Heartbeats Amidst Chaos, Part 2

10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

S he watched as Elio sighed, running his hand through his hair and turning to pace. Her eyes caught on the row of sutures behind his ear.

Those should probably come out, she thought. It’s been a week. The ones across his abdomen could stay in for a few more days, but head wounds healed fast.

She supposed, as his doctor, she would need to be the one to advise him of this and take the sutures out for him, although it obviously wasn’t going to be in a hospital setting. Most likely, it would be in an abandoned building like this one. She caught herself smiling as she imagined him seated in the chair across from her while she perched on the desk to get a better view, her hands in his hair.

Stop. You don’t even know if you can trust this guy.

And yet, here I am, alone in an abandoned office building with him after willingly getting into his car.

With Elio, she struggled to think straight. When he wasn’t there, she could have doubts and suspicions as much as she wanted. But the moment he stood in front of her, powerful and handsome and earnestly glaring, all that went out the window.

He suddenly pivoted to face her.

“My family is getting angsty,” he said. “They don’t trust you. My grandfather wants me to step up and start helping out with the less legal parts of his business. I won’t do it, and I’ve told them they have nothing to worry about, but I just thought you should know.”

He was so upset and sincere, Rissa found it harder than ever to remember the conversation she had heard in the alleyway and her renewed suspicions regarding him. Elio crossed to sit on the couch next to her, and his knee brushed hers.

“I thought that was bad enough, but now, with the police and shadow gang showing up out of nowhere—”

“Shadow gang?” Rissa asked. Elio blinked.

“It’s what my grandfather calls them,” he explained. “The name they have for themselves isn’t much better. We don’t know who they are, just that they could be involved in buying off the police and setting me up.”

“They certainly weren’t buying off the police just now,” Rissa said.

Elio shook his head in agreement, sighing deeply. He leaned back on the couch, tipping his head to gaze at the ceiling. “I just don’t know what to do.”

Rissa watched him, her eyes tracing the lines of his face in the dim light from the lone window, wondering how they had become so familiar so quickly.

As if he felt her eyes on him, he suddenly turned his head to look at her. She flushed but didn’t look down. His hazel eyes searched hers, almost scorching in their intensity.

“Are we good?” he asked after a moment. “I just accused you of calling the cops on me, and you seemed to think I’d called the gang on you—or something like that.”

“I don’t know,” Rissa answered, tucking her hands between her thighs in a nervous gesture. “I don’t know what to think or do right now either.” There were no lamps in the room, and it was going to be dark soon. It didn’t frighten her, but somewhere deep inside, she wondered if it should.

She wondered if she should tell Elio what she had overheard. Perhaps he would look relieved and offer her a simple explanation. Or perhaps he would look guilty and try to come up with an excuse. Her feelings felt as tangled up as her thoughts. How was it possible for her to want to reach for him and kiss along his chiseled jaw and, at the same time, wonder if the man it belonged to was some kind of terrorist?

She just couldn’t bring herself to believe it. All she had seen of Elio had shown him to be genuine. His story stayed the same since she had met him. He didn’t deny his family ties or defend their alleged crimes, but he insisted he had no part in them. And Rissa believed him . Somehow, she believed him.

The shadows were growing deeper, and still, they stared at one another.

“This evening really didn’t go as I thought it would,” Rissa said quietly. Elio’s eyes never wavered.

“How did you think it would go?”

She dropped her own gaze, almost wishing she hadn’t spoken. “Just differently.”

There was a brief silence. Had Elio picked up on the signals she had been sending him? Rissa waited, unsure which answer she wanted. She looked up as Elio leaned forward. His eyes still burned into hers as he slowly reached out and brushed a finger along her cheek, tracing his way down to her lips.

“That tickles,” Rissa said, closing her eyes and leaning into his touch.

“How about this?” Elio’s fingers grazed the top of her knee, slowly sliding up her bare leg, sending tingles throughout her body. Rissa drew in her breath, but she did not dissuade him.

“Did I tell you that you look amazing in that dress?” His fingers reached the hem and kept going, inching it upward.

“I seem to remember you saying something like that,” Rissa breathed. “A long time ago—before all hell broke loose.”

“I really like it.” His fingers dipped toward the sensitive skin on the inside of her thigh, and instead of pressing her legs more tightly together, Rissa found herself spreading them slightly apart, welcoming his sensuous stroke. His touch dove deeper, brushing the thin fabric between her legs.

Her breath caught again and then continued more quickly as he gently stroked the finger up and down, his thumb still circling against her thigh. Her innermost folds began to swell and grow slick with desire.

“I think I’d also really like what’s under it,” he said, his voice husky. Rissa flushed, her heart rushing to keep pace with her breath. She squirmed slightly, wanting to press into his reticent finger and satisfy the ache intensifying within her.

“Don’t you think it’s a little too dim in here to see?”

“We could go over by the window.” He withdrew his hands, dipping his head toward her to gauge her response.

