32. Dario
DARIO
The days go on, but it’s like something inside of Liana has broken. She’s not the same. She’s subdued somehow, different.
She’s not the woman I fell in love with, but I’d said I’d accept any version of her.
This is no different.
I love her subdued and scared just as much as I loved her stubborn and petty, but I don’t like that the light inside of her has gone out.
On the third day back home, she just lies in bed all day, unmoving, barely blinking.
"Do you want me to turn on the television?” I ask gently, and she shakes her head.
“No. I have a headache.”
“Alright.” I reach over to touch her shoulder but she moves away, turning over to face the wall instead of staring at me.
I let her sleep in that day. All day.
The next day, though, I push the curtains wide and invite Sonny in.
He bounces on the bed and gets a smile out of her.
“It’s Sunday! You know what that means, Mama!”
“Pancake day,” she says softly, and lets him tug her up into a seated position.
“You two going to give Sofia the morning off?”
“We do every Sunday. That’s Sofia’s special time,” Sonny says solemnly, and I can’t help but laugh.
But something’s still not right with Liana. There’s no light in her eyes, nothing behind her smile. She gets up, heads downstairs, makes pancakes with Sonny.
But it’s like she’s a shell of a person. A shell that used to be my Liana.
Even Sonny sees it. He frowns and only eats two pancakes.
“May I be excused to play with my trains?”
“Sure thing, buddy,” Liana says, as brightly as she can muster. “Did you not like your pancakes?”
He runs over and hugs her tightly, kissing her cheek. “They were great, Mama. I just want to play.”
She nods and he glances at me as if to say “fix her,” and then runs off.
“Are you feeling okay?”
She nods again. “Just tired.”
“This is more than tired, Li. It’s like you’re just going through the motions.”
Her hands tremble as she cuts into a pancake. “I’m doing the best that I can, Dario.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t. I’m just... I’m worried about you, Li. Would you let me call Charlie to come check you out?”
She scoffs. “Charlie? He’s not much of a shrink.”
“He’s a doctor. Just in case... something’s not right. After everything you went through, I think we should double check, that’s all.”
“Alright.” Her words are listless.
“Let’s go out to the pool. I’ll see if Sonny wants to join us. It’s a beautiful day.”
“Is it?”
I stare at her. She’s standing right in front of the window. It’s beautiful out, the sun shining, the skies blue.
“Liana,” I start, but she gets up and heads upstairs.
“I’m just changing into my swimsuit.” Her words, again, are flat.
I run my hands through my hair and call Charlie while I go up to change myself.
He picks up on the fourth ring.
“Yeah?”
“I need you to check out my wife.”
“Your wife? Since when do you have one of those, Conte?”
“Since recently. She had an... incident and now she’s not herself.”
“What kind of incident?”
“Her best friend kidnapped her. Drugged her.”
He whistles. “That’s bad.”
“Yeah, no shit. And she barely woke up and now it’s like... like she’s not even here.”
I miss her.
“I’ll come have a look tomorrow, but I have to warn you—it sounds like it might not be something physical.”
“Just have a look, that’s all I ask."
“I’ll be there at noon tomorrow.”
“Thanks.”
I hang up and finish changing into my swim trunks, heading into Sonny’s room.
“Hey, get on your trunks. Mama wants to go to the pool.”
“She does?” He lights up, hurrying to wiggle into his swim trunks. “Is she feeling better?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I just know we need to cheer her up.”
“I can do that,” he says proudly, and takes a small bucket full of pool toys and his floaties down to the pool.
Liana lounges in her bikini on one of the lounge chairs, looking unbelievably gorgeous in a yellow two-piece that shows off the olive of her skin.
My mouth is practically watering, but I can’t stop looking at her face. That smile is plastered on. She’s not enjoying herself.
I’m worried about her. Sonny is, too, it’s obvious. I manage to distract him after a while by throwing him into the pool with his floaties and having him swim back up to me.
I start sending him after diver toys, throwing them in the deep end and having him retrieve him. By the time dusk starts to settle over the house, he’s floating in the shallow end, exhausted.
My muscles ache from throwing Sonny into the pool and I smile at Liana.
She smiles back, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Ready to go in?” I ask her quietly, and she nods, a sense of relief passing over her face.
She heads into Sonny’s room to bathe him and put him to bed. It doesn’t take long, maybe thirty minutes, and I stand in the hallway, waiting for her.
Liana stops in her tracks when she sees me.
“There you are,” she murmurs, and there’s a glimpse of her old self in her gray eyes.
I smirk. “Like what you see?”
“I dunno.” I love the teasing lilt to her voice. “Doesn’t leave much to the imagination.”
I grab my half-hard dick through my trunks, taking a couple of steps toward her.
