She waved to me and slid into the car.
Alessio caught my eye before he shut her door.He saw it.The storm in my expression.He didn’t make a joke or even smirk.He just nodded once.And drove away.
The apartment felt too small when I stepped back inside.I walked down the hall, trying to contain the violence brimming inside me.
Neve stood in the living room, her hands clasped in front of her like she was holding herself together.The light from the window painted her in gold, and I hated it.I hated how breakable she looked.I hated how much I wanted to drag her into my arms and never let her go.
I stopped three feet from her.Any closer and I would lose control.
“You okay?”I asked, though my voice came out lower than I intended.Rougher.Like it hurt to actually speak.
She nodded.“Thank you… for bringing her.”
“I thought you could use the company.”
Her breath caught.She tried to hide it, but I saw everything.Felt everything.The way her pulse kicked in her throat.The way her knees subtly shifted like she was grounding herself.
“You were standing outside the room.”
“Yes.”I replied without hesitation, because I would never lie to her.“I was.”
Silence stirred between us—thick, jagged, spiraling into something dangerous.
Her eyes flickered to my jaw, my chest, then back up.“You heard the reading.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Enough of it,” I admitted.“Probably more than I should have.”
She stepped toward me once.Just once.But it was enough to break the last thread holding me steady.My hands fisted at my sides.
“I’m trying.I’m really trying.”
“Trying to what?”Her voice was soft.Barely a whisper.
“To stay away from you.”
Her lips parted.Her fingers twitched toward me like her body moved before her mind could.
“And if you stop trying?”she asked.
I took a steady step toward her.Then another.Until her breath hit my chest.
My hand lifted—slow, shaking—then cupped her jaw, my thumb brushing her cheek like it was the first touch I’d allowed myself in decades.
Her eyes fluttered.“Atlas…”
I bowed my forehead to hers.And something inside me snapped.
“I won’t stop,” I breathed, my voice thick, dangerous.“Not unless you tell me to.”
She didn’t.Her breath ran out in a trembling exhale, and in it I heard permission.I felt her need and her surrender.
My other hand slid to the back of her neck, drawing her closer.I felt her hands rise to my chest, her fingers curling over my shirt like she was anchoring herself to the storm.
Our lips hovered.Barely touching.Barely surviving the distance.
“Tell me to walk away,” I whispered against her mouth.