Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Anastasia
T he waves crashed against the shoreline as the moon hung high in the sky. My fingers were threaded in between Valerio’s as we strolled down the beach hand in hand. A week ago, this life seemed so different, and yet here we were, living out the very life we said was unattainable. Life felt so surreal. Less than four days ago, I didn’t even know if I would live or die. And now here I was, strolling along the beach with the love of my life.
My brother had given us his blessing. Not only that, but Valerio had helped him re-establish our family. My brother still had his reservations about my relationship with him, but he was willing to give him a chance. I would take it, for the time being. In time, they would grow to love each other. They were the two most important men in my life.
He had to stay in the hospital for the next two weeks to make sure that he was okay, much to his disdain. I was just happy that he was alive.
I looked up to the full moon and couldn’t help the sigh of contentment that escaped my lips. I had never been so happy before in my life.
It was perfect. I wanted to remain in this bubble forever.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Valerio interrupted my busy mind.
I turned my head and looked up at him. I had never seen him dressed so laid-back before. He wore a white button-down and khaki pants. You wouldn't think that, only a few short hours ago, the man was taking fire from my deranged ex-fiancé.
“I have never felt so at peace in my life before.”
“Funny.” He pulled us to a stop and held onto my hips. “Neither have I. You bring light to my dark world, cielo .”
“Why do you call me that?” It was a question I had yet to get an answer to.
He brushed his thumb over the bridge of my nose gently. “It's a Spanish word that means heaven .”
I knew that from the simple Google search I had done a few weeks back. But I wanted to know why he called me that.
“When you found me that night, I was in a really shitty place. I had a lot of stuff that had been on my mind, and I was struggling to come to terms with what my father had done. To Savina. To the Brotherhood… to me. I felt numb. I had no feelings left in me. If I had died that night, I would have gone without a fight. In fact, I think I was actively searching for death without even knowing it. I was ready for the darkness to take me. But then I saw you. My angel, my heaven-sent. You gave me a reason to breathe, to live, to fight to be here. What were the odds that we had moved within the same circles from the moment we were born, but we had never once crossed paths until that moment?”
Hearing him say the words moved something within my soul. I always had a feeling that he carried so much within him, but now to know that I had played a part in lessening that load brought my soul a lot of joy. I wanted nothing but happiness for him.
To the world, he was the brutal cold-hearted killer. But to me, he deserved the world and all the good things that it had to offer.
“I love you, Valerio.” I wanted to say the words without having a gun held to my head. I wanted him to know that I truly meant them. “I love you with all my heart. Words cannot explain to you how much you mean to me. You were made for me, the same way that I was made for you. It took a lot of pain and horror for us to finally get to this point, but now that we have gotten here, I can say that it was all worth it. You were worth it. I would walk through the same fire a thousand times over and allow it to scorch me to ash if it meant that I get you in the end.”
The tears pricked my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
“I love you too, cielo . More than I will ever be able to tell you.” He placed his lips on top of mine and molded our lips together.
When we pulled apart, I was breathless and feeling the need to have him ravish my body.
“Take me to my bed, Valerio.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
We barely made it into the room before his lips were on mine. The passion was electric, and it was like an out-of-this-world feeling. We simply fit so well.
We peeled off our clothes layer by layer until we lay bare on the mattress of the bed. Our hands moved over each other, tracing the lines of our bodies, committing our silhouettes to memory.
He spread my legs apart and aligned himself against my slickness. He moved up and down my folds, only increasing the scorching heat that riddled my body.
He stared down at me with love in his eyes. There was a softness there that was only ever reserved for me. To the rest of the world, he was cold and hard. They didn’t get to see his heart and his gentleness.
Yes, the big scary underboss who had been likened to death itself was gentle. But it was a trait that not even his family got to see. It was reserved for me and me alone. I felt special having that privilege.
He aligned his tip right at my entrance. My heart leaped in my chest, my body ready to take him again. To feel him in a way that was beyond words.
He brushed the hair from my face and pressed his lips down to mine in a searing kiss. We had kissed many times before, but this time it felt different. It felt like… more .
