Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
The sounds that came from him were gruff and guttural, wholly masculine. It was when I felt the tenseness start to leave him, as I watched him stare into my eyes, that I knew something monumental was coming. I felt it like an impending storm.
“I love you,” he whispered. The way he watched me, stared into my eyes, left no room for doubt just how strongly he meant those words.
He was right here with me, as I was with him.
I thought about his words, let them sink in, let them wash through me and over me and around me. I stared into his eyes and felt as if my heart was out of my chest. Gio owned it. “I love you.” Those words felt so good finally coming out of me.
He made this low sound of pleasure, closed his eyes for a second, then rested his chest on mine, breathing harshly. I held him like he held me, nothing ever having felt more right than this one moment.
For several long moments, we did nothing but breathe heavily. And to my disappointment, Gio moved off me. I could do nothing but stare at the ceiling, letting the experience wash through me. There was a delicious ache, this pain between my thighs, the wetness from my arousal, from Gio’s orgasm, coating the most sensitive, the most intimate part of me.
Gio rolled onto his side and pulled me toward him, holding me, and God it felt so good, like this was right where I should be.
“I love you,” he said again, his voice a rumble against my neck. “So much it hurts me to look at you. I feel like what I feel for you, the emotions I have for you, will consume me until there isn’t anything left.” He pulled me in closer, then reached out and covered us with the blanket. I didn’t want to worry about anything except this moment, being in Gio’s arms, knowing what we’d given each other.
“Gio,” I moaned his name. “I love you too, Gio. I’ve loved you for years.”
He kissed my throat, and I melted against him. God, he smelled good, felt even better. I closed and rested my hand on his chest, feeling his heart start to slow to a more normal beat.
“I can’t let you go, Pyper. I don’t care what anyone says, not our parents, not the aristocratical assholes that surround us. No one.” He pulled me in tighter. “I love you too much, have for so long. And now that I have you, now that I know what I mean to you….” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Yeah, you’re mine.”
Chapter Eleven
Pyper
I brought my dinner plate into the kitchen and started helping my mom clean up. We might have staff that helped us with every day domestic things, but we were plenty capable of cleaning up after ourselves.
I stood by my mom as she rinsed off the plates. She handed them to me, and I loaded them in the dishwasher. My mind was consumed with what Gio and I had done in my room just the other night. My face heated at how incredible it had been. I’d never in my wildest dreams imagined that losing my virginity would have been so... erotic.
I cleared my throat, willing my face to not be so hot, not be so undeniably red.
“You okay?” my mother asked, and I saw her glance over at me through my peripheral.
“I’m fine.” I said that a little too quickly, moved a little too fast as I put the plate she’d handed me into the dishwasher. I could still feel her gaze on me and knew she didn’t believe me.
I exhaled slowly. I just needed to get this done and over with. I turned to face her, staring into her blue eyes, ones that were the exact same shade as mine. I’d imagined saying this more times than I even wanted to count. She could obviously see how serious this was, because she stopped what she was doing to face me as well. Her eyebrows were pulled down low, a pinched expression between them.
“Pyper?” She reached out and placed her hand on my shoulder, a comforting gesture any other time, but right now, it made me feel even more on edge.
How would she react when she found out about Geo and me being together? I loved him enough that I was willing to risk everything, even my parents’ disapproval, over it.
I thought of a thousand different ways to actually say it, played it out in my head. But in the end, I decided to just say it, fast and easy, painless. Like ripping a Band-Aid off.
“I care about Gio.”
She blinked a couple times, and she glanced to her side just as my father walked into the kitchen, a couple glasses in his hands as he brought them to the sink.