Chapter EIGHT
Dante
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The muted light of dawn spills through the wall of windows, painting Ginetta's bare skin in strokes of gold and shadow. I prop myself up on one elbow, drinking in the sight of her sprawled across my sheets. My bed. Where she belongs.
Christ, I'll never get tired of this view. Of knowing she's mine in every way, a matching half to my battered soul. I skim a palm up the silken expanse of her spine, savoring the sleepy murmur and flexing of lean muscle beneath my touch. She's the most precious thing I've ever held and I almost lost her. All because of my world, my fucking hubris.
Never again.
Ginetta stirs, rolling to face me with heavy-lidded eyes and a soft smile. "Mmm, morning," she rasps, nuzzling into my chest. I gather her close, breathing in the warm scent of her. Apples and sunshine and mine.
"Morning, amore," I rumble, dropping a kiss to her crown. "Sleep well?"
She hums, tucking herself more firmly into my side. "Better than I have in weeks, honestly. Must have been the multiple mind-blowing orgasms."
I chuckle, tweaking her pert ass. Insatiable minx. "Glad to be of service. I plan to spend the rest of my life ruining you for sleep...and anything else that might steal you from our bed."
She shudders in my arms, a breathy moan escaping her lips. "You can't just say things like that," she whines, rubbing her mound against my thigh. "Especially when we have a busy day ahead and no time for you to follow through."
I grin wolfishly, rolling her beneath me in one smooth motion. "No?" I purr, nipping at her jaw. "Who says I need more than a few minutes to wreck you, tesoro? Besides, I seem to recall you begging so sweetly for my cock last night. Something about needing it to live?"
Ginetta mewls as I roll my hips in a targeted grind, my morning wood nestling between her slick folds. "That was...ah...last night," she pants, even as she arches to take me deeper. "When we had hours to kill. I promised the realtor we'd meet her at ten to see those gallery spaces, remember?"
I hum noncommittally, more focused on tonguing the vanilla-cream hollow of her throat. Slowly, I begin to rock against her, painting my shaft in her liquid arousal. Her soft gasp is music to my ears.
"Dante," she warns breathlessly, her nails biting into my shoulders. "I'm serious. We can't be late for this...oh!"
Her protest dissolves into a high, reedy cry as I notch my swollen head at her entrance and push inside in one smooth surge. Tight, scalding perfection grips me from root to tip and I have to grit my teeth against the urge to blow like a fucking teenager.
"You were saying?" I rasp, pistoning my hips in shallow pumps that barely withdraw before plunging back into plush nirvana.
"Evil," Ginetta whimpers, locking her legs around my waist to pull me impossibly deeper. "You're trying to kill me."
I laugh breathlessly, laving my tongue over the plump swell of her lower lip. "Never, amore. Just reminding you what's important in life. Namely, me balls-deep in this succulent pussy."
To punctuate my point, I wind my hips in a sensual figure-eight that has her lashes fluttering, a broken moan vibrating against my lips. She clenches around me, fluttering and hungry. So wet.
I set a steady, rolling rhythm, savoring the lush drag of her walls, the broken hitches of her breath. Pressure builds at the base of my spine, tightening my sac into a dense ache. I grind against the swollen bud of her clit on every downstroke, my pubic bone kissing her just right.
"Dante!" She keens, her sex beginning to ripple around my thrusting length. Close. So close.
I redouble my efforts, one hand delving between our rocking bodies to rub tight circles over her straining pearl. My mouth finds her ear, tongue flicking the sensitive shell.
"Come on my cock, Ginetta," I cajole roughly, fighting the urge to explode as her silken sheath starts to milk my length in fluttering sucks. "Know you're there, baby. I can feel this hungry little pussy begging for it. Drenching me. Fucking soak me, amore. Let me feel you."
That's all it takes. With a strangled sob, she shatters, her orgasm crashing through her in shuddering waves. I growl my approval into her neck, pumping through her brutal clutch. Once, twice, three times before succumbing to the relentless pull, emptying myself inside her with a hoarse shout.
We collapse together into a sweaty tangle of limbs, hearts crashing in tandem. I hold her close as we come down, my softening cock still buried in her fluttering warmth. If I had my way, I'd never let her leave this bed. This moment of pure bliss.
But she's right, damn it. We have things to do, plans to make. With great reluctance, I pull out of her with a hiss, my release leaking from her tender flesh in pearly ropes. My spent cock twitches valiantly at the erotic sight.
