Chapter 26

CLEO

A lessio’s fingertips traced light circles on the bare skin of my back.

We lay tangled together in my bed, the first rays of dawn peeking through the lace curtains.

I sighed, pressing closer to his warmth.

‘Again, amore mio?’ he murmured, voice husky with sleep and desire.

I smiled and shifted to straddle him.

‘Always,’ I breathed against his lips before losing myself again in his tender caresses and passionate kisses.

We’d made love for most of the night.

Each touch, kiss, rocking, and stroking of his fingers and cock elicited new waves of ecstasy, every one more intense than the last.

I quivered and shook, my pussy throbbing and pulsing as he took me to the brink again and again, leaving me in a state of bliss.

I’d come so many times to count. My cunt wouldn’t stop rippling for hours under his ministrations.

I was obsessed, addicted.

Now, still needing him, I swung a thigh over him and lowered my pelvis over his groin.

With a sigh, I pulled his thickness, headed with his cock ring, into me, sighing as his head tapped my damp curls and slid in, striking all my pleasure points.

He thumbed my nipples, and I flattened my hand on his chest and bent over him to give him purchase.

He sucked and plumped my tits, dragging a calloused finger, pinching and pulling as I writhed and rolled my midsection.

I gasped, ‘I need you now, make me cum.’

‘Your wish is my desire,’ he growled, his thickness stimulating all the wild spots, his arm a warm anchor as I rode his hips.

He moved with me, his hands guiding my motion, his lips nuzzling my neck, his tongue a heated tease.

I cried out, ‘I’m almost there. Deeper, harder, baby.’

‘So greedy,’ he rasped. ‘Greedy for my cock.’

We locked eyes. Damn, those leonine eyes, they gave me fever.

I felt the heat through to my clit.

He thrust more forcefully, driving me over the edge, that fucking piercing hitting me just right, sending me into a frenzy.

‘Oh fotto!’ He grunted, his pelvis jerking, hips bucking, every drive bringing him closer to his release.

With a growl, he turned me over, his strength making the interchange smooth as fuck, still powering in me as he shifted us.

My thighs went around his waist. I clawed at his back, my nails leaving crescents of pain, my climax coursing through me, my form on fire, my pussy throbbing, needing more.

‘Love me harder, honey,’ I begged, my voice husky with desire, my being trembling with need.

He pistoned into my G-spot, stretching me wide, driving into my sensitive flesh. My walls clenched and squeezed, yet another peak building, my thighs shuddering from the intensity of it.

‘Cum for me, mia sola,’ he growled, his eyes locked on me, his growl thick with lust.

When I sat up, staring at our joining to the hilt, shaking, he shoved a hand in my hair and snarled into my ear. ‘Now.’

I cried out, shuddering, releasing oceans of pleasure that washed over me, my pussy clenching around his cock.

Alessio’s hips bucked, thrusting deep in me, his jeweled head stroking at me, his eyes fixed on mine as he came.

He roared, jolting with the force of his release pulsating inside me, his cum filling me.

I milked his seed from him. It felt so wild, so heated, so fucking good.

Panting, I fell back, gasping, panting, unable to contain the waves of ecstasy washing over me.

‘Lo e te tre metri sopra il cielo,’ he growled into my nape, still jerking until his ecstasy passed.

Many moments later, I spoke into his corded neck, with him still buried in me. ‘What did that mean?’

He pulled up, eyes gleaming. ‘It’s from some cheesy Italian film and means you and me, floating three meters above the heavens. Which is how this night was for me, bella.’

I appreciated the sanctity of the words, for this man had a way of making me fly higher than I’d ever done.

He knifed and kissed me long and slow before easing out of me to fetch a towel.

He cleaned me, then he fell back into my arms.

Sometime later, the insistent grumble of my stomach roused us from bed.

Alessio chuckled and swatted my behind. ‘Up and at ‘em, carissima. I’ll tend the fire if you make us some breakfast.’

‘Deal.’

I wrapped myself in the quilt and padded to the kitchenette while he crouched by the hearth, coaxing the embers back to crackling flames.

As I whisked eggs and warmed crusty bread, I couldn’t help sneaking glances at my gorgeous, golden Italian stallion, all lean muscle and sun-bronzed skin in the firelight.

How did I get so lucky?

Alessio caught me staring and smirked. ‘See something you like?’

‘Always,’ I quipped, echoing my earlier response.

Happiness bloomed warm in my chest.

