I’M BROKEN
I open my eyes, expecting to see my bedroom window or my door, but I find only darkness... and arms holding my naked body.
“Dante?” I whisper.
“I’m here,” he replies softly. “Are you hungry? Do you want me to—”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s okay.”
“I don’t—you don’t have to go through this. You don’t have to marry me. I… it’s too much. I’m too broken.”
“You’re not broken, amore .” He turns me around, his hand cupping my cheek. “Don’t say that, sweetheart.”
“I—”
“You want to talk about it?”
I shake my head, then cling to him, burying myself in his chest. His arms wrap around me, his hand gently caressing my body.
There’s a bulge pressing against my belly. I close my eyes.
“Are you—Is that—”
“Oh, sorry.”
He starts to pull away, but I wrap my legs and arms around him. His heartbeat pounds louder against my chest.
“Lana—”
“Don’t leave.”
He sighs. “Do you want me to cover up?”
“No... I’m sorry I can’t go on, but—”
“It’s not—I don’t control it.”
A giggle escapes me at his defeated, embarrassed tone. He laughs too, pressing a kiss to my head as his hand continues to stroke my back.
“Do you want to watch something?”
“I’d like to.”
And we spend the rest of the night like this—naked, holding each other, watching romance movies.
I don’t want to fall asleep because that means waking up tomorrow, and waking up means returning to my father. But my eyes close on their own after the third movie.
I think I could get used to this. I’d like to spend the rest of my life like this.
I’d like to be with him.
Forever.