Chapter Twenty Two

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

LEIGH

The anticipation is killing me.

Or maybe it’s that I still haven’t come down from the high of watching Luca stroke himself for me.

Then there was the taste of him.

The feel of him—hard and throbbing. Someone please remind me never to go three years without dick again.

Or maybe it’s Luca’s dick.

Or just Luca.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve said it this week, but he’s nothing like I remember or imagined. The way he lets me take charge—lets me suck him dry after making him tease himself until he aches—then takes over and orders me to wait for him. The whiplash should be jarring, but it’s not. It’s everything I didn’t know I needed.

All this time, I thought I needed to be told what I want. And don’t get me wrong, sometimes I do. There are days I’m so exhausted from making decisions that it’s nice to have someone tell me to sit down, spread my legs, and let them feast on my pussy.

Like right now.

My head spins with a million-and-one thoughts after that little display in the living room. Of course, my core is still dripping with the desire to be fucked, but I am so happy Luca decided to take over.

Give and take, that’s what Luca said.

Balance.

The click of the door behind me alerts me to his presence.

I glance over my shoulder and wiggle my ass, unashamed that I’m fully naked and vulnerable for this man.

“Look at you,” he purrs, his voice dripping with lust. “Waiting for me, kneeling like a good fucking girl. You’re so goddamn beautiful, Leigh.” As if to prove his point, he fists his already thickening cock, stroking it back to hard.

“You are too,” I reply, my voice an anxious whisper.

The thing is a monster. My throat still carries the delicious ache of its presence and if I didn’t already know it would fit between my legs, I might be worried.

But that’s not what has my heart hammering in my chest and butterflies taking flight in my abdomen.

It’s the fact that everything about this feels different.

This is more than just a night in a vending machine closet. Tonight, we’ve shared more than just sex and orgasms. The hate between us is gone, and in its place is something fragile and new.

Luca declared his desire to claim me.

And the crazy part is—I want him to.

With his free hand, he brings a red foil packet to his lips and tears it open with his teeth.

I love that he didn’t think twice. There wasn’t a conversation on if we needed protection. It’s like he knew there’s no way in hell he’d be touching me without making sure all our bases were covered.

Pinching the tip, he rolls it down over his shaft and looks back up at me, his eyes dark and menacing.

“Touch yourself,” he rasps. “Get yourself ready for me.”

I don’t dare tell him I’m already dripping.

The tiniest whimper escapes my lips as I part my legs further and press a finger to my clit. Sparks fly beneath my skin as I circle the sensitive bud, heat coiling deep in my core.

Luca slides onto the bed behind me and runs his hand over the round of my ass. “I’ve been dreaming about his ass since spring training.”

I arch my back, leaning into his touch, and moan, “Yes.”

He slides his fingers down, ghosting the edge of my throbbing cunt like the tease he is.

“You’ve made me wait so fucking long to touch you,” Luca growls.

Craning my neck to see his face, I whimper, “Are you going to punish me?”

“Is that what you want?”

Luca digs his fingers into my hips, pulls me flush against his own. He slides his length through my slit and teases my clit. “Do you want me to take you over my knee and turn your ass the same color as Santa's suit?”

A desperate whimper escapes me as I rasp, “If you think it will help me remember that Christmas is sex and sex is you.”

“Fucking hell. You already have my heart. Are you trying to steal more from me with that mouth of yours, my Little Thief?”

My. Little. Thief.

So possessive. So sexy. And to think I hated that nickname twenty-four hours ago.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep all your things safe.”

He exhales a groan as he splays his hand wide across my ass cheek.

“If at any point you want me to stop, all you have to do is say so.”

“I won’t.”

“Leigh,” he growls, “I need you to tell me you understand.”

“I understand,” I repeat, meeting his gaze with an underlying defiance.

He shakes, stifling what I’m sure would be an all too sexy grin.

I turn back to the headboard and gripping it tight. I wiggle my ass one more time for him. “Now please, baby. Punish me for keeping this tight little cunt from you. Break me. Ruin Christmas for me in the best possible way. Then put me back together so this moment will live rent free in my mind for years to come.”

The next sound I hear is the crack of his hand against my ass. Pain and pleasure burst through me, and I let out a strangled gasp.

I whip my head around to find that grin plastered across Luca’s face.

I was right. It’s devastatingly sexy.

“That one’s an extra for your cheeky commentary.” He rubs his hand over the heated imprint he left behind. “Now count for me. I think five should be a good reminder.”

“Yes, sir,” I reply, playfully.

Luca shakes his head as he slips his hand between my legs and rubs his fingers through my pussy until they’re soaked with my arousal.