Ginetta stretches with a satisfied hum, catlike and smug. The red imprint of my teeth on her collarbone draws my eye and I fight the urge to bite her again. To leave my mark on every silken inch of her.
Soon, I vow silently. Soon she'll wear my brand permanently. My ring on her finger. My name. But first, I need to ask her properly. The way she deserves.
With a final lingering kiss, we disentangle and rise to face the day. I watch Ginetta drift around my bedroom in nothing but my discarded dress shirt, her legs eating up the hem in a distracting display. My fingers itch to pull her back into my arms, spin out this quiet moment of domestic bliss. But I've got plans that won't wait.
"Get that delectable ass in the shower, woman," I growl, smacking said ass as I prowl past her towards the bathroom. "Unless you want me to drag you back to bed for round two."
She laughs and darts away from my seeking hands, a come-hither glance tossed over her shoulder. "Maybe I want you to drag me back to bed," she teases.
My cock stirs at her husky purr and I bare my teeth in a playful leer. "Keep tempting me like that and we won't leave this penthouse for a week," I warn her.
Her soft chuckle follows me into the marble expanse of the master bath. I twist the taps to near scalding before stepping under the punishing spray, willing the water to beat back my ever-present lust for my woman. It's an exercise in futility.
Thankfully, we manage to make it out the door in good time. She's stunning in a soft cream sheath dress, hair spilling like ink over her shoulders. My hands itch to tangle in the silken strands, clench into fists as she writhes on my cock. I shake off the vivid memory and steer her towards the elevator with a hand at the small of her back, copping a quick feel of her pert ass on the way. She swats me away with an exasperated giggle, eyes sparkling.
We hit three different spaces around the city, each one making my Ginetta glow brighter as she pictures her art on the walls, her dreams coming to life. I know which one she loves - a sunny storefront in Little Italy with soaring windows and an original tin ceiling. My mind whirs with plans to make an offer on the space before the day is out, have it signed in her name within the week.
She deserves this. Deserves everything. And I'm going to spend the rest of my fucking life making sure she has it.
"What's going on in that devious mind of yours?" Ginetta's voice cuts into my thoughts as we step out onto the busy sidewalk. I realize I've been quiet, brooding as I plotted.
I pull her close, nuzzling a kiss into her hair. "Just thinking about how fucking proud I am of you," I tell her honestly, my chest tight. "How amazing it's going to be to see your name up there on that gallery marquee, lighting up the whole damn block."
She beams up at me, radiant with happiness and I swear my fucking heart stops. How did I get so goddamn lucky? What did I do in this life or any other to deserve her?
"I love you," I rasp before I can stop myself, the words pulled from my chest. "I love you so much it fucking terrifies me."
Her eyes shine, tawny and bright as she strokes my stubbled jaw. "I love you too, Dante Russo. More than I thought I could ever love anyone. You're my heart." She presses a soft kiss to my chest, right over that organ as it kicks against my ribs.
Emotion wells up, choking me. I have to clear my throat twice before I can speak, steer us back to safer ground. "Come on," I say gruffly, tangling our fingers together. "I've got reservations for a late lunch. Some place I think you're gonna love."
The restaurant is one of those hole-in-the-wall gems, tiny and perfect. I reserved their one private dining room, a jewel box draped in twinkle lights and greenery. Ginetta gasps when we're led inside, her eyes devouring the space like she's never seen anything so lovely.
"What is all this?" She asks, wonder threading her voice.
"This," I tell her, pulling out her chair with a flourish, "is me trying to do right by you for once. Give you the grand romantic gesture you deserve."
She bites her plump lip, a becoming flush staining her cheeks. "You don't have to woo me, you know. I'm already yours."
I lift her knuckles to my lips, my eyes holding hers. "You're not a prize to be won, Ginetta. You're a treasure to be cherished. And I fucked up royally by not showing you that. By keeping secrets, shutting you out. I never want you to doubt what you mean to me again."
"Oh, Dante..." Her fingers tremble against my lips and I press my advantage before I can lose my nerve.
"These last few days...shit, these last few months with you have been the best of my miserable life. You burst into my world like a goddamn supernova, obliterating everything in your wake. Realigning me on a cellular level until I didn't know which way was up. Only that I needed you to breathe, to think. To exist."
