Page 67 of The Silence Lies

“Nobody kisses like that and calls it a mistake,” she murmurs, looking at me pointedly.

Fuck, she has a point. I’m so torn between wanting her and wanting to hate her that I can’t even argue with her.

My jaw ticks the longer I look at her, contemplation and uncertainty washing through me. It’s a familiar cocktail I’ve become used to in Sera’s presence, unsure whether what I’m feeling is because of my grief or loneliness. Maybe it’s entirely something else.

Sera looks at me expectantly. Her big brown eyes lure me into the softness of her features.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” I sigh, rubbing a hand through my hair.

“The truth?” she ripostes. “Something has changed, Luca. You were right about that. But you can’t deny that it felt good.”

Silence falls between us. I let her words sink in to the point where they have me anchored in my seat. It did feel good. Just being around her makes me feel different; not just good. But how do I forget the reason I am here in the first place? How do I move past the resentment building in me and focus on being more than just Bianchi’s soldier?

I can’t.

“Why did you run?”

Confusing anger roils through me, waves of irritation crash against my reasoning. “I’m not doing this,” I grind out, reaching for the key in the ignition.

“Luca!” Her hand rests on mine.

My chest heaves as indecision wars inside. I have every reason to ignore her and start up this car. There’s nothing stopping me but the gentle touch of her hand; the softness of her voice.

“What are you so scared of?”

I turn my head and catch uncertainty in her gaze. No matter what, I can’t answer her. I don’t have the answer she wants and I can’t decide if she’s worth resenting or losing. She didn’t seem so bothered before, and the last few days have been a reprieve for me. Being focused on my job has kept me ignorant from the emotions I’ve been trying to bury. They only creep up in Sera’s presence, so distance was the best option. Perhaps I was too hasty, though. I left her before we could even talk about that kiss, about how it made me… feel.

“Luca,” she says softly, gripping my hand.

I look back at her, her brown eyes pleading with me silently. Time seems to stand still. I don’t have the answers for her—none that would make sense anyway—but I know exactly how I feel.

In a matter of seconds, I’ve gone from rage to lust, and I give in to the latter. I slam my lips onto Sera’s. She whimpers at the contact before relaxing in my arms. I’d forgotten how good kissing Sera really was. It’s intoxicating. Everything about her is magnetic, tantalizing. I kiss her with bruising force, reveling in the way Sera reacts to me.

She grips my suit jacket, pulling me closer. All at once, everything I had considered to be a negative thing, is now all I can think about. Sera is just as desperate as I am for closeness. Everything about this moment feels too right to pull away from.

Sera opens her mouth, her tongue twining with mine. The kiss is electric, sparks heating up the kiss.

“What the fuck!?” I jolt back, touching my lip.

Sera smirks mischievously, her eyes lingering on where she just bit me. She’s still close to me, her fist bunched in my jacket to maintain our proximity.

“That’s for being a jerk,” she teases.

I feel the familiar irritation return, shame clawing at me. But before I have time to react to the thoughts swimming through my mind, the ones telling me I fell for Sera’s shit, she leans forwards and kisses me again.

It’s soft, caressing and gentle. I feel a sense of calm and elation flow through the kiss, making me breathless. The kiss is powerfully confusing. I’m drawn to her, I always have been, but I sense the resentment I had built up has blinded me to this; to what feels right. This.

“What was that for?” I ask when she pulls away.

“Because I want you to know our first kiss wasn’t a mistake to me, and neither was this one. I feel like that’s something you need to hear.”

Cazzo. Am I that transparent?

“Now,” Sera says, sitting back in her seat and drawing my attention back to her. “Don’t we have somewhere to be?” she quizzes with a raised brow.

I take in her appearance. Her cheeks are rosy, flushed with heat that travels to her plump lips. If that kiss had that effect on me, I can only imagine how she feels.

Instead of questioning it any further, I relish the moment of silence, clicking her belt into place and pecking her cheek. I can address my confused thoughts later. Right now, we have some assholes to capture.

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