28. Marisol
28
MARISOL
There’s a little relief village set up on the outskirts of the capital. Dino and I are given a tent, access to space to bathe, and food.
I’ve never been so grateful for anything in my life.
The tent isn’t shared; we’re put in there together, because I keep explaining to anyone who will listen that my new husband and I are together.
That we were on our honeymoon, going to visit the ecological park nearby.
That I’m pregnant.
It’s weird how easily the lies fall from my lips, and occasionally as I’m saying them, I glance over at Dino.
He has no idea what I’m saying.
I wonder, if he knew, what his reaction would be.
Once we’re finally alone in the little tent, I sigh, sitting down on the small bed that’s been set up on top of some old wooden crates. “I want a shower.”
Dino growls. “I can’t watch over you there, Marisol.”
“You’re going to have to deal with it,” I say.
Well.
I snap.
Clearly, the mud has gotten to me.
Dino glares, but I shake my head. “You can wait right outside. Or, you can shower in the men’s area. Either way, I need to get clean, and you do too,” I give him a meaningful look at the mud that I plastered on his neck.
His nostrils flare, but he doesn’t say anything.
Eventually we agree to a timed system. I’ll take exactly sixteen minutes from the time I walk into the women’s bathing area to come back out. He’ll be out in less than that time. If I’m not out when the sixteen minutes is up, he’s free to tear the place apart to find me.
Needless to say, the shower is fast.
There aren’t many people here yet. The soldiers said that the majority of the damage was in a remote area, which means that it was mostly around my father’s compound.
I try not to think about that.
Fifteen minutes and forty seconds later, I meet Dino, and we head back to the little tent.
Inside, I collapse onto the bed. “Dios. That’s magical,” I sigh.
It feels so good to be clean .
I prop myself up on my elbows, blinking at Dino, who is glowering in the corner.
The clothing they provided for us is basically a prison uniform. Tan pants, tan shirt, somewhere between scrubs and a canvas sack.
But Dino makes it look… sexy.
“There’s room for two,” I say, patting on the bed next to me.
Dino eyes the wooden supports, made from wooden crates, suspiciously.
I stand. “Or, we could just put it on the floor.”
Silently, Dino moves the bed off of the crates, the flimsy cot-like mattress so thin, I can feel the floor through it.
I wrinkle my nose. “I’m not sure that’s better…”
Dino plops down next to me and pulls me close.
It’s better.
I inhale deeply, my nose in his chest. He smells good. Clean, like the sanitizing soap, but also…
Like Dino.
I huff again, trying to get closer, wiggling my hips against his.
Dino rumbles. “Marisol…”
“Yes?”
“Stop.”
I freeze. “Why?”
He takes a minute to respond. “Because you… this isn’t the time. ”
“For what?”
I know I’m playing innocent, even though I understand what he’s saying now. I can’t help it, though.
After all that?
I want a reminder that I’m alive. That I made it out of the mud.
And that I’m heading home, to my girls.
I wiggle closer again, my lips just brushing his chest.
“Marisol,” he grunts. His fingers pull my chin up, until I’m meeting his eyes. “Stop.”
“No,” I whisper, defiant.
His nostrils flare, and I can see a muscle work in his jaw. “Are you sure?” he rasps.
God.
I love that sexy rasp.
“I’m sure. Think of it as a little honeymoon, because I’ve been telling everyone we’re…”
I don’t get to finish that sentence.
Because Dino’s lips cover mine, and I groan into his kiss.
It takes two seconds for me to go from playful and cute to panting beneath him. Dino’s hands are rough and covered in calluses, but they scrape so gently against my skin as he tugs me closer, consuming me with his kiss. I break the kiss and tug at his shirt, desperate for him to take it off.
Desperate to see more of him .
He leans back, and I watch as he rips the shirt open. He tosses it aside and I run my hands over his muscles, watching them jump and twitch under my fingers. The canvas of tattoos on his body is something that I trace, line by line, watching him flex under my touch.
They linger on a new scar.
I look up at him. “Did you get hurt?”
Dino’s pupils are blown wide, and it takes a minute for him to process the question. “What?”
“Did you get hurt. In the mudslide?”
“No,” he grunts.
I smile.
“Good.”
I lean up, digging my nails into his shoulders to tug his mouth down to mine.
I’m not gentle. I do it hard.
Dino responds.
I don’t know what’s happening, but I know this is what I needed. My shirt follows his. My rough canvas-ish pants go next, and when he tugs them down, he hooks his hands in my extremely unflattering government-issued panties, bringing them down as well.
When one of his thick fingers enters me, I arch up.
“Fuck me, Marisol,” Dino grunts. “You’re so fucking tight.”
I want him to stretch me. I remember how big he was, when I touched him in the rain, when I found him in the pool, and I know exactly how much that’s going to stretch me .
I remember.
When he bites against my shoulder, I gasp.
Yes.
“More,” I pant against his shoulder. “I want more, Dino.”