The pulsing between her legs would not let her do otherwise; Rissa stood up and moved around the desk to the window. When she turned around, she found that Elio had followed her. He paused a few feet away, sitting on the edge of the desk, his hands on either side of him as he watched her with the same intensity he had during the initial hours after meeting.

The last gleam of sunlight through the window lit his hazel eyes, highlighting the way they were both warm and sharp. Rissa executed a slow turn, showing off the dress, which swirled outward. Then, she faced Elio once more.

“Top or bottom first?” she asked, her voice no more than a whisper. Standing there, in the pale square of window light, facing her rapt audience, she had never felt more sexy and powerful—and nervous. Her body was full of heat, pooling into a deep heaviness at her core. Her heart pounded and her breasts strained against the dress, as if anxious to be free.

“Bottom,” Elio said, his voice low and seductive.

Slowly, Rissa dropped her hands to the hem of her skirt and gathered the material between her fingers. She lifted the skirt, showing him the most intimate curve of her thighs and the black wedge of her thong. Even the warm office air felt cool on her heated skin as she shifted her legs further apart, letting it whisper across her labia.

Elio’s eyes caressed her almost as if a physical touch.

Deliberately, Rissa turned, displaying her G-string and bare buttocks, even bending forward slightly and shimmying her hips.

“Fuck,” Elio whispered.

Rissa’s flush deepened, a thrill piercing her core. She abruptly dropped her skirt and peeked at him over her shoulder.

“Will you unzip me?”

He stood and stepped up behind her, close enough she could feel the heat of his body. His calloused fingers brushed her neck briefly, taking hold of the zipper and pulling it gently down.

Turning toward him, Rissa met his eyes as she reached up and pulled the dress down over her shoulders and puckered breasts, down over her ribs and stomach. She slowly shimmied her hips free and let it fall to her ankles. Once more, wearing only her underwear, she executed a slow turn.

Elio’s hands reached for her as if he couldn’t resist, skimming across the swell of her breasts, tracing the outline of her curves, falling to her hips. He pulled her against him until their hips met, his erection firm against her crotch.

“You,” he breathed, “are so fucking beautiful.”

She lifted her lips to meet his, and he kissed her deeply, folding his arms around her body and turning her around so that her back was to the desk. Gently, still kissing her, he pushed her backward until her butt met the wood. Then, he lifted her until she sat on the smooth edge of it. His lips trailed down her neck and collarbone, down her sternum, and across her stomach as he knelt in front of her.

Rissa spread her legs to make room for him, her mind a red haze of wanting, wanting him right there. She planted her hands on either side, lifting herself slightly as he hooked his fingers in the sides of the thong and pulled it down over her buttocks and thighs, over her knees and feet.

He bent his head, kissing the hollow of her hip and working his way lower. Rissa tilted her head back and raised her hips as his tongue took over, stroking across the sensitive skin, moving toward the part of her that throbbed for his touch.

“Lay back,” he murmured, his hands cupping her thighs. She did, her warm skin meeting the smooth wood as his tongue caressed the outer folds of her vulva. She gasped, her hands leaving the desk to bury themselves in his soft, short hair.

It was completely dark now, the little room draped in shadows. Elio’s tongue explored Rissa, finding her clitoris and darting forward, just a soft flicker of contact, followed by withdrawal and his attention moving to her folds.

A moan escaped Rissa’s lips, followed by panting breaths as a deep shudder shook her to her center. Elio’s tongue continued its sensuous play, a satisfied hum escaping him that somehow made Rissa’s arousal increase tenfold.

She came more quickly than she ever had before, every sense heightened and readied by their strange, slow foreplay. Another cry escaped her, and her hands clenched in Elio’s hair as she pulsed.

When the orgasm subsided, Rissa lay limp across the top of the desk. All the tension had drained from her body, leaving her full and empty at the same time. She sighed with contentment, her arms encircling Elio’s neck as he bent over her.

“Thank you,” she murmured through his kiss.

“Huh-uh,” he mumbled against her lips. “Thank you .”

His arms wrapped around her, lifting her up and carrying her to the couch, his footing somehow sure even in this dark room. He sat down, holding her on his lap, still naked aside from the bra that cradled her aching breasts. Rissa leaned her head on his shoulder, reality slowly seeping back in.

“What are we going to do?” she asked softly.

Somehow, Elio knew what she meant.

“You can’t go home,” he said, his voice rumbling against her ear. “And neither can I. Not until we know who is involved and what is going on.”

“Then where do we go?” she asked.

“I think we should leave town,” he said after a pause. “Go somewhere they won’t even know to look for us. Disappear into the ether for a while.”

“Together?” Rissa murmured.

We’ll meet up with him in time, she heard in her mind, but her heart refused to listen.

“Yes,” Elio replied, his chest rising and falling beneath her as he took a deep breath. “It’s safer that way.”

In the quiet dusk and the afterglow of her release, feeling safe and relaxed in his arms, Rissa could not contradict him.