Chapter 22 I’ll Remember This
Grace was fast asleep, and she was comfortable nestling into the strong arms that wrapped around her from behind. It felt real.
Maybe, the man she was dreaming about somehow made it into real life.
Then she heard groaning and she felt something thick and huge rubbing and pressing against her ass, the strong arms tightening around her as she was pulled flush against a hard chest.
"Good morning. As you can see, I’m ready to go again..." A voice said, with that huge thickness pressing into her. Grace gasped and it all came rushing back, she had slept with Enzo—her first time had been given to him.
She jerked off the bed, quickly realising that it wasn't a dream. The bedsheets fully slid off her body as she got up from the bed, more like stumbled the room spun slightly she could almost not breathe as the consequences of her actions hit her.
And suddenly, she was so aware of his presence, she turned and looked at the naked man who lay her on the bed, her eyes trailed from his strong-looking thighs to a slim waist, her eyes bulged at the hugeness that stared back at her, his perfect slightly curved cock was fully erect and veiny.
Grace could not understand how that had fit inside her the night before. She reluctantly pulled her eyes away and let them trail up his firm taut stomach and that magnificent V line. She swallowed and finally let her eyes land on his face.
Enzo had stayed still and watched her analyze his body, he liked the way her eyes roamed around him with pure curiosity, and almost chuckled when her eyes widened at his cock, he watched her swallow hard and hell was that reaction enjoyable to watch.
Her heart was racing like nobody’s business.
She stood, bare feet sinking into the carpet, and reached for her clothes where they lay scattered like proof she could not erase. Her fingers trembled as she gathered them, she took her uniform then her shoes. Her necklace was still on, thank God. With the way things were so intense last night, she’d half expected the old thing to have snapped and fallen somewhere.
Even now, Enzo’s eyes bored into her in a way that felt strangely intimate.
Beside her, the bed shifted.
Enzo had rolled onto his side, propping his head on his elbow his dark eyes following her with open interest, there was no shame in his gaze, just quiet confidence and amusement, like this was exactly how he expected the morning to go.
"Running already?" he asked, voice rough and deep. Grace couldn’t help the shudder that went through her, "Come back."
He tapped the mattress once in a gesture.
Grace did not look at him.
She hurriedly began putting on her school uniform, smoothing down the skirt with hands that would not stop shaking to the point it was almost impossible to do the buttons on her shirt. Her throat felt tight, her thoughts loud and tangled.
She didn’t like the way he was looking at her, and how wrong the memory of last night suddenly felt.
"Don't," she said. Her voice came out thin when he tried to rise. "Don't do that."
Enzo frowned slightly, “Don’t do what?"
Grace turned then, finally, and he saw her face.
The humor drained from his expression and his face immediately went blank and stoic like he knew what was coming next.
Her eyes were glossy, lashes clumped together as if she had already wiped at them. She was holding herself together with effort her shoulders were stiff and her mouth pulled in an upside-down frown like she was forcing herself not to cry.
"I shouldn't have, we shouldn’t…" she said. "Last night didn’t mean anything."
Enzo’s head tilted to the side and Grace immediately knew what she said came out wrong.
He straightened, the lazy sprawl gone from his posture, “It meant nothing, you say..." he said as if testing the words.
Grace shook her head quickly, “No. I mean... it was just... I wasn't thinking."
His jaw tightened as he continued to look at her, not once breaking eye contact while Grace felt so uncomfortable that she looked anywhere else but at him.
She rushed on her words tumbling out too fast. "I just didn't want to think about Maddox. That's all. I needed the noise to stop."
Silence stretched.
Something like annoyance or even disgust crossed Enzo's face before he masked it. His mouth curved, but there was no warmth in it now, it was more of a sinister smirk.
"Oh," he said quietly, “So that's what I was."
Her brows creased defensively. "I didn't mean it like that."
"But that's how you said it, little witch.”
“Little witch? Why do you… never mind that,” Grace hugged her arms around herself. "Please don't make this harder. I just... I need to go home."
She moved for the door.
Enzo did not stop her.
He stayed where he was watching her cross the room, watching the space she left behind and when the door closed, the sound felt louder than it should have.
He stared at it for a long moment.
Then he exhaled slowly through his nose.
A rebound, huh?
The word burned.
Grace barely remembered how she got dressed the rest of the way or how she made it down the hall. Her body felt too light, her thoughts heavy. Every step away from the room made her chest ache worse.
She told herself she had done the right thing.
She had wanted escape, not attachment. She had wanted to forget, not replace. Though, the satisfaction of not letting Vance get his way with her coursed through her, she still couldn’t stop the guilt that flowed alongside it.
Would Vance stop funding her mom’s treatments? She was mad at her dad who’d put Maddox up to everything. Then at Maddox for the betrayal.
Back in the room, Enzo finally sat upright and rose.
He moved to the window, looking out over the city below. Her scent still lingered faintly in the room, sweet and unsettling, tugging at something deep in his chest that did not fade with distance.
He had felt it the moment midnight struck. The shift. The pull and the certainty.
Mate.
And she probably had no idea.
His fingers curled into a fist.
"You don't get to dismiss this," he muttered to the empty room. “I’ll remember this insult, Grace."
He swore it.