Page 128 of Dreadful

He kisses the crown of my head and lifts my chin to gaze into my eyes. “You deserve the break,dolcezza. You deserve to befreeof everything that’s happened to you here. You deserve to be happy wherever you want to be.”

This time, he leans down to kiss my lips, and I lift up on my toes to meet him. His tongue sweeps into my mouth, making my nipples harden, and I whisper against his lips.

“Free ofeverythingthat’s happened to me here?”

“Well, no.” A smile flashes across his face. “You'll never be free of me, Talia.” He straightens again so I can see seriousness settle in the hard lines of his face, and my lower belly tightens. “I love you, Talia Amoretti. I’ve been dying to hear how you feel about me from the moment I met you, but I didn’t want to hear it yesterday because I didn’t want those words—thisfeeling—to be tainted by death. I want to hear you say you love me when you know you’re going to live and live well. So, say it.”

My smile barely contains my giggle. I almost want to argue with him just because he commanded me to confess those three words. But I feel them, too. I don’t want to hide anymore in my new life. Especially not with him.

“I love you, Sever—”

He barely lets me finish before he’s devouring me. My body catches up to the change of pace before my mind does, and as soon as his mouth crashes to mine, my tongue surges through his lips to taste him.

We’re a tangle of limbs as I push his shirt up, and he tears my top in half. Buttons fly everywhere, and when I shrug out of my tank top, he grabs the neckline of his shirt and yanks it over his head. The sight of his chest makes me pause, and my hands immediately go to the dark purple stripe underneath his stab wound.

“I did this,” I whisper.

“And you’ll do it again if you come to Italy with me.” He grins just before he tugs my bra down and dives in to suck my nipple. I unlatch the back hooks and let the garment fall before I thread my fingers through his hair to pull him closer. He picks me up by the back of my thighs, and I hold on to his hair like reins.

“Sever! Your ankle—”

My back hits the bed in a soft landing before I can finish, and I plop down with a giggle. He hovers over my chest, and his eyes smile up at me, but he never breaks away from my nipple as he laves and teases it. His fingers dip into the waistbands of my leggings and thong before tugging them both down past my knees.

I kick them the rest of the way off while he licks his way to my other pebbled peak. His fingers lightly pinch my wet, tawny tip, while his teeth graze the other into a hard diamond. My nails dig into his scalp, pulling him impossibly closer, and my pussy tingles at the sound of his other hand unzipping himself free.

Even though I can’t see it at this angle, I feel his cock bob out of his boxer briefs. His length is warm against my inner thigh, and I spread for him as he climbs to his knees on the bed.

“Say you’ll come with me, Tallie.” His growled plea blows hot breath over my sensitive breasts, and I shiver with delight. “Say you’ll come with me to Italy.”

He takes in a mouthful and sucks hard. I cry out once before my breast pops.

“Say you’ll come to Italy.”

“Not yet…” I sing.

“Fine, if you won’t say it, I’ll make you feel so good you’ll be begging to go with me.”

“Do your worst, Severino.”

He disappears from my chest, leaving a waft of cold air behind him before he dives between my legs.

“Sev!”

His tongue curls into my center, and I rake my hands through his hair to try to position him where I need him. But he already knows my body better than I do, and his pointed tongue zeros in on my clit while one long, thick finger pushes into my slick entrance.

I’m on the cusp of ecstasy even before he feathers his fingertip inside me, and my eyes roll back at the new sensation. He’s all tongue and fingers as he massages my most sensitive areas. My body tenses up, my thighs squeeze his head, and just when I’m about to crest the top, he disappears again.

“Sev! What the—”

He fills my vision as he lays over me and spreads my legs with his knees. I wrap around him out of instinct just before his cock plunges inside me.

“Fuck, Tallie.”

We both moan, and I scoop underneath his arms to grab onto his shoulders. One long, slow thrust is all we both need to get adjusted and then he goeswild. He drives into me at breakneck speed, and I hold on to him as I try to meet his thrusts.

It’s no use, though, and he squeezes the upper part of my thigh to get me to hold still so he can take the reins. His fingers dig right into one of the delicious bruises he left me with, and I cry out.

“Tell me you remember the safe word, Tallie. Just say it and I’ll slow down.”