CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

I don't know how long Alessandro and I lay like that afterward, with him still inside me, still pulsating and me still quivering. I've probably torn some of his hair from his scalp. I cry out when he eventually withdraws from me, but he hushes me and kisses me slow, soft butterfly kisses down my neck and collarbone, over my shoulder to my upper arm.

"I'm sorry it had to hurt." He whispers in my ear.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna do that again."

It was both brilliant and petrifying.

He lifts his head to look down at me with a playful smirk. "Oh, we're definitely doing that again."

He kisses me on the nose. "And again."

Then a soft kiss on my lips. "And again."

An endearing kiss on my forehead. "And again."

He pushes himself up on his arms and then pulls me up too, a meek protest leaving me.

"I made you all dirty, now I have to clean you up."

I am dirty indeed, my thighs are completely wet, so I let him carry me into the bathroom and straight into the shower, dozens of