“You have to be there for yourself first” His soft hands slide against my breasts, his heat spreading with mine. I look at him with burning desire. So intimately. “Lencia, don’t worry about being the perfect anything. Perfection is an illusion. Nothing is perfect. All we can be is our best. That is fulfillment. But it begins and ends with you, darling.”
“I believe that now.”
I cannot stop kissing him.
Touching him.
Appreciating him.
He falls to his knees and his mouth brushes against my core. Giulio knows my body. He knows of that fire burning inside me as he grips my hips, close to the band of my lacy thong. He knows my body is a perfect reminder of Addilyn—I’m certain of it as his warm lips meet with my white cesarean scar, my heart thudding at the open mouthed kisses.
I’m not surprised that Giulio can sense exactly what’s going on with me, even when I fail to pay attention to it myself.
“I really missed you, Giulio,” I admit with a puff of air escaping me. My body softens naturally to his touch. “Everything about you.”
“I missed you too, baby. It’s time we stop blaming ourselves. We’ll make this right for our little girl too.” Giulio makes his point clear, meaning every single word. “I’m here now. I’m here with you. For you. Forever.”
Hot tears trail down my cheeks at just how perfect this moment is.
“Lencia, tell me where you want me.”
I tap my heart. “Right here.”
Giulio stands tall, overpowering my ability to think straight with his striking masculine Italian features. “I need you there too, amore.”
And then his lips are on mine. Hard. Warm. Desperate. I undo his bowtie and pull him closer with the ends. Giulio lifts me in one solid motion, and my legs wrap around his narrow waist.
Giulio has me slipping into his world.
One I never want to escape. Not when he lowers me on the soft Egyptian cotton sheets. Not when he coats every inch of my skin with sensual kisses as my smile widens, not when he stands at the foot of the bed, exerting his dominance as he peels off his pinstriped blazer and vest with his hooded eyes still locked on mine. And especially not when his shirt, leather shoes, and socks follow suit.
It’s so sexy watching him undress.
Waiting and anticipating.
Desire grows deep inside me when he sets down his bowtie on the bed beside me. I adore the way his toned arms flex when he bends and his hands press against the sheets by my waist.
“Not so fast.” My right heel softly meets his chest to push him back up. “More.”
Giulio smirks and clicks his tongue at my demand. “Of course, amore mio.”
I kick off my heels and I follow his hands working his belt. My hum urges Giulio to remove his slacks vigorously. The bruises along his chest and cheekbone have faded and are now projected against my own ribcage from falling down the stairs after the ransom call. But overall, I’m okay and in time they’ll fade away too.
Giulio strips me of every single dreadful memory.
This is my past, present, life, and future. With him.
The second time Giulio lowers himself on the bed, an alluring smolder is in his eyes. I love the way his crow’s feet deepen and those smile lines extend.
“You’re being demanding tonight, baby.” He spreads my thighs and hovers over me. I moan at the sensation of his skin on mine. “And I’m loving every single second of it. I love you, birthday girl.”
I smile in the low light, my hands caressing and swirling over his dimples of Venus. “I love you more. I love that tonight also marks seven years of knowing you. I love it all.”
His kisses from the crook of my neck to my breasts and down around the bruises.
It’s all a part of us. All a part of our story.
When Giulio comes back up, there’s a sly smirk on his lips. It has me ponder what’s going through his mind. “I wasn’t joking earlier when I said I’d get you back for teasing me like that.”
Oh, that!
I giggle at the mischief on his face. “What are you going to do about it?”
Giulio bites his lip and nods towards the silk bowtie.
“You want me to…put it around my neck?” I ask.
Head shake. No.
“Put it on you?”
No.
“Uh…” I bite my lip, perplexed. Giulio’s looking at me with a warm, mesmerizing smile. Those hot lips are potent when he hands me the bowtie. The smooth material sways from side to side between my thumb and index finger. “I don’t know what else…”
“Remember Valentine’s Day this year?”
When my eyes snap to his, I find we’re both smirking. “You want to blindfold me again, Mr. Giannotti?”
“Baby, I want to bind your wrists together with this and blindfold you with something else for teasing me so damn hard.” His smooth hand fans out across my body, slowing by places I need him the most. “I want to forbid you from touching me tonight. I want to devour your sense of feeling. I want you to feel it. You’re the only one that sets me free.”
“Giulio?”
“Hmmm?”
“Shut your mouth and do it all to me.”
“Mmhmm, that I can do. That I can definitely do, Mrs. Giannotti.”
Our poetic last name becomes the antidote for our entire past and assurance for our future. The words Giulio whispers in my ear only intensify the warm sensation across my entire body as he puts an end to my wandering hands. We’re smiling as he binds my wrists above my head and collects the silk blindfold I had on this morning before he surprised me with this new home.
He winks at me seconds before I’m blinded.
“Safeword, baby?”
Through the darkness, I grin. “We won’t be needing one.”
“Oh, that confident, huh?” Giulio teases, and I can hear the smirk on his lips. “We’ll stick to red if you want to stop, okay?”
“Okay.”
I gasp at the