“I could always remind you.”
She grins and there she is. My girl. My Li.
“I guess you’ll have to. Seems with all the commotion, I’ve forgotten,” she drawls, walking past me into the master bedroom.
She’s spent every night in there with me since she returned, yet it’s still not enough.
I follow her; I’d follow her anywhere. She strips off her bikini and turns on the water in the bathroom.
I shuck off my trunks and step in behind her, my hands lighting on her hips.
She turns around, tsking with a smile on her face.
“I didn’t say I needed help showering.”
“Thought maybe you forgot that, too,” I murmur close to her ear, taking a cloth and putting a small amount of body wash on it.
I sweep it across her chest, over and under her ample breasts before spreading the fabric across her peaked nipples.
She lets out a gasp when I tweak one of them through the cloth.
“You just wait until I’m out of here.”
“Am I in trouble?” I ask in a low tone, tweaking her other nipple in the same fashion.
“Do you want to be in trouble?”
“With you? So badly. Always. I always hope you’re a little mad at me when we fuck.”
She giggles and the sound is music to my ears, so high-pitched and free.
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
"You’re cute when you’re mad. Your face and chest get all flushed, your eyes flash...”
They flash a little at me now as she smacks my shoulder.
I catch her wrist in mine, bringing it to my lips. I kiss along her pulse and she draws in a sharp breath.
She braces herself against the back wall, her palms spreading wide. Her thighs spread, too.
“Take me from behind,” she whispers, and I choke out a moan as she spreads herself for me.
I line up behind her, grabbing my dick around its base and pushing into her glistening entrance. It’s a tight fit at first, and I slowly push myself in until I bottom out.
She whines and rolls her hips back against me.
“You sure you’re up for this?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“You’re asking that now? While you’re already inside me?” She giggles wildly. I guess the sound should worry me but instead it makes me feel giddy.
She feels something. She’s there, somewhere.
Maybe just buried down deep inside herself.
“Well? Are you?”
She rolls her hips back again, fucking herself on my cock. I watch in awe as her ass jiggles against me.
I groan, taking hold of her hips tightly and setting a steady, brutal pace.
As I ram into her she moans low in her throat, her head dropping down and water dripping into her face.
I only watch for a moment before I gather her dark curls in a ponytail, yanking her head up.
“Go on, baby. These walls are soundproof. Let it out.”
She arches her back against me, crying out my name in a stuttering burst as she comes around me, clenching tight around my dick.
It sends an ache straight through my balls, and I only manage a few more thrusts before I spill inside her.
She turns to smile at me wickedly as I pull out of her.
“Knew you wouldn’t make it out of the shower.”
I gape at her. “You little minx. You tricked me.”
She giggles again and I smile, taking her in my arms and kissing all over the side of her face. She sighs and wraps her arms around my neck.
It feels like five years ago, again. And even when we’re done showering she doesn’t let go of me, letting me carry her to bed. She’s letting me close, letting me in... but it still feels wrong.
Like I’m taking advantage of her vulnerable state.
Maybe I shouldn’t have made love to her. Not now. But it’s the only time she seems to come alive.
I lay her down on the bed and her lotion sits on the nightstand. She doesn’t reach for it, so I do, getting it on my hands and spreading the lotion down her body, starting at her throat and down across her breasts, her belly.
She gasps out my name as I move my hand between her legs, but I’m not interested in pleasuring her, not now. I just want to take care of her.
I slide my hands down her inner thighs, her calves, her ankles. I even squelch a small bit of lotion between her toes, making her giggle and kick.
I climb into bed with her, naked, not bothering to put on clothes. She’s naked, too, and when I draw her close she nuzzles against my neck.
She’s back, but only when she’s in my arms. Only when I’m inside her.
“Liana?”
“Yes, Dario?” She plants little kisses along my collarbone.
“You’re sure you’re all right? With... all this?”
She pouts slightly. “I wouldn’t have come on to you if I didn’t want it, Dario. I’m a big girl; I can make my own decisions.”
“Do you still hate me?”
She goes silent and I wish I’d never asked, my heart dropping.
“No,” she says finally. “I don’t think I ever did.”
I kiss her, then, gently, the first kiss since she’s been home, and she makes a sound like a sob into my mouth, wrapping her arms around my neck again.
She kisses me and kisses me and kisses me until my lips feel bruised, but she doesn’t take it further and neither do I.
I want her to trust me. I want her to stay.
Forever.
I won’t deny to myself anymore that I love her. That I want her. And Sonny, too. I’ll raise him like my own, her ex be damned.
But I watch the light fade from her face when I pull away from her, and I make a promise to myself that I’ll get her back.
No matter what it takes.