Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Giovanna
T he minute the storm swept into the bay, I walked closer to the terrace that each of my family’s bedrooms led out to, to watch it on the horizon. In my head I ran over and over the conversation between me and Salvatore. I reprimanded myself for saying what I had and for not saying what I should have. As I paced back and forth within the wide doorframe, the conversation swirled around in my head.
What do my family think I am?
Stupid?
Immature?
I hadn’t cried.
I refused to cry.
Not even when Dante still hadn’t phoned me. Nor when the storm started to roll around the bay outside my window, and I wanted more than anything to run down to my nonno and watch our final storm together, with his arms wrapped tightly around me, as always protecting me.
Finally, with the storm crashing around directly overhead, I dropped the dress I was wearing to pool on the hardwood floor beneath me and stepped out of its confines. As I took my last couple of steps, I released the clasp on my bra and shucked my arms out. With a flourish I threw it to land on the seat of the nearest chair. Then, crossing the threshold, I shimmied out of my lacy boy shorts and kicked them behind me.
By the time I reached the already soaked and cold terrace, the rain was falling straight from the sky. I strode out under the steel like rods and embraced the pain on my flesh as though it was my lover’s caress. Lastly, I looked up to the heavens and allowed the rain to relieve the pressure inside my head and behind my eyes.
I might have been naked, but clutched in my hand was the phone Dante had given me. I might have given up on myself, but I still hadn’t given up on him. Slowly, I lowered myself to the concrete beneath me, and there I curled up into the foetal position.
In what only had to be a few minutes, I absorbed the pleasure and pain of nature.
‘Do you know I was the first to hold you after you were born?’
‘Yes,’ I whispered remembering the story he’d told me a few times before.
‘I held you upright and placed your head on my shoulder, and together we watched a violent summer storm.’
‘We’ve seen many a storm together,’ I offered.
‘We have, Nipote… although this will be our last.’
‘Are you watching too, Nonno?’ I voiced my question just as a gust of wind swept in and took the words away.
I didn’t need the question answered, I could feel my grandfather inside my heart. Lying there on the floor, I wrapped my arms around myself as the rain washed away everything and made me feel numb with the cold. It wasn’t an unwelcome feeling.
I remembered being a child and questioning him.
‘Why do you like storms?’ I’d wrapped my arms a little tighter around his neck and positioned his cheek against mine while I waited for the answer. A small laugh was all he replied with.
But that memory was enough, my face burst into its first proper smile of the day.
It took until just that moment for my phone to start vibrating in my hand. Unable to see clearly, I swiped a finger across the screen and pushed the phone abruptly to my ear.
‘Giovanna.’ His voice captured me as he shouted my name down the line like his life depended on it.
‘Dante,’ I reciprocated, feeling my heart warm with the promise of something unspoken.
‘At work all I think of is you. When I helped carry Mia up to her room, with Gabe holding her hand, all I could think of was your hand in mine. Now, I’m standing in the rain and all I can think about is you.’
‘You are?’ I uncoiled my body and sat up as I cupped the phone close to me with both hands.
‘Where are you?’ he questioned.
‘I’m naked in the rain.’ For the first time I looked around the terrace. ‘Seems silly, doesn’t it? I just needed to escape, even if it was for a short time.’
‘Naked?’ He said the one word with wariness.
‘I’m alone. I’m always alone.’
‘That’s not true. I’m with you now.’
A loud bang echoed around the bay once again followed by several forks of lightening going in between our two homes.
‘Did you hear what I said?’ he questioned at my lack of reply.
‘Yes.’
‘You’re with me, Giovanna. In every breath I draw in. In each thought I have, you’re there. I can smell the floral scent you wear wherever I go—You’re with me. I heard what you said the other day, about not becoming your true self until we met, and I feel the same.’
‘And you’re with me, Dante. I’ve imprinted you carefully on every one of my senses. Until without you I don’t feel I can exist.’
‘Can you feel the rain on your skin, amore mio?’
‘I can, it’s like I imagine a lover’s caress,’ I answered truthfully. A blush sent heat to my cheeks in seconds.
‘So very true, amore mio. Imagine, right now, it’s me. I’m touching you gently, running my fingertips over your skin. I’m taking your pain away and replacing it with pleasure.’
‘I can feel you here. I can feel you…’
‘One day soon I’ll be your lover, I’ll be your everything. Where your world starts and ends. Once we become that to each other and you become my wife, you’re mine and you’ll never be anyone else’s… do you understand?’
‘Yes.’ The storm had quietened luckily, as the last word came out on a whisper, I was so caught up with my own emotions and the eruption that had begun inside my body. My breasts were heavy with need. My nipples had hardened to the point of being painful and inside my core muscles were clenching tightly and releasing, as they searched for him. With every raindrop that touched my skin, I knew I was being taken closer to the edge of some sort of release.
