48. Soulmates
Soulmates
With Cher’s music streaming through my earphones, I let the frustration seep out of my pores from the sauna’s sweltering heat and tried to rid my mind of thoughts of my little sister walking down the aisle in a white dress towards a fucking Bratva bastard.
We took another vote tonight, and the majority ruled.
Fabi, Alessio, and Max were in favour of a marriage alliance, while Gio and I were still firmly against it.
It was becoming harder and harder to stand our ground as Raya seemed to be quietly swaying all the women in the family as well.
So it was most likely going to happen. And there was fuck all I could do about it.
After all, I had caused this bloody mess to begin with, as Alessio liked to remind me.
So I had to get on board with the plan because there really was no better option for us.
Contacting the Bratva and offering them a marriage alliance still carried risks. They could refuse and honour their word to McKenna. In that case, we’d have no choice but to go to war.
When it started to feel like my skin might actually melt off, I opened the sauna door into our home gym and noticed the large bouquet of black roses on the weights bench and one of my black tuxedos, freshly pressed, hanging from the pull-up bar.
There was no sign of anyone else in here as I walked over to them and pulled out the handwritten note.
Tonight, it’s my turn to take care of you.Put on your suit and come find me.–A
Oh fuck me. Were those butterflies in my stomach?
No wonder women loved this shit so much.
I dived into the gym shower and took my time getting dressed, wanting to make sure I looked my best for my wife.
Snatching up the flowers, I slipped the handwritten note into my suit jacket and made my way through the house towards my bedroom.
I smirked at the soldiers who gave me impressed nods, clearly thinking I looked like a man on a mission to swoon his woman, when little did they know I was the one falling on his knees for her.
By the time I reached the bedroom door, I could hear the soft, romantic melody drifting through it, and my hand paused on the handle.
For once, I felt a little out of my element.
No one had ever done anything like this for me.
My heart was barely able to control itself, and beneath the excitement and admiration was an odd flutter of nerves.
I opened the door to a room lit in gold.
Candlelight flickered across every surface, softening the edges of my masculine dark walls.
But what shone even brighter was the woman standing in the centre of the room, looking like a goddess in a shimmering gold dress.
Her blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders in waves, and she smiled at me, looking a little shy and unsure, reminding me of the woman who walked into that massage room.
I placed the roses at the foot of the bed, staring into the only eyes in the world I could drown in.
“Grazie for my flowers,” I husked, my voice already low with need as I stepped towards her. “Let me thank you properly.”
She lifted her hand, halting me. “Wait!”
My eyebrows furrowed, and I tilted my head as she let out a shaky breath.
“I have this all planned, and if you come any closer, I’ll forget it the moment you touch me.”
I smirked with a cheeky glint in my eyes. She rolled hers.
“I mean it, Sani. Behave,” she ordered, then let her teasing smile play on her lips. “For now.”
For once, I did as I was told. I slipped my hands into my trouser pockets and shifted on my feet, showing her I was ready to listen.
She licked her pretty stoned-rose covered lips and slid her hands down her sides. Then she looked at me. Really looked at me, in a way many people rarely dared to.
“You chose me the moment you saw me.”
The truth of that statement settled in the space between us, and I nodded, knowing she was just beginning and that I shouldn’t interrupt.
“And you’ve chosen me every day since. When I stood at that altar beside you, and we said our vows, I thought I knew what it meant. I thought it was about survival. In some ways, it was… but it was also real.”
Something in my chest shifted. I swallowed as she stepped closer, slowly enough that I could see her fingers dancing against her sides before she forced them to relax. The fact that she was nervous only made me want to dive for her even more.
“I was afraid of you in that church, not just because of what you could do… but because of what falling in love with you would cost me.”
She stopped a step away from me, and I had to physically hold myself back from reaching for her. This was her moment, and I could see how important it was for her to say this, so I had to willingly give up control and let her have it.
“Being together isn’t easy. Or simple. But it is real.
” She placed her hand on my chest, and I covered it with mine before I could stop myself.
It was as if she knew I needed the physical touch to anchor her to me.
