he feels right. But what hurts the most is, it would be wrong of me to let him in any farther than he already is.
Chapter Nine
Antonio
Shelby and I stand there, staring at each other. No words. Just staring. Funny how the eyes at times tell what a person is thinking. I am reading this woman like an open book. She’s struggling with a shit ton of emotions right now, from one end of the spectrum to the next.
There is sorrow, pain, excitement, and pure, unrefined lust looking deeply back at me. I tilt my head to the side, trying to decipher which one of these troubling sensations of hers I need to tackle first. My heart drops as I study her facial features and see more pain etched in the hue of her desolate baby blues.
“Talk to me, ” I whisper.
I allow my head to drop until our foreheads are touching, never once robbing myself of her enchanting beauty.
She has me in such a trance with how innocent she is, and yet she has a barrier shielding both her mind and her heart. My past may be part of why she is denying that there is much more than chemistry between us, but I can’t change it and I won’t make excuses for it. It was all before I met her. My bella petardo has bewitched me. Tamed the un-tamable. I want all of her, and by God, I am going to keep pushing until she knows it.
She wavers as if she is waiting for me to pull away from her before she answers, so I do. I remove myself from her personal space, even though I hate not having her in my arms where she belongs. When she finally speaks, her words slice me in half.
“I… I’m scared. Of everything.”
“What do you mean of everything? Us? This?” I signal my hands back and forth between the two of us.
“Yes, us,” she nods. “But mostly...”
Her gaze drifts to the floor. I want so bad to bring it back up to mine, although I won’t. I want her to do this all on her own, since progress has been made far beyond my expectations today. When she releases a soft deflated laugh, on instinct I run my hand down her arm in more of a friendly manner than a seductive one, and grasp her hand. I entwine our fingers in hopes of relaxing her so she will tell me something, anything, to get the woman back who has me melting right here literally in the palm of her hand.
“There’s so much rattling around in my head right now, Antonio. Things no one but Markus knows. Not even Erin.”
Her tone drips with sadness. Is she giving me an open invitation to ask her what has her so distraught? Shit, I have never had a serious relationship in my life. I sure as hell don’t know how to respond, so I am going to just go with my gut and ask.
“Whatever it is, let me help you. Let me be the one you lean on.”
She needs to know I mean my words. Suddenly it occurs to me why she pulled away from me when we first met, and why she freezes up whenever it comes to me. Shelby is afraid to let me know she’s a virgin. For some reason this gives me an even higher opinion of this remarkable woman. Is she afraid I will reject her for it? Hell, no. To know she is untouched by another man only makes me want her even more.
And fuck me, it’s not even the sex I am thinking about right now. Truth be told, it’s the fact that I could not only be the only man to make love to her ever, but the only man who could ever hold her heart and to have her hold mine. If this is what’s troubling her so badly, I need to put an end to this right now. She needs to know there will be nothing to make me hold back from her.
Standing here teetering on the edge of losing her once again, my mind turns into a bundle of raw nerves trying to think of the right words to say. One wrong word will set this little firecracker off, exploding right in the palm of my hand.
“Did you know you can read so much about a person just by looking into their eyes, Shelby?”
She squints her eyes immediately, which is a telltale sign she doesn’t like what I am saying. Her body tenses up nervously.
“They
Chapter Nine
Antonio
Shelby and I stand there, staring at each other. No words. Just staring. Funny how the eyes at times tell what a person is thinking. I am reading this woman like an open book. She’s struggling with a shit ton of emotions right now, from one end of the spectrum to the next.
There is sorrow, pain, excitement, and pure, unrefined lust looking deeply back at me. I tilt my head to the side, trying to decipher which one of these troubling sensations of hers I need to tackle first. My heart drops as I study her facial features and see more pain etched in the hue of her desolate baby blues.
“Talk to me, ” I whisper.
I allow my head to drop until our foreheads are touching, never once robbing myself of her enchanting beauty.
She has me in such a trance with how innocent she is, and yet she has a barrier shielding both her mind and her heart. My past may be part of why she is denying that there is much more than chemistry between us, but I can’t change it and I won’t make excuses for it. It was all before I met her. My bella petardo has bewitched me. Tamed the un-tamable. I want all of her, and by God, I am going to keep pushing until she knows it.
She wavers as if she is waiting for me to pull away from her before she answers, so I do. I remove myself from her personal space, even though I hate not having her in my arms where she belongs. When she finally speaks, her words slice me in half.
“I… I’m scared. Of everything.”
“What do you mean of everything? Us? This?” I signal my hands back and forth between the two of us.
“Yes, us,” she nods. “But mostly...”
Her gaze drifts to the floor. I want so bad to bring it back up to mine, although I won’t. I want her to do this all on her own, since progress has been made far beyond my expectations today. When she releases a soft deflated laugh, on instinct I run my hand down her arm in more of a friendly manner than a seductive one, and grasp her hand. I entwine our fingers in hopes of relaxing her so she will tell me something, anything, to get the woman back who has me melting right here literally in the palm of her hand.
“There’s so much rattling around in my head right now, Antonio. Things no one but Markus knows. Not even Erin.”
Her tone drips with sadness. Is she giving me an open invitation to ask her what has her so distraught? Shit, I have never had a serious relationship in my life. I sure as hell don’t know how to respond, so I am going to just go with my gut and ask.
“Whatever it is, let me help you. Let me be the one you lean on.”
She needs to know I mean my words. Suddenly it occurs to me why she pulled away from me when we first met, and why she freezes up whenever it comes to me. Shelby is afraid to let me know she’s a virgin. For some reason this gives me an even higher opinion of this remarkable woman. Is she afraid I will reject her for it? Hell, no. To know she is untouched by another man only makes me want her even more.
And fuck me, it’s not even the sex I am thinking about right now. Truth be told, it’s the fact that I could not only be the only man to make love to her ever, but the only man who could ever hold her heart and to have her hold mine. If this is what’s troubling her so badly, I need to put an end to this right now. She needs to know there will be nothing to make me hold back from her.
Standing here teetering on the edge of losing her once again, my mind turns into a bundle of raw nerves trying to think of the right words to say. One wrong word will set this little firecracker off, exploding right in the palm of my hand.
“Did you know you can read so much about a person just by looking into their eyes, Shelby?”
She squints her eyes immediately, which is a telltale sign she doesn’t like what I am saying. Her body tenses up nervously.
“They
Similar Books