“You want my cock, Marisol?”
“Yes,” I practically whine. The words feel like they’re harsh, but I know Dino. He’s my Dino, and even if he’s a little rough around the edges, I know his heart.
“Do you need it?”
“Please, Dino,” I murmur. I don’t even care that I’m begging him for it.
I want more.
He pulls back, leaning up so he can take off his own rough tan pants. He pauses, looking down at me.
“Fucking hell Marisol. You make me fucking crazy.”
I love to hear that.
I try to open my legs wider for him, because I’m probably going to have to.
Dino’s eyes graze my core, and he shuts them. His jaw works, the muscle in it twitching as he stares at me.
“Fuck. Marisol. You… I’m… I’m fucking clean,” he grunts.
I freeze.
This is what happened the first time. When we…
I gulp .
“Well. It’s not like we don’t already have kids,” I murmur. “Nothing wrong with adding to the group, no?”
Dino’s eyes flash. “Another baby?”
I shrug. “Why not? We’re already a family. If you want,” I say quickly.
We haven’t talked about any of this. A future. An identity.
Being a family.
Dino’s eyes shutter, slightly, and he looks away. “I want what you want, Marisol,” he says.
But the words feel kind of… off.
“I’m fine if you’re fine,” I whisper.
Dino looks back at me.
Slowly, I run a hand up my torso, watching his eyes as they drag along the path of my fingers.
“I want you,” I whisper.
It’s the truth.
I want him. I want us to be a family. Dino sees me in a way that no one else has. He wants me.
Me.
Not my father’s daughter. Me. Marisol.
And I believe him when he says that I’m his.
There’s no time to talk about it. There are more days where we can negotiate the specifics.
For now?
We just have to trust each other.
It’s a tense moment, and I break it by saying one word.
“Please,” I say.
Dino takes over. He leans forward, notching himself at my entrance. I gasp at the intrusion.
“Holy hell, Dino. You’re…”
“You’re gonna take me, Marisol. You’re gonna take me just fuckin’ fine,” he murmurs. “You already did it once, baby. You can do it again.”
Damn.
I mean damn.
Slowly, Dino pushes himself inside me. It doesn’t matter that we’re on the thinnest mattress known to man… I might as well be in a five-star hotel, with how reverently and carefully he treats me. Hands delicately tracing my skin, he moves so slowly, and so intentionally, that I gasp at the first delicious stretch. My eyes roll back in my head at the sensation of being filled by him. One of his hands drifts up to massage my breast, his fingertips lightly gripping my nipple as he does so.
God.
“You’re doing so good, Marisol,” Dino grunts. “You take me so fucking well.”
I blush at his compliment.
Dino telling me that I’m doing a good job is…
Okay.
It’s really damn good.
“You like being told how good you are, don’t you Marisol?” Dino says in that dark, gravelly voice that has my entire body screaming for more.
I don’t want to tell him yes.
Not yet.
I want to make him work for it a little more.
“Answer me,” he says in that dark voice.
“Yes,” I pant, my body automatically responding to the demand. “Yes, I like it, okay?”
“Good. I want you to feel good, Marisol,” he rumbles.
Well, he’s doing great at that part.
Dino starts to flex the thick muscles around his hips, pumping in and out of me slowly as he does. I gasp, my hand flying to brace myself.
He’s so fucking powerful.
So vicious.
So… big .
The vision of him, gentling all that muscle and all that power, in order to make sure that I’m okay, that I’m enjoying him and enjoying this…
I shut my eyes.
My orgasm is already pressing at the edges of my awareness, and I don’t want this to stop anytime soon.
It’s all I can do to focus on not coming all over Dino’s enormous cock.
“Marisol,” Dino snaps, his voice pulling my focus. “Look at me. ”
I do.
He looks like some kind of ancient, primal god right now. The tent is dark, and I can see the outline of him silhouetted slightly. His torso gleams with sweat, and seeing it move in the dim light makes something break in me.
I feel wild. Open. Completely and totally under his spell.
And completely powerful, to have a man like this.
“I want you to look at me when you come, Marisol,” Dino groans. “Can you do that for me?”
Heck yes.
He starts moving faster, the pace a little erratic. I roll my eyes back. The change in tempo is hitting something inside of me that I honestly didn’t think existed until now.
I’ve heard of it, of course. But feeling it?
Totally different.
“Dino,” I gasp, my body clenching around him prematurely. “Dino I…”
“Watch me, Marisol. Stay with me, baby,” he groans.
I lock eyes with him.
One of Dino’s big hands traces down my torso, and his thumb rests on my clit. I don’t think he needs to do that, based on the feelings rippling through me, but I…
I lose my train of thought when the orgasm crashes over me.
I lose all ability to think, actually.
My body feels like it’s floating, a bundle of nerves that I am only loosely associated with. The point of connection, the one thing I can feel through the storm of sensations wracking through me, is Dino.
