Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
Rowan
Today is our last day in Italy, and as ready as I am to go home, see my sister and sleep in my own bed, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for this to end.
We have plans today to do some sightseeing, but we don’t get out of bed until well after eleven, choosing instead to order a room service breakfast and pig out together, wrapped under the soft bedding.
It’s so comfortable here with him; it’s like we’ve known each other for years and this is just how things have always been between us. No awkward moments, no concealed feelings, no complications. Just an easy, content existence together.
Laying on top of Colt’s chest, I lift my head to press a kiss to his lips. “I should clean up and get ready,” I tell him.
“Nope,” he protests, his hands gently squeezing my ass. “I think you’re just fine right here.”
“Stop,” I laugh. “We’re gonna miss the whole day.”
I kiss him one more time before dragging myself away, out of the warmth of the bed and his arms.
When I reach the door of the bathroom, I turn to get one more look at him, laid out on the bed, the arm that just held me now braced behind his head. The way the comforter drapes over his waist makes him look like a freaking renaissance painting or something.
I close the door behind me and turn on the faucet, giving it a few minutes for the tub to fill up before stepping inside.
I lower myself into the water, warming my bones and soothing my muscles, relaxing every inch of me until the bathroom door opens, letting in a draft of cold air that makes me shiver. I turn to see Colt standing next to me, stripping off his own clothes.
“Excuse you,” I playfully scold him. “You were not invited.”
“If you want me to leave, just say the word and I will.” The words come out as a purr as he tosses his pants aside and slides into the tub across from me.
I’m still not used to seeing him naked. It feels like I’m breaking a rule, like I’ll get in trouble if I look at him for too long, but I can’t help myself from tracing every peak and curve of his body with my eyes.
It’s like I’m still afraid this isn’t real and my brain is desperate to memorize every millimeter of his skin just in case he vanishes into thin air.
He reaches forward to grab my hips and pulls me toward him, making the water in the tub ripple with the movement. He keeps his hands in place as I straddle him and drape my arms over his shoulders, my eyes locking onto his.
“What are you thinking about over there?” He asks.
I brush a hand through his hair, wetting it, with a soft smile playing at my lips. “I’m thinking that I’m very happy right now. And that I miss my sister and am ready to see her, but I don’t wanna leave our perfect little bubble here.”
“Yes,” he agrees, almost sounding wistful, “the bubble has been very nice.” He lifts a hand to tuck my hair behind my ear, then adds, “We’ll have to stop and get the little astronaut a gift before we leave.”
“And maybe some gelato?”
“We can get all the gelato you want, baby,” he chuckles, then presses a kiss to the tip of my nose.
I lightly touch my nose to his before meeting his lips in a gentle kiss as my hands reach to cup his jaw.
“Or maybe tiramisu,” I comment. “Definitely something with chocolate in it.”
Colt smiles against my mouth, letting out a quiet laugh. “Come here,” he commands, then reaches for the back of my head to pull me closer against him. His lips crash against mine, taking claim of them, and I deepen the kiss, parting my lips to let his tongue inside.
Fireworks light up in my chest, spreading throughout my body with every touch, every stroke of his tongue against mine.
I roll my hips over his, just enough to make waves in the bubble-coated water, and I blush when I feel him harden against me. With one hand secured behind my head, he uses the other to grab my ass and pull my body closer to his until our bodies touch, my nipples grazing against his skin.
I yelp when he flips me, making me face the back of the tub on my knees, then he takes my hands and places them over the edge of the tub.
“Don’t move these,” he orders, giving them a squeeze, as if he’s molding them into place.
He brings his left hand to rest over mine and uses his right to wrap around my waist as he kneels behind me, lifting me just so, leaving a chill at my back as my skin hovers above the water.
His chest presses against my back as he slides his cock into me with ease, the two of us moaning in unison.
I grip onto the tub with white knuckles as he moves into me, the hot-and-cold of the water splashing against my skin in time with his strokes sending shockwaves all through my body.
All I can think about is reaching behind me and holding onto him, but orders are orders and I don’t want to ruin this moment by being anything less than his good girl.
Colt moans into my ear as he pushes himself deeper inside and I buck my hips against him.
“You always know what I want, don’t you, baby?” He breathes, and it drives me crazy.
I move faster against him, crying out as I press my cheek against the backs of my hands, helpless to stop the water splashing out of the tub from all around us. He’s giving me every bit of him, and yet I’m still desperate for more.
“Touch me,” I beg. “Please.”
His hand moves with an agonizing slowness until it’s between my legs, his fingers resting just above my clit, where he knows I want them.
“Say it again.”
“Please, Colt.” My voice is desperate, strained.
I swear I can feel him smile, even without seeing his face; it’s in the way his body feels against mine. His fingers make contact, moving with the perfect rhythm and my back arches as I cry out. I can barely make out the sound of him chuckling and his chest vibrates against my back.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
The only thought that plays through my mind as I ride the wave of my orgasm right alongside Colt. Through his finishing thrusts and the handful of kisses his pecks along my cheek as he comes down.
It surprises me how easily we transition from messy, splashing sex to sitting across from each other in a tub of freshly-topped-off water, my foot idly tracing up and down his thigh.
If I could bottle and sell the way he’s looking at me, I might be even richer than he is.
