by Bethany-Kris
He blinked.
Swallowed thickly, too.
“You can do anything, and I will be here to help you do that,” he said, shrugging. “If you want to put Maria back in her old school, let’s do it. Come to Canada with me, or travel back and forth—all right. Maybe I can take you out on a proper date, too.”
Valeria winked. “Maybe?”
His gaze lifted to meet hers when he murmured, “Yeah, and someday, you might let me marry you. Because that’s the thing about this. I don’t care what we do as long as you let me love you while we do it.”
She sucked in a quick breath.
Chris smiled.
“I see you, and her, and it’s all possibilities now. Unending possibilities, sweetheart. We can do anything—everything. You’re both looking for something, but I’m right here. You can stop looking now, Val, you found me.”
“Yeah, we did, huh?”
“I just wanna learn.”
“Learn what?”
He came further into the bathroom, closing the door behind him to quiet the noise so it didn’t wake up Maria in the next room. Crossing the space between him and Valeria, he kneeled beside the tub, resting his arms along the ledge so that the two of them were eye-level.
“This,” he said, tipping his head to the side when she leaned a little closer to him. Almost close enough that her lips pressed to his if she wanted that. “Us. Love, but without everything else, too. That’s what I want to do now.”
Her dark eyes drifted over his face, pleasure and happiness curving her lips as her wet fingers came to draw a line along the edge of his jaw. “That sounds like the best plan.”
“You think?”
“Perfect.”
“Like you, then.”
She dragged in a quick breath, her top teeth catching her bottom lip as she mumbled, “You always say the right things, you know?”
“Honest things, babe.”
“Still.”
“And only for you,” he promised.
Valeria nodded. “Just me.”
She closed the distance between them, her soft lips moving against his in a slow, tantalizing kiss that had his cock hardening under his slacks, and his chest pounding in his chest. Her tongue teased at the seam of his lips, ready and willing to take more of what she wanted from him. Chris wanted to give it, too.
Just kissing this woman was intoxicating.
A privilege.
It’s what he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing, too. Kissing her first thing in the morning, and right before he fell asleep. Love was strange like that, but he didn’t mind. He would happily spend the rest of his days at the mercy and whims of this woman if that’s what God had planned for him.
She reached for him, soaking wet and dampening his already ruined dress shirt. He hadn’t even changed his clothes after arriving back. Which was fine, because she was in a perfect position—wet, in a warm bubble bath—to help fix that little problem of his.
Chris stood, stripping out of his dirty clothes faster than he thought possible. All the while, Valeria’s sexy laughter colored up the bathroom, fading once he stepped into that large bathtub, already reaching for her to get what they both wanted the most.
For the first time, he didn’t think about needing a condom to be with this woman. He didn’t care—he fucking wanted her. All of her, and to have her be his. To mingle with her in a way only he would for the rest of their lives.
Nothing was better than that.
As soon as he was sitting in the tub, Valeria climbed into his lap. Her hands found his semi-hard cock—a permanent state for him now whenever he was near her—to stroke him alive until his chest burned with every breath while her hips and ass did this slow, grinding dance, making the water slosh along the tub.
“Did you know,” she whispered to him, a sinful grin curving her sexy lips, “that I used to dance?”
Chris blinked. “What?”
Her body kept moving, a sensual beat that had his gaze following all her lines and curves as she moved to a beat he couldn’t hear, but swore he sensed it in his bones. Her hands jerking him off was enough to drive him insane, but the memorizing sway of her body had his attention split between the two things.
“What do you mean, dance?”
“Stripped,” she said simply, “for Haven’s club. I used to dance a lot when I first started, but then I moved into helping her more with the business, and only danced occasionally after. It was what taught me I could be sexy, and desired, but it was just a thing. You made it real for me ... tangible.”
“Fuck.”
He was still trying to picture the image of her dancing on a stage, a thrill shooting through him, but Valeria gave him a good, real life view right there in the large tub. She let him go, turning around in his lap so that her ass rested halfway above the water, her hands steady on the edge of the tub, keeping her up. She shook her ass beautifully, and there was something primal curling through him as he reached out to grab her while she danced for him, the sliver of her wet pussy peeking out from the water when she lifted high enough.
Her dancing turned into something more erotic—if that were possible—when his hand slipped between her thighs to rub against her pussy. Her hips ground into his palm and fingers. A tremor worked its way through her body because of it.
“Get off,” he murmured. “Get off for me and then let me fuck you.”
His words only urged her on to grind harder against his hand, letting him feel the pulsing of her pussy when her orgasm approached. Her soft, desperate cries climbed higher until shudders raced through her body all at once, and a gasp rushed from her.
Chris was already pulling Valeria back into his lap before she had even finished shaking from the force of her orgasm. He spread her thighs wide, tucking her back into his chest as he slid his cock into her flexing pussy.
Damn.
“So fucking tight,” he rumbled against her throat. “Got you milking me, Val, God.”
His hand slid along the side of her neck, tipping her head to the side to suck and bite at her racing pulse while she rode his cock like that. He was sure they were making a mess, the sounds of the sloshing water hitting the side of the tub mingling with their hard breaths and his groans.
This right here.
Always.
That’s what he wanted.
“Make me come again,” she whined, the demand clear even in her neediness. “Please, Chris ... please, I want to come.”
There was something about his name in her mouth.
It always fucking did it for him.
Jesus.
His arms locked around her like bars as her hips kept that fast tempo. Sliding a hand between her thighs, he worked her clit while she moved her body against him to get what she wanted. His fucking balls ached with a base need to just empty into her.
It was only when she was breathing his name like a prayer when she came again that he finally let go, holding her tight to his cock as he released deep inside her shuddering pussy.
“