In our cozy little love nest, the rest of the world seemed to melt away - no Contis, no threats of vengeance looming. Just us, basking in our newfound adoration and passion. I’d never felt so free, so utterly myself.

If only these perfect moments could last forever, I mused.

But I pushed those thoughts aside, determined to savor every second we did have.

‘Breakfast is served, handsome.’

After devouring the simple but satisfying meal of scrambled eggs and chives on toast, Alessio and I gathered up the dishes. Making our way down to the creek, shivering in the crisp morning air.

The water was bracing and ice cold, but we laughed and splashed each other while scrubbing the plates and utensils clean.

‘You’ve got soap suds in your hair,’ he murmured, reaching out to brush them away. His touch sent delicious tingles across my skin.

‘Whose fault is that?’ I retorted, flicking droplets at him. He grinned, unrepentant.

God, that smile.

It turned my insides to molten honey every time.

After the dishes were done, we stripped off our clothes and plunged into the creek, gasping at the shock of cold. Still, it felt glorious and refreshing, washing away the last cobwebs of sleep and sex funk.

We swam, stealing kisses and long, sensual strokes underwater.

When goosebumps prickled our skin, we clambered and dried off with the towels we’d brought.

‘What’s on the agenda today?’ I asked as I tugged on my outfit. ‘Gardening or perimeter check?’

Alessio’s expression sobered. ‘We’d better inspect the property lines first. Can’t be too careful, with the Contis still out for blood.’ A shadow crossed his handsome face, but he shook it off. ‘Your prize tomatoes can wait a tad.’

I nodded, a frisson of unease creeping up my spine at the reminder of the danger lurking outside our refuge.

Sensing my inner tension, Alessio squeezed my hand in reassurance. ‘Don’t worry, mia sola. I won’t let anything happen to you or this place. I promise.’

‘I know,’ I murmured, lacing my fingers through his.

Hand in hand, we set off to walk the perimeter, eyes peeled for any signs of trouble. Despite the looming threat, I couldn’t help treasuring these moments. The solidness of his presence beside me, the whisper of the wind through the trees, the crystal-bright clarity of the morning light.

A thought struck me as we reached one corner of the property.

I turned to Alessio, searching his face. ‘Why are we waiting for them to hit us?’ I asked, puzzled. ‘Why not take the fight to them, catch them off guard?’

Alessio’s jaw tightened, a muscle ticking in his cheek. He was silent for a beat, staring out over the rolling hills. When he spoke, his voice was flat and hard.

‘So I have the best excuse for un-aliving him,’ he growled with a brutal edge. ‘Going to him is murder and could land me in jail. He coming here is self-defense on my part.’

I sucked in a sharp breath, stunned by the icy logic of his words. Of course, I knew Alessio was more than capable of violence - I’d seen it firsthand.

To hear him speak so calm and collected of killing, even in defense of my home and our lives, however, sent a chill through me.

And yet, beneath the shock, I understood. Alessio’s ruthlessness had been forged in the crucible of an unforgiving life.

He’d learned that sometimes, the only way to protect what you loved was to be harder, more ruthless than those who would destroy it.

I swallowed hard, my heart aching for the boy he had been, for all the choices that had been ripped away from him.

Wordlessly, I stretched to cup his face, my thumb brushing the proud jut of his cheekbone.

‘I hate that it has to be this way,’ I murmured. ‘I loathe that you have to carry this burden, Alessio.’

His eyes gleamed. ‘I detest that you, too, had to endure so much because of him.’

He leaned into my touch, his eyes drifting closed for a brief moment.

Tears pricked at my eyes, and I reached for his hand, twining our fingers together. ‘I know you will,’ I whispered. ‘I trust you, Alessio. With my life, with my love, with everything I am.’

He lifted our joined hands to his lips, pressing a fervent kiss to my knuckles. ‘Ti amo, amore mio,’ he murmured. ‘Always and forever.’

When he opened them again, they were softer, warmer. He turned his head to press his lips once more on my palm.

He straightened, squaring his shoulders as if shrugging off a heavy weight. ‘Come on, let’s finish the rounds, and I’ll do some work securing the place. Afterward, I’ll make you dinner.’

I nodded, mustering a smile. ‘Sounds perfect.’

Over the next few hours, Alessio threw himself into fortifying the farm.

After raising my barn and sheds for material, he loaded up his Defender and headed for the gate and perimeter fence leading off it.

I stood by him, handing him tools and nails as he strung tripwires along the perimeter and camouflaged snares in the underbrush .

He even rigged up some nasty surprises involving rusty spikes and well-placed boards.

‘Who are you?’ I asked him at one point.

