Chapter Thirty-Six Ella
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ella
Iwake splayed over Tiero’s body, sated and sleepy.
Despite our siesta, I’m still beat. Not surprising, given the day’s activities. I haven’t worked out that hard in years.
Tiero is already awake, his hand moving slowly up and down my back in lazy strokes. I lift my head from his warm chest and glance out toward the sea. The sky is bleeding into deep reds and soft pinks.
“What time is it? It looks like the sun is setting. We need to head back, or I’ll miss dinner with Rhia.”
I move to untangle myself from him, but he rolls on top of me and pins me beneath him with effortless weight.
“What if I don’t want to let you go?” Tiero asks, nuzzling the sensitive spot below my ear.
I laugh. “You have no say in it.” I press a quick kiss to his full, sinful lips. “You just have to learn to share me… at least for tonight.”
“Princess, I never share.” His mouth trails down my neck, and for what feels like the hundredth time today, my body answers instantly. Heat sparks low in my belly.
I need to get out of this bed before this starts all over again.
Smiling up at him, I pinch his delectable butt.
“You had me all day. I need a little break from you, or I won’t be able to walk. You’d have to carry me everywhere.”
“Works for me,” he says, lowering his lips to mine again, but I turn my head, so they brush my cheek instead.
Seriously, if I let him, I’m never going to leave this bedroom.
“I mean it, Tiero,” I say, giggling like a damn schoolgirl.
With a low sigh, he reaches for the phone by the bed and speaks in Italian. I assume he’s instructing the skipper to turn us back toward shore. Then he slides off the bed and disappears into the bathroom.
I shamelessly admire the view as he walks away. Sculpted back. Perfect ass. All that strength moving with lazy confidence.
I’ve died and gone to Italian hunk heaven.
The shower turns on. A moment later he returns, scoops me up as if I weigh nothing, and carries me inside.
“Your wish is my command,” he says with a wink.
God, I hope he doesn’t want more sex. My body physically cannot handle it. I’m sore in places I didn’t know existed.
He lowers me beneath the wide raindrop showerhead and begins washing my hair, fingers massaging my scalp in slow, deliberate circles. I lean into him, resting my forehead against his chest.
This feels so good.
Warm water cascades over us, steam wrapping around our bodies, cocooning us in a quiet bubble separate from the world.
He moves to my body next, hands gliding over my skin, rinsing away every trace of what we did.
The thought makes my throat go tight.
As if washing it away could make it less real.
Then again, I have no doubt he’ll make me deliciously dirty again soon.
When he’s finished with me, he soaps himself quickly, efficient now, then steps out to grab two thick bathrobes. Before I can protest, he lifts me again, carrying me back to bed.
I laugh, breathless, as he lays me down and presses a soft kiss to my forehead.
I’m back where I started.
Just cleaner. And completely wrecked.
“I’ve got something for you,” Tiero whispers, his eyes gleaming.
He studies me for a moment before turning toward the bedside drawer. I tilt my head as he opens it and pulls out a small, blue velvet box.
My stomach drops.
Air catches halfway into my lungs as I stare at the box in his hand.
Oh my god.
Surely, this can’t be…
I’m gaping at him, eyes wide.
A slow grin spreads across Tiero’s face.
“The expression on your face is priceless, cuore mio,” he says, a hint of something in his voice I can’t quite decipher. “Don’t worry. This isn’t… that.”
Fire rushes to my cheeks, and I look away.
Of course this isn’t that.
Why would I even think it? Just because we had earth-shattering sex and I felt a connection to him as deep as the ocean doesn’t mean he felt it too. Or that he suddenly wants to spend the rest of his life with me.
Silly, silly, silly.
Plus, I wouldn’t want that. I’m going home at the end of the week.
When I lift my gaze to his again, his eyes burn into mine, searching, assessing.
The next second he blinks it away, looks down at his hands, and says, “Though I admit the box has a certain similarity.”
I exhale shakily, my blush deepening as he seems to acknowledge my thoughts.
Jesus.
Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe it.
He sits beside me and holds out the dark blue box. I take it carefully, my pulse still uneven.
Do I really want to know what’s inside?
Heat still lingers in my cheeks, and my heart refuses to slow.
My fingers tremble as I lift the lid.
Wow.
Two perfect sapphire ear studs rest in the velvet. They catch the light in sharp, brilliant flashes.
They’re stunning. Deep, rich blue. Almost the exact shade of my eyes.
For a second, I can’t speak.
I look up at him. He’s watching me closely, something softer in his expression now. Tender.
“I thought of you when I saw them,” he says quietly. “Will you wear them for me… always? And think of me?”
The word lingers.
Always.
My chest tightens for a different reason this time.
“Always, always,” I ask carefully, “or always while I’m in Sicily?”
His smile doesn’t waver.
“Always, always.”
There’s no hesitation in him. No trace of playfulness.
He means it.
That hope I refused to acknowledge swells in my throat. He does feel something too.
Or… perhaps he gives all his conquests earrings.
Still, I nod because I don’t trust my voice. Tears prick unexpectedly behind my eyes.
“Will you put them on for me?” he asks, his voice low and warm.
Again, I nod. My hands are steadier now, though my pulse still flutters as I fasten them into place.
When I look up, his expression shifts. Something satisfied flickers there. Almost proud.
He reaches up and brushes his thumb along my cheek.
“You’re so beautiful, cuore mio,” he murmurs before sealing the moment with a slow, claiming kiss.
“Thank you. I love them,” I say against his lips. “You’re spoiling me.”
“You deserve to be spoiled, princess.”
He pulls me in again, this kiss deeper. Hungrier.
His hands cradle my face and he takes his time with my mouth. We get lost in each other. Just like we have all day.
And that recovery time I thought I needed?
Well, it turns out I had one last round left in me for today.