Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lucien
Olivia climbs into the window and leans against the sill. Outside, I can see the courtyard is lit. The clouds overhead have cleared a bit and stars hang heavy between them. Little flakes of snow spiral out of the darkness. She unfastens the latch and pushes the window ajar. The faint sounds of holiday music on a violin wafts through.
“Can we go outside?” she asks.
I stroke the back of her neck. “Go put on your boots and coat.”
She flashes me a smile and I go to wash up while she puts her things on. When I step out of the bathroom, she’s holding my coat. Not the overcoat I usually wear, it’s the one we received as gifts on our honeymoon. She put them away, sealed in plastic, several years ago, but clearly she deemed tonight important enough to break them out.
“I thought these weren’t for wearing,” I say, taking the thick wool.
She picks hers up from the bed and wraps the creamy wool around her curvy body. I love this coat on her, the white fur brings out the glassy dark of her eyes and hair. I bend to kiss her mouth, noting she put a new layer of lipstick on. The rest is around my cock, hidden beneath my zipper like the sweetest secret between just us.
I take her hand and lead her back out into the hall. She follows me, her eyes bright, but not from the champagne. She’s happy, I made her happy and that’s all I want for us. We head down the staircase and I help her make her way down. She put her heeled boots on, the ones that zip up over her thigh. She looks so good that even though we’re surrounded by lavish decorations, all I can do is stare at her as we move through the lobby.
I push the door open and guide her through. Outside, it’s so cold she pulls her jacket close around her body. I take her hand and guide her down the stairs. There’s a fire burning in the brick pit at the center of the courtyard and she gravitates towards its warmth.
In the glow of the firepit, I slip my arm around her waist and pull her near.
“Are you happy, baby?” I murmur.
She turns her face up and leans into my body. Her smile is dreamy and tired, but in the best way.
“I’m so happy,” she whispers.
That’s all I want to hear anymore. For a long time, I pursued power, control, and revenge. And there’s still part of me that keeps fighting for power because someday, if everything goes according to the natural flow, I’ll hand the city down to one of my sons. I want to give them an empire that’s thriving.
But nothing matters to me as deeply as my family and their happiness. Olivia spent a lot of time being unhappy before she married me. And then she spent so many years being strong for me, weathering storms she should never have had to face. But now, things are much quieter. I have time to come home a few hours early to take her to dinner now and then. Instead of sending her gifts from work every time, some days I get to surprise her with them in person.
Hearing her say that she’s happy is the best gift.
“Can I get you anything?”
I turn and there’s a concierge, hands folded, waiting. Olivia bites her lip and glances at me and I nod.
“Could we get a glass of red wine for my wife?” I say.
“Actually, could I do champagne?” she cuts in. “Prosecco.”
“I’ll have a cognac. Neat.”
The concierge leaves and I sit down on the bench surrounding the firepit. She snuggles in close and crosses her legs, her hands burrowed deep in her coat.
“I know I asked you before, but do you think it’ll be Marco who takes over?” she murmurs.
I take a beat before answering because I know she’s hoping I’ll tell her no, I don’t think Marco will follow me down the twisted, shadowed path I took in life. We’ve had almost this exact conversation before.
“If you asked me a while ago, I’d have said I don’t know,” I say finally. “Now, I’m thinking he will.”
There’s a long silence and then she lets out a little sigh. She’s resigned to the future, I know she’s always felt it like an incoming storm. It’s the world she was born into, the one she chose when she told me she loved me all those years ago.
But I also know, a part of her hopes her sons get to walk away in the end. I caress her shoulder, offering her the assurance of my touch.
“You will be astounded by the things they do,” I said. “Not always happy, but they’ll do great things.”
She laughs weakly. “I know. Let’s not talk about it anymore tonight.”
The concierge appears and she straightens, taking her Prosecco. She’s so pretty wrapped in fur, diamonds on her neck and her red tipped fingers. There’s fine lines around her eyes and that stunning streak of silver glitters in the middle of her bangs. I bend and kiss the top of her head.
