I wrap up the call with Matteo and head to the bathroom, hoping a cold shower will knock some sense into me, but my dick stays hard. I debate whether to jerk off, but I can’t risk her hearing me, so I put the thought aside. I decide a cold shower will have to do. There is no telling how I’ll get through the whole goddamned weekend without touching her.
Maybe coming here was a bad idea after all.
Chapter Four
Nico
Something wakes me. I’m not sure what it is, but my eyes snap open and I look around the room, searching in the dark for whatever pulled me out of my dreamless sleep. That’s when I feel something tickle my nose.
Slowly, I look down, surprised to find Gabriella curled against me, her head resting on my chest, her soft breath fanning across my chest and making my already hard cock ache in my boxers. Her left leg is tangled through my right, an arm draped across my midsection. I lift my head slightly to see what became of the pillow fort and find it scattered—pillows tossed on the floor and all around us. The fact that I didn’t hear her move speaks to my exhaustion, and that’s not a good sign.
I’m up now.
All of me.
I glance down at Gabriella, her delicate features squeezing my heart with affection, and I feel that need to guard her from the world settle over me like something permanent. She looks so peaceful asleep and feels right pressed against me. I know I should put some distance between us, if only for my own peaceof mind, but I can’t bear to move and risk waking her. Not when she looks so beautiful sleeping. No doubt she needs just as much rest as I do. It doesn’t fucking matter that I want to touch her. I steel myself, set on ignoring my base needs for the remainder of the night when…she moves.
“Nico,” she mutters in her sleep, moving her leg up and dragging her knee along my thigh. I curse under my breath, my cock throbbing hard when her knee shifts higher. The hand on my waist tightens as a soft breath puffs from her lips, blowing hotly over my nipple.
“Jesus Christ,” I groan, cursing again when I feel her stir against me.
“Nico,” she whispers into the dark, her voice a little less foggy. “It’s so dark. Why is it so dark in here?”
“Go back to sleep,” I say, my voice rough even to my own ears. I press my lips to her forehead and wrap a hand around her, pulling her tighter against me. “It’s not morning yet.”
“I’m cold,” she says, and I groan when that knee pushes against my erection as she wriggles to adjust herself. “You’re a furnace. Warmer than the blankets.” When she goes to move again, I place a hand on her knee to stop her.
“You’re killing me here, baby,” I growl. “I need you to stop moving. I’m barely restraining myself as it is.”
Gabriella is silent for a while, and I’m almost convinced she’s fallen back to sleep when she shifts again, this time, bringing her hand to my chest. A groan escapes when she starts drawing circles with her index finger. “What are you restraining yourself from?”
“You don’t want to know,” I say gruffly.
“Tell me.”
“Gabby—”
“Please,” she whispers, moving her knee again, rubbing against my erection, and goddamnit, I almost come. “Nico.”
Alright, that’s it!
“How about I show you instead?” I challenge, spinning us around and rolling her under my body, blanketing that sexy body of hers so she can feel the hard press of my erection. “Do you feel that, you reckless little girl? Can you feel just how much I want to be inside you?” I roll my hips, rubbing my cock between her legs and making her gasp. “Can you feel this desperation in me—how badly I want to fill every inch of your pussy until mine is the only cock you’ll ever want inside you? I want to drive into you so hard the headboard bounces against the wall, make you scream my name until everyone in this damn hotel hears you knows what a little slut you are for my cock.”
I drop my forehead against hers, my breath ragged. My words are crude and meant to shock, to repulse. “Stop me, Gabby.Please.” For my best friend’s sake and for the sake of the family that took me in, I need her to stop me before I cross yet another line. “Please.”
“No,” she murmurs, breathless. My muscles tense then relax when her hands slide up my arms and settle on my back. “I don’t want you to stop. All those things…” She lets out a shuddering breath, but her eyes don’t waver from mine. “I want it all.”
Christ, this is the last thing I need to hear. “Fuck!”
Leonardo will kill me if there’s anything of my soul left when Matteo is done with me. Every Rossi brother will spit on my grave, and all the years of trust will shatter the second I touch Gabriella. Look at what happened to Bruno. Granted, by the time Sofia was taken, Matteo already loved her—so Matteowas especially ready to kill him. Gabriella is more like a daughter than a sister to Matteo, and…I’m crossing a line here.
And I can’t help it.
With eyes wide open, I am about to do something that will cost me everything, but I can’t stop. I don’t know if I actually want to stop.
“Nico…” she breathes, my name a prayer on her lips, shattering what’s left of my will. With a frustrated growl, I crash my lips down on hers, intent on scaring her into doing the smart thing and pushing me away, but the second our lips touch, all good intentions vanish. Months—no, years—of buried desire pour into the kiss, and my guileless little mob princess opens up for me without any self-preservation. Her lips part under mine, a broken, needy moan tearing from deep in her throat when I plunge my tongue into her mouth, finding hers in a carnal dance.
Mine.