Chapter 77: The Blurred Line of Desire.

Alessandro’s POV
“Alessandro…I have nothing to offer you.”
“Then why are you shaking, Aurora?” I tugged the band of her hair, heard the quick catch in her breathing. My eyes stayed on hers, watching the irises darken as I combed my spread fingers through her hair and unwound the neat braid.
“Why aren’t you stopping me?”
“I…..” Was that her knees going weak? She’d forgotten that could be such a lovely sensation. Surrender wasn’t always weakness.
“I’m thinking about it.”
He smiled then I smiled then, a lazy slide of amusement with power at the edges. “You just keep right on thinking. I’ll keep right on taking advantage.”
I undid the first button of her shirt, then the second.
I didn
She stopped my hand. “I’m out of practice.”
I filipped the third button open. “Thinking?”
“No.” her breath came out on a shaky laugh. “I’m very good at thinking most of the time.”
“Then think about this.” I gave her shirt a little tug to pull it from the waist band for her slacks.
“I wan to touch you. I want to feel your skin under my hands. Like this.” I skimmed them up her sides, down. Her stomach quivered when I unhooked her slacks.
“No, keep your eeys open.”
I leaned forward caught her chin in my teeth. A brief nip that shot an ache down the centre of her body. “Since you’re out of practice. I’ll just guide you though. And I want you looking at me when I touch you.”
Look straight ahead. I’d told Aurora. And had steadied her.
“I want to look at you.” she told me.
I lowered the zipper, slwoly, knuckles grazing against her. Her own moan echoed like thiunder in her ears.
It had been so long since since  I had done this but I was acting like a pro. She wanted to tense, go rigid at the thought of the invasion of privacy of self. But her body was laready yearning.
“Step one.” I murmured when her slacks pooled at her feet. As she blined, opened her mouth to speak, I simply covered it with mine. Gentle and warm somehow reassuring even as the edge of something reckless shimmered at the edges.
Then my arms were around her, sliding and skimming over her back as I circled her a kind of seductive waltz toward the doorway.
Nerves chased after the heat that rose to her skin.
“Alessandro.”
“I want to take you in the light.” she was already mine. No barrier of doubt would stop me.
“So I an see you when you’re under me. When I’m inside you.”
At the door of the bedroom I lifted her. “There are all manner of things I’ve imagined doing to you in this bed. Let me.”
The sun streamed rich and gold with the spring evening. It washed over the bed, over her face as I laid her down. The mattress gave under my weight, and I linked my fingers with hers. Restraint and unity. And watching her, always watching her, I took her mouth.
Slowly at first, and sweetly, until her hands relaxed under his, until her lips softened, parted, invited. I felt her heartbeat begin to slow, begin to thicken. And as I opened for him, he changed the texture and set to ravage.
The sudden demand stabbed into her, shocking the senses, scraping the nerves. She arched as heat balled in her belly, and the groan strangled in her throat. He aroused her shudder with his mouth.
I didn’t want her to anticipate. I wanted all of her senses stunned and her mind empty  of all but pleasure. She would think of me, only me. I would see to it. When she was steeped to me, finally, I would have her.
Her body was slender, the muscles surprisingly firm, almost tough, with delicate skin a delightful contrast. I indulged myself in the taste of it, while part of me calculated how to exploit those nerves and destroy every barrier
I dragged her up, hands rough, grip near to bruising, ripping another gasp from her as her head fell back, her hair tumbled. Then I used my fingertip to nudge the straps of her bra over each shoulder. I danced my fingers lightly over the swell, with my thumb circled her nipples through the cotton.
“Is it coming back to you yet?”
Her head was so heavy, her skin so hot.
“What?”
“Good.”
I unhooked her bra, drew it aside. But when she reached for me, I pressed her hand flat on the bed, sliding them back until her elbows locked.
“I want you to take this time. Take until you can’t take it anymore. Then you’ll let go, and you’ll give. Everything.”
My mouth all but savagaed hers, ripping down to her gut with one jagged and panicked thrill.
She wanted to resist, to push me back before I dragged her over a line she’d sworn never to cross again. But then my mouth was on hers again, the scrape of teeth, the flick of tongue whipping hot points of pleasure into her. Her back arched, willful invitation, and her hips began to rock.
Little cries and whimpers, she couldn’t bite them back. Her arms trembled from the strain even as her body gloried in it. Something frantic was clawing inside her, fighting to break free.
A hard fast orgasm shocked her eyes wide, left her stunned and embarrased. Then I was pulling her against me, wrapping her close.
“Let go.”
I rolled her back on the bed, tugging off my shirt. Her eyes were blurred now, her breath as ragged as mine. This time when she reached for me, I slid into her arms.
My mouth was urgent, my hands impatient as they molded and pressed and stroked.
She dragged at my trousers, desperate now that nerves had been swallowed by needs.
I stripped them aside, then sent her flying when I yanked up her hips and used my mouth on her.
Her hands locked around the rungs of the bed, as I’d once imagined. Her head whipped to the side as sensation, dark delights, swamped her. My taste, my scent flooded my senses, swelled them until there was nothing else. Her breath sobbed out an instant before her long mindless cry of release.
Even as her hands went limp, I locked mine around her. My heart was beating, a rage of blood. The last lights of day and the dying breeze of evening brushed over her face. Her hair was a wild mass over the pillow her cheeks flushed.
I would remember this always. And so, I promised myself, would she.
“Open your eyes. Aurora, look at me.” When her lids fluttered up, I clung to the last ling of control, bent my head, kissed her, long, deep.
“Say my name.”
The pressure had built again, terrible, glorious heat.
“Alessandro.”
Her fingers flexed under mine. She wanted to weep. Or scream.
“Alessandro.”
“Again.” And plunged into her.
Her mind went brilliant, she moved with him, matching each slow, smooth stroke. Absorbing him, feeling on each individual sensation until they became one glorious feast.
I was hot and hard inside her, the weight of me solid and strong. Her back was soft and smooth against me, while her hands gripped the iron surface beneath them. The last rays of light faded, the sky shifting to the gray tones of dusk.
When the rhythm quickened, she was ready, eager, and captivated by the way my eyes those stunning blue depths remained locked on hers.
“Stay with me,”
I whispered, completely lost in her, drowning in her. My heart pounded brutally against hers as I buried my face in her hair.
With our hands still gripped, we let go together.
As we breathed together, I pulled her closer, feeling her heartbeat match mine. Everything else disappeared, and it was just the two of us in that strong, unbreakable connection.
I gently held her face, my thumb brushing her cheek, and softly said, “Today, I mark you, Aurora, as my mate.”
The words hung in the air, full of meaning, as I leaned in closer. But just as the moment felt real, everything around me shattered like broken glass.
I woke up suddenly, gasping for air, my eyes wide in shock. The room was dark and quiet, but the dream felt so real. I could still feel the heat, the tension, the weight of it all pressing on me.
“What the hell?!” I muttered, running my hand through my hair, trying to make sense of it.
That dream no, that nightmare was too real.
My skin tingled, my heart raced, and I couldn’t shake the feeling.
Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I sat there, trying to calm down.
“What’s wrong with me?”
I whispered, staring at my hands like they could give me answers. But all I could think about was her.
Aurora.