“A toast?” she asks.
“To what?”
She sighs, leaning back. Her eyes shift to the sky overhead. There’s a long silence where we sit and listen to the faint sounds of the violin. Tiny bits of snow tangle in her dark curtain of hair. I reach up and touch them with my fingertip, melting them so they sit like diamonds against dark velvet.
“To the rest,” she says finally.
“The rest?”
The fire flickers over her profile. I lean in so I can study her pensive face.
“We’ve had a wild life together, Lucien,” she sighs. “It’s been good, but I love this part of it so much. It’s so peaceful, I get to focus on you and the boys. I’m looking forward to the rest.”
She lifts her glass and I clink mine against it. To the rest. I’ll savor every single year I have with her.
We finish our drinks in silence. I wrap my arm around her and she nestles up against me. I can tell she’s getting sleepy, I need to get her upstairs and tuck her into bed. The concierge comes after a while and gathers our glasses and disappears. I take my wife’s hand and lift her to her feet.
“Let’s go up to bed,” I say. “I’ve got one more round in me before we sleep.”
Hand in hand, we head up the staircase.
“What do you think the boys are doing?” she asks sleepily.
“They’re probably watching slasher movies like they always do on Christmas Eve,” I say.
Olivia shudders. “I guess that’s one upside of having them spend Christmas overseas. I don’t have to watch those horrible gory movies before bed.”
We go back into our suite where the sheets are rumpled and the fire is still burning. I slip her coat off and kiss the side of her neck. She offers me a contented smile and sinks down onto the bed. I kneel and she lifts her foot to let me unzip her boots. Her breath hitches as I slide my hand up her calf and to the underside of her thigh. Touching her thoroughly before dragging the zipper down.
She slips her dress off and I help her out of it. The wine red lingerie is stunning against her skin and the dark waves falling down her back. The lace cups her breasts, her cleavage spilling over. I bend and kiss where the diamonds hang around her neck, resting just above her breasts. I skim my hand up and slip my fingers beneath her garter to grip her thigh.
“Do you want to take your coat off?” she whispers.
I glance down. She’s so distracting I didn’t realize I’m still in my coat and shoes. Her lips curve in a smirk as I get up and take them off, tossing them aside. I start unbuttoning my shirt and her eyes drop. Her mouth parts as I strip it and undo my belt.
“How do you look so good?” she murmurs.
I’m too distracted to answer properly. “You look pretty good yourself, Mrs. Esposito.”
My pants hit the floor and I push her back and climb over her in just my boxer briefs. She slides her red nails up my chest, dragging them over the skull covered in roses. Sometimes I think it scares her, sometimes it turns her on.
She wraps her legs around my lower back. Not breaking eye contact, I pull her panties aside and slide into her. She’s still wet from the last time we fucked and I enter her easily, pushing until we’re fully joined. I sink down against her body and our mouths meet.
She tastes like heaven and Prosecco and if I could make tonight last forever, I would. Beneath me, she writhes and releases a soft moan. My hips move, driving my cock deep inside her pussy with short, slow strokes. Tilting my body so I hit the spots that make her whimper and roll her eyes back.
We fuck slowly. Drawing it out, savoring the feeling of our bodies together. I can feel her relax as we move beneath the sheets, the only sound our panting breaths. I sit back on my heels and drag her hips into my lap so I can stroke her clit while I thrust up against her G-spot. Her eyes roll back and her stomach tenses as she comes.
I fall over her, our mouths meeting. Pleasure surges down my spine and erupts in my groin. A groan escapes me and she catches it on her tongue, pulling my breath into her lungs. We sink down together, tangled up. Our bodies joined, her leg thrown over my thigh. I’m still inside her when her lashes flutter and I hear her breathing deepen.
I fall asleep just minutes after she does. Thoroughly satisfied.