"Wait, you really have never tried the ice cream in Diagon Alley?" Elio asked with widened eyes. He looked positively horrified.

Annie giggled at his reaction. "No. I think I've only been to Diagon Alley once and I was so scared I wanted to leave immediately. It didn't help that someone bumped into me and my brother went berserk."

"Your brother sounds awfully protective." He leaned down and kissed her head. "Guess we'll have that in common."

She nodded and snuggled deeper into his warm chest. They had been cuddling on the couch in front of the fire for the past hour. After Elio had thoroughly apologized for being late with many kisses, she'd gotten a vase for the lovely flowers and poured two glasses of prosecco from the bottle she found in the back of the fridge. Great Uncle Sirius never drank—at least not when she'd seen him—so he probably wouldn't mind. Plus, she needed something to calm her nerves.

Him showing up thirty minutes late certainly didn't help her confidence. She'd spent the better part of that half hour convinced he wasn't coming at all, that last weekend had been nothing but a ruse. When he'd finally shown up on the doorstep looking all frazzled and holding roses that looked like they'd been through the ringer, she was so relieved and angry and happy all at once. Maybe even a little overly emotional. Relieved he was finally there, angry he wasn't on time, happy to see him again, and emotional because he had unknowingly given her roses that weren't the most opulent blooms, the exact thing her family had always called her. And then when he called her a rose, she was almost ready to accept the proposal he had half-jokingly given her many times. Unknowingly, Elio Nott was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Now, the bubbles in their drinks had settled as much as her nerves while the fire popped peacefully in the background. At first, she was worried that it would be awkward seeing him again but as soon as he opened his arms and pulled her to his chest, it felt like coming home again. She could scarcely remember the time she had spent without him. All she could think about was how wonderful it felt to be with him, how warm he felt against her body, how his woodsy scent calmed even her most erratic of nerves. That was how she ended up telling him more about herself than she'd ever told anybody.

"You and my brother have a lot in common. Maybe you can meet him tomorrow."

His arms squeezed around her at the mention of already seeing each other again. To be honest, she wasn't sure how she'd convinced her parents to let her stay the night at Sirius's home. She'd given a pitiful excuse about wanting a quiet place to practice piano before the ball but her mother must have sensed the look in her eyes because some mental conversation went on between her parents before they finally agreed to let her come. There was probably a lot of bargaining so Annie was decidedly glad she hadn't had to listen to it. That was a perk of having the Riddle name. They were all expert legilimens, even Annie, who wasn't as nearly as powerful as her parents. She'd only used her powers on Elio once—when she asked him if he truly loved her and he said yes both aloud and in his head.

"I'd love to meet him. He'll be my brother-in-law one day."

She decided to ignore his words, not because she didn't believe them but actually the opposite. Annie's heart found itself believing him entirely too much and that was a terrifying thing. A life with Elio sounded wonderful but was it too good to be true? Was this something real or was it only her naivety shining through?

"Do you think he'll like me?"

"Hmm?" she asked, broken out of her thoughts.

He chuckled deeply. The sound seemed to penetrate to her very core. Every ounce of her body was screaming, Elio! Elio! Elio! She was helpless to his charisma. Like a moth drawn to an open flame, so too was Annalise Riddle drawn to Elio Nott.

"Your brother. Do you think he'll like me?"

She scrunched her nose and Elio laughed. "He doesn't really like anybody. He can be kind of an ass."

"Perhaps we'll get along splendidly then considering I am a total ass as well."

She gave him a pointed look. "In completely different ways. You're charming and impossible not to like. My brother is barely liked by anybody and is the furthest thing from charming. He gets that from my father." Annie didn't dare to bring up her fears over whether James and Tom would like Elio. What if they didn't? Would they torture him? Kill him? It might have sounded far fetched but she knew of many killed for far less crimes. Dating—and doing more than dating—the princess of the Riddle family was new territory for all of them.

Elio must have seen the fear on her face because he loved. "Don't worry, darling. Anyone with eyes can see how much I love you. I think all any parent or sibling wants is someone who truly loves their child as much as they love them."

Perhaps if they were anyone other than my Daddy, she grumbled mentally. He'd probably be perfectly content to see her made a spinster whose only life purpose was to fill Riddle Manor with soft smiles and even softer piano music. At one point, she wanted that life too. But Annie was beginning to see how life could be so much more than all of that. She wanted to see what the world had to offer, even if the idea of that was beyond terrifying.

"Annie, I can feel your little head going a million kilometers an hour." He cupped her cheek and brought her up to look at him. "I love you. Everything else is just confetti."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Confetti?"

Elio smiled softly. "Confetti. Small little pieces of paper that might briefly catch our eye but don't mean anything as they fall to the ground. I love you. Everything else is confetti."

Her heart clenched inside of her chest. It felt like a hundred different things were shifting into place for her, all of them screaming how much she loved him back. Annie had never felt love before, not one like this. Yes, her parents loved her and so did James but that was different. Their love was like a river. Steady, constantly flowing, never changing. But loving Elio was like losing herself in the waves of an ocean, feeling something completely new every time a wave overtook her. It was frightening but a little bit exhilarating, falling in love with him like that. And she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to go even further with Elio Nott, to let him into the deepest parts of her soul. To let him get to know her inside and out. To love him fully and ardently.

