Page 26 of Entwined Lies (Entwined #1)

Luca

I woke to nothing but cold sheets beside me, the kind of cold that said she’d been gone for a while. I reached over anyway, my hand brushing the space she’d left, and just stared at the ceiling, trying not to feel bad about it.

Being alone in the morning had never meant anything before. I never noticed. But this time, I did.

Christ. What am I even doing?

I scrubbed a hand down my face and forced myself to sit up. No time for this kind of shit.

I stood, slipped on a pair of briefs, and let the shock of the cold floor jolt me back to control. Or at least the illusion of it.

The house was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of silence that made you hear the creak of old wood, the distant shift of something settling, even your own breathing.

I walked through the hallway, each step pulling me a little further out of my head, anchoring me back in something real.

Perhaps I should’ve been grateful for the peace.

Most mornings came with ringing phones, bad news, and some asshole begging to learn a hard lesson.

I hit the living room and just… stopped.

She was there. Sitting on the couch, coffee in one hand, a half-eaten cookie in the other, laptop wobbling a little on her knees. Brow scrunched up, mouth twitching like whatever she was reading was funny as hell. She looked so at home, it knocked the breath out of me.

It shouldn’t have hit me the way it did. Just a quiet morning, a woman doing her thing. But all I could think about was that I could get used to this. This normal.

Then reality hit. I wasn’t made for this. This quiet, this calm wasn’t mine to have.

Taking a deep breath, I walked closer.

“Morning.”

She glanced up with a smile.

“You too,” she said casually, as if last night hadn’t meant a damn thing. Like she wasn’t still under my skin and in my lungs.

I grunted. “Yeah, well, someone wasn’t in bed.”

Isabelle shrugged, turning back to her screen without missing a beat. “I’ve been up for a while.”

Her fingers tapped against the keys, her focus locked on the screen, barely sparing me another glance.

“You don’t ever sleep in,” she added.

She was right, of course. I never slept in.

But somehow, she fucked it all up. She had gotten into my system, messing with everything that had worked just fine before.

I was getting used to waking up next to her—always up before she was, watching her sleep like I had all the time in the world.

I told myself it was a habit, but the truth was, I couldn’t help it.

The way she looked—soft, peaceful, completely unaware of how much I wanted to pull her close and never let go—it did something to me.

This morning, though, I had a plan. I was going to wake up, roll over, and finally close the space between us. Pull her into me, feel her warmth, and pretend, even for a few stolen moments, that she was mine. But her not being there? That threw me off completely. I wanted her there.

I looked at her again. She was lost in her work, calm, unbothered .

And there I was—standing like an idiot who’d just taken a hit to the chest.

I clenched my jaw. More than anything I wanted to snap myself out of this shit. Get back to who I was before she rearranged everything.

The kitchen was just as empty and silent as usual. I reached for a mug and filled it. The smell of the fresh brew filled the air. Simple. Predictable. Something that never changed, unlike all the other shit. It should’ve just been a normal morning. Coffee. Silence. No thoughts I didn’t want.

I walked back into the living room with my coffee and dropped onto the couch behind her. Didn’t ask, didn’t announce it—just pulled her back.

She leaned into me like it was the most natural thing in the world. And damn, it felt like it. She fit perfectly.

I kissed her neck. My lips stayed against her skin, breathing her in—warm, sweet, all coconut and her.

She shifted, turning just enough to glance back at me. “You okay?”

Not trusting myself to say much, I just grunted, “Yeah.”

Because what the hell was I supposed to say? That it pissed me off she wasn’t there and that it even mattered to me? That I couldn’t remember the last time I actually cared about waking up next to someone? No way in hell I was admitting that.

“You’ve been working long?” I asked, pressing my lips to her neck again.

“Not too long. Just catching up on a few things.”

I chuckled softly. “There are better ways to start the morning.”

“Is that so? What you have in mind?”

The sound of footsteps interrupted us. I didn’t bother looking up. I already knew it was Enzo.

His usual steady pace faltered for a moment. “Morning? ”

I glanced over at him, catching the way his eyes took in the scene—Isabelle sitting between my legs, my arm loosely wrapped around her, coffee in my free hand.

Enzo didn’t need to say anything; his expression said it all. He was shocked. He wasn’t used to seeing me like this.

Isabelle looked up at him, smiling casually, holding up her mug.

“Coffee?”

Enzo blinked, then shook his head with a smug expression. “Thanks, but I’m set. The team’s already at the warehouse. But I’ll leave you two to finish your coffee. I have to do the usual security meeting with the guards before we head out.”

