Chapter 10
Enzo
“I love you, too,” she said, taking my hands to draw me into her bedroom.
I stared at her in wonder and disbelief. “All this time, I thought you hated me.”
“Believe me, I tried in the beginning. But how could I hate you for long? Really, this is all your fault,” she said to me, her hands squeezing mine.
I was so fucking over the moon about her saying that she loved me that I could barely understand anything else. “My fault?”
“Yes. You are so kind and selfless and caring,” she bit out in frustration.
“And that’s a bad thing?” I teased, stunned that anyone could see me that way.
I had always been considered brutish and violent.
No one alive except Valentina would possibly see any good in me.
Seeing myself through her eyes was a revelation.
She made me feel like I could do anything.
Like I could be a man worth loving in spite of my myriad sins.
“No, it’s just extremely annoying.”
I laughed at that. “Why?”
“It’s annoying because you being kind to me makes me want to be better, Enzo,” she explained.
“Not just better at my job as head of New York but as me. You push me to think beyond what I’ve been taught or what’s expected.
You allow me to be my own woman. You challenge me, and that means I can never take the easy way out.
You don’t treat me like your enemy or a Romano.
You treat me like I’m Valentina. Like I’m a person. ”
“I had hoped you would think of yourself as a De Luca,” I said.
“You want me to change my last name?” she asked, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully.
“That’s not what I meant, though that bit’s up to you,” I replied.
“What did you mean then?”
“You are a De Luca now, Valentina,” I reminded her. “Use whatever last name you wish. Just know that regardless of what you call yourself, you are my wife and I will love you until death. Those vows I said today were real. You are my family. You are my home.”
I saw the way her eyes were shining as she gazed at me with complete devotion.
“I think I want to marry you all over again,” she said, laughing.
I grinned at her. “Not bad, eh?”
“Oh, kiss me, Enzo,” she ordered, and then she flung her arms around me and my lips found hers.
Heat shot through me. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pinning her against me.
A contented sigh escaped her, making her entire body tremble beneath my hands.
I thrust my tongue past her lips, prying them apart.
I groaned. Damn, she tasted exquisite. Like wine and caramel sugar.
So good that I didn’t want to ever stop kissing her.
I felt myself go hard, my arousal so intense that it was like a physical ache.
Our tongues collided. I coaxed a soft moan from her as I stroked her tongue with mine. Valentina started grinding against me then, the friction making my erection go even harder, sparks of pleasure shooting through my body.
She started panting as she came up for air and then returned to eagerly kissing me back.
I explored her, swirling my tongue into her mouth as I realized that now that we were married, and had completely bared our souls, I could drink my fill of her.
We were both feverish with desire. I could feel the heat of her body through the flimsy fabric of her wedding gown.
Next thing I knew, Valentina was wrenching her soft mouth away to begin slipping my coal-colored jacket from my shoulders. I quickly took off my gun and my holster to let her start to unbutton the vest beneath.
She threw the vest aside. “I take it you want to spend tonight with me.”
“More than I have ever wanted anything in my life,” I replied immediately.
Hunger flashed in her eyes, mirroring my own desperate greed for her. She laughed, her hands lowering to unbutton and unzip my pants. I kicked off my shoes and she worked on shedding the rest of my clothes, including my boxer briefs, which she tossed over my shoulder.
I watched her eyes go wide as she took in my erection. She licked her lips, a blatant display of her desire. I couldn’t help but grin, Valentina’s reaction to me a huge boost for my ego.
“Happy?” I asked her.
“Very.” She kissed me again, her hand lowering to seize my erection, stroking me slowly, luxuriously, until pleasure nearly knocked me off my feet.
Tearing my mouth away, I said, “Your turn.”
Reluctantly, I let her release her hold on my hardness and got to work helping her undress.
I turned her around so that her back was to me, her perfect ass grinding up against my erection.
I had to suppress a groan as I unhooked the back of her dress then slid the pure white satin down her curves, the fabric whispering as it pooled at her feet.
I let my hand caress down her back, following the curve of her spine so that I could memorize her body.
In that moment, I vowed to commit every part of her to memory so that I could learn what pleased her.
Desperate for her, I turned her to face me again.
She was so fucking gorgeous, radiant with a light that seemed to come from within her.
In that moment, and all the moments after, Valentina was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life.
Not just her stunning face or her perfect body—it was, above all else, her heart and her soul that I saw as I stripped her bare.
She slipped off her shoes to step out of the satin pooled at her feet and it was then I really noticed the white garter around her thigh.
I almost laughed when I saw the garter was holding a gun in place—a small pistol—attaching it to her inner thigh.
Of course she had armed herself, even on our wedding day.
Valentina gave me a seductive smile when she caught me staring at her thigh, and with one movement she was stretching out onto the bed with all the grace of a cat.
Damn, she was sexy—dressed in a strapless bra, lace panties, and that garter holding the gun.
I got into the bed beside her, my hands working in tandem with hers to take off her bra.
Then, I peeled off her panties, leaving only the garter.
She lifted her thigh. “You know it’s tradition for the groom to take it off.”
