“I’m up for anything.”
“Ditto. I’m up for anything tonight with you.”
“Just tonight?’
“No. Not just for tonight, for every single day for the rest of our lives.”
Time stops. His naked eyes give me everything I need.
“I never want to let you go, Giulio.”
Just then Rodrigo steps back inside the room and cuts the music. “Sorry about that. Alright, lovers, that’s the end of the lesson! Sensational job. You should both be very proud.”
“Thank you, Rodrigo. Thank you more than you will ever know.” And then Giulio takes my hand and leads me out of the studio in a sprint. Halfway down the first set of stairs, he scoops me into his arms bridal style and rushes us down the remaining three flights so fast I cling onto him tightly, afraid we’ll tumble down.
“Oh my god! Why have you turned into Speedy Gonzales?” I ask through my laugher.
Giulio beams and just like that the sexual tension between us escalates even more than it already was. “Because I don’t want to waste another second. Not tonight. Not ever, baby.”
We make it outside and he sets me down by his car. I’m hot all over, still catching my breath. Giulio is all I see. All I need.
“What are you thinking about?”
I bite my lip. “You.”
“Oh, really now?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Make me.”
Giulio provides the solution we both desperately crave. One sharp stride and everything becomes worth it when he crashes his lips onto mine. Our kiss is hot and so passionately driven that I feel for his collar and draw him even closer, moaning at the pleasure.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
In one solid motion, he lifts me and my legs automatically wrap around his waist. Giulio’s sensual touch has me kissing him back harder. He leaves me so breathless—and healed. I graze my fingers over his stubbled jaw and appreciate the way he breaks our kiss with a smile, only to say. “You’re my air, Lencia.”
My heart clenches at the phrase he always used to say.
This is more than just a first kiss in six months between a separated husband and wife; this is an emotional battle and physical torture.
A slow, sensual kiss follows. Giulio’s warm lips awaken every nerve ending within me as he leans me against his car and we savor the way our tongues dance their own style of Rumba.
I forget everything we’re battling.
I forget our damned separation.
I forget our split views.
Both the arguments and the investigation. I forget it all and for the first time in my life, I turn selfish. I do this very thing for myself. I’m uplifting happiness for me.
It feels so right with Giulio.
So right.
Like there’s no better way.
Resting our foreheads together, we pull away panting heavily. My god.
“I promise to try, and although I know this won’t be perfect at the beginning, it will be beautiful in its own way.”
“Lencia, I will make up for all the months I was supposed to be kissing you. All the months I was supposed to be right there beside you. All the months I was supposed to wake up beside you. To love. To protect. To simply be. I will make it up to you, Lencia. My whole existence was made for tonight with you…and the rest of our lives together with our children.”
“And so is mine because I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Our grins widen and he pecks my lips before setting me back down. “Come on, baby. Let’s go. Our night is far from over.”
During the car ride to the next secret location, I make a vow to myself that whatever happens from here, I will never forget the way he makes my heart so full.
Giulio takes us to Cœur d’or, the very restaurant our entire history was whisked in fate during our first date. Now seven years later we are recreating it. The name of the French restaurant translates to Golden Heart. The burgundy walls spread passion with a lick of ambiguity and the sleek decor remains the same, a frozen piece of the past. There’s also a fascinating private gallery I love located upstairs that changes out their art every month. Upon entering tonight, it was the first place we went and every single painting was so sensational and…inspiring.
Now, we’re downstairs in the restaurant. Couples dance across the circular dance floor as the harmonious live silk-voiced male crooner warms the ambiance, each note tugs at my heart and spins me in a vortex of verses. I’m reminded of the people we were those seven years ago and the people we are now.
Both versions are perfect with Giulio Giannotti.
Giulio reaches over the table and my hand follows, merging the softness of our skins against one another. His thumb caresses that spot between the end of my hand and start of my wrist. “You don’t know how nervous I was on our first date.”
“You seemed so calm!”
“No, I was the complete opposite inside.” He shakes his head with a chuckle. “I remember picking you up and the moment we entered this restaurant, I kept on saying to myself it felt like a dream. One that I never wanted to wake up from. Then when you told me trivia about that painting by the entrance, that Monet one, and I just knew you were going to be important to me. I could hear the devotion in your voice and how enthusiastic you were to describe the history to me. I saw the teacher in you and then you looked at me and I felt different. A good different. I was right about just how important you were going to be to me, because we connected so well. Spending time with you made everything okay. You made me accept my fate, my flaws, and that love goes beyond. We’ve made some bold decisions together, but bold decisions pay off.”
“Exactly! They’re the best type of decisions. I mean, I met you the day of my twenty first-birthday during my first year of teaching!
