56
Santorini
If there was one place in the world I always wanted to visit that wasn”t too far from Spain, it was Santorini.
Perhaps because I had seen it in countless TV reports and it always seemed like a magical place to me.
I loved the idyllic landscape and the simplicity of those little white houses suspended on steep cliffs. The blue roofs that seemed like drops of the Aegean Sea blessing each house. And that rich cuisine that made you swoon in front of its dishes. Or perhaps it was the sunrises and sunsets that made you believe there was no greater artwork than nature itself.
An island born from the roar of a volcano, steeped in ancient culture and whimsical gods.
It had been a long time since I woke up feeling serene. Since I sat on a terrace with a view and tried to think of nothing but work or family. And although things were not going as I wanted, with revenge hanging by a thread too fragile, and the lawyers warning us on the day we took the flight that families were demanding millions in compensation and we had no idea where Cheng had hidden, a traitorous smile would involuntarily spread across my face whenever Romeo appeared on my horizon, capturing all my attention.
The slight splashing in the water signaled that I had had enough for today. His hands on the edge gave way to those powerful arms covered in tattoos, his head and body effortlessly emerged to end with his whole body out of the water.
He reminded me of the figure of a man holding a discus, until he stood up and was replaced by something darker and earthlier that sent shivers down my spine.
The sun warmed my face as I held a cup filled with steaming coffee, needing to clear my head.
We woke up after spending the night making love, this time in a different way. Slower, softer, hotter, more intimate. Rocked by the murmur of the waves and the dark glint of my lover’s eyes.
We had spent two days barely wanting to leave the room, just taking long walks through cobblestoned streets, to end up dining in a secluded restaurant and taking dessert between the sheets.
I couldn’t believe that my husband still aroused my curiosity, and not one rooted in revenge, but in trying to understand who this man was that I went to bed with every night, the one who made me smile inexplicably and desire to explore every corner where I could lose myself in his body.
Now he stood before me, naked, wet, intense, and heavily tattooed. The villa where we stayed had a private pool on the terrace.
My slow, lascivious gaze followed the trail of sinuous drops attempting unsuccessfully to dissolve the ink on his skin. Without a shred of modesty, R grabbed a white towel that lay on the back of a chair, rubbed his hair dry, and approached me with that sinful smile that I had experienced between my thighs the night before.
”Are you still hungry, or do you see me as some sort of toast?” he joked.
He strategically placed the towel to sit on the chair next to mine without wetting the fabric seat, allowing the sun to evaporate the lingering moisture on his body.
I ignored his question and took a long sip of coffee. Romeo closed his eyes in relaxation.
”Does the tattoo on your belly have something to do with Hinduism? Or is it some kind of amulet?” The corners of his masculine lips lifted.
”I rather think it”s a premonition.”
”What do you mean?” I asked, intrigued. I had noticed it several times, especially when my tongue roamed that area filled with precise, colorful lines.
”Do you have your phone there?” He didn”t even look at me; he was too comfortable, just as a cat would be in the sun.
”Uh-huh,” I admitted. It was on the table, though I only glanced at it to check for messages or calls.
”Type in goddess Kali and read out loud what comes up.” ”A goddess, of course, I thought it was some kind of weird Buddha.” I did as he asked, driven more by curiosity.
”Let”s see. It says here: ”Kali is a violent Hindu goddess associated with death and destruction. She is depicted as dark and violent.” Very you,” I remarked, prompting another smile from him. ””She is known as the wife of the god Shiva,” I continued, ”sometimes depicted dancing on him or wielding knives, splattered with the blood of her victims, from whom she wears a severed hand as a garland.” Uhm, I like this girl.” R nodded, and I finished with the last line. ””She is also known as Kalika”.”
That word made me catch my breath. It reminded me too much of the term Yuri used to call me, only a letter apart.
”What? You”re blown away, aren”t you? Do you see yourself represented? I”m sure it was a prophecy. Did you know they finished the tattoo a month before we got married? My subconscious wanted to put you on my skin, fate knew that this bloody, dancing goddess was going to do it over me every night.”
With my husband’s reflection hovering in my mind, I managed to tear my eyes away from the screen and look at him, who was watching me with a playful smile. I processed what he had just said along with the description of the goddess.
”Are you telling me that I”m the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess?”
”No, if reincarnation exists, it would be impossible for you to be reincarnated as anything but yourself. If I compare the two of you, you have the upper hand, I”m convinced you”re much more beautiful, smart, sexy, and utterly bloodthirsty.” This time, I was the one who smiled. He watched me lazily, arms behind his head.
”You should do it more.”
”Do what?”
”Smile. When you do, anything seems possible.” His reflection warmed my cheeks like a silly, lovestruck teenager.
”Don”t be ridiculous,” I said, trying to hide my blush by tucking my hair behind my ear. He didn”t seem to notice, probably thinking it was because of the sun rather than his compliments.
”You think it”s ridiculous that I like seeing you smile?”
I didn’t think my lips could stretch any wider, but they did. It would be best to continue drinking my coffee and let the caffeine clear my head. I took a long sip and searched for a safer topic.
”Why did you get that tattoo?”
”Because Kali promotes destruction as a fundamental part of love,” he said. ”She represents the cycle of life that has existed and will continue. Life, death, and rebirth.”