Yeah, because the life-or-death walk around the property really needs a high-level strategy session.

Enzo was practically winking at me with this one.

“Thanks,” I told him, and both of us knew what I really meant.

He was giving me time—time to act like the lovesick idiot I never was, without making it obvious to her that she was different. Without tipping her off that I’d never given anyone else this kind of attention. And I was grateful for that.

He hesitated, just long enough to make it awkward, then turned and left.

The door clicked shut.

Isabelle didn’t waste a second—she sighed, shut her laptop with a sharp snap, and leaned back like she belonged there.

But she didn’t stay still. Not for long.

She started wiggling, tiny little shifts that had nothing to do with getting comfortable and everything to do with testing me.

And fuck if it wasn’t working. I was hard in seconds, pressing against the curve of her back.

She kept shifting, slow, dirty little rolls of her hips like she didn’t have a damn care in the world .

I leaned down, kissed her neck, slow and soft at first, just to see if she’d stop.

She didn’t.

“Keep this up, and we’re not gonna make it out of here.”

“Maybe that’s the point.”

I pressed my mouth harder into her skin, dragging my teeth across it. “Oh, yeah? You think you can take a quick one? Because Enzo’s not gonna wait all day.”

She laughed under her breath, hips shifting against mine just enough to make me curse.

“I think the real question is… can you?”

I smirked against her neck. “Oh, I can take it just fine.”

The words were barely out when she climbed on top of me, straddling me.

I kissed her hard, rough, her hips grinding in tight, torturous circles that made it impossible to think. In one motion, I lifted her off, turned her, and dropped her to her knees on the couch—her cheek against the cushion, ass arched high.

She looked over her shoulder, all heat and mischief, and hooked her thumbs into her shorts. They hit the floor a moment later.

We didn’t have time. But fuck if I wasn’t going to use every second.

I dropped to my knees behind her, hands locking around her ass, groaning at the view—so perfect it almost hurt to look at.

The second my tongue flicked over her clit, she let out a loud moan, body jolting like she wasn’t ready for how hard it would hit. My fingers teased her pussy, and her hips jerked, chasing it, grinding into my mouth like she couldn’t fucking help it.

Her hand slid between her thighs, fingers brushing mine, and we fell into a rhythm—tight, perfect, filthy.

Getting herself off while I devoured her? Fuck. I’d never seen anything hotter .

Her moans kept climbing, fingers working fast, hips grinding into me like she was chasing something she couldn’t quite reach.

I leaned back, straightening on my knees, fist wrapping around my cock as I watched her.

She was a fucking mess—moaning louder with every stroke of her hand, like the rest of the world had dropped away.

“Fuck—don’t stop. Watching you like this is killing me.” I gripped my cock harder, stroking faster as she started to fall apart.

I couldn’t look away. Could barely fucking think.

Her breath caught, her moans snapping into desperate little cries as she came.

Seeing her like that—ass bouncing, her fingers driving her over the edge, pussy dripping—was a sight no man should be trusted with. It was obscene. Gorgeous. Fuck, at this point, it was a goddamn miracle I hadn’t already lost it just from watching.

I stood up, pressing against her, not moving, not rushing—just letting her feel how hard I was.

She shifted back instinctively, trying to get closer.

That was it. I grabbed her hips, rough, no warning—and I buried myself inside her. She was so wet I didn’t even have to work for it—just drove in deep and hard, her body taking every inch like she was made for it.

I slid my hand up her spine, into her hair, fist tangled tight, yanking her head back just to hear it. That sound. That cry she made when I broke her open.

“Fuck, you’re too good. Gonna make me lose it,” I growled as I pounded into her again and again.

She was soaked, and the sound of me fucking her turned restraint into a joke. When I came, it crashed through me before I could brace for it—hips jerking, cock pulsing, her pussy locking around me like her body clung to every last pulse .

I dropped forward, pressing a few breathless kisses down her spine. Then I pulled out, hand dragging down the curve of her ass before I gave it a soft smack.

“Go clean up. We’ve got things to do.”

She groaned under her breath, rolling over to look at me, eyes heavy and wrecked in the best way.

I cupped her face and kissed her. Slow, deep, and full of everything I didn’t have words for.

When she pulled away and disappeared into the bathroom, I stayed there like a fucking idiot, running a hand through my hair, grinning like I didn’t have a choice.

Yeah. I could get used to this way too fast.