There’s a tenderness in his eyes, but it’s accompanied by a wanting that I don’t think I’ve ever seen on someone’s face before when they looked at me.
I’m not the girl that gets wanted. It’s enough to make me feel like I’m the only other person on the planet.
Or at least the only person for him, and that’s really all I need to be.
“What are your dreams?” I ask him.
“What kind of dreams?”
“I mean, you have the money. You have the big fancy career. You have the cars and the big house with all the art – but for your life, what do you dream of for yourself?”
He looks genuinely surprised that I asked him. Maybe it’s not something he’s ever wondered before, or he’s just never been asked.
“I think,” he says, “I’d just like to be happy. See my son happy. Live like a normal person.”
“Are you happy?” I probe.
“In this moment, very.” I smile at that. He tilts his head, questioning. “And what are your dreams, Rowan?”
“I want to really live. Nothing crazy, like skydiving or anything like that, no bucket list kind of stuff,” I tell him, waving my hands.
“Just, not with the fear of what my body can and can’t do.
Or how it will fail me next. I mean, when we landed here, my first thought was ‘shit, I hope they take my insurance.’ I want to get married, be a mom, enjoy all those little moments. ”
His hand rests on top of my foot, giving it a light squeeze. “You deserve that life, Rowan. You deserve reliable health and happiness.”
Heart hammering in my chest, I ask, “Did you ever think about it? Having more kids after Emmett, I mean?”
“I did, for a while,” he answers. “I even thought about trying to adopt one. But the business was taking off and I wouldn’t be around as much as I thought I should.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m forty,” he laughs.
“I’ve heard of eighty-year-old men knocking people up,” I tease. “I think you could manage.”
Laughing and shaking his head, he tells me, “Come here.”
I do as instructed, and he gently turns me until my back is facing him.
Warm water rushes over my head, soaking through my hair, and a second later I feel Colt’s strong hands massaging my scalp. I close my eyes and let myself melt into his touch, letting him work shampoo into my hair.
I let out a contented sigh as he rinses the suds from my hair and works the conditioner in, starting at the ends of my hair and working his way up.
I try not to focus on the fact that he probably learned that from another woman at some point in time – according the photos around his house, his hair has never been long enough to need the information for himself.
“God, sex and a scalp massage, what did I do to deserve this?” I joke.
“You’re just you.”
“Can we still get gelato?”
He throws his head back with a roaring laugh before saying, “Yes, Rowan, we can still get your damn gelato.”
·
The sight of the city yesterday pales in comparison to today. The sun is warm and buttery, announcing the presence of the oncoming season, and the sky is a cloudless, shimmering blue. I think this is truly how the city was meant to be seen; it’s otherworldly.
Colt and I walk hand in hand through the streets, each carrying a waffle cone stacked high with delightfully creamy gelato that melts on my tongue every time I taste it.
The man is a saint, putting up with my bajillion-and-one photos – of the city, of him, of the two of us. We stop at a massive sculpture of a middle finger that I can’t remember the name of, and we snap a selfie joining in with a vulgar gesture of our own before moving along.
My hips start to ache after the first mile of walking, and within another half mile, they’re screaming; feeling like they’re being sawed into with a very sharp serrated knife.
I hold onto Colt’s hand a little tighter and tell myself to just push through it.
We’ve only seen two things – there’s so much of the city left to explore, and this is our last day. If I can just push through it…
“You’re slowing down,” Colt points out, concern in his voice.
“Sorry,” I say, trying and failing to move faster.
Colt stops and turns to look at me. “Come on, we’ll find a place to sit.” Moving until his back is in front of me, he crouches and says, “Hop on.”
“You cannot carry me on your back,” I scoff.
“I don’t think I asked, actually,” he says. “So get on.”
The command in his voice sends a shiver through me and I do as I’m told, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his broad shoulders. He hoists me up like it’s nothing, his arms supporting me beneath my legs – essentially wearing me like a backpack.
He doesn’t complain, doesn’t get winded, remains completely unbothered by my presence as he treks through the city.
He doesn’t even seem to care about the handful of people who stop to give us strange looks, something I’ve grown hyper aware of since I started to get sick.
I rest my head on his shoulder and let myself soak in the way it feels to have someone care like this, to not hesitate or question for a second that he wanted to help me.
To not feel like I’m constantly embarrassing him.
It’s another mile before we find a small café with an empty table at the front of it. As we approach, Colt very gently sets me down right in front of one of the chairs, and points to it, then orders me to sit while he grabs a menu.
We sit – probably longer than we need to, just to eat – and munch on our food, Colt sucking down his third espresso of the day, which I make a mental note to give him hell about later.
Where I would normally expect a lecture, complaint, or some sort of embarrassing comment from the person I was walking with, Colt says nothing. He acts as if nothing happened, or if it did, it was completely normal, and I can’t explain why, but it makes me feel so incredibly safe.
By the time we’ve stopped at all of the ‘big ones,’ as Colt calls them, the sun has dipped in the sky, ready to welcome the moon for her night shift, and it’s time to head back to our hotel and start packing.
It’s almost time for our bubble to pop, for the real world to come back.
Back to work, back to responsibility, back to annoying day-to-day corporate crap.
At least we still have tonight...and the plane ride.