37. Antonio
Chapter thirty-seven
Antonio
W hen we reach the hotel, I’m relieved to see that Theá has calmed down. It took me by surprise to see how quickly she spiralled into that dark place, but another part of me is glad it happened. Because if it didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to tell her how I feel about her.
The entire day, especially on the yacht, I was biting my tongue to hold back from blurting it out in a random moment. But with how things ended up going, it just felt right to tell her then.
“Why don’t you take a shower, and I’ll order us some snacks?” I offer as we enter the room and find our bags already delivered.
She stays silent, but nods. I grab her arm, pulling her back. She wraps her arms around my waist, and I can feel the dampness of the fabric. I push her curls out of her face and gaze down at her sad face.
Tear stains still linger against her skin, and her eyes are slightly puffy. All I want to do is take away her pain and make her happy and giggly, like she was before we stumbled on that place.
“Do you want to be alone right now?” I ask, trying to gauge the situation.
“Not really.” She presses her head into my chest.
“Okay, how about we run a bath, then I’ll join you?”
She nods her head slowly against my chest. “Okay.”
We head to the bathroom together as I turn on the water while adding in bubble bath, the steam quickly filling the room.
There’s a knock on the door, and her head perks up. “I’ll be right back, make sure it doesn’t overflow.” I chuckle and slip out of the bathroom.
When I open the door, one of the hotel staff is standing with a plastic bag. “Mr. Vitale, these are the groceries you asked be delivered once you arrived.”
“Thank you so much,” I say, handing him a hundred Euro note before closing and locking the door.
My phone vibrates, and I look down to see more messages from Valerie. She’s been messaging non-stop since we landed, but I’ve just been ignoring it.
“Who was it?” Theá asks from the bathroom, and I can hear she’s shut the water off.
“Something I needed delivered,” I say as I walk into the bathroom. I freeze in the doorway as she’s stripping down. “Wow, I’m fucking lucky.” I fall against the door frame and stare at her adoringly. Everything from the curve of her hips to the way they perfectly frame her gorgeous ass to her full breast. Her body is beyond perfect, and I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to get to witness it in such a natural state.
“You’re staring.” She chuckles as she steps into the bath.
“Can you blame me?” I ask, dropping the bag next to the bath.
She stays silent as I pull my hoodie over my head along with the white t-shirt I had on underneath. When I toss it over to where her clothes are, I catch her staring up at me.
“Who’s staring now?” I raise a brow as I kick off my shoes and pull off my sweat pants.
“Can you blame—” Her words catch in her throat once I’m standing in front of her, fully naked.
“Sorry,” I say sheepishly as I attempt to cover the semi I’ve had the entire day, now growing from seeing her naked.
“Why are you apologising?” she asks.
“With what just happened, I don’t want you thinking that I’ve just been thinking about sex…” I say.
“I didn’t think that.” Her soft eyes meet mine.
“Good, now sit up. I’m freezing,” I say as I slip in behind her, letting my legs fall on either side of her.
She relaxes back into my chest, and I just let the warmth of the water and our bodies take over me. It’s been a crazy day.
“What’s in the bag?” she asks after a while.
I chuckle and sit up, bringing her body with mine as I reach and retrieve the items.
“It was really difficult to find the dill one, so I hope they taste good,” I say as I show her the dill pickles and crunchy peanut butter.
“Why? This is so random.” A chuckle leaves her lips.
“You showed me all the parts of yourself that you thought no one wanted to see, and I just want you to know that I want to see them. I love all the weird parts that make you, you, Theá.” My voice cracks a little, and I clear my throat to try and disguise it as I pull her into my chest and wrap my arms around her.
I rest my chin on her shoulder, and we both just sit there in silence. It feels so peaceful, so calm. Like for the first time in my life, I’m not worried about anything. I can finally just enjoy the moment with someone I care about.
My eyes widen a fraction as my mind makes the realisation. I really do love this woman.
Right here, right now. When nothing is going on around us. When there’s no reason to pretend anymore or to fake it for anyone—even though I know I haven’t been pretending for a while now. Now that it’s just us, I finally realise that I don’t just want to be around her to get away from my past life; I want to be around her because she is a part of my life I don’t want to lose.
“For someone who acts so humble, your ego is huge,” she says as I toss her onto the bed after our bath—during which we got into a slight disagreement about how she doesn’t believe I’m good at everything when I’ve shown her that I am.
“Is that so?” I start tickling her.
“Okay, fine, I’m sorry,” she gasps between her laughter. “I shouldn’t have said that your ego is big.” She tries to pull away from me, but I grab her wrist and wrap them around my neck, hoisting her up so her legs wrap around my waist, as well.
“You know what else is big?” I smirk, and she bursts out laughing.
“I hate that I can’t even deny it. But then again, I have nothing to compare it to.”
“And you never will,” I snap. “Should I remind you about the fact that you’re married to me?”
“I think you should, Mr. Perfect.”
