Page 4 of Dare To Free Us

She stilled, her mask of confidence slipped and we stood staring at each other for a long moment. I hadn’t meant it to come out sounding dirty— or maybe I did, just like all the other times— but the innuendo hung heavy in the air, and I didn’t even feel guilty for it, more like encouraged as her cheeks began to turn a brighter shade of pink.

That’s how it had been between us the past few months. Us dancing around this unavoidable way our relationship was seeming to change. Conversations were taking on new edges of flirting and reading between the lines. I should have been ashamed at how much I looked forward to our interactions since the turn in the tide of boundaries. I couldn’t really put a date to when it started, just that one day it seemed like everything felt different.

Arianna looked away first and shrugged like the moment hadn’t happened. “Go ahead.”

“Where is your mom?” I asked, snatching up a cookie and shoving the whole thing in my mouth, giving an attempt to make innocent small talk.I wonder if her cookie would taste as sweet as this. For fuck’s sake, get yourself together.Those thoughts were not appropriate. Did that stop my depraved brain? No.

She shrugged again, placing dough on the now empty pan. “I don’t know, some brunch with friends or having a meeting about one of her charities.” The air was starting to get thick and the her hands trembled with nerves telling me she felt whatever this was between us too.

Arianna’s parents, while involved with less then law abiding citizens such as my family, they had a shit ton of money and were genuinely charitable people. Just like the girl standing in front of me. There was something so utterly sincere in the way Arianna presented herself and treated others.

“How was your birthday? I heard you got a new car?” I asked, doing my best to keep the conversation going. I hadn’t seen her in the three months since her birthday and was curious. I liked talking to her because Arianna never looked at me with eyes full of fear or forced respect for who I was. Conversation was easy and light with her, unlike anything else in my life.

This time both her shoulders shrugged. “It was ok.”

I scoffed. “You don’t sound like a girl that just got a new Ferrari for her seventieth birthday.” For some reason Arianna flinched at the mention of her age. I tried to ignore the hunch I had as to why, especially when she wouldn’t meet my eyes. I hadn’t missed the way she gazed after me all the time nor how it made my heart race every time those golden eyes heated with lust when I looked back.

“It’s not that I’m not grateful, it’s just not what I wanted,” she stated hesitantly, fumbling with the task of placing more dough on the tray.

“And what was that?” I asked confused. Her father would buy her anything she wanted, what could she have possibly asked for that he would refuse her.

Arianna turned to place the pan in the oven and rounded the counter to stand in front of me. I tried, I swear I did, not to notice how enticing she looked in her black leggings, pink crop top, and bare feet.Shit.My throat bobbed as she came close, heat building in my core.

Don’t think dirty thoughts asshole, she’s only seventeen! You’ve known her most of her life.

Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun that couldn’t seem to contain all the luscious hair as it spilled out in places. Arianna walked right into my personal space like the brave little hellion I knew she was and looked up at me with an emotion I refused to acknowledge.

“I wanted a kiss,” she breathed, holding eye contact.

I swallowed hard. I should have walked away, at the very least stepped back, but I couldn’t. I found myself falling deeper into her liquid gold gaze, bitting my tongue to stop from asking the question I knew she was wanting from me. It was dangerous and foolish, and I never feared and craved an answer more in my life. But that look in her eyes had me weakening.

“And who did you want a kiss from?”Please don’t say me.But the moment the thought crossed my mind I was filled with a jealousy that I’d never experienced. It was in that moment I realized I was head over heals for this girl. The thought of another male kissing her made me want to rage. I should have walked away, before she could answer.

“You, Matteo,” she whispered, as if voicing my name would send me running and it scared her.

The silence hung for a long moment as we stared at each other. She had never been so bold and I couldn’t seem to pull myself back from her spell. Arianna leaned in pressing up on her tippy toes. Her lips brushed mine and I sucked in a breath, concentrating on keeping my hands at my sides as hers brushed my chest, making my skin tingle. The smell of her tropical chapstick hit me and I swore anytime I smelled pineapple from that day on I would think of her.

“Just one kiss, Matteo. Please?”

The plea in her voice nearly broke me. This is why our relationship had become dangerous. All the looks, the dirty hidden jokes, the way I sought her out as much as she did me, this is what it had been building up too. I should have known better. Maybe I already did but refused to stay away from the feeling of contentment her presence always provided. I craved it,neededit.

Her lips continued to hover over mine. “I want you Matteo, I always have. Do you not feel anything for me? Don’t you want to kiss me too?” Fuck this girl had a set of balls on her. Why was that such a turn on?

I stayed silent hoping she’d give up. No chance, she just stayed there waiting for my answer.“Yes,” I growled, because I couldn’t lie to her. Should have, but I couldn’t do it. Because in that moment I never wanted anything more, and I’d been lying to myself about it long enough. Isn’t that why I sought her out all the other times? Got nervous and excited every time we had to have a meeting at her house?

“Then kiss me,” she whispered, running her hands up my shoulder to my neck. Her small hands felt so good, leaving trails of heat in their wake. The air in my lungs was sucked out in a moment of warring emotions.

I couldn’t stop myself from staying still as Arianna closed the last breath of space between us and my body went up in flames. I didn’t mean to let it turn into a wild and desperate thing, but once my lips fully pressed to her’s my brain went haywire. I took her face in my hands and plundered her mouth with my tongue. Arianna gripped the back of my head and pulled me in harder with a moan of need.

I went crazy with desire, pressing her back into the countertop. Her hands came up to run in my hair while she gave as much to the kiss as me. My heart was hammering in my chest. My dick was rock hard and begging for her. I’d never felt the drugging effect of a kiss like that before. I didn’t want to stop and neither did she.

My right hand moved down to her ass, gripping hard, groping that tight ass with my big hand. Arianna made the most seductive noise deep in her throat that I answered with a groan of my own. My dick was pulsing in my pants wanting more, more, more. She tasted like sweet cookie dough and my mind was consumed by the feel of her against me.

“Matteo.” Arianna breathed my name against my lips and I swore I didn’t ever want to hear it come from another woman’s mouth. I kissed her harder, bending her head back to take more control.

Something about the moment felt so right. More right than anything I’d experienced in my life. Which also made it so very wrong.

I pulled back in a panic as reality kicked me in the balls.What the fuck did I just do!I stepped away nearly shoving her out of my arms. Arianna gripped the counter behind her and stared at me with a confused and hurt expression.