”I didn’t know I married Smurf Philosopher.”
”There are many things you don”t know about me.”
”Such as?”
”That you married a guy who’s too turned on by his wife.”
I admired him as one might view a museum piece, with a dry mouth and a longing. Evaluating every angle, every prominence, the way the light fell on him making him so damn perfect. I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose.
”When I was little, my brother used to call me Kalinka,” I blurted out unexpectedly. I didn’t even know why I told him that; it was a part only Yuri and I shared.
”What?”
”Kalinka.”
”Yes, I heard you, it”s just that you caught me off guard.” I felt a bit ridiculous and felt the need to explain.
”Your goddess is known as Kalika, it was in the explanation, I just found it curious and... never mind,” I dismissed the thought with a wave of my hand, ”I was thinking out loud.”
”I like that you share your thoughts with me, I tend to make associations too.”
”Like with goddesses?”
”You are my goddess,” he reflected, without a hint of doubt in his voice. It was so emphatic that something inside me wavered.
How could my enemy, the person I hated most in this world, also be someone I had this urgent need to accumulate seconds with? The sex was great, our chemistry was explosive, but it wasn”t just about that, it was something else that clung to me inside and made me wonder what was wrong.
R reached out his hand for me to take.
”Come.” I swallowed the saliva that had built up inside my cheeks without realizing.
I placed the cup on the table and stood up. I linked the tips of my fingers with his.
My body was covered by a skimpy white lace nightgown. His still held onto a few small pearls of water and a mini pond in his navel.
My husband positioned me sideways on his lap, so my head rested against his shoulder, and he could stroke me with his free hand.
”I like you,” he asserted firmly.
I blinked in disbelief because it wasn’t a ”I like you and I’m going to fuck you senseless,” as many of my lovers had said. His words carried a depth that alarmed me, and I immediately went on the defensive.
”Is that your way of asking for a blowjob?” R burst out laughing.
”If I wanted a blowjob, I”d just ask. No, Nikita, this is my way of telling you that what I thought impossible is happening.”
”What do you mean?” I furrowed my brow.
”That, in the last week, the one we”ve spent with Adriano, I”ve discovered the partner I want to have. One who can handle the antics of a kid who didn’t want her in his life, who has played a thousand tricks on her and whom she hasn’t tattled on but gradually brought over to her side, even though she claims kids give her allergies.” I looked at him perplexed. His reflection could only mean one thing.
”Did he confess to you?”
”Well, let’s just say I had an inkling when I saw you come in without a life preserver and a hungry eagle trying to eat your brain,” I stared at him wide-eyed. ”Then, I pulled it out of Adri the next day, before going to the shooting range, and he confessed. I was afraid he’d aim for your forehead and you wouldn’t survive.”
”And why didn’t you tell me?!” My index finger traced a perfect arc along my jaw.
”Because I didn”t want to influence anything, because I needed to make sure my instinct wasn”t fooling me, making me see an oasis where all that shone was the aridity of the desert.”
”And what did you see, palm trees?” I asked, my tone tinged with sarcasm.
”What I”ve seen is that your damn brother was a bastard. He did me a huge favor when he made me promise to marry you. Because every day that passes, I”m more convinced that I want you by my side.” His words sent my pulse racing, and I found myself disoriented in a present that understood neither past nor future. ”You might not feel the same,” he murmured softly. The finger that had been on my face now slid down my neck to my chest, starting to draw concentric circles—”but it doesn”t matter.”
”It doesn”t matter to you that I might not feel the same?” I asked, hypnotized.
My lips parted, and a sweet tremor ran through me.
”No, we have time. I told you I liked challenges, and you are the biggest one in my life.”
”And what if I never feel it?” I suggested. His touch trailed down my ribs to my thigh.
”You will.”
The tingling spread everywhere he touched, R was like a damn bacterium capable of colonizing me completely.
”But what if I don”t?” I persisted, more to myself than to him.
”Then you”ll become the way life tells me that you can”t have everything you want, even if you desire it deeply and are sure you”ve moved your piece to the right place.”
He reached the apex of my legs, and they parted, like the doors of a shopping mall welcoming you to come in and enjoy.
I sighed, letting him explore the moisture that had formed from his words. Romeo turned me liquid, making me experience the properties of matter on my own flesh.
With my gaze locked on his, he entered me. Gas. The kind emitted by my breath. The kind that made me think his thrusts could evaporate me.
Thoughts floated, with emotions as unexpected as they were honest. Solid. Blunt, like daggers delving into open flesh.
I sighed and let him caress me, feeling like never before, open, exposed. Solid, liquid, gaseous. As if in that sway of soaked flesh, he could recognize a certainty that pushed me into his arms, one that made me look at him with new eyes capable of piercing skin, bones, and vengeance.
Romeo was able to verbalize what I denied us. That terrifying truth that hung me at a crossroads devoid of information. Where was I going? How should I act?
He continued to pleasure me without kissing me with his lips, because his eyes were enough. And I let that unknown emotion grow, envelop us, expand, and take over every cell of my being.
I shattered into an orgasm that left me breathless, that made me gravitate to another plane, torn apart, naked, laid open.
A crystalline drop accumulated in the corner of my eye and tumbled down my cheek alone and overwhelmed. Because eyes can”t keep secrets, and mine were speaking too much.