Page 35 of Winter

He slid back inside her, gently this time, but as his thrusts became more forceful, the weight of his body pressing down on her, her shoulders burning from having her hands bound, Inca found she enjoyed the sweet pain of it.

Tommaso had a satisfied look in his eyes—almost victorious. “You like the pain?”

Astonishing herself, she nodded. “From you, yes,” she whispered, and he chuckled.

“Maybe another time we can explore that further …”

“Maybe.”

He drove her to another shattering orgasm and she clung to him as his lips found hers. He smoothed her damp hair away from her face and gazed down at her. “Ti amo, Inca Sardee.Ti amo.”

Inca’s eyes filled with tears at the depth of passion in his voice and in that moment her heart swelled and she kissed him fiercely. “I love you too, Tommaso.”

Much, much later, she fell asleep in his arms and didn’t wake when he slid from the bed. For a few minutes, he watched her sleep, her dark hair spread on his pillow, watching her deep, regular breathing, her skin glowing in the low light of the room.

Tommaso tugged his pants on and wandered down to the kitchen. Lately he had been plagued by insomnia and nothing, it seemed, not even exhausting himself fucking Inca, could help him.

Tommaso Winter knew darkness. It ate at him constantly and, despite his happiness with the beautiful woman in his bed, he found himself sinking back into the blue funk he knew so well. Only Raff knew how to drag him out of it; only Raff knew the depths of it. He called his brother now.

Raffaelo was in Rome, checking on his favorite and original club. Tommaso glanced at the clock—Rome was nine hours ahead of Seattle, which made it eleven a.m. He knew Raff would be parked in his favorite café right now.

“Tommaso.”

“Hey.”

“Everything okay?”

“Inca’s here.”

There was a silence. “What’s going on, brother?”

“I told her I loved her.”

Another long pause. “Oh, damn.”

“Yeah.”

Raffaelo sighed. “Look, don’t freak out. Did she say it back?”

“Yes, but I don’t know …”

“You’re freaking.”

“I’m not. Yet. I need you to talk me down. Stop me from ruining this.”

Raffaelo knew his brother well. Through the damage their father had inflicted on both of them when they were young and the loss of their mother, Raffaelo had been the one to hold his brother up. And ever since then, every time Tommaso went through any heightened emotion, Raff was his rock. His anchor.

They both knew what Tomaso was capable of when he felt insecure. Tommaso closed his eyes now. “I don’t want to hurt her, Raff.”

“You won’t. Listen to me. So, you’ve said it. Did you mean it?”

Tommaso nodded to himself. “I did. Ido. She is everything.”

He heard his brother give a hiss of frustration. “Tommaso, get yourself together. You barely know her. You’re projecting.”

“No. No. It’s really not like that.”

But he knew Raff didn’t believe him. He heard his brother curse softly. “I’m coming back.”