There was no other way to put it.
I could feel the love pouring from him and filling me from the inside. It was this large wave of synergy that charged from my atoms to his.
When he pulled away, my heart inflated to three times its size, I was sure that it would burst at any moment. Never in my life had I ever felt so connected to another human being.
“I love you, Anastasia.” His words were coated in a softness that rivaled velvet. “I love you in this life, and in every life that follows after.”
I reached for his hand on my cheek and threaded my fingers with his. I looked him directly in the eyes, making sure to lift every veil and curtain I had used to conceal my soul from the rest of the world. “I love you, Valerio Valdez. In this life and the next.”
He pushed into me with one fluid motion, successfully filling me to the brim. We moaned in unison as my walls adjusted to make room for him.
Finally .
“You are perfect.” He peppered my face with kisses, waiting for me to acclimate to his size. “You okay?”
My walls pulsed around him. The electricity that pulsed through my veins was enough to power a small town. I was not very experienced in sex, but I knew that it didn't get better than this. There was no way. He was just too perfect for me. It was like the heavens had created him just for me.
“You can move.” I rubbed the pad of my thumb against his cheek.
He pulled out of me and plunged back into me with fierce intent. Our moans mixed in with each other, and my eyes rolled to the back of my head.
We moved, meeting thrust for thrust with passion and lust.
“Fuck, you feel too good, baby.” The words rippled from his mouth. “Fuck.”
The only thing that I could muster as a response was a moan. The man had me speechless. All my brain could comprehend was his dick moving in and out of me with a steady and forceful rhythm.
The breeze blew in from the open balcony door. The sounds of the crashing waves filled our room along with the slapping of our bodies. It was wet, hot, and passionate. Every muscle in my body was tight with tension as I took on his assaults on my pussy. And just when I thought I was about to burst, this man pulled out of me abruptly.
I was about to rip him a new one when he flipped us, so he was now beneath me and I was on his lap. His length sat behind my ass, my lips throbbing from the lack of friction they felt. They needed stimulation.
“Ride me, cielo .”
I didn't need to be told twice. I lifted myself and then eased him back into me.
We didn't waste any time. He jerked his hips upward, enticing me into moving. I lifted off him slightly and then slammed my ass back down. The earth-shattering shock wave that moved through my body was my single undoing. I had never felt anything more glorious than that.
I repeated my actions, working both of our bodies until we were slick with sweat and our chests heaved up and down from the passion.
With taut muscles, we became nothing but puddles of sex and passion. The sound of wet skin against wet skin filled my ears. The moans and grunts created a symphony for the pressure that had been building inside of us.
“Oh, baby…” My breasts bobbed up and down. “I'm so close to coming. Fuck, you feel so… fuck !”
He jerked his hips upward and began to slam into me with relentless force. “Come for me, baby.”
His encouragement made the end reach far sooner than I wanted it to.
I placed my hands on his chest and my hair curled my face as I moved my body meeting him with every ounce of force I could muster.
“Ah, Valerio.” I didn't know how much more I could take.
“Come for me, baby,” he breathed, “I’m right there with you.”
And that was my undoing. My walls collapsed when the orgasm ripped through my entire body violently. I tore in two and found myself free-falling into oblivion.
I heard him roar as he found his own release inside of me. We rode out our orgasms, feeling our two bodies coming together like two stars.
When the thick haze of lust and passion finally died down, I collapsed on top of him and his arms came around me. He pulled out of me and laid us down so that my head rested on his chest, while our legs tangled with each other.
I was spent.
We lay there in silence, the remnants of the passion-filled cloud still lingering in the room.
I could hear the steady beating of his heart from where I laid my ear. His hands moved up and down my spine.
The only word that I could describe this moment with was perfect . There was nothing that I would change. Not a single thing.
“I love you, Valerio Valdez.”
I felt his lips press against my temple in a tender kiss. “I love you too, cielo . In this life and the next.”
Tonight marked the beginning of our journey together. Day one down… and a lifetime to go.