La Sposa (31 page)

“
Aww, that’s sweet.”

“
Over there, is another TV room and
the kitchen is here. We have a personal cook that will arrive in
the morning and return again in the evening. You need to meet with
her to plan our menu. You know what I like.”

“
Yes, I know what you
like.”

He led her through another hall. A magenta red
curtain blocked the entrance to the next room. Giovanni stepped
forward, gathering the drapes in his hand. He drew them aside for
her to step inside. In her wedding dress, she entered their private
hideaway. Twelve candles were placed around the room to provide
natural light. In the center of the floor was a Jacuzzi tub with
bubbling steamy waters. Blue rose petals floated on top of the
rolling current. The window before the Jacuzzi offered a perfect
view of the mountains and rocky hills that surrounded the island.
She stepped closer, and noticed the lounge pad for relaxing near
the window, where a tray of fruit and cheese waited.

Two hands went to her shoulders, and then
eased down her bare arms. He slipped his hands underneath to
embrace her. “Do you like it?”

“
Yes.”

“
I’m pleased too.”

He began to try to undress her and she turned
with a smile. “Not yet. I need to get ready for you. It’s our
wedding night, silly. Besides, I have a few surprises of my
own.”

Giovanni stepped back, giving her a long look.
She dropped her hand on her hip and met his gaze. “Go shower, get
nice and clean for me, and meet me there. I’ll do the
same.”

“
We can shower
together.”

She shook her head to his request. “Indulge me
this. Okay?”

“
Do I have a choice?”

“
No.” She started for the curtain
door, and then paused. She looked back at him with a raised brow.
“You coming?”

He dropped his head, smiling, and followed her
out.

Sorrento –

“
Am I not allowed in?” Fatigue had
settled in the pockets under his eyes. He had a bitch of a time
ending the event and getting his men out of the town without a
drunken incident. The only thing that got him through was the
promise of this moment. When she would once again be his. He hadn’t
forgotten someone was gunning for him, and she may be the only
woman between him and a bullet from Giovanni’s gun. He’d put the
photos and the tape cassette in his safe before they headed to the
airport and out of Milano. After he found the bitch Isabella and
got all other copies he knew existed, he’d burn them together.
Tonight, he needed to be close to the one woman who understood how
precarious his situation was.

“
No,” she said, deflating his ego.
“I don’t want you to come in.”

It was as he feared. She was no different from
any other woman in his life that existed to bust his balls. The
only time he found an easy way to his desires and wishes, was with
Fabiana. And look what her trust of him got her in the end. Lorenzo
dropped his head and shook it. He stood outside of her room door.
His gaze lifted and locked on her, and he tried again to figure out
her angle. The hot and cold was sexy because he was a man that
liked the chase.
But not tonight. Fuck it. Any night but
tonight.

“
I thought we covered
this.”

“
You were pretty crappy to me
today. And I’m a little pissed you made me wait all night after
everyone left. I get we have a partnership or something going, but
sending that kid over to be your surrogate, to dig in my business,
was the last straw. This is not a game for me, Lorenzo. Treat me
with respect and you’ll get some in return.”

Lorenzo gripped the top frame of the door and
leaned in. Marietta leaned out of his face but he was still close.
“First, the wedding invite was an honor. Half of Italy and most of
Sicily would have loved to trade places with you today,
Cara
. It was also my responsibility to my cousin to see the
day through.” Lorenzo looked down at her breasts and continued.
“Second, that kid works for me. He was only trying to be nice, get
you a drink, make conversation because you looked so miserable and
bored. I have my ways sweetheart, and they are always effective.
You want to know what Capriccio men know, then trust me to get
those answers.”

“
I don’t trust you. Therein lies
the problem, Lorenzo.”

“
Well then fuck me, because I’m
tired of this bullshit. Let me in. You can do that can’t
you?”

Marietta glared at him. Lorenzo threw his
hands up in defeat.

“
Let’s get something straight. I’m
not your fuck-partner unless I want to be. And I won’t be fucking
you unless I want to. Right now, I don’t want to!”

Lorenzo stepped back. He pressed his lips
together, looked down the hall then back at her. Before she closed
her door on him, he reached in his pocket. He grabbed her hand and
forced his key into her palm. “I’m staying in the room next door.
I’ll have a man posted outside of your door for protection. If
tonight you change your mind…”

“
I won’t.”

“
If you change your mind, you know
where to find me.”

“
I said, I won’t!” she stated
emphatically and closed the door on him.

He chuckled. Shaking his head, he walked
away.

Marietta dropped back on the door. She threw
the key. Crossing her arms, she stood there in her room, pissed. He
ignored her most of the day or leered at her like the other men. A
day wasted, and she was no closer to her goal than before it all
started. Gemma told her not to take this road and she chose not to
listen. Lorenzo was right about one thing. Isabella, whoever she
was, set her up. Last night could have cost her, her life. She had
to know why this woman chose her and Lorenzo in this way. She
sighed and walked over to her bed, taking a seat. She stared at the
door, and considered his offer. She found him sexy and exciting. A
dangerous habit of hers she decided to break. She intended to keep
her legs shut around Mr. Tall Dark Asshole. Her gaze lowered to the
room key sparkling in the moonlight. “I’m not going to his
room.”

Villa of Capri –

Giovanni took pride in fatherhood. He removed
Eve’s little princess dress. She cried in her sleep once, but the
pacifier kept her content. In nothing but her night shirt and
diaper, he covered her with a blanket and carefully placed a pillow
on either side of her, the way he’d seen her mother do in the past.
In a few weeks, Eve would be two. Before long, the days of her
sleeping on his chest would be gone. He smiled down at her, sadly
dreading that day.

