by Reina Torres
She stood there breathing as if her life depended on the conscious action. In and out, filling her lungs.
“Allegra.” His voice broke with his heart when a single tear slid down her cheek.
“I’m… I’m going to fall apart in a little bit,” she swallowed and then dragged in a breath. “I’ve done this before,” she managed a little ghost of a smile, “I’ll pull myself together afterward. I just... I just need a little help with my zipper.”
He moved around her, feeling the push of his bear. The usually insufferable creature wasn’t interested in arguing with him, they both wanted the same thing.
To be there for her.
He took hold of the zipper pull and felt a rush of relief when she didn’t pull away. There was just a whisper of sound as he opened the back of her dress.
“I’d like to help you.”
He watched her tense and then she reached down, took his hand, and drew it up to her face. She cradled his hand against her face, breathing in his scent. The lines of tension tightening her back eased and loosened as he waited.
“Reading his words,” she told him, her voice soft, quavering, “I feel like he’s touching me.”
His bear wanted blood. He wanted to sink claw into flesh and tear with fang until the man looked nothing like his natural shape. He wanted to scream his rage to the heavens.
But most of all, he wanted to soothe his mate.
“Take off my clothes, Valerio.” Her tone hovered between plea and demand, but he would have answered her with either.
His hands took hold of both sides of her open zipper and slowly pushed the cloth over her shoulders, down her arms, and then dropped it at her feet. His hands reached for the clasp at the back of her bra and flicked that open. He pulled it off and followed it down, hooking his fingers into the waistband of her panties and laid them both at her feet.
She stepped forward, walking toward the sound of the shower. Her steps were stilted but sure. He followed behind her just to make sure she didn’t slip or bump into anything. She’d learned the layout of their rooms so quickly, but she was upset and didn’t need any more hurt than she was already suffering through.
As she stepped under the gentle shower, he watched the sheets of water fall over her amazing body and fought off the wave of hunger that tried to drive him to his knees.
He stood at the edge of the shower and watched her tilt her face up into the gentle rainfall, letting it wash over her.
“You’re so beautiful.”
Valerio hadn’t intended to say a word, but he meant it from the depths of his soul.
“I’m not.”
Her words weren’t meant as a game, asking him to refute her claim. Her words came from the darkness inside of her. A darkness that he knew well. Too well.
“You’re brave, Allegra. You’re so strong.” His shuddered with emotion. “And the way you’ve survived and stepped into the spotlight, only proves how courageous you are.”
“He didn’t want me in the spotlight.” She left her mouth open and caught some of the drops in her mouth, swallowing a moment later. “We performed with each other at Julliard. He played the piano and we were paired together again and again.
“We spent so much time together, it just seemed natural to be… together.”
“You shared your love for music.”
She nodded and then lifted hand to sweep her hair from her face. “A few months before we finished, I was called into my advisor’s office, Lance came with me, we were inseparable at the time.”
Allegra didn’t lower her hand back to her side. Instead, she held it out to him.
He couldn’t deny her. Not then. Not ever.
Stripping off his clothes, Valerio moved under the steady fall of water until he took her hand and pressed it over his wildly beating heart.
“They told me they had been contacted with an opportunity to play in France. Paris, to be exact. Now,” she managed the hint of a smile, “if you had asked me before that day, I would have said Italy would be my choice of perfect destinations.”
His bear nearly purred at the thought of taking her home to Italy, rolling about inside of him like a cat full of milk.
“But the chance to play concerts in Paris?” He heard the dreamy quality in her voice and smiled. “I couldn’t wait.”
He felt the shift in the room, as if the water had suddenly turned cold.
“Lance was thrilled, he was already talking about what sights we would see before our concerts, when they told him that the invitation was for me. Just me.
“He laughed it off. Gave me a hug. Took me back to the apartment. When he took me into the bedroom,” she blushed, her cheeks turning a ruddy red, “I thought we were going to celebrate.
“The first time he hit me, I stumbled back, knocked the lamp off my nightstand, broke my wrist on the frame of the door. He kept yelling at me. How ungrateful I was. He was the one that made our duets sound good. How I was trying to leave him behind. How I didn’t love him enough.
“I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to make him stop. I begged him to stop.”
She lifted her hand, bringing it closer to her forehead where a strand of hair and fallen forward, heavy with water. Valerio brushed the lock back from her face and took her hand in his, adding it beside the first on his chest.
“I tried to remind him that he could still go with me. His parents had already promised to send it to Europe after he’d finished his studies at Julliard.” Her voice was giddy, almost gleeful but he felt the tension in her hands and arms. “I talked about how we’d planned to see Europe together.”
The world seemed to slow down, the warm fall of rain slowing until individual drops sparkled like jewels in the air. The beauty of the moment left him cold when she spoke again.
“So, he told me that I would never get to see Europe.” She drew in a breath, slow and thready. “He took a hold of my hair. Twisted it in his fist. And he threw me into the window.”
He tried to move closer, to take her in his arms, but she held him back for a moment.