"I love you so much, Elio Nott," she whispered, looking into those ocean blue eyes full of wave after loving wave. Without even meaning to, her eyes filled with tears. Beautiful, warm, happy tears but tears nonetheless. "So much that it scares me."

"Hey, hey, little mouse," he murmured while he placed a comforting hand on her cheek. "It scares me too. I've never had anything like this and I'm bloody terrified I'll fuck it up."

Annie shook her head. "You couldn't."

His lips turned upward into a half-smile. "Believe me. My dumbass could." She smiled and leaned into his hand. It smelled like warmth, like home. "But that's not the point. The point is that falling? It's terrifying. You have no idea if you'll hit the ground or if you'll fly."

He leaned into her and whispered, "But, baby, I think we'll fly."

Elio had never looked more incredible than he did in that moment telling her how much he loved her. He looked like he'd been created by the gods. No. He looked like he was a god. A sexy, masculine god that was somehow all hers.

And knowing that stirred something deep within her. Something primal.

Annie sat up. Before Elio could speak, she pulled him up by his shirt and brought his lips to hers. He reacted instantly, not even hesitating to kiss her back. Elio's tongue dove into her mouth as he quickly took control, something she was more than happy to give. His hands raked through her hair while hers went to cup his cheek and neck. The soft strands of his brown hair tickled her fingertips.

Their heavy breaths mixed with the sounds of the crackling fire. But it wasn't the fire that was making Annie warm. No, it was a familiar feeling deep within her core.

Before she could talk herself out of it and make herself even more anxious, Annie rolled her hips against his. Elio groaned into her mouth. "Topolina, you torture me."

"It doesn't have to be torture," she murmured between kisses. Annie rolled her hips again to punctuate her thought before adding, "I want you, Elio."

"Annie, baby, you're not ready—"

She reached down and cupped his cock through his pants with fire in her blood. Annie shot him a quick glare—the Riddle glare. The one filled with darkness and promise of retribution, the one she had learned from her father and brother. "You don't know what I'm ready for. If I say I'm ready, then I'm ready."

He groaned into her neck before kissing it. His lips placed wet, open-mouthed kisses all along her neck and collarbone until they reached the column of her throat where he hummed. "I'm trying to be honorable, darling. You've only known me for a few days."

"I know enough." She furrowed her brows before letting go of his cock and rubbing herself on him steadily. Heavy heat quickly rose as she found herself chasing that newfound burst of pleasure. "I'm twenty years old, Elio, and I've barely done anything. I want to know what the world has to offer and I want to find out with you. I know that I want everything with you so, in my mind, why wait?"

He hummed deeply. The vibrations sent shivers up her spine. "You do raise some very good points."

Annie grabbed his chin and tilted his face up to meet hers. "I'm ready, Elio. I want it all with you."

His face fell. "I don't know how to give you what you deserve, Annie. I'm used to fucking, not making love and you deserve the best—"

She stood up as soon as his words registered. Waves of heat rolled over her but unlike before, these weren't of pleasure. No, they were of embarrassment. Shame. Rejection. Did he not want her? Elio had made it clear that he had enjoyed many women before so why didn't he want her now? Was there something that they had that she didn't? She offered herself to him willingly, eagerly even, and yet that didn't seem to be enough.

"Right," she mumbled, her cheeks burning with her mortification. "That's fine. I'm just going to get a drink."

But before she could even make it ten feet to the kitchen, Elio had stood up and pinned her against the wall by the stairway.

"Make no mistake, my little mouse. I want you. Badly." He rolled his hips into hers and she moaned, her hands digging into his shoulders while his erection had her seeing stars. "I'm going to bury myself inside of you and make you mine very soon. I'm going to make you scream my name so loudly they'll hear it in another bloody galaxy. I'm going to come so deeply that your insides will smell like me. But when I take you, it's going to be many times for many hours for the rest of our lives. So excuse me for wanting to make sure that you're ready for everything that comes with it."

Annie moaned. "Elio..."

Her hands moved to his hair. She pulled on it roughly, causing Elio to arch his neck with a growl that she felt down to her core. "Fuck, topolina, you're not making this easy."

His hands moved to her backside where he gripped her ass and picked her up, never losing the rhythm of his thrusts into her now-soaked panties. Annie wrapped her legs around him on instinct while her back arched off the walls. She needed him. Desperately.

"Elio, please," Annie whimpered. "I'm ready. I love you. I want this."

"Are you sure?" he breathed into her neck. "Once I take you, you're mine. There's no going back."

She wanted that. She knew she did. It wasn't just the lust talking or the hormones. She wanted all of it. She wanted Elio.

So Annie nodded. "Yes. I'm sure."

And she was.

You guys were split on whether you wanted this chapter from Elio or Annie's POV and it ended up being longer than I'd anticipated anyway so I thought I'd split it! Next chapter will be ~the act~ from Elio's POV. I hope you're enjoying the story. Please consider leaving a comment, follow, etc. :)))