After the wedding, Zia pulled him aside. With
Cecilia in the
ospedale
suffering a broken ankle, Zia felt
Giovanni should give Eve to her. In fact, she was so adamant about
it, he had to get stern with her. There was no way he’d be
separated from his daughter for weeks. It killed him when he left
them for a matter of days. The compromise was Rosetta joining them
to alleviate stress for Mira. It was the only compromise he’d
make.

Leaning in, Giovanni brushed his lips over
Eve’s chubby cheek. He reached and turned off the lamplight. For a
moment, he couldn’t bring himself to leave her side. She grew and
became more independent each day. Just the other day, she told him
no
. She said the word with such force, he could do nothing
but rethink his request of her. He loved it! In his life, the
burden of children and a wife were never appealing to him. Now he
existed for a new purpose.

Giovanni tightened his robe and strode out of
the bedroom leaving the door open. He turned off several other
lamps as he ventured to the wall, to turn up the dial on the floor
lamps. They cast away enough of the shadows to navigate the halls
to and from the rooms and kitchen. The villa was just as he
requested, a slice of paradise. When he returned to the spa room,
he untied the belt to his robe and shrugged it off. He eased in the
bubbling waters with nothing on. Reclining against the wall,
sitting on the spa bench, he closed his eyes and let the Jacuzzi’s
rippling waters perform their magic over the tension, making knots
of his bones. His legs floated out in the current before him. Soon,
the love he’d had all day lulled him into a peaceful
state.

“
Sweetheart?”

His lids parted a fraction, but his vision
remained unclear. Focus slowly returned. The vision before him made
him doubt if he was truly awake. Shock rendered him speechless for
a moment. Mira had brought him the fantasy tonight.

She’d taken a raspberry red scarf and wrapped
it around her luscious curves in the sexiest way he’d ever seen. He
studied her a moment to understand how she accomplished the task.
It appeared that first she brought the fabric around her breasts,
thick enough to cover her nipples but thin enough to reveal their
heavy fullness. The scarf then went behind her back and crossed
over to the front of her abdomen, where she ran both sides of the
fabric down to the apex of her sex in a V, covering her pussy. She
drew it back up like a G-string to barely cover the split of her
perfectly shaped ass cheeks; and then around her waist, wrapping it
twice before tying it in a creative bow at her belly
button.

She freed her hair from the pinned up messy
style she wore since their tryst on the yacht. It was brushed
straight from the roots, but thick curls rested on her shoulders.
Her lips were as bright red as the material she used for his
present. Everything about her, including the widening of her hips,
fullness of her breasts, and slight rounding of her tummy, enhanced
her beauty.

“
Well? What do you think?” She
turned around to make sure he got the full effect.

“
Bellisima!”

She approached but hesitated at the opposite
side of the tub. Mira gauged the bottom to be four feet deep.
Still, her heart raced at the thought of it being
deeper.

“
Something wrong?” Giovanni
asked.

She’d told him once of her phobia of drowning,
and she felt silly even questioning the safety of a Jacuzzi tub.
She and Kei had been in plenty. This one was wide enough to fit a
dozen or more people and the lights at the bottom made her think
more of a swimming pool than a spa tub.

“
Bella? Is something
wrong?”

“
No, sweetie.” She sucked in a deep
breath and lowered to the edge. She slipped her feet, legs, and
thighs into the water with caution. To her relief the surface of
the water reached her breasts. She gasped twice to try to remain
calm, composed, and sexy as she waded towards him. She could tell
he wasn’t buying her bravado. So she walked quicker, preferring to
touch the side wall for balance. It was the sexiest walk she could
muster. Giovanni laughed, and Mira felt silly by the time she
reached him.

“
What was that about?” He continued
through laughter.

“
It’s deep.”

“
It is not. Come here.” He drew her
to him. He looked down at his present. “Is this one of your
designs?”

She lifted her arms from the water, bringing
some with her. She wrapped them around his neck. “Yes. You like?
It’s a Giovanni original. When I start working again, I won’t be
designing for the fashion savvy only. I will also have a private
label. Giovanni Originals. The clothes I wear, for you.”

“
Mmm,” he moaned. He reached under
the water and untied his gift. The silk unraveled and drifted out
from between her legs, a red stripe rippling under crystal blue
waves. Mira brushed her lips across his. Her nipples tingled as
they surfaced and bobbed in the water, and then brushed his chest.
And when his hands eased down her spine to cup her ass, she drifted
even closer. He rose. Mira winced over being held up in the current
of the Jacuzzi by just his strong arms.

“
Relax, I have you.”

She closed her eyes and calm moved over her.
Evidently, he could feel her discomfort and decided on his own
remedy. Giovanni turned with her and rose in the water, while
forcing her to extend. In a matter of seconds, she was floating
with his hands underneath her. Mira smiled, comfortable that he was
holding her, and a bit overwhelmed by the water lapping the sides
of her face and getting in her ears. He kissed her lips. “Open your
eyes.”

She did. She looked up into his.

He let her drift and get used to the water
before he brought her upright. She stood, running her hands back
over her hair, now wet, with water trickling down her
forehead.

“
Was I swimming?” she
kidded.

He laughed. “Almost.”

He took her hand, and together, they stepped
up and out of the sunken Jacuzzi. He brought her to the long
thickly- padded mat right before the window. Mira dropped to her
hands and knees, crawling across. He lay over her and she greeted
him with another kiss. She lifted her hand and her finger landed
softly to his lips. “It’s my turn.”

Giovanni looked at her curiously but didn’t
resist as she rolled him over to his back. Mira reached to the
towels and plucked one. She took her time drying his chest and
arms. “You know you never told me what they mean. All of these.”
She swirled the towel over one tattoo and then the other.
“Especially this one.” She drew the towel down his forearm, wiping
at the large gothic cross with the depiction of Mary and the baby
Christ inside.