“I always thought love was a weakness, marriage a vulnerability. My dad never recovered after we lost mom. His heart had a limp. I was wrong, but I was also right. I’m half a man without you. You plague my thoughts, sweet wife. I crave your acceptance, love, and respect. I have one of the most respected and feared names in Greenich Bay, but to you, I’m no one.”
His palm scrubbed at his face, the weariness cracking his defenses. His blunt confession flustered me, and my hand clutched at my chest, where a soft ache spread.
“In sleep, your face is soft and open. It’s the only time you aren’t slicing me with a sharp look or word. I try to imagine the day I will have access to that part of you all the time.”
“Romeo,” his name strangled my tongue. His jaw tightened as he tore his gaze from mine.
“Don’t worry, I’m sleep-deprived, and yesterday was…” He groaned as he eased himself up. I gripped his wrist as he moved past me.
“I am not an easy person to love. My dad, Paolo, and you, so you claim,” he tried to interrupt me, but I shushed and continued. “I never thought I would marry. You thought it was a weakness. Well, I considered it a prison. Marriage has afforded me a freedom I never experienced before. But I’m also trapped because you know who I am, the dark and brutal parts of me. My ribcage traps my heart like bars. I want desperately to hate you, to separate the feeling, but I can’t. Something inside my soul recognizes you are mine.”
I peeled my fingers off his wrist, palm clammy with the sudden revelation. I’d only meant to placate him, but the admission tumbled out. The tight clench in my chest unraveled, and my vision swam with a lightheadedness that made the room hazy.
Except for Romeo, a dark blade who pledged himself to me.
“What are you saying?” Romeo bracketed my body with his arms. We traded harried breaths, a tenuous truce.
“I’m saying you owe me a wedding night.” My stomach was in knots, defiant and ready for his acceptance. Or his rejection. Romeo made a noise, a sob, and a groan. His hands were on me, hungry and insistent. Our mouths collided, and I let lust roll through me.
Romeo was mine.
Each sliver of his bare skin I revealed was mine. His shirt hung off his shoulders and I rubbed a raised silver scar on his chest, and he shuddered underneath the light touch. His mouth traced my jawline, hot breath, teeth scraping.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, sweetheart. I wish I could cherish you, but I want you too much.”
His hands shook as they slid up my modest nightgown and hooked around the side of my underwear. I choked as he inched them down, tangling them around my thighs in his haste. Yearning heat between my legs pulsed as Romeo groaned. The sound emptied my lungs, and they burned.
“Please,” I panted, grappling with his clothes. My experience was limited. I didn’t know what I was begging for. I’d once caught Paolo with a fling, pushed up against a wall. She’d winked at me, as if waiting out his frenzied pumping. That visual, coupled with Merissa’s advice, made my movements fumble, nerves kicking in.
“You’ll get what you need, Anita. Trust me,” his voice was husky as he wrenched my nightgown over my head and tossed it to the side. His eyes flashed hungrily, but his mouth was alreadydescending to my breast. Fingers kneaded my other breast while his tongue circled my nipple. The soft warmth tore a soft cry from my throat. His weight pushed the air from my lungs. I could feel the hard length of him against my thigh, encased in his pants but stillthere.Wanton sounds escaped me. Romeo knew my body better than I did, laving his tongue with unrelenting precision. He plastered open-mouth kisses on every available inch of my skin, his moans vibrating through me.
“The night you made me watch you touch yourself was utter torture. Did you enjoy having me on my knees for you?” he whispered, sinking in between my thighs. I was completely bare, and he was still mostly dressed, but I was in control.
“Yes,” I panted, meeting his bright eyes. “I loved it—ahhh.” Romeo swiped his tongue, flat and slow on my flushed skin. He focused on the sensitive nub, lavishing it with gentle sucks and long lashes of his tongue until I writhed like a live wire.
“Such a pretty pussy,” he muttered, sounding fevered. “Your clit is begging me to make you come. Do you want that?” Romeo slipped two fingers inside me, and I arched my back at the crash of sensation. It was so much. Too much. Not enough.
“M-my clit?” I bucked my hips, needing something he was denying me on purpose. I didn’t know what, but his slow, languid strokes and the glint in his eye told me he knew he was withholding it.
“Right here,” he hummed, tongue circling the sensitive bundle that I’d touched to orgasm last time. Merissa had called it a bud. “That’s your clit, sweetheart. And if I keep licking…” He punctuated each word with a circle around my clit before stopping. The pressure he built faded, much to my dismay. My mouth dropped open, and I let out a low groan.
“Do you want me to keep going?” Romeo’s fingers thrust steadily into my slick pussy. He carved them against my inner wall, and I let my legs fall open wider. Everything was too slowand restrained. I grabbed his hair, tangling my fingers in the dark strands.
“Don’t you dare stop,” I warned him. Mirth burst over his face. But he listened, his tongue returning to my clit. I was lost to sensation. My thighs clamped around Romeo’s head, and I rocked my hips instinctively.
“Yes, use me,” Romeo moaned against me. I shook, groaning loud and guttural. The familiar crest of desire took me. It hadn’t been this electric with my hand. That had felt good, but this sparked through my body like a wave, knocking any thought except the hunger for more of his tongue and touch. This was white, cleansing electricity roaring through my veins. His fingers coaxed a smaller wave of pleasure from me.
“Romeo,” I cried out, shaking as my toes jammed into the bed, rigid with pleasure. Romeo pried open my thighs, emerging red-cheeked and tussled. I’d done that to him. My dazed thoughts buzzed.
His smile stretched the whole of his face as he licked his lips.
“I love you, Anita.” His chest heaved. I sank into the mattress. Heavy and sated, my tongue too swollen to respond. A languid smile softened my lips. Yesterday, grief had undone me. Now Romeo’s touch crumbled me into a thousand throbbing pieces. I didn’t address his admission or respond in kind. We were carving something new, but I wasn’t ready to admit what the warmth in my chest might mean. Romeo collapsed beside me, running his hand down my side. As if he wasn’t ready to give up the feel of me.
“What about you?” I ducked a quick look at his crotch. “Do you want my mouth?”
Romeo choked on a shocked breath. He levered himself up, sweeping an intense gaze down my body. “That won’t be necessary. But perhaps we could shower and…continue again?”
Air evaporated, my lungs burning as I forgot how to breathe. Romeo’s wide shoulders and sculpted chest flushed with glistening sweat. I wanted to lick a path down each carved line. Collect the salt and flavor of him on my tongue. I wanted to know if I could hold him on the edge of pleasure, drag desperate begs from his lips.
