s just go with it.”

Serafina

Vulnerability is clearly something Luca isn’t comfortable with. It’s obvious that he sees it as a weakness, but I think it’s a strength. I hate that he felt like he had to hide his attraction to Levi from me as if I wouldn’t approve. His admission has only brought us closer together. The look in his eyes tonight was everything, and I can’t stop thinking about it as I make my way to the pool house.

Maybe I should feel some sense of betrayal like Luca suggested, but the truth is, I don’t. I want them both, and we’ve spent so much time together lately that something must have clicked between the two of them. If anything, after our conversation, I feel that much luckier to have guys like Luca and Levi in my life, who are willing to be open with me about what they’re feeling. And maybe they need each other just as much as I need them.

Whatever feelings they have for one another have obviously been kept under wraps and swept under the rug. But Levi and Luca need to talk, because tiptoeing around their feelings can only end badly. So I gave them a little push, and I hope it helps them solidify their relationship. Luca is obviously struggling with it the most. While Levi bounces around playing ignorant, Luca seems more attached to his masculinity. Little does he know that masculinity plays no part in this unusual relationship of ours. I just need him to see that, and hopefully, Levi will be the one to show him.

I reach the door to the pool house, hearing the shower running when I arrive. Clutching a pizza box in my hands, I nudge the door open and peek inside. The lights are on, a dull glow filling the small space Giovanni has inhabited.

“Gio?” I call out, but the slapping of water against tile drowns out my voice.

Carefully, I pad toward the bathroom, dropping the pizza box on the little table by the window. Nobody wants soggy pizza.

Steam billows from the crack in the bathroom door. I push it open slowly, my breath faltering as I gradually take in Giovanni’s sturdy form through the glass partition. His shoulders are large and broad, practically swallowing his neck. His back is thick with muscle, hard ridges and smooth planes that I want to run my hands over. I can only imagine what the front of him looks like. I’ve already had the opportunity to drink in his abs and thick chest, but that’s not what’s on my mind now.

Levi and Luca have riled me up, and seeing Giovanni like this only stirs those urges, whirling them into a pit of desire and uncontrollable lust.

My gaze travels further south, but just as I bite back the urge to groan, Giovanni spins around.

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