He was so beautiful. A rock. She felt steadier just looking at him. His voice was pitched low, but he spoke with absolute conviction and she found herself believing him. Believing that she wasn’t as broken as she felt inside. Luigi had knocked her down, but she wasn’t out. She would never be out. “He did this thing. I know that he did.”
He nodded his head slowly. She didn’t flinch away from the truth this time. A part of her had held out hope when they were talking earlier, but she’d thought about everything, every little detail of childhood, growing up in Luigi’s home. Pieces of the puzzle she hadn’t ever known were missing fell into place. She knew, as she was falling to sleep, that Luigi had committed treachery far beyond what she could ever have conceived of. She would get proof before she made her move, but she knew, beyond all doubt, that he was guilty.
She reached up with an unsteady hand to rub her palm along Casimir’s stubborn jaw, feeling the dark shadow bristling against his mark on her. The spikes rasped over her body, along her skin. There was compassion in his eyes. Tenderness. Heat. But he knew the truth too. He wasn’t going to lie to her. He knew Luigi had orchestrated the hit on his brother and family.
“Kiss me, Casimir,” she whispered. “I need you to kiss me.”
He didn’t hesitate. His hand framed her face and his mouth took hers. Gentle. Coaxing. She parted her lips, allowing his tongue to sweep inside and tangle with hers. His mouth was pure fire. She wanted to stay there. Burn there. Let the flames sweep through her, consuming every ugly detail of her life.
She tasted love for the first time in her life. She didn’t know if he knew it or not, but it was there, mixed with hunger. With lust. With need. Love tasted different. Tender. Beautiful. She needed that now more than any other time in her life.
She had to blink away tears all over again. She had never thought to taste that emotion. Certainly not now in her darkest moment. She kissed him back, melting, feeling the fire in her grow, losing herself in his mouth so she wouldn’t have to think anymore. She didn’t want to think, only feel. Still, having him was terrifying. What if he left her too? What if she had him – like this – and then he took himself away? She wouldn’t recover. Lissa pressed back into the pillows, her heart beating wildly, fear shaking her.
Casimir lifted his head a scant couple of inches, his gaze drifting possessively over her face. For the first time he saw how young she was. She was self-possessed. Disciplined. She had never felt young to him, but now, with her world upside down, he saw her so clearly. She had every reason to be terrified – and yet none at all. He wasn’t going anywhere. Not. Ever.
He brushed a kiss over her lips, those beautiful, soft, full lips, more tempting than anything he’d known in his life. He blazed a trail of fire down to the pulse beating in her throat. That sweet spot allowed him to know she was breathing. She was alive. No one had taken her from him. He kissed that pulse-point, feeling her heart pounding beneath his mouth. His tongue. Her skin tasted like paradise.
He kissed his way along her collarbone. She was a woman of steel, her spine as tough and even stronger than most men’s, but right then he could feel how delicate she was, how fragile her bones were. He took his time, finding his way over the lush curve of her breasts to the valley between them. He buried his face there, inhaling. Tasting. His shadow rasped against her soft breasts. He felt her answering shiver.
Lissa’s hands went to his shoulders as if she might push him away. There was tension in her as she trembled beneath him.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Memorizing you. Loving you,” he answered against her tight little bud of a nipple. His tongue swiped gently. “With every breath I take, Giacinta, I’m loving you.” She deserved gentle. Tender. She needed gentle and tender. She was afraid of it, afraid of trusting it, but she needed it now more than the fire burning through both of them.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer under him as he took the lush mound deep into his mouth, flattening her nipple onto the roof of his mouth with his tongue. Her breath hissed out of her and her legs moved restlessly.
His shadowed jaw rubbing roughly against her sensitive skin enhanced the stimulation of his mouth and tongue. He added his teeth – gently. Just a small nip but she reacted, gasping, her hips bucking.
“Easy, malyshka, you need gentle tonight. I’m going to make absolutely certain you know you’re loved.” He murmured the vow against her breasts, nipping again and then slowly beginning his journey down her body. He wanted to claim every inch of her. To love every inch. She didn’t know how much she needed gentle, but he did, and she was going to get it.