Chapter Eighteen
Vittoria
Tano kept threatening to tie me to the bed if I didn’t sit still. The skin on my feet was torn raw, and despite the bandages and painkillers he’d given me, I was able to pace while waiting for word from Romeo.
Waking up in that horrible place had been an eye-opener for me.
Being his wife was the only thing that had saved me in the end, while being the daughter of Santo Calogerà had almost killed me.
I shuddered, picturing my brother’s level of crazy in his almost reptilian eyes and the darkness in his words rivaled Hell itself.
How could Romeo’s darkness feel so different?
So necessary? Not long after our paths collided in his office, the day where I became familiar with the darkness that lurked inside of him, I’d pined for him, and his knowing touch, his hungry gaze.
It was the start of my plan to get his attention.
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”
That seemed like years ago now but the desire for those things had only multiplied. He came for me, he was willing to die for me.
“Principessa.”
I’d been so lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t heard him enter.
“Oh, thank God, you’re alright.”
His eyes devoured me despite the fact I was a complete mess and in dire need of a shower. He stalked toward me with a singular purpose. I was the mission. Scooping me in his arms, he started for the door.
“Would you look at that,” Vinny croaked from the bed where Tano tended him. “Not even sparing a look for his baby brother.”
“I know you will heal, fratello, and I will be back, but right now I have only one question for you. Where the hell did you hide your phone?”
Vinny winked his least-swollen eye. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Romeo shook his head and turned away. “I am not in the mood for joking. I have more important things to do right now.”
“Sounds like we both have a buzz up the backside,” Vinny remarked. “What could possibly be more important than me?”
He was being cheeky and I thought Romeo would blow a gasket but instead his gaze fell on me.
“I need to show my wife how precious she is to me, how almost losing her showed me how much I love her.”
“Finally!” Vinny lay back. “Go do that and don’t forget to tell her she’s the best thing that ever happened to you.”
“Vincenzo!” Romeo growled.
Vinny managed to smile, even with cracked lips. “Gotcha, fratello!”
We left the room to quiet chuckling from Vinny and Tano cussing him about not popping his new stitches.
In our suite, my husband laid me gently on the bed and undressed me.
Then gave me a sponge bath so as not to hurt my feet.
Then he crawled between my legs and sank his cock into me, bathing me in kisses while he slowly made love to me.
Each stroke of his cock massaged my inner walls.
Each deep thrust sent delicious shocks through me.
“Romeo, I have things to tell you that can’t wait. ”
“Shh, amore, they can wait just a moment. I need to feel you.”
Letting go of my need to share and allowing him to take the lead, it wasn’t long until my first orgasm crested and crashed.
“Romeo!” I cried as my walls spasmed, milking his cock.
He joined me, in the throes of a shared orgasm, one only he could pull from me.
“Vittoria!” Somewhere between heaven and earth, we found each other.
It was the first time that my husband made love to me with such tenderness and devotion, that tears leaked from my eyes.
When he pulled out, he fell onto the mattress, rolling onto his side as he pulled me in tight.
“Tell me, wife, what is so important?”
“I need you. That’s what I needed to tell you, Romeo. My entire life I’ve been pushing people away and being independent, but it’s not who I am.”
Romeo brushed a stray strand of hair from my face. “I know.”
What? How could he possibly?
“I’ve glimpsed her when you are at your most vulnerable. The little princess you keep locked away in her tower, certo?”
Happy tears trickled down my cheeks. “Yes, but how? I hid her away when my mother died, along with all of my hopes and dreams. My father began parading me in front of suitors when I was a young teenager. As soon as I became a commodity for that awful man, I locked that part of myself away.”
A tear rolled down my cheek and Romeo wiped it away.
“When I woke up in that place,” I whispered, “I kept thinking about freedom.”
Romeo’s arms tightened around me.
“And?”
“I realized freedom wasn’t what I thought it was. I thought it meant being alone.”
His eyes searched mine. “And what do you choose?”
I cupped his face and smiled through my tears. “You already know.”
“Say it.”
“You.” The answer settled between us, an undeniable truth.
Romeo pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Your princess is safe here with me and I hope you know that. My regina, you are my queen, and I will love you until my last breath. I love every aspect of you, wife. You are my princess, my brat, my queen. You are mine when you are on your knees and I am yours when I’m on mine. ”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“I love you, Romeo.”
“I love you too, Principessa.”
THE END