Epilogue
Maurizio
Coming downstairs, I found Nico and Maddie laughing together while Sophie was making drinks in the kitchen. Flora was tidying toys away. The children sat at the table with snacks, chatting to each other and the adults around them.
“You all set for the new woman in your life?” Nico asked.
“I am indeed. She is everything you could ever want on four wheels.”
Maddie frowned. “I don’t get the obsession you boys have with machines. It’s a car that will get you from A to B.”
Nico shrugged.
I still hadn’t figured the dynamics of their friendship.
Maddie was pregnant and had planned on telling the father, but before she got to the bit about the baby, the guy had dumped her, totally cut her loose.
He’d told her she had only ever been a bit of fun, and he had the chance of some promotion at work.
As far as I knew, he’d moved away with his wife, and as it turned out, the three children he already had with her.
Maddie had chosen not to tell him and was planning on bringing the baby up alone.
She had relocated here and lived in a small house in the village.
Nico, her friend, was a regular visitor, as was my mother who loved the idea of another bambino.
My mother was actually at one with the world.
She had been amazing in her support of the children and Sophie.
She had voiced concerns about our living arrangements and the pressure that might put on my relationship with Flora, but it was, and always had been short term.
“Flora, are you sure you don’t want to come and collect her with me?”
She rolled her eyes as she always did when I called my new car a ‘her’ or ‘she’. “I will if you want me to, but I am going to see Bea and Carrie and the babies in a while.”
Her face lit up at the mention of her friends and their babies.
“Ash came back off holiday yesterday so I am picking him up on the way.”
“You blowing me off for friends and babies?”
“No, well, maybe just the babies.” Her gentle flush was nothing other than endearing as was her honesty.
Between Bea, Carrie and now Maddie, my girlfriend was becoming broody.
“Take Nico with you and I will get ready to go out while you go and I can see the other woman in your life when you get home.”
“Other woman! I’d have thought having your ex-wife and your current squeeze under one roof was quite enough.” Nico chuckled and while Sophie and Flora joined in with his laughter, Maddie didn’t. Perhaps the other woman reference was still a bit raw for her.
I decided now was the perfect time to leave and as my brother leapt to his feet, he seemed to have done the same.
“Is she as good as you’d hoped? All you wanted and more?” Flora was already rushing across the front of the house towards me while Nico headed for the house. “She is a beauty.”
Flora laughed as I surveyed my new car. My last car had been a write off.
The tree landing on it as I skidded down the country lane had seen to that.
Somebody had been watching over me that day, a guardian angel because I should never have made it out of there alive, but I had.
With a slight concussion, a significant cut to my head, a broken arm, muscle damage to my leg and endless bruises and abrasions, I had walked away but the car had paid the price, and I was absolutely okay with that.
“She is. I have an eye for beautiful things.”
I pulled her close and trapped her between me and the car that was parked next to hers.
I pressed into her, my desire and need for her obvious.
My mouth dropped to her ear that I licked and gently nipped before kissing a path down her jaw and along her neck to the place I knew drove her wild.
Her breathing became loud and gaspy as I moved lower, my lips moving across her collar bone while my hand that had been cupping her behind began to gather the fabric of her dress until I could manoeuvre my hand into her underwear.
“Shit! You’re wet,” I groaned as she spread her legs slightly to allow me better access. I didn’t need telling twice. Sliding two fingers inside her, I thrusted gently and smiled down at her dazed expression when her body began to contract around my fingers.
“Maurizio.”
I slid my fingers along her length and found her clit. Stroking it, I swear she was ready to come already judging by how deeply her nails dug into my shoulders.
The sound of activity from the house behind us, brought her out of her arousal fuelled daze.
“Tell me to stop,” I implored her because I didn’t want to be discovered in this position but was incapable of stopping where this woman was concerned, that had always been the case.
“Stop,” she whispered, but her disappointment was obvious.
“We could take it for a spin, maybe find somewhere secluded and christen it.”
She pulled away, her clothing dropping down as she moved, laughing as she did so. “Maybe you ought to park her in the garage . . . no interruptions, and no telling you to stop.”
THE END