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By the end of the week, I stopped telling myself that the pattern was entirely accidental.

I wasn’t simply making time for her anymore. I was making room. And that was a mistake. I knew it, but I wasn’t ready to fix it yet.

Evening fell over Boston. I’d long given up pretending that taking Sofia out simply resulted from the fact that I happened to be available. I think she also knew that. That night, we went to the harbor, where we could enjoy the city in silence.

The air was cold and Sofia tucked her hands into the pockets of her coat as we strolled along the pavement. The smell of her perfume made my head spin.

She talked easily, which was one of the things I found most disarming about her. Sofia never seemed uncomfortable with silence, but she also never allowed it to become a wall between us. Whenever I became too quiet, she glanced at me with an amused expression.

“You know, you’ve perfected the art of looking intimidating while doing absolutely nothing.”

I looked at her. “I don’t know if that’s supposed to be an insult.”

“It’s not,” she said. “I’m actually impressed.”

I laughed, and it surprised both of us. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had managed to make me laugh, or made my heart jump when they locked fingers with mine. Most people were careful around me. They measured their words and made sure they never crossed a line.

Sofia seemed determined to find every line I had. She asked about my childhood without pressing. She noticed things other people ignored, then stored them away until she could tease me about them later.

Something inside me loosened. Whenever I was with her, I forgot about the syndicate, the men waiting for my decisions, or the enemies I knew were always somewhere beyond the edges of my vision.

I was simply a man walking beside a woman who made me feel strangely normal. We eventually reached a quieter stretch overlooking the harbor. The lights from the buildings reflected across the dark water, breaking apart whenever the waves moved. Sofia stopped near the railing, and I stopped beside her. Neither of us spoke. She turned toward me, and whatever amusement had been in her eyes disappeared. Her expression became softer.

I knew that look. It was the look that came just before my whole world exploded, before I fell into a pool of undeniable ecstasy. Her fingers brushed mine, and that tiny touch sent a current through me that had nothing to do with the cold night air. I looked down at her hand, at her neck, at her sumptuous curves, at the lovely way her hair was blowing in the wind.

She didn’t move away, and the distance between us disappeared slowly, almost deliberately, until I could feel her warmth through our clothes. She moved first. Her hand came to my chest, and the simple touch was enough to undo the distance I’d been trying to preserve.

I caught her around the waist and pulled her hard against me, kissing her with a hunger that had been consuming me since we’d had sex—that raw, blinding need for more. She kissed me back just as fiercely, her caution already in the wind.

The harbor disappeared behind us as we moved into the shadow of a quiet building, away from the passing crowds. I knew I should have stopped, knew exactly how dangerous it was to let myself lose control, especially with someone who’d begun to matter to me, but I held her tighter.

I was thirsty for her body. I undid her buttons like a madman, almost tearing off one that didn’t come off quickly enough. I buried my head in the warmth of her breasts as soon as I saw them. She moaned as I sucked her nipples. I pinned her to a wall and fondled her breasts.

“Ronnie,” she moaned softly, running her fingers through my hair. “Do you think we should take this somewhere more private?”

“No,” I objected, turning her around and lifting her dress until it bunched at her waist. I was convinced that if I waited even one second longer to have her, I would lose my fucking mind.

I pressed myself against her as I hastily unbuckled my belt, scraping the smooth curve of her neck with my teeth. “I’ll make you feel so fucking good, Sofia. You trust me, don’t you?”

She was nodding, too busy chasing friction between our bodies by grinding against me to talk. I wrapped my hand around her throat, yanking her head back.

“Words, Sofia. Let me hear you.”

“Yes,” she whined, bracing her hands against the wall as I shifted her panties to the side. “I trust you.”

“There you go,” I praised, placing my hands on her hips as I pushed my cock inside her in one fluid thrust. We both groaned quietly from the feeling. I pressed myself into her, sandwiching her between me and the wall as I thrusted harder, my grip on her hips tightening.

Fuck, I could do this all night. I could do this for the rest of my life. At that moment, I couldn’t care less about how alarming that sounded. Nothing made sense besides this—besides fucking this woman senseless.

It felt like something untamed inside me had been finally released, like a wild beast breaking out of its chains.

“You like this, don’t you, Sofia?” I asked as I held her tighter, bruising her hips as I fucked her. “You like the way I fuck you.”

“Yes,” she moaned, and then let out a cry when I slid a hand down her stomach and began circling her clit.

“Quiet,” I warned, slapping my other hand over her mouth to silence her sounds. “As much as I’d love to hear you, I don’t want others to. They don’t have the right to.”

She nodded, her answer muffled against my palm. I sank my teeth into her shoulder as I slammed into her, my self-control wavering with every hot second. I stilled as our hips pressed flat against the other, and then I rolled them in a circle, stirring my cock deep in her pussy.