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I licked my lips “Luca?”

He started unbuttoning his shirt, revealing ser wound below his ribs His skin was covered with blood But it couldn’t all have come from him, especially not all the blood on the shirt It worried me that he still hadn’t spoke He shed his shirt and dropped it on the ground Then he unbuckled his belt

“Luca,” I said “You are scaring me What happened?”

He pushed his pants down and stepped out of them He was barefoot and now only in his briefs as he knelt on the bed and brought one knee between own He slowly ripped my throat, turned my heartbeat into a flutter

His eyes made me want to bolt, to cry and scream, to escape Instead I lifted my hand and cupped his cheek His expression shifted, a chink in the monstrous mask He leaned into the touch, then he lowered his face and pressed it into the crook oftiainst his cheek

“Luca?” I said softly

He raised his head again I could see a flicker of the Luca I knew He slid off the bed and headed for the bathrooht, I let out a deep breath Whatever had gone down todayshower In what kind of mood would Luca return into the bedrooo?

The water stopped and I quickly lay down on my side of the bed and pulled the covers up A few minutes later, the door opened and Luca walked in with a towel around his waist It hite, but a few droplets of blood had dripped from his wound and stained the fabric He didn’t walk toward the cupboard to grab boxer shorts as he usually did, instead he came directly toward the bed When he reached for the towel, I averted my eyes and turned on my other side, my back toward him He lifted the blanket and the ainst rip before he turned me toward him

My mind screamed at me to stop him He was co up the pieces of one of his rabbed the he it up I put my hand over his

“Luca,” I whispered

His eyes htly There was still darkness in theainst ht I want to hold you”

I could almost hear the unspoken words: I need you I sed “Only hold me?”

“I swear,” his voice was gruff as if he’d spent hours screa orders

I lowered own off He released a low breath as he gazed at e to cover ertips brushed the hem of my panties but when I tensed they retreated and he rolled onto his back and lifted me on top of him I straddled his stoainst his chest I tried to keep ht off him because I didn’t want to hurt his wounds, but he wrapped one arainst hianhis thumb across my lower back and butt, and I relaxed slowly The entire ti moment a tiny bit more of the darkness dissipated

“Doesn’t your cut need stitches?”

He bent forward and kissedme slowly as if he wanted to savor every ood I loved that he was suddenly so gentle If he was like that ere intimate for the first time, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad My eyelids felt heavy but I couldn’t look away from Luca I touched his throat, an inch below the cut I wasn’t sure why but I leaned forward and pressed a feather-light kiss against the wound It was small and wouldn’t need stitches, not like the one below his ribs When I drew back, Luca looked aler brushed h the fabric

I sucked in a breath, shocked by the jolt the ss and I could feelLuca to realize that a bare brush and his stroking of my butt had caused such a reaction Maybe I wasn’t experienced but I’d been ihts It wasn’t that I was frigid Luca’s body turnedelse The feeling of Luca’s strong chest and entle kisses, his soft touch, theymore, even if my mind told me it was a bad idea

Luca’s eyes narrowed a fraction as he studied ure out Then he lightly graced the crotch of ertips and I knew he could feel it I could feel that the thin fabric was soaked My cheeks flamed inertips against