‘Being a Maggiore in the Italian Alpine units meant I learned much about stringing up traps,’ he murmured.

I stared, awed and also unsettled by his single-minded focus. It was a stark reminder of the dangerous world he came from, the brutal life he’d left behind. But it was a testament to his fierce willpower to protect what was ours.

When night fell, we retired to the farmhouse, the crackling fire and soft lamplight casting a warm glow over the rustic room.

Alessio surprised me with a special dinner. The scent of garlic and butter wafted through the air, making my mouth water and my stomach growl.

‘What’s all this?’ I asked, wandering into the kitchen.

My golden lion stood at the stove, stirring a pot of bubbling pasta with a look of intense concentration on his face.

He glanced up at me, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. ‘It’s a surprise,’ he said, his voice low and warm. ‘An old famiglia recipe, straight from the heart of Naples.’

I leaned against the counter, watching him work. There was something almost hypnotic about how he moved, his hands sure and steady as he chopped mushrooms and grated cheese. I could have observed him forever, lost in the rhythm of his motions and the play of muscles beneath his skin.

‘It’s called ‘miezi paccheri alla capa ‘e’ mbrello,’ he said, the words rolling off his tongue like a song. ‘Pasta with mushrooms and cream. Simple, but delicious.’

My stomach growled again, louder this time, and he chuckled. ‘Patience, amore mio,’ he murmured, brushing a kiss against my temple. ‘Good things come to those who wait.’

And so I waited, the anticipation building.

When, at last, he set a steaming plate of pasta before me, the aroma was intoxicating, the flavors bursting on my tongue like fireworks.

‘Alessio,’ I breathed, my eyes fluttering closed in ecstasy. ‘This is incredible.’

He smirked, looking pleased with himself. ‘I told you,’ he said, twirling his fork in his food. ‘Simple, but delicious.’

We ate in silence for a few moments, savoring every bite. I couldn’t remember when I’d savored something so perfect, so satisfying, imbued with Alessio’s love and passion.

‘Thank you,’ I said at last, reaching across the table to take his hand in mine. ‘For this, for everything. I don’t know what I did to justify you, but I’m so grateful.’

He squeezed my fingers, his eyes soft and warm in the candlelight. ‘You deserve the world, mia sola mio,’ he murmured. ‘And I intend to give it to you, one meal at a time.’

I laughed, my heart so full it overflowed with emotion. ‘If this is what your pasta does to me, I can’t imagine what other tricks you have up your sleeve.’

Alessio’s grin turned wicked, his eyes smoldering. ‘Oh, I have plenty of tricks,’ he purred, his voice low and sultry. ‘But those are best saved for dessert, don’t you think?’

I shivered, heat pooling in my belly at the promise in his words. ‘Dessert, huh?’ I managed, my mouth dry. ‘And what did you have in mind for that?’

He leaned forward, his breath warm on my ear. ‘Let me surprise you,’ he whispered, nipping at my earlobe. ‘But first, we finish this masterpiece of a meal.’

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. We ate the rest of our pasta in charged silence, the air between us thick with anticipation. Every brush of Alessio’s foot on my leg under the table sent sparks skittering across my skin, each heated glance stoking the flames of my desire.

By the time our plates were clean, I was vibrating with need. Alessio stood, holding his hand to me with a smoldering look that made my knees weak. I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet and into his arms.

‘Now,’ he growled, his lips brushing against mine. ‘Let me show you just how sweet dessert can be.’

That night, he took our loving to a new level, one so stratospheric I thought I’d never come down.

The pale moonlight streaming through the window highlighted the curves of our entwined bodies, slick with sweat and glowing in the dim light. My lover’s face was a mask of concentration and desire as he pleasured me.

His tongue traced a path down my belly, his hand gripping my backside and pulling me down onto him, his hand moving in rhythmic motions between my thighs.

‘I want to go so deep in you, mia sola, and make you feel like you’ve never done before.’

‘How?’ I whispered. ‘How can you possibly take me higher?’

He bent over me, giving me a long look, and breathed into my ear. ‘I want to take your ass. ’

He pulled up to gauge my response.

I stared at him, slow-blinking, playing with the idea.

With a shaky breath, I nodded, granting him my most profound trust. My knees were weak and molten, and arcs of electricity soared through me. ‘Whatever you want, have your way.’

‘You’ll never regret this,’ he growled against my nape, doing away any last fragments of doubt with a soul-melting kiss.

Damn, he was going for it and freakin’ going to balls to the wall.

