“He always does, but he’s not the voice of reason, believe me.”

I giggled, then winced as pain shot down my arm.

Luca still hovered over me but he shook his head. “That’s what I mean.”

“Please,” I whispered. “I want to make love to you. I’ve wanted this for a long time.”

“I’ve always made love to you, Aria.”

I swallowed, and began stroking Luca’s erection through the thin fabric. He didn’t draw back. “Don’t you want this?”

“Of course I want it. We almost lost each other. I want nothing more than to be as close to you as possible.”

“Then make love to me. Slow and gentle.”

“Slow and gentle,” Luca said in a low voice and I knew I had him. He moved down to the edge of the bed and began massaging my feet and calves. I opened my legs wide. My nightgown rode up, baring my thin white panties to Luca. His eyes traveled up and I knew he could see how much I wanted and needed this. Luca groaned against my ankle, then trailed his fingers up my leg, only dusting the skin until he brushed my center with his fingertips. My panties stuck to my slick heat. “You make slow and gentle really hard on me. If you weren’t hurt, I’d bury myself in you and make you scream my name.”

“If I wasn’t hurt, I’d want you to do it.”

Luca flicked his tongue across my ankle, then gently sucked the skin into his mouth. “Mine.”

Then he covered my calves and thighs with kisses, saying the word ‘mine’ over and over again as he made his way up toward my center. He slid my panties down, then settled between my legs and kissed my outer lips. “Mine,” he whispered against my heated flesh. I arched and immediately jerked in pain.

“I want you to relax completely. No tensing your muscles, or your shoulder will hurt,” he said, his lips brushing against me as he spoke and making me wet with arousal.

“I always tense up when I come,” I said teasingly. “And I really really want to come.”

“You will, but no tensing.”

I didn’t say that I thought it was impossible. Luca could probably see it on my face and his expression said that he accepted the challenge.

I should challenge him more often. As he began to pleasure me with ghost touches and kisses and licks that made my toes curl with need, I felt my muscles loosen and my mind drift into a cocoon of bliss. My quiet moans and the soft sound of Luca’s mouth working my folds mingled with the silence of the room. A knot slowly formed deep in my core, and every brush of Luca’s tongue tightened it, and then deliciously slowly the knot unraveled and my orgasm flowed through my body like honey, and I released a long breath as Luca kept my orgasm going for what seemed like forever with feathery touches. I watched him get up through a haze that had nothing to do with painkillers. He slipped out of his boxers as I lay like a boneless heap on the bed. My body was humming as if every cell had been infused with sweet pleasure. He stretched above me, his tip at my entrance. Then he slid into me ever so slowly, stretching me. I let out a long moan when he filled me completely.

“Mine,” he said quietly.

I stared into his eyes as he withdrew inch by inch until only his tip was in me before sliding back in. “Yours,” I whispered.

The path stretching before us was one of darkness, a life of blood and death and danger, a future of always watching my back, of knowing every day could be Luca’s last, of fearing that one day I might have to watch him receive a lethal injection. But this was my world and Luca was my man, and I would go this path with him until the bitter end.

As he made love to me, I touched my hand to the tattoo over his heart, felt his heart beating against my palm. I smiled. “Mine.”

“Always,” Luca said.