Trailing a hand down her middle, her legs part and she moans when I enter her. “Don’t think, Mia,” I whisper. “Just feel.”
Chapter 13
Mia
When the boat docks the next morning, Leo clutches my hand tightly as we make our way ashore. His possessiveness does nothing to stop the fire inside me. The one that will always burn for him knowing I could never turn away from the last 24 hours we spent together and ever be the same again.
He has marked me. Claimed me. Ruined me for any man after him.
I will always crave only his touch after the way he has made me feelmore alivethan I ever have before. Both physically and emotionally, from watching me climb to seeing me fall, and being there to catch me and hold me in his arms. And something tells me he always will. A tenderness in him that I never expected.
“Come, quickly!” He insists, as he pulls me behind him and we turn a corner down a narrow street.
As we woke up this morning something had changed. Something that I wasn’t expecting. I found him in his office, head hung low in his large hands, worrying himself over papers, documents, my notebook, and completely relentless onnottelling me anything. Taking me in his arms, he worked out the pain, the aggression, in ways that had me falling for him more than I did the night before. Spread out on his desk, we both crashed over the edge together before he held me in his arms and refused to let me go.
Although, as we approached the dock it seemed his uneasiness grew to new heights as the shoreline came closer. He rambled, making little sense of anything, before locking me away once more and attending to matters he said it was best if I was left out of. This time though, it didn’t bother me nearly as much as the first. I know now he means only to protect me. Something I will never doubt again. Before long he returned, grabbing me from the room and pulling me close as we prepared to set foot on land.
I turn to look behind us as we hurry along the streets and notice as he tugs my hand harder, forcing me to stay focused ahead. When I won’t comply, he stops abruptly. Grabbing my face in his hands he looks in my eyes with a concern I have never seen before, although as I study it closely, I notice it was there on the ship. Lurking behind his eyes late this morning and growing with each second before he pulled me away from the safety of the room we shared last night. “You do as I say, understand?”
I nod, knowing that the only way out of whatever mess we are in is to walk forward and do exactly as he instructs. I notice the discipline he always carries slipping and it worries me. Losing his control, he leans forward and takes my kiss. A deep desire is laced across his tongue as it dances with my own. His taste is addictive as he commands my submission in a different way than he has before. All too soon he pulls back and looks in my eyes with a calmness that was void of his expression a moment before. I smile, knowing I am the one that put it there and find delight in it for only a moment before he tugs me after him again and we continue to walk up a steep, narrow road.
Our destination is lost on me, but I follow behind quickly not wanting to let myself out of his grasp or sight for a moment. After I am completely out of breath, we reach a landing overlooking the harbor. I stare down in awe at the crystal-clear green water and get lost on an Italian breeze as I take in the beautiful landscape around me. The houses nestled into the hillside is a sight I have only seen in pictures, paintings, movies even and I never thought I would be lucky enough to see them up close in real life. There is something comforting about them and I can’t put my finger on why.
Leonardo stands beside me. I feel his stare on my silhouette as I look out across the view, to the boats coming and going, and it suddenly hits me I could stay here forever. I’ve never felt more at home. Never felt like I belonged more than I do right now, on Italian soil, with Leonardo’s hand in my own.
“You’re quiet, Mia,” he whispers as he brushes a strand of hair off my shoulder. I shudder from his touch as I feel peace radiating off of him since the first time we set foot on the island. “You’re happy. It shines brighter in you now since the first time I set eyes on you.”
I let out a sigh and close my eyes.“La vita e bella.” I say with a soft laugh, repeating the only little Italian I know from seeing it displayed on countless signs in tiny corner shops.
Life is beautiful.
For the first time ever, with him by my side, even in the midst of whatever trouble I may be in, I finally feel all I have ever longed to feel. Alive. Safe. Protected. Worshiped, and I want to hold onto it forever and never let it go.
“Sei bellissima, Amore mio,”he whispers next to me. I know just enough to have what he just said melt my heart and make me a puddle at his feet as I hold onto his hand tighter and pray this moment never slips away.
Turning, I see a smile grace his face before something behind me catches his eye and his look turns serious once again. He gives someone a nod, but as I turn to see what he is looking at, he holds me still by my shoulders.
“Whatever happens, whatever you hear, know this,” he sternly says. “Nobody gets to you, no one touches you, except through my dead body.”
The sternness of his voice sends chills up my spine. I swallow over a lump in my throat because the last thing I want, the last thing I need is for him to ever leave my side. Not after the way my body, my soul, has entangled itself with his own.
Motion behind me catches his eye. He pulls me close and kisses the top of my head, holding me tightly in his embrace. When he releases me, I shiver from the void as fear raises up inside. Whatever is behind me might be too big to face. I look in his eyes and he gives me a nod, telling me to be strong. I nod back, an agreement, a pact of sorts between us before turning and meeting the gaze of whoever stands behind us.
When I do, my whole world, my entire life, flashes back before my eyes and I stumble as breath leaves my lungs, the reality I’ve somehow blocked out comes crashing to the surface. Darkness fills my vision and the last thing I remember is falling into Leonardo’s arms before I am dragged under and into the secrets in my past.
*****
“Maria,” my mother’s voice calls to me. “Maria, come up to the house. Sbrigati! Hurry, they are leaving!” She smiles at me gently, before grabbing her apron and drying off her hands. Her blond hair blows in the breeze and I grin back before watching her turn and make her way back into our house sitting on top of the hill.
“Stupido,” I hear Leonardo whisper next to me. “They always call us away right when I am winning.”
The breeze blows past as I turn and look at my friend. The ocean down below us, I can’t help the happy feeling I get standing so close to him on our little mountain top in Sicily. The Italian villas nestled in the side of the mountains behind him, I blush feeling that funny sensation I always do when we stand here in our little world together. Like I never want to leave. I want to stay here, with him, always. Even at six years old, I know he is the boy for me.
“That’s because your Momma knows you always cheat,” I say with a grin. His mother is my own mother’s best friend. Since he moved here from America when he was around my age, we have been inseparable. At least that is what they say. A few years older than me, I haven’t been able to help my schoolgirl crush I’ve had on him since before I can even remember. Now being six, and Leonardo eight, all I can do is pray one day he feels the same.
“I do not cheat,” he hisses out as he kicks a rock with his shoe. I roll my eyes and am about to turn away when I hear him whisper, “I just always let you win.”
Pausing, I look up at him with wide eyes and catch him smile. He takes off before me towards the house and I scream, “Leo, that isn’t fair!” I chase after him as quick as my legs will travel as we climb the hill towards the house at the top. “Leo!” I scream, as I look up and see him still several feet in front of me. “Wait up!”