“I have a vague memory of his face, reflected in the window, the fury on his face the moment before the impact.
“Right before I felt the pain and heard the window shatter, I had one regret. That I would never see the face of my husband… or my children.” Tears rolled her down her face. “And then I felt the pain and then all I could worry about was living through the nightmare.”
“And you did.” Valerio could only feel thankful in that moment. His mate had gone through hell and had lived through it. That she’d survived all of that pain and still had the ability to love with an open heart. “Now, let me help you to live the life you deserve, my love.”
She shook her head, remaining silent for a moment. “I’ll still never see your face… or our children,” she added, before she found a smile to share with him, “but I’ll still have hugs and kisses enough for all of you.”
“All of us?” He loved hearing the joy returning to her voice. “How many is all?”
“Four?” She shrugged. “Six?” Her laughter was like a caress, stroking all over his skin, turning his hardening erection to heated steel. “Too many?”
“I told you that I would give you whatever you want, Stellina.” He took hold of her hands again, drew them down over his stomach, watching her bite into her lower lip as her fingers bumped down over his abs, tracing through the thickening trail of hair until her fingers touched his rock-hard length. “I’m ready to start when you are.”
She opened her mouth and instead of words, he saw the pink tip of her tongue sweep over her lower lip.
“It’s up to you, my love.” Valerio meant every word. If she wanted to wait for years before he touched her again, he would do what she asked. Having her in his life was enough, more than enough to make him happy. “I just want to make you happy.”
“Well, if that’s that case," she smiled and he could see a little mischievous twist at the corner of her l
ips, “then love me, Valerio. I want you to touch me… everywhere. Ever since I read his card, I’ve felt like he was touching me. I don’t want to feel him on me anymore. I want to feel you… all over me.”
He couldn’t find the words to tell her how she made him feel, but his bear pushed a growl up through his throat and they saw her smile.
Backing her up against the wall he felt her hands stroke his cock, one following the other from the base to the head, over and over. His hips flexed, the muscles in his backside tightening as he struggled not to thrust into her hands. Her hand swept over his head and he groaned. “I want to be inside of you, Allegra.” She wrapped one hand around the base and the other slipped below to cup him gently in her grasp. “I need to be inside you.”
“Not as much as I need you.”
He took a steadying breath but couldn’t bring himself completely under control. “I will try to be gentle.” He could hear the rough tones in his voice. His bear was just under the surface, pushing hard, demanding they fill her… give her a child… make her happy. He just didn’t want to hurt her. No one would ever hurt her again. “I will try.”
She laughed, her voice a counter-melody to the rhythm of the water falling over them. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from what happened to me, Valerio. I’m not made of glass. You don’t have to be gentle.” She sighed and leaned forward, brushing the tips of her breasts against his chest. Allegra moaned when his next breath brushed his skin against hers. “In fact, I was really hoping you wouldn’t do that at all. Hard. Fast. Until you’re so deep inside me we’ll never be apart.”
He seized her hips, his fingers biting into her flesh as he lifted her against the wall as he stepped between her thighs. Valerio watched her smile as she used a hand to guide him into her body and when she wrapped her arms around his neck he thrust into her in one hard lunge.
Valerio held still for a moment, just in case she had second thoughts. Instead, she wiggled her hips against him and smiled. “I want all of you,” she told him, “now.”
He smiled, happy that she wanted him, even after everything she’d been through, and then he did exactly what she wanted.
Chapter Twelve
Valerio woke with a start and let his senses work around the room, searching for anything that would be a danger. Beside him in bed, Allegra was in a deep sleep. Ever since the event at the zoo, the ‘gift’ filled with glass designed to hurt her, she had been anxious, nervously turning at sounds that weren’t there.
He knew that she was worried and that didn’t sit well with him. Less than two days after she had performed at the event, Valerio had taken a visit to the Singletons.
Erik and Lana Singleton had three houses in the state of New York, but it had been all too easy to track them down to their home in the Hamptons. Perched on the beach with a prime view of the water, their home had all the trapping of a family estate, except that everything also looked like it was untouched, as if they lived in the house, but didn’t move beyond a prescribed pathway in and through the home.
He’d found Lana Singleton cold from the moment her maid had walked him into the sunroom. Her husband was the one who seemed to make an effort to be hospitable, at least until he learned why Valerio was there.
“No,” the older man’s voice had trembled when he turned away from the pictures that Valerio had tried to hand him, “I don’t believe it.”
Lana continued to arrange her flowers on the table, but each successive snip of her garden shears grew louder, harder.
“Mr. Singleton, I would like to speak to your son.”
“He’s not here.” Erik paced across the room and pulled open a cabinet. He reached in and removed a bottle, twisting and yanking the cap off it before he poured it into a cut crystal glass on the sideboard. “And you’re not getting anywhere near him.” He downed the glass with one gulp and then hissed before he slapped it back down on the counter. “You can’t anyway. He’s in Geneva.” The man laughed. “It’s costing us a fortune to keep them there, but at least he’s safe from people like you.”
