Instincts

Truths

Note: Trigger warning about SA and domestic violence. 18+ content.

In the car back to their place, Andy uses a handkerchief he always keeps in his pocket to clean gently Allegra's face. Her heart is still racing in her chest. His thumb caresses her cheek, blue eyes searching into hers.

"I wasn't too rough, was I?" He asks her.

The smile she gives him is reassuring.

"It was..." she is lost of words, her veins still buzzing with adrenaline. "I had fun."

He puts a hand on her thigh.

"I can't stand the thought of another man touching you ever again." He confesses to her.

Her insides become molten, not only because of the constant heat she feels around Andy, but because his words warm her heart. She can help to compare them with what Lance used to say to her. They sentence might be the same but the intent behind it is completely different.

Andy looks at her with adoration, as if she is something to be cherished. Lance, however, only saw her as something that belonged to him.

There is a huge difference between belonging with someone and belonging to someone, Allegra has learned.

She takes off her shoes and looks out the window into the infinite darkness of the night. Andy watches her profile, the night had taken a turn he didn't expect, not that he is complaining. He needed to take that call because it was from the private investigator telling him he had send a file to his email containing the information he requested about Lance.

Andy is still not clear what he is going to do with the information. He has thought of an array of options, and the first one is sending Allegra away. The idea physically pains him, striking him like a bolt of anxiety through his body that makes his hand in her thigh squeeze a bit too hard.

After spending all this time with her, he isn't even sure he wants her to ever go back to her parents house. He can't bare the idea of her not being in his bed anymore.

It is close to midnight when they arrive at the condo. Since she kicked off her shoes, he makes her stay in the car until he goes around and takes her in his arms bridal style.

"Andy, you are being overbearing, I can perfectly walk." She says in between giggles.

"I don't care." He answers, enjoying the smell of her hair tickling his nose.

Her head nestles over his shoulder and against his neck, another laugh escapes her and Andy feels it's echo all the way into his soul. A soul he never thought could feel anything again.

He doesn't let her down until they reach the bedroom. Allie drops her heels on the floor, and twirls around to give her back to Andy.

"Could you help me out of the dress?" It is only logical she would need him to undo the zipper just as she needed him to pull it up.

Andy unbuttons the first two buttons of his shirt before doing what she requested.

The dress slips off her shoulders, down her back, before it pools around her feet. She feels his warm breath over the naked skin of her shoulders, the touch of his fingertips on her belly, making their way up slowly, and Allegra shivers.

The moonlight reflects on Allie the same way it shines over the surface of the dark ocean. Andy wonders where did the creature he holds in his hands come from, because she couldn't be real.

She stands there only in her thong, and Andy's steps away to admire the art her body is. Allie looks over her shoulder and winks at him.

"Haven't you had enough?" She asks him seen how hungry his eyes are.