Page 95 of Brutal Heir

“I guess we’re two halves of the same wrecked soul, cracked in different places, but somehow we fit.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.” He watches me for a long time, and I can’t help but smile back at him. I can’t remember any man ever looking at me like that. Ever.

Conall regarded me as a possession.

That arsehole that attacked me like prey.

But Alessandro looks at me like I’m his beginning and end, like nothing else exists when I’m in the room.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

His brows knit as his fingers tangle with mine. “For what?”

“For Chip…”

A hard line slashes across his mouth, tendon fluttering like mad beneath the scruff along his jaw. “Thatpezzo di merdadeserved so much worse for daring to lay a hand on you. I wish I could go back and do it all over again, extend his suffering for lifetimes. No one touches what’s mine and lives.” Fury coils around his frame, intensifying with every minute.

Before it gets out of hand, I lean in, brushing my lips against his. “Thank you,” I repeat. “But I just want to forget about him, okay? I never want to hear his name or think about him ever again.”

He nods, and a hint of the tension dissipates.

“Can you make me forget?”

A devious grin slowly crawls across his lips. “No,” he growls against my skin. “But I can make you feel so good you won’t care to remember.” His hands glide down my body, clamping around my hips, and he lifts me into his lap.

A giggle purses my lips as I straddle him, a feckin’ giggle! Rory Delaney does not giggle. Neither did Brigid O’Shea. And she sure as hell shouldn’t now. Because lies have expiration dates. And mine is ticking.

A sudden wave of guilt crashes over me as Alessandro tugs me into his chest, his hands holding me firmly in place.Everything I’ve told this man since the day we met has been a complete lie.

Would he still feel the same about me if he knew the truth?

Before I can fully contemplate the risks of telling him, his mouth captures mine. He’s ravenous, teeth grazing against my own, hand curling around the back of my neck to deepen the kiss. And just like that, everything else fades away. With his tongue tangling with mine and cock already growing hard between my legs, I just want to get lost in him again.

Because when the truth comes out, I could really lose him forever.

CHAPTER 37

FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES

Alessandro

Christmas lights twinkle from every corner, garland hanging from the lamp posts along Fifth Avenue, and I can’t quite believe it’s already Christmas Eve. After that depressing Thanksgiving, I’d been dreading the holiday, the big family dinner at my uncle’s house, all the plastic smiles and fake compliments.

But now? After only a few incredible nights with my little leprechaun, dinner with the family doesn’t seem quite so daunting. The fact that I’ll be walking in, not in a wheelchair, and with her by my side makes me feel almost normal. For the first time in months.

I haven’t officially asked her to come to the Feast of the Seven Fishes, not as my nurse, but as mine. Every time I try, the words get lodged somewhere between my throat and my heart.

I want her there tonight not as my nurse but as my… as my what? Girlfriend just sounds childish, and it doesn’t feel like itencompasses the full range of what she’s come to mean to me in only a month.

Which is why I’m wandering the streets of Fifth Avenue like acoglionetrying to figure out what the hell to buy her for Christmas.

“There you are!” The chorus of cheery voices sends my gaze lifting to meet three women bounding in my direction.

And also, why I called for backup.

I texted Isabella. Not Serena. Definitely not my twin. Yet here they all are.

“What are you all doing here?” I shoot Bella a quick glare, and her only response is a quick shrug and mouthed apology.