17. Luca

SEVENTEEN

Luca

The walls of the suite are thick, but I wonder if they're thick enough to mute the sounds of our savage dance. Fiamma's hands are splayed against the wall, her fingers clawing at the smooth surface as I drive into her from behind. The bed creaks beneath us, a rhythmic beat of the slap of skin on skin, the wet sounds of our joining as we become one, and the raw, guttural noises we can't seem to control.

The scent of her, a mix of sweat and arousal, fills the room, heady and intoxicating. It's a smell I've come to crave, to need, especially in these moments when I'm buried deep inside her. My hands grip her hips, fingers digging into her soft flesh, pulling her back onto me with an urgency that borders on desperation.

Each thrust is a claiming, a visceral reminder that, despite the danger and chaos swirling around us, in this moment, she is mine. The way her body yields to me, the heat of her wrapped around my cock, it's a sensation that goes beyond the physical. It's as if our very souls are intertwined, bound together by the passion that ignites every time we touch.

This isn't just sex; it's a raw, unfiltered expression of everything we've been through. It's the culmination of fear, adrenaline, relief, and an undercurrent of emotions that we've both been fighting to suppress. With each stroke, I feel the walls I've built around my heart crumbling, exposing a vulnerability I never allowed myself to acknowledge before.

I can tell she's close, her moans growing louder, her body tensing under my hands. I reach around to where she's slick and ready, finding that sensitive bundle of nerves and circling it with my fingers. Her response is immediate, a sharp cry as she clenches around me, her orgasm triggering my own.

I come hard, the force of it ripping through me like a storm, and I fold over her, my face buried in the curve of her neck as I empty myself inside her. The world around us seems to fade away, leaving nothing but the sound of our ragged breathing and the pounding of our hearts.

As the intensity of the moment begins to ebb, I slow my movements, gently withdrawing from her. We collapse onto the bed, a tangle of limbs and heated skin, both of us spent and sated.

The silence that follows isn't awkward or uncomfortable; it's a shared peace, a quiet understanding that what just happened between us was far more than just sex. It was a connection, a merging of two souls that have been through the fires of hell and emerged stronger on the other side.

I pull her close, pressing a kiss to her temple, and she snuggles against me, her breath evening out as we both come back down to earth. As I lie here, holding her, I can't help but marvel at how this woman has managed to break through my once formidable shield, to make me feel things I never thought possible.

The room is quiet now, the only sound the soft crackling of the fire in the corner and the rhythmic rise and fall of our breathing.

Fiamma lies next to me, her body pressed against mine, her skin still warm from the passion we just shared. I can feel the rapid beat of her heart slowly calming as we both settle into the afterglow. Our bodies are slick with sweat but energized, as if we've found something in each other that goes beyond physical need.

I brush a strand of her dark hair out of her face, my fingertips lingering on her soft skin. She looks up at me, her deep eyes searching mine for something I don't think either of us can fully name yet. But I know what I feel—a pull, deeper than I expected, stronger than I ever knew I was capable of.

She smiles faintly, a little breathless, her lips swollen from our kisses. "You're a surprise, you know that?" she murmurs.

I raise an eyebrow. "A surprise, huh? I'll take that as a compliment. I suppose."

"It is," she says, her voice soft, almost a whisper. "I didn't expect this. To feel like I do. You know, I've recently worried my heart was too hard to care about someone else. You've shown me that I can. And it's scary as hell. A lot scarier than the shit I've witnessed the last few days."

Neither did I. I didn't expect her to break through the walls I'd built around myself, didn't expect her to become more than a job. But here we are, tangled in these sheets, in each other's lives, and everything has shifted.

I reach out, gently wiping the single tear that escapes from the corner of her eye. "You okay?"

She nods, but her eyes glisten with more unshed tears, betraying the pain she's still carrying. "I'm fine, it's just… everything today." Her voice trembles. "Finding out about Arianna, about the lies, it's a lot. But I'll be okay."

I slide closer, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her into me. She rests her head on my chest, her cheek warm against my skin, and I can feel the tension slowly melting out of her. "You didn't deserve that," I say, my voice low but steady. "What she did is unforgivable. I'm sorry she hurt you."

"I know," she whispers, her fingers tracing patterns on my chest. "But you are helping me through it. You're so patient with me, even when I don't deserve it. That was hard for me tonight, but I know it was necessary."

I hold her tighter, hating that she's hurting. "You did what you had to do. She betrayed you. There's no coming back from that."

She's quiet for a moment, her breath shallow as she processes everything. "I didn't watch," she says softly. "When Sal… when he snapped her neck. I couldn't. But I heard it. The cracking of her bones is a sound I will never forget. "

I exhale slowly, my hand still running through her hair, gently soothing her. "You're stronger than you think, Fiamma. You did the right thing. She was dangerous."

She nods again and another tear that slides down her cheek. I already know, she doesn't have to tell me the truth doesn't make it hurt any less. "I still cared about her in some fucked up way. Even though I know it was all a lie, part of me can't help but feel like I lost something."

I tilt her chin up, making her look at me. "You did lose something and you should let yourself grieve. Arianna was not who you thought she was, but that doesn't take away the care you had for her and the loss you're now experiencing. What matters now is the people who are still here, who care about you. Your family, me, we're here."

Her eyes soften, and I can see the conflict in them, the war between the cold, brutal world we live in and the warmth we've somehow found together in the middle of it.

"I know," she whispers, her voice shaky. "And I'm grateful. It's just hard to reconcile right now. This life, the way things work. How we can be so brutal one moment and… this the next." Her hand rests on my chest, her fingers splayed out over my heart. "It's hard to make sense of it."

I lean down, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "You don't have to make sense of it right now. Just let yourself feel what you need to feel. We'll figure the rest out together. I'm not going anywhere."

She exhales, a soft sigh that feels like relief. "Christmas is still coming in nine days," she says, her voice soft and distant, as if she's surprised by the reminder. "I keep forgetting. Are we going to the gala in a few days? Should that be our coming out to the family? "

I smile faintly, thinking about the holiday that's just around the corner, the way the world outside the lodge feels so far away from the chaos we've lived through. "It's almost here. I should probably give a heads up to Adrian first, to make sure he and Massimo aren't going to lose their shit. They did hire me, after all, to take care of you, not claim you."

She looks up at me, her eyes searching mine, and for the first time tonight, I see hope there. "Oh, you think you claimed me, huh?"

"Uh, yeah," I say firmly. "You're mine now, sweetheart."

She smiles through her tears, the sadness lingering but it seems to be lessening with every passing moment. It's nice to see her smile. "I think I might be okay with that. I've never been one to want to be claimed, but I've never felt like this before."

We lie there, wrapped in each other, and for the first time in what feels like forever, the world feels… right. It's strange, after everything we've been through, to find this peace. But as I hold her close, with the warmth of the fire and the distant hum of Christmas not far off, I know this is where I want to be.