‘I need you, Dante.’ No longer feeling embarrassed I told him what I was convinced he already knew.
‘Lie down, feel the rain and touch yourself, Giovanna.’
I complied without a single question formulating. The chill of the stone slabs on my back caused me to gasp, even before I’d run my hand down my body.
‘Oh, baby. You’re so close… So fucking close I’m sure I can smell your need for me, even from here.’
‘I’ve never…’
‘Never?’ He asked the question without condemning me. ‘Well fuck. I knew you were innocent, but you’ve just blown my mind… Do you trust me, amore mio?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then follow my lead, let me take you there. Open your legs, Giovanna. Put your fingers in between your folds, and where your flesh is wet touch wherever feels the best.’
I followed his instructions and as my fingers touched the wetness inside the private part of my body, instantly the intense feeling was almost too much to cope with, and I felt my back arch away from the stone behind me.
‘Ohhh.’ I released a breathy moan.
I was sure I should be embarrassed at the situation I was in, but nothing had ever felt so natural to me before. To touch myself, to follow my body’s wordless instructions and sharing it with Dante, felt like the most natural thing in the world.
‘I’m coming on this journey too, Giovanna. The thought of you touching yourself has my cock rock hard and weeping for you, only for you.’
‘Dante.’ I freed his name at the visualisation in my head of his blue eyes watching me and how he must look. Then I committed to memory the groan Dante released in return. It spurred me on as I chased what I was running headlong toward.
‘I’m running my hand up and down my shaft… Fuck… my seed is already spilling from me, Giovanna.’
I’d never seen a man’s cock, not in the flesh. I had, however, seen a few pictures as a teenager that our younger maids had tried to shock me with. With that very limited education, I understood that men’s cocks were all different. In my head I visualised Dante pleasuring himself and knew without a doubt his cock would be beautiful.
I could fathom how his voice had changed. How each word was being spoken with an ever-deepening rasp.
‘I’m with you and you look beautiful, Giovanna. So fucking beautiful.’
Hearing his voice, my body stepped up a notch and I followed the path I was being led down. The pleasure coursing through my body was indescribable. As the rain slowed to a gentle shower my fingers carried my body on, until I reached an edge of pleasure and emotion.
‘Dante!’ From outside of my body, I caught the way his name left my mouth on a scream as the ultimate pleasure took hold, my body convulsed and all I could see was the flashes of white lightening behind my eyes.
‘I’m coming with you, Giovanna.’
Finally, my eyes opened wide as the last of thunder rumbled overhead.
‘FUCK!’ I heard him let go of a strangled cry as his orgasm crashed through him.
With one last resonating crash of thunder in the distance the storm left the bay.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked with concern etching his tone.
‘I think so.’ I smiled back and sat my aching body up, before once again checking no one was watching me. When I found nothing, I stood and made my way on tentative feet back to my room.
‘I’ve always enjoyed a storm… but that, love, was something else. I don’t think I’ve ever come so hard in my life.’ His warm laugh found me.
‘Storms can do that. They can take you away.’
‘Do you like storms, Giovanna?’
‘Yes.’
‘Tell me why? Share something with me,’ he gently enquired.
‘Because everyone and everything needs to scream sometimes,’ I answered, pulling my terrace door shut and sending the bolts home.
‘I heard you scream my name, amore mio.’ His voice was deepening again. Even I recognised the lust held in its tone.
‘Oh.’ Embarrassment got hold of me.
‘Don’t be embarrassed with me, Giovanna. I want to hear that at least once a day for the rest of my life.’
‘I want that too,’ I admitted. ‘But, how…?’
‘We need to get away from here. Do you trust me?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll come up with a plan to make that happen.’
‘But you need to be here… with Mia and getting Enzo.’
‘Mia is home, and the net is closing on Enzo. That will all conclude, with or without me.’
‘Do you think we really could get away?’
‘Yes, I do. What about you leaving your grandfather?’
‘I’m not allowed to see him; those are his wishes. Me being here, wandering these rooms, won’t help him pass, will it?’
‘No,’ he agreed.
‘Because if it would, then I would stay no matter what anyone else wanted… Let me know what to do and when, and I’ll do it.’ I spoke the words and meant every syllable.
‘Good girl. Now get into bed and sleep. And when you dream, dream of me.’
‘Always.’
Somewhere hidden away in the dark, two eyes stared at the double doors Giovanna De Luca had pulled closed behind her. He heard the lock fall into place as she reclaimed her privacy, but it was too late. He’d watched her today, writhing around, giving herself pleasure. He was willing to bide his time, but one day she’d be his.