“At the reception surely,” I murmured, taking her hand to kiss right above her wedding band.
“This is much more fun,” she said.
I relished this, being able to go at our own pace.
Without any pressure to perform in front of anyone.
Without us wondering what the other was hiding.
It was like we were finally seeing each other fully for the first time and it was incredible.
My heart hammered as realization dawned on me that Valentina was truly mine.
She was my wife not just on paper, but where it truly mattered—in her heart.
All while my love for her was etched on my heart and always would be.
No piece of paper could fully encapsulate what I felt for her.
With a wolfish grin, I reached out to undo the garter around her thigh, carefully placing the gun on the nightstand by the bed.
“You couldn’t be the only one armed.” she asked. “I wasn’t going to let the boys have all the fun.”
I grinned at her.
She smiled momentarily, but her smile vanished when she glanced at my shoulder where the shard of glass had grazed it earlier than day. “Enzo—”
“It’s nothing,” I reassured her. “That’s not bravado. See for yourself, it’s already healing on its own. I barely lost any blood.”
She reached out to gently place a hand on my shoulder, right below the wound.
Valentina did it with such tenderness, that I marveled that someone could treat a brute like me with such genuine affection.
She’d probably hate to admit it, but Valentina could be kind too.
I remember how she had helped nurse me back to health after the fire nearly killed me.
I was hands-down, the luckiest man on earth to have this woman’s heart.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that my sworn enemy would turn out to be the love of my life.
Pulling her hand away, she lay back down on the bed, spreading her legs wide for me. “I need you, Enzo. I want you so badly.”
Truly I felt like howling. Or some other animalistic response to her shameless response to me.
I edged closer, positioning myself to bury my face between her quivering thighs.
I kissed a trail up and down her inner thigh, her skin fragrant, soft, and silky smooth.
Unable to hold back any longer, I let my tongue find the sweet wetness between her legs.
Gripping her thighs, I flicked my tongue expertly.
Valentina whimpered as she grabbed onto my hair.
She tasted so good that I groaned. She trembled against me, moaning as I devoured her.
Swirling my tongue against her feminine heat, I took my time with her, savoring the taste of her essence.
When she climaxed with a cry of my name, I pulled back to let her catch her breath.
“Don’t stop now,” she gasped out with a ragged laugh.
Smiling, I lowered myself onto her, taking care that I didn’t crush her under my weight. But she seemed to relish my body on her because she wrapped one leg around me, pulling me ever closer to heaven.
With one powerful stroke, I thrust into her, the sensation of her warm, wet heat rushing through my bloodstream like a lightning bolt.
Groaning, I grabbed hold of her hand and pressed my forehead to hers, desperate to show her that she was safe with me no matter what. Safe with me forever.
She wrapped her other leg around my waist, securing me to her. The pleasure of that move overtook my senses, my heart started to race so fast and so hard I thought my chest would explode. I captured her mouth, using a kiss to express what I felt now that I was at a loss for words.
I fucking love you, don’t ever forget it.
As I stroked my tongue past her teeth, I took her mouth as I took her. Thrusting with a greedy, insatiable need for her.
Our bodies moved together as one. Like we were made for each other. Somehow my worst enemy had become the one person I could not live without. I needed her like I needed breath in my lungs. She was one of the things I needed to survive.
She broke the kiss to say my name. Then she whispered, “I love you.”
No pleasure had ever come close to hearing her say those words while we were in the throes of our shared passion.
I drove into her relentlessly, making every effort to give her the ecstasy she deserved.
Gritting my teeth against the onslaught of euphoria, I focused on giving her pleasure while somehow fighting a losing battle to hold mine at bay.
The more I gave, the more I received. Valentina met my thrusts with an arch of her back and a lift of her hips, her enthusiasm spurring me on so completely that my exhaustion vanished.
All I that mattered right now was her. I was going to make sure that my wife never forgot this wedding night.
Tonight would be something she thought back on with a blush in her cheeks and a yearning she couldn’t deny.
She clenched around me, forcing a ragged groan from my throat.
I had never experienced such all-consuming sensation.
Her tight, wet heat held me in a vicelike grip, dragging me to the brink of my control.
If I didn’t find release soon, I would lose my mind.
I felt her drag her fingernails up my back and I could tell she was on the verge of the abyss too.
With one final thrust I climaxed, groaning my pleasure as release took hold of me. Valentina clung to me, her body quivering as I wrung out every last bit of pleasure her body could withstand.
I collapsed on top of her then, incapable of moving. My wife had worn me out so completely that I was practically paralyzed.
“Am I too heavy?” I asked her raggedly.
“Oh no, you’re just right,” she answered, panting. I felt her run her fingers through my damp hair. “I don’t want you to ever move.”
It took about a minute for me to gather enough strength to roll away and lay down on my back.
I pulled her close, needing her softness against me as I gasped for breath.
Her skin was glistening with perspiration and I swear I had never seen anything as beautiful as Valentina in the aftermath of her pleasure.
She was practically glowing with an ethereal light that astounded me.
How was it possible for her to get more and more beautiful? It defied description.
But there was no time for me to consider all that because I was already falling asleep with my wife in my arms.