“Gladly, Mrs. Vitale.”
I love calling her that; it ignites every primal bone in my body that makes me want to claim her.
I drop her onto the bed, grabbing both of her wrists in my hand and pinning them above her head. My fingertips toy with the ring around her finger, and the knowledge that this amazing woman lying beneath me is my wife has my love-filled brain turning to the lust side rather quickly.
My lips attach to hers, and I let the kiss convey just how desperate I am. Desperate for her. Desperate to taste the way the entire day has made her feel. The way I’ve made her feel.
I trail my kisses down until my lips envelop her right nipple, sucking gently. I draw faint moans from her lips, but I want more. I want to hear more from her.
At this moment, I feel entirely selfish in the way I want to draw out pleasure from her. Kissing her lower and lower, my lips rest on her pubic bone. Then I get up and head over to my carry-on luggage.
“What are you doing?” she whines, sitting up.
“Still so needy,” I mumble as I retrieve the purple object I was searching for.
Her eyes widen as she stares at the vibrator in my hand, and her expression moves from surprise to mischief in the blink of an eye.
“Lay down,” I instruct, and she obeys at an instant, allowing me to resume my previous position in front of her pretty pussy. “Such a good girl.”
I kneel on the floor and pull her so that her knees drape over my shoulders. I lick along her folds and throaty moans escape her mouth. I smirk, happy to hear just how good I’m making her feel.
“Hmm…” I lick my lips. “Which setting was it that you liked again?” I ask as I turn the vibrator onto its lowest setting, placing it on her clit.
She gasps and digs her heels into my back, her hands gripping onto the sheets tightly.
“Just like that, Theá baby. Let me hear how good I’m making you feel,” I encourage as I turn it up one more setting, thrusting a finger into her dripping cunt.
“Fuck, Antonio, just like that,” she all but screams out, her eyes screwed shut as her back arches off the mattress.
“Look at me while I make you come,” I say.
Theá must be too consumed by pleasure, because my words fall on deaf ears. So I remove both my fingers and the vibrator, causing her to whine out and glare at me.
“I said look at me while I make you come,” I repeat, and she nods her head vigorously. “Don’t make me repeat myself again or you’ll regret it, tesoro.”
Another nod and I grin before giving her all her pleasure back again. As if I never took it away in the first place, she slips right back to moaning and grinding against my fingers.
Her moans become more and more breathy, and that’s when I decide I want to hear just how far I can push her. I remove my fingers, and before she can even complain, I thrust the vibrator inside. A high-pitched moan echoes through the room and I watch in awe as she fights to keep her eyes on me.
Her big brown eyes are glossy as tears take over her vision, but like the good girl she is, her gaze never leaves mine.
“Come for me, tesoro ,” I say before sucking down on her clit hard.
In a matter of seconds, her thighs are trembling and her moans fill the room as she crashes down on my lips.
“F-f-fuck,” she says as she breathes heavily, coming down from her high. “I don’t think I can move right now.” She chuckles. I grin, removing the vibrator from her sensitive pussy, giving it a final kiss before sitting back on my haunches.
Her eyes hang lazily as she sinks deeper into the mattress. “Get some rest, tesoro . It’s been a long day,” I say as I stand up.
“No, wait, what about you?”
“This isn’t a transaction. I didn’t do that because I wanted anything in return; I did that because I wanted to make you feel good.” I kiss the top of her head, and I can see how she’s drifting off to sleep already.
Sleep doesn’t find me as easily, and after a few hours of tossing and turning, my phone vibrating gives me a reason to get up.
Valerie’s name flashes across my screen again. I grab it and a bathrobe, then head onto the balcony.
“Val? What’s up?”
“Took you long enough to answer,” a male voice answers, and my heart sinks. It’s not Ambrose’s voice; it’s one I don’t recognise at all, and suddenly it feels as if my blood runs cold.
“You knew the consequences for betraying us, Antonio. It’s time you learn your place in all of this.”
The call cuts, and I stare at the screen wide-eyed as I read through all of her texts. Multiple texts expressing her fear that someone was in the house, and then a few more saying that someone had gotten Ambrose, too.
“ Cazzo ,” I curse and rush inside, throwing on the tracksuit I had on earlier and grabbing my wallet.
I stand at the foot of the bed and stare at Theá. I contemplate waking her and telling her what’s going on, but I can’t shake the thought that she might’ve been a part of all of this. No one knew about this trip, and everyone involved was paid enough to keep quiet.
I swallow the lump that forms in my throat, she was the perfect distraction today, too.
“ Cazzo ,” I breathe again. I head over and kiss her on her forehead before slipping out of the room.
“Hello. I need everyone ready to leave in thirty minutes,” I say as I speak to the private jet company.
“Yes, Mr. Vitale. Where are you heading so that I can inform the pilot?”
“Marseille. And make sure there’s a car waiting for me when I land, ready to head to Gabriel Auclair’s manor.”