“You live in a world that takes and takes… but you never took from me. You carried everything. You held the weight of every choice just to keep me safe. And I need you to know that I choose you, knowing and loving every part of you. I don’t need you to ever change for me. ”
My heart thundered uncontrollably as I stared into her eyes, feeling more seen and accepted in that moment than I ever had in my life.
“So we may have said our vows in that church, but these are my promises to you. I promise never to run when it gets hard. I promise I won’t make you carry everything alone.
I promise to stand beside you, to be yours forever, even when it’s dangerous.
I’m not standing here as your wife because I have to.
I’m here because there’s nowhere else I would want to be. ”
She leaned into me, and I lowered my forehead to hers.
“I choose you, Santino Buccini. Today and every day for the rest of my life.”
There were a thousand things I could have said, but none of them felt enough. So I kissed her instead. She melted into the kiss, surrendering to every caress of our tongues as we moaned. I held her tighter, my hand travelling down her back and moulding her against me.
“Come over here,” she whispered against my lips, then broke the kiss to pull me over to the fireplace, where she’d laid out a bed of blankets and cushions, with some wine and cheese.
“There’s more?”
“Of course. As I said, it’s my turn to look after you tonight.” She smiled, pulled me down to the floor, and fed me a square of cheese as I grinned back.
Nothing excited me more than that smile, the one that showed mischief hiding behind innocence.
Guns, fast bikes, torturing assholes, closing a lucrative deal used to excite me, but now it all came second to the way this woman made me feel.
I leaned into her, brushing my lips against the delicate curve of her neck and pressing a soft kiss there.
Before I could take it any further, she pushed me back, forcing me away. “Do you think you can give up a little control tonight?”
I raised my eyebrow as I took a sip of wine to hide the shit-eating grin on my face. “Hm, I don’t know. It will be… hard.”
She smirked, glancing down at my already semi-hard cock as she slowly ran her hands up my torso beneath my suit jacket to my shoulders. Then she started to peel it down my arms.
“I’m sure I can find a way to help you relax and…” She brushed her lips against my ear. “...let go.”
I licked my lips as she began to undress me, undoing my shirt buttons with painful slowness and then reaching for my belt.
I inhaled, leaning back on my hands and letting myself enter unknown territory.
To me, control meant safety, and giving it up made me feel more vulnerable than I ever had.
But the sultry look in her eyes was worth it.
When she had me stripped to my boxers while she was still wearing that stunning dress, my restraint slipped. I reached for her, pulling her to me, trying to capture her lips, but she threw her head back and giggled.
“You are so impatient!”
“I just want you,” I growled, grabbing her hips and forcing her to straddle me. She shoved me in the chest until I fell back against the cushions, and I groaned at the view that gave me.
“And you’ll have me,” she husked, running her finger down the centre of my chest. “If you’re a good boy.”
I let out a quiet huff of amusement. “I’ve never been a good boy.”
Her lips curved as she looked down at me.
“Maybe you’ve never wanted the reward badly enough.”
I grabbed her hips and pressed my rock-hard cock against her clit, showing her just how badly I wanted it.
She giggled and climbed off me, reaching for a bottle of scented oil. “Roll over.”
She might have been right, because for the first time in my life the reward of being good seemed worth it.
Even though I hated it, because it meant I couldn’t see her anymore, I did what she asked.
Then she straddled my hips again, and her oiled hands swept over my back, and I was transported to heaven.
“You’re giving me a massage?” I mumbled into the pillow as she began rolling her thumbs into my shoulders.
“Seems only fair. You got to feel me up at our first meeting, and I never even touched you!”
“You did,” I grumbled as she worked the tension I’d been carrying out of my back. “You put your hands on my chest when you climbed off the table. It took everything I had not to kiss you when you touched me like that.”
“You should have kissed me,” she whispered. “I wanted you to.”
“You thought I was Cesare. No fucking way.”
She giggled, and I let the sound wash over me, relaxing me even more. Her hands moved more slowly, digging deeper and turning me to mush. For the first time in longer than I could remember, I let myself stop. Stop thinking. Stop moving. Stop controlling. And it was fucking bliss.
“How’s the pressure?”
I smirked, remembering her answer. “I can handle it harder.”