My hands are shaking as I pull the small velvet box from my pocket, cracking it open. The ring is big and flawless, worth more than most make in a decade. But it pales in comparison to her beauty, her sheer fucking perfection.
"Ginetta Moretti," I say hoarsely as her eyes fly wide, shock painting her features. "You're my redemption. My reason. I wake up every fucking day wondering what I did to deserve you and go to bed every night vowing to become worthy of you. And I want to do that for the rest of my life. Loving you, protecting you. Building a future with you."
I sink to one knee, my heart a jackhammer as I hold up the glittering symbol of all my hopes and dreams. "Marry me, amore. Let me spend forever showing you all the fucking ways you own me, heart and soul. Be my wife."
Tears are pouring down her face by the time I finish my rambling speech, her hands pressed to trembling lips. For a single, heart-stopping moment, I'm terrified I fucked it all up. Pushed too hard, too fast. She's going to realize I'm nowhere near good enough for her, bolt for the door and keep running.
But then she's launching herself into my arms, almost knocking me on my ass as she peppers my face with kisses. Sobbing and laughing and chanting "Yes, yes, yes!" like the sweetest prayer.
"Yes, you'll marry me?" I need to hear the words.
"Yes, Dante!" She half-laughs, half-sobs, the smile splitting her face so big it looks like it hurts. "Of course I'll marry you! I'd marry you a thousand times in a thousand different ways."
I crush her to me, burying my face in her hair as I breathe through the emotion clogging my throat. My eyes sting suspiciously and I blink hard, refusing to bust out the waterworks in a damn restaurant.
"I love you," is all I can manage, the words scraped raw. "I love you so fucking much."
"I love you too, baby." She pulls back and I slide the ring onto her trembling finger. It's a perfect fit because of course it fucking is. This woman was made for me, in every possible way.
The rest of the meal passes in a haze of laughter and tears, champagne and wandering hands. I can't stop touching her, my fiancée. Can't believe I get to keep her, claim her in front of the world.
When we finally stumble back to the penthouse hours later, we're drunk on each other. I worship every inch of Ginetta's body, driving her to the brink again and again until she's a sobbing, shaking mess. Until my name is the only word she remembers, torn from her throat on ragged screams.
I save the best for last, plunging three fingers knuckle-deep in her as I lave her clit. Crooking them just right, I paint her spasming walls with my initials, my mark. A preview of the matching tattoo I plan to inscribe on her hip. Branding her mine for all time.
She comes hard, drenching my face and chest in her sweet nectar. I lap up every drop like a man dying of thirst, focused on her pleasure.
When I finally surge up her body and sheathe myself in her clenching heat, it's with a singular purpose. To merge our bodies as completely as our souls, fuse us into one. She shatters on a broken scream, milking my orgasm from me in pulsing jets. I fill her to the brim, grinding against her cervix as I empty every drop.
We cling to each other after, hands roaming sweat-slicked skin and tangling in mussed hair. Secrets and promises are whispered between languid kisses, plans for our future.
"We should do it soon," Ginetta sighs, her head pillowed on my chest. "The wedding. I don't want to wait."
"I'd drag you to city hall right fucking now if I didn't know you deserved better," I tell her honestly, running a hand down her spine. "All those wedding magazines you keep under the bed, the Pinterest boards...I know you've been dreaming about your perfect day for a long time, tesoro. And I want to give you that. The dress and the flowers and the fucking doves, whatever you want. I want to see you walking down the aisle to me, a vision in white."
She sniffles and burrows closer, a small hand over my heart. "My perfect day is any day that ends with me being your wife," she vows. "The rest is just details."
And fuck, if that doesn't hit me right in the chest. I tighten my arms around her, blinking against the sudden burn in my eyes. "Have I mentioned how fucking perfect you are?" I rasp, my throat tight. "And how unbelievably lucky I am?"
"Mmm, you could stand to mention it a few more times," she teases, tilting her head up to brush a sweet kiss over my chin. "But I'm the lucky one. I can't believe I get to keep you forever."
"Forever," I echo, rolling the word around in my mouth like a fine wine. Savoring the taste of our future, bright and full of promise.
We fall asleep just like that, tangled up in each other. And for the first time in longer than I can remember, I'm not plagued by nightmares or memories best left in the dark. The demons are silent, chased away by the angel in my arms.
In the drowsy, perfect space between dreaming and waking, I vow to spend the rest of eternity earning this bliss. Protecting it. Protecting her.
My heart, my home.
My beginning and my end.