“Like me, sir?” His bear wanted to see what they’d think of ‘all of him.’ “I’m certain I don’t know what you mean.”
The garden shears clattered on the table top and Mrs. Singleton leveled a look at him that gave him pause. “People who are trying to ruin his life.” She gasped in a breath and moved around the table, her stride as sure as that of a lioness zeroing in on a kill. “People who want to ruin any chance he has to move on from that horrible accident with… with… that girl.”
Accident.
Accident.
This time it was the bear holding Valerio back. He had been a heartbeat away from changing, backing the woman up against the wall… he stopped short, realizing how right his bear had been. The thought alone was staggering. He’d always been the one to use his head rather than instinct when working, but this was different. This was personal.
And his bear had been the noble one. What an interesting turn of events and it had everything to do with Allegra.
He knew they were waiting for him to speak, and a strange calm fell over him at the thought.
“It was no accident, Mrs. Singleton.” He folded his arms across his chest and watched her eyes widen as she saw how his coat stretched over his arms. “I have seen the police report. The medical records. I have seen the photographs.”
It was his bear again, claws dug deep into his back, holding him steady, keeping him human.
“What your son did to Allegra was an abomination!”
“Allegra?” Mrs. Singleton fairly sneered at him, baring her teeth in a gesture that made her look more feral than the elegant woman she pretended to be. “I see.”
Mr. Singleton poured himself another glass of alcohol, the dark liquor slopping over the edge of the glass. “What now, Lana?”
“She sank her teeth into another one.” She turned her pale blue gaze on Valerio and shook her head. “I should tell you to be careful, but you won’t listen. Lance told us about her. Told us how she used him to get ahead. She’ll do the same thing to you. And then when she’s ready to walk away, leave you behind like trash… like what she did to our baby… just you wait and see.”
“Let the boy go, Lana.” He reached for the bottle again, nearly dropping it from his hand. “Let him spend his money on her when she’s done with him.”
Mr. Singleton scoffed and leaned back against the sideboard with a sigh. “Good. I’m tired of writing those checks for her care.”
Valerio’s bear was nearly ready to let him rip them to shreds.
“I want the address and any other contact information for your son.”
That tipped the scales for Mr. Singleton. Pushing away from the sideboard, the bottle fell from the edge and shattered into pieces, the liquor coating the man’s designer footwear. “If you want anything to do with my boy. You can call my lawyer! It’ll take a court order to get one more thing out of us.” Turning, he stalked toward the French doors and pushed through them, walking outside in the pristine yard and disappearing around the corner.
Lana turned her steely gaze toward him. “You’re still here?”
He felt a growl roll through his throat. “I need your lawyer’s contact information.”
Throwing up her hands in frustration, she crossed the room to an antique secretary desk and quickly jotted down some information on a piece of paper. She held it out for a moment and then let it go.
They watched the paper flutter down to the ground at her feet.
Her smile was cold and dark. “Be a good boy,” she lifted her chin into the air, “pick it up and let yourself out.”
She walked out of the room as if she was crossing a stage with a crown on her head and followed her husband out to the beach.
Valerio crossed the room and picked up the paper. Turning on his heel, he turned on his phone and started dialing before he was even out of the door.
Allegra shifted in her sleep, her hand lifted from under her
cheek and settled over his heart, her thumb rubbing back and forth over his skin. Even in her sleep she was a comfort to him, he just wanted to return that favor and make sure that she was well and truly safe.
As soon as he took her to her rehearsal in a few hours, he was due in court to get Lance’s location from the Singleton’s lawyers. If that didn’t work, he would find a way to get the information from them or another source.
He’d do whatever it took.
He’d lay down his life for her in a heartbeat.
The intercom in the main room buzzed and he slid off of the bed, hating the loss of warmth when he moved away from his mate.
Allegra continued to sleep on in their bed, mumbling to herself as she dragged his pillow into her embrace.
As he stalked to the elevator, pulling on pants, he decided to pull that pillow out of her arms when he got back and slip back in where he belonged in the next moment.
When the doors opened on the bottom floor he felt his hackles rise. Staring at the two policemen waiting for him, he knew he wasn’t going to get back to bed anytime soon.
“Mr. Orsino?”
He nodded at the first policeman.
The other one didn’t want to be left behind. “Which Orsino brother are you?”
He didn’t have time to play their games.
“Valerio.”
The two officers shared a look and a nod.
That only served to irritate him even more.
“What may I help you with, Officers?”
“May you?” The first officer almost laughed out loud. “Listen to his manners.”
The other office kept things moving. “It’s been brought to our attention that you have Miss Allegra Rossetti held in your apartment.”
Held.
His bear didn’t like their tone of voice any more than he did, but he kept his temper in check.
“Allegra is asleep. If you would like to see her, you can come back in the morning and she will choose when she wants to speak with you.”
The second policeman stepped in, holding a hand up in surrender. “Mr. Orsino, I’m afraid we got off on the wrong foot.” He gave his partner a significant look. “We maybe a little surly because we’ve been running around all night trying to find Miss Rossetti to make sure she’s alright.”