My playful tone is replaced with a soft mewl.

SMACK!

He cracks his hand over the opposite cheek, evenly distributing his punishment.

“One,” I cry out.

SMACK!

“Two.”

He rubs my ass, soothing the tender flesh with his hand before once again teasing my aching cunt. Only this time, when he reaches the top, he uses two fingers to trace slow, deliberate circles over my clit.

I thrust my hips forward, searching for friction. The moment I find it, he withdraws his hand and delivers two swift slaps to my ass.

“Three, four,” I manage through gritted teeth, frustrated that I was so close to coming and he tore it away from me.

Luca leans over, his panted breaths and stubble tickling my ear. “That orgasm is meant for my cock. I suggest you keep it safe for me.”

Fuck, I cry internally. Both at the way he throws my words in my face and because I’m wound so fucking tight with the need to come, and he basically just challenged me not to.

And my parents didn’t raise a quitter.

Craning my neck, I meet Luca’s gaze and press a soft kiss to his lips. “Do your worst, Donati.”

He sucks my lip between his teeth in response and pulls back slowly until my swollen flesh pops free, revealing a devilish smirk. “With pleasure.”

That’s when he gives it to me—the final smack.

I cry out the corresponding number, but it’s cut short by Luca slamming his cock inside me to the hilt.

“Oh,” I mewl, my release crashing over me like a wave meeting the shore.

“Fuck, Leigh, you’re so damn tight.” His voice cracks as he stills, giving me a moment to adjust to his size. “You should see yourself stretched around me. Like you were meant for me.”

I take a deep breath, and Luca digs his fingers into my flesh like a man desperate to hold on. Shifting his hips, he slowly thrusts—each one longer and faster than the one before it.

“Oh God” slips my lips.

“No. I’m Luca.” He runs his hands from the heated flesh of my ass up the curves of my hips to my tits, squeezing them between his calloused fingers. “But make no mistake, I’m going to make you cry my name like a prayer and worship every inch of this gorgeous body.”

He seals his promise with another thrust.

“Are you okay?”

I nod, unable to form a coherent sentence. The initial thrust was a shock, but now that he’s inside me there’s nothing but the delicious pinch of being filled.

“Good.” He pistons his hips, pulling out to the tip and thrusting to the hilt.

Over and over, he lays claim to my body at a punishing pace, and I moan his name as he promised—like a litany of prayers.

I’ve never been fucked like this.

He’s giving me everything he has. I’m at his mercy. And yet, I’ve never felt more cherished. Like my body is the only thing keeping him tethered to this reality.

It’s mind blowing.

I’m so close.

Right there.

And then he slows.

Luca’s once hurried strokes become less frantic and more languid. Every inch of him is destroying me, but it’s slow. Sensual. Searching.

His hands travel the length of my arms, intertwining his fingers in mine as he trails kisses along my spine to the shell of my ear.

“You are—I’ve wanted this for so long, Leigh.”

I love when he calls me his Little Thief, but my name on his lips is raw.

It’s real.

It’s my undoing.

“Don’t let me go,” I whisper, and I realize I’m lost enough in this man that my subconscious is voicing my greatest fear.

Panic grips my spine, and I still in his arms, fighting to keep myself from running.

I’ve spent my entire adult life only letting in the people I know aren’t going to leave me like my parents did. I know it’s not the same. Death can happen at any moment, but I’ve protected my heart in every way possible from feeling that kind of loss again.

Luca has the power to break me like that. He has the freedom to walk away and take a piece of me with him.

As if reading my silent thoughts, he tightens his grip, so much so that I can feel his thundering heartbeat in time with mine. “I need you to hear me when I say this, Leigh. That’s never going to happen.”

I hear his words. I only wish I believed them.

Maybe with time.

Maybe if he stays.

I want him to stay.

Softly, Luca rocks us back, widening my legs so I’m straddling his lap. Every inch of us connected.

“Ride me, Leigh,” he whispers. “Then come with me.”

It’s intimate.

It’s terrifying.

It’s perfect.

Giving me back control, I lift myself and slowly squeeze every inch of him as I do.

“Fuck yes,” he pants, peppering kisses across my shoulder.

I pick up my pace, riding him until we’re both on the edge.

“Come for me,” he growls in my ear, and my pussy detonates.

He buries his face in my neck, and I cry out his name, riding the high our bodies and minds crave.

Trembling in the aftershocks of my pleasure, Luca pulls out from me, and I have to bite my lip to stifle the whimper that comes with the loss of him.

It’s at that moment I realize just how screwed I am.

Because if I don’t get my heart in check, I’m liable to fall in love with this man.

Or maybe I already have.