Chapter 19 #3
“Oh?” Giovanni’s eyebrows went up, but he didn’t look disturbed. “What exactly are you proposing?”
“The future,” Beatrice said simply. Part of her was still testing Giovanni, trying to determine if the words he had offered her were really reflective of his commitment.
Everything in the world suddenly felt uncertain.
When they had been in the bedroom of the inn, they had been play-acting, safe inside a little world they had created.
Now it was real and dangerous. If they were truly going to do this, if this was the moment Giovanni finally gave himself to her and they committed to one another, Beatrice needed to hear the words.
She needed to be sure of him, and she could see that Giovanni knew it.
He squared his shoulders, setting his stance wide and taking her face in his hands.
“I love you, Beatrice,” Giovanni’s voice was deep and gravelly. “I want to build a life with you.”
“Am I yours?” Beatrice asked, heart hammering in her throat.
“You are mine entirely, amore mio.”
Beatrice’s breath caught. Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.
That was what she had said to him at the inn.
Beatrice’s heart was flooded with warmth.
His words were like firm earth under her feet, holding her in place when everything around her felt unsteady.
It was real. They were in this together and there was no going back.
She kissed him hard, pulling his mouth against hers to taste the coffee and brandy on his tongue.
“Then take what is yours, my love,” she whispered, lifting her hands to unbutton her nightdress, enjoying the widening of his dark eyes. “Take me to bed.”
“Really?” Giovanni’s throat worked almost painfully, but his hands ran up and down her sides, from her underarms to her hips, making her shiver. “Are you sure?”
“I have never been more certain of anything in my life,” Beatrice let her fingers fall from the buttons, knowing that the elegant line of her throat and the pale space between her breasts were on display.
She enjoyed the way he immediately reached up and rubbed his hand across his jaw as if looking at her was too much.
“We - we are not at the inn now, my darling,” Giovanni’s hands trembled as he wrapped one of her dark curls around his finger. “We are not alone in the house. Would it really be wise to?—?”
Beatrice stopped his words with a kiss, pushing her tongue between his lips so that he groaned voraciously, shoving both hands deep into her hair as he returned her kiss. Beatrice’s hands moved lower to his breeches, adept at quickly pulling them loose after just the night they had spent together.
“We might not be at the inn, but we can still play as man and wife, can we not?” Beatrice breathed, pulling his stock loose and pushing his waistcoat over his shoulders. “Husband?”
Giovanni groaned again and Beatrice knew that he wouldn’t be able to resist her much longer.
Her fingers fumbled at his shirt buttons, quickly revealing the dark hair over his chest and the toned muscles of his stomach.
She ran her fingers over them, enjoying the contrast of the solid of his body against her pillowy curves.
“Let me see you,” he gasped, grabbing the hem of her nightdress and pulling it over her head.
In a sudden moment, Beatrice was as naked as the day she was born, more naked than she had ever felt at any point in her life.
She was protected only by the heavy dark veil of her hair curling down to cover her breasts.
“My God, Bea,” Giovanni whispered, taking a small step back to look at her.
He gently lifted her curls off her breasts, letting them drop slowly behind her shoulders to tickle her back.
Beatrice could feel her excitement mounting, alongside a feeling of being examined that wasn’t entirely comfortable.
She couldn’t help but think of other women he had taken to bed, and she suddenly worried about how she compared. She felt herself flushing.
“Well, say something, Gio,” Beatrice said, frustrated.
Giovanni didn’t say a word. He set his fingers on her hips. She could feel her skin puckering under his touch. Then he leaned closer, setting his lips reverentially underneath her ear.
“You are beautiful, amore mio,” he whispered.
Beatrice shuddered, pushing her naked body against him and feeling his growl against her skin. She tenderly ran her fingers over his lips.
“Shall we play, then?” She asked, feeling her nipples harden against his bare chest. “As Signore and Signora Amante?”
“We will play this game tonight, Bea, but tomorrow…” Giovanni kissed her fingers, sending a tingle of anticipation down her spine. “Tomorrow, I will talk to Silas, and then soon, this will no longer be a game.”
“We shall be man and wife?” Beatrice asked breathlessly. This was all she wanted, all she had ever needed. To have Giovanni be hers, and hers completely.
“Yes, amore mio,” Giovanni whispered, walking them slowly back towards the bed. “In word, in vow, and in deed.”