Page 47 of The Fixer

Me neither, principessa.Me neither.

I shift my attention lower, moving my hand between her legs. She’s drenched, and it’s such a fucking aphrodisiac. “You set the pace,” I tell her, stroking and teasing her clit until she’s gasping andshivering, her skin exploding into goosebumps. “Okay? You tell me when you want more.”

“I want more now.”

My heart is racing as I part her knees. I’m trembling with the strain of holding on to my control. I push forward, the tip of my cock entering her pussy. Oh fuck yes. The feel of her, tight, wet, and slick, is indescribable. It’s as close as I’m ever going to get to heaven.

“More,” she breathes.

I rock forward another inch. “Keep going,” she orders. My sweet principessa. I laugh between gritted teeth, need clawing through me like a wild animal, and push a little more.

“Just do it,” she urges, her hands clutching my biceps. “Do it now.”

I push in, burying myself to the hilt. She gasps, and I freeze. “I hurt you,” I say, my voice strangled. I push her hair out of her face and look deep into her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I can stop.”

“Don’t you dare,” she responds. “I just need a minute.” Her pained expression is clearing. She moves her hips tentatively, and I clench my hands into fists and fight to hold still. The velvety softness of her, the way she’s clamped around my cock, gripping me like a vice. . . I’m not going to be able tohold on. I’m going to come with embarrassing speed.

She exhales in a long breath. “I’m good now. More, please.”

I begin to move slowly and carefully. She holds my hips with both hands and yanks me closer. Her body is a temple I defile with my touch, but she doesn’t seem to care because she’s sending me a message right now, and it’s one I’m incapable of resisting. More. Faster. Deeper. “So good,” I groan. “It’s so good with you.”

I move faster, my fingers finding her clit, and she throws her head back, her muscles spasming around me. “Yes,” she breathes. “God, yes. Had I known how good this would be, I would have taken a hammer to the roof myself.”

I laugh into her neck. My thrusts speed up, turning jerky and uneven as my control unravels. She writhes underneath me and digs her nails into my back. Her muscles clench and quiver, and she cries out my name as she comes, and that’s all it takes. My balls tighten, and I explode.

We snuggle together,her back against my chest and her ass pressed into my crotch, and I know I’m going to be semi-erect all night long. I want to fuck her all over again, but this was her first time, and she’ll be sore.

I kiss the curve of her shoulder. I haven’t fallen asleep with a woman in my arms since Patrizia. I haven’t been a monk. But intimacy is something I haven’t permitted myself.

Until Rosa entered my life.

From the moment I saw her in her green dress, a little bit of spring in the depths of winter, I knew she would be trouble. I had a premonition that she would turn my life upside down. Demolish the walls I put around my heart to protect myself and force me to live again.

To love again.

We’re quiet, both of us, but this isn’t a silence we need to break. This feels peaceful. It feels like togetherness.

“I wouldn’t have done it,” she whispers.

Does she have regrets about how tonight turned out? My throat goes dry. “Done what?”

“Taken another lover.” Her voice is so quiet I can barely hear her over the noise of the rain. “In two or three years, or whenever Spina Sacra stopped watching us.” She takes a deep breath. “I just wanted you to know.”

I trail a fingertip over her arm. “Why not?”

“We’re going to be married next month,” she replies. “We’re going to promise to love and cherish each other. When I say those words, I’ll mean them. I take my promises seriously.”

A fist squeezes around my heart. She’s offering me her love.Just like that.As if it weren’t the most precious gift in the universe.I’ll mean them, too,I want to reply, but I can’t make my mouth form the words. When I close my eyes, I only see blood. I see the people I failed to protect.

“Are you rolling your eyes at me? You didn’t know how much of a romantic I was, did you?”

“I think I had a pretty good idea.” Rosa reminds me of a daffodil or a snowdrop, one of the flowers that poke their head up in the depths of winter and herald the arrival of spring. I should tell her that, but once again, the words freeze on my tongue. “Peoplehave open marriages. Do you think they’re breaking their promises?”

“No,” she replies immediately. “Not at all. I’m not judging. As long as everything is consensual, I don’t care. It wouldn’t work for me, that’s all. I don’t want to sleep with anyone else, and I don’t want you to sleep with someone, either.” She exhales in a long breath. “So now you know.”

Now I know. Fuck me, but she isso brave.Her parents play favorites, and she goes on loving them anyway. Her brother is the child who can do no wrong, and she’s willing to marry a stranger to save his life.

Unlike me, Rosa isn’t clinging to her fear. Maybe she’s afraid of getting her heart broken, but she puts it out there anyway. I could lie to myself and pretend it’s because she’s young and naive, but neither is true. It takes courage to be an optimist,and Rosa Tran is the bravest person I know.

---