Page 75 of The Ache That Stayed

I shut the water off and stepped back, grabbing a towel and dragging it over my face without much care. My muscles were still locked tight, pulse uneven, my body refusing to come down from whatever the hell that had been. From her.

My gaze drifted once more toward the hallway.

Toward the locked door. Staying here, thinking about what was behind that door, wasn’t going to end well.

For either of us.

I dressed and grabbed my jacket, stepping out into the night without another thought. The cold air hit harder than the water had, sharp against my skin, but it didn’t settle what was already there.

Because the truth had already landed.

Everything had changed. The balance. The rules. The distance I’d spent two years holding onto. Gone.

And Marcello wasn’t just my boss—don. He was my blood.

My family. My friend. I’d taken bullets for him. Buried men for him. Built half my life around loyalty to him. And somehow none of that had been enough to stop me from wanting her.

Which meant this wasn’t just wrong. It was unforgivable.

Maybe this would destroy me. Maybe I deserved that.

I’d rather burn beside her than survive another day pretending I could stay away. And now that I’d finally had a taste of her, hell itself wouldn’t be enough to make me walk away again.

But one thing I knew for sure: I was done standing on the sidelines. And the next time—I wasn’t stopping at a kiss.

CHAPTER 19

Roxanne

Iwas leaning against something solid. Familiar. Steady.

Marcello.

His arms wrapped around me, lips brushing the sensitive spot beneath my ear—kissing, teasing, grounding in the way only he knew how.

I leaned into him without thinking. My fingers slipping into his hair, pulling him closer. His hands moved—waist to thighs—parting them, slowly.

Then—everything shifted. The warmth changed. The touch changed.

My breath caught.

A different presence. Different touch. Rougher. Firmer.

Calloused fingers sliding up my thighs. Soft kisses trailing upward.

My body didn’t move away. It arched, welcoming, betraying me.

And then I saw them.

Grey eyes.

Waiting. Like they’d always been there. Watching me like they already knew how I’d respond.

Heat flooded low in my belly, sharp and immediate.

My back arched as his mouth dragged to the apex—

I jolted awake with a gasp. And I woke—hands between my thighs, breath ragged.