His tongue traveled over my body, all the way to my pussy where he pushed my thighs as far as they could go, exposing all of me to him.

He dipped his head and took his time, edging me. Sucking my clit, then pulling away when I was about to peak over and over until I was soaking the towel he’d placed under my ass with my spurting need.

Priming me, oiling me, working my cunt and button with a gentle intensity that had me writhing.

I reached for his cock, grabbing it, stroking, squeezing as his head spurted with precum.

‘Fotto, Cleo,’ he snarled.

He returned the favor, fucking me with his fingers and hand, slipping and sliding over my folds, flooding his hand with my juices.

‘Ready?’ he grunted, neck corded, eyes so hot as he stared at me mewling, wanting so bad to come.

‘Per favore, baby,’ I begged.

‘Il piacere e tutto mio, my utter pleasure,’ he growled.

He sat up, legs tucked under him and tugging my hips so my ass cheeks rested on his knees.

His golden tresses fell to his shoulders, veins standing out on his brow as he, with great care, guided his cock, so thick and throbbing, into my ass.

He went slow, allowing me to get used to his girth in my virgin cavity.

At first, I gasped at his thickness, and my gaze fluttered away, overwhelmed by the sensations crashing over me.

‘Keep looking at me,’ my man growled. ‘Don’t be shy on me, bella.’

I met his amber eyes, mine shimmering with tears, as ecstasy and feeling surged all around us.

He held my hand and squeezed, lending me his strength.

I flooded from my slit, and he stroked me, letting my wet coat our joining.

‘Fuck yourself on me, carissima,’ he invited, his growl thick with lust.

I hissed, arched my spine as I obeyed.

I placed one foot on his chest for leverage, canted my waist, and slicked myself over him as his fingers plundered my pussy.

It was beyond wild.

‘Ride me,’ he rasped, raw and coarse with need.

He held his hips still while I drove mine along his thick length. Rocking onto him, I took him into me one inch at a time as I got used to his girth, shaking from the growing euphoria of the wild sensation.

When he was finally buried to the hilt, he took over. His hands gripped my ass tighter, pulling me closer, his cock sliding deeper in and out of me with a rhythm that was equally maddening and exhilarating.

Each piston brought a different wave of bliss, my being responding to his with an intensity that was both passionate and intense.

His fingers moved up and down my skin as I wailed, writhed, and screamed, pinching my nipples, moaning, the pleasure building within me, trembling with every touch.

He slowed his movements, his eyes locking onto mine, the desire in his eyes burning bright.

‘I’m cumming,’ I breathed, my muscles tensing, clenching tight onto his cock.

His shaft swelled even more inside me as if he was trying to reach deeper into my core, maximizing the ecstasy I was feeling.

He increased the intensity of his thrusts, his hips driving into me with incessant power. His piercing hit the most sensitive of spots, causing me to convulse in a combination of sweet agony and pleasure.

At the sound of my moans, he encircled my thighs, pulling me closer.

His lips found mine, melding our tongues and mouth me with an insistent hunger, his essence mingling with me as our bodies moved in perfect sync.

With a growl, he thrust into me one last time, his cock pulsing deep inside me.

Filling me with a burning heat, the sensation of his piercing sent undulations of delight coursing through me.

I sank my hands in his golden tresses as such a sweet bliss hit that I burst into tears.

‘Let go, bella. Allow this moment to take you where you’ve never been.’

And so I did, surrendering to the intense ripples that washed over me. I shuddered and convulsed around him; my mind was lost in a blissful abyss.

It was unending, shattering, spectacular, and in my bliss, my thighs caged his torso, gripping so hard that my muscles flexed.

He powered into me, cumming hard, flinging his head back as he roared into his climax.

Falling on me, he groaned into my nape as I pushed my hands through his hair, stroking his golden mane as his hips kept undulating in his come-down.

And as the waves of pleasure receded, we lay tangled in each other’s arms, our bodies slick with sweat and passion.

‘You OK?’ he growled at one point. ‘You rode hard, bellissima.’

‘I’m more than OK,’ I reassured him. ‘You blew my mind.’

He grunted into my neck, hands wrapped around me, his chest rising and falling, still buried deep inside me, his piercing pulsating in me.

Still joined, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace and contentment wash over me.

He kept me tight and close, and I welcomed his weight, musk, and heat. Our hearts beat in sync, our souls entwined in a way that could never be broken.

I kissed him, my lips lingering on his, our tongues dancing together.

This wasn’t just an act of love but a connection beyond the physical.

It was pure magnificence.