And when he grunts, lashing me with heat from the inside, I swear that I can feel it through every nerve in my body.
This.
I missed this.
I wanted this.
Always.
Dino collapses on top of me eventually. He moves so that his arms are tucked kind of under my head, so he’s cradling me at the same time as he leans down, his breath sawing harshly in and out of his mouth next to my ear.
He hasn’t pulled out yet.
And I’m kind of weirded out by how much I like that.
I shift. “Well. That’s one way to feel alive.”
Dino laughs, and the sound makes my chest feel tight.
“You’ve been telling people what, about us, exactly?” he murmurs.
“That we’re married. You’re my husband and I’m your wife and we were here on our honeymoon.”
He stiffens.
Too much, Marisol. Too much.
“It’s just something I’m telling people. Just to make sure we can get out of here and no one is looking for us.”
“I see,” he says .
Dino shifts back, and I feel the loss of him everywhere.
I frown. “Did I say something wrong?”
Dino sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “What if I’m a shitty husband?”
Well, we haven’t really talked about that as an option yet…
“What if I’m a shitty father, Marisol? It’s not like I had a good model,” he murmurs.
My heart aches. “Dino. Everyone has to learn to be a parent. It doesn’t really matter who taught you… you have to learn on your own.”
“You want that? Being my wife. More kids,” he says.
His voice sounds hollow.
I raise an eyebrow. “Yeah. I mean. Isn’t that what you want? You keep saying I’m yours…”
“You are,” he growls.
“That’s what it means to me,” I say quietly.
Dino looks at me.
I have no idea what his expression holds. There are so many emotions there, they’re hard to pull apart.
I don’t know what to ask him. How to ask it.
How to get him back. How to keep him from going thousands of miles away from me in his mind.
How to show him that he can be a good dad, a good husband…
If he wants to.
My stomach, however, rumbles, breaking the moment.
Dino looks down. “You’re hungry.”
“No, I’m fine, I…”
He pulls back, dragging his pants on, and bringing my clothes to me. “Let’s go eat,” he says.
The air, warm from our bodies still, suddenly feels cold.
I dress, then follow Dino out of the tent.
My heart is heavy. Dino doesn’t think he can be a parent, or a partner.
And I don’t know what that means for me…
Or for us.
The food, predictably, is plain. Easy. Nothing to write home about. Dino and I sit by ourselves, off in the corner. His eyes are roaming the crowd behind us, seeking out the crowd.
I’m focused on his words.
Or, the lack thereof.
I need to talk to him about it. To ask him if he sees a future with me. Because if not…
There’s a loud sound behind us.
I’m on my feet, turning to look, but Dino is faster. He shoves me behind him, and as soon as I peek from around his shoulder.
There’s a mud covered man .
Holding a gun.
Walking straight for us.
The soldiers are scrambling, but no one has weapons on an aid mission. The man comes closer, and my heart skips to a thousand miles a minute.
Underneath the mud, a familiar cold face glints back at me.
“Andrei,” I breathe.
“Stay back,” Dino barks at me.
Andrei comes closer, gun steady. He blinks, his eyes red and staring as he comes to point-blank range.
“Give her to me,” he growls.
Dino stiffens. “Fuck off,” he snarls.
“Give her to me,” Andrei repeats.
“No,” Dino growls.
Andrei shrugs.
Everything moves in slow motion after that. I hear the gun cock, see his finger on the trigger. My eyes go wide and a scream poses in my throat.
He’s going to shoot Dino.
I push, hoping Dino makes it out of the way in time, but he’s made of stone…
The sound of a gunshot shatters the moment, and everything moves at once.
People scream around us. The camp is in chaos.
I’m holding onto Dino, hoping to God that he’s okay, that he’s not hurt too bad. I look over at Andrei, ready to beg for Dino’s life, when my jaw drops.
Andrei is on the ground.
He’s moaning, his hand clutching his shoulder.
Dino, next to me, standing, unhurt, is still as a statue.
“Dino?” I ask.
“Bernadino Drakos?” an unfamiliar voice calls.
I turn.
One of the soldiers, a tall, dark-haired man with silver dashed through his thick hair, is staring at us with curiosity.
There’s a gun in his hand, but it’s pointed down.
He shot Andrei.
“I’m Dino. De Luca,” Dino says.
The man’s eyebrows raise. “Is that the name you choose?”
I swear I can hear Dino’s heart beating in his chest.
Slowly, he moves. “My father… my biological father… might have been a Drakos,” he murmurs. “But I don’t know what that has to fuckin’ do with you.”
The man stares for a minute longer.
Then, his face breaks into a huge smile, and he says something…
In Greek.
“English, fucker,” Dino snarls .
The man winks, and something about his face sets my heart at ease a little. He moves closer, and Dino steps in front of me.
The man pauses, noticing the gesture, then bows slightly. “Ah, I heard that you only speak English. Pity. My name is Nico Drakos. It’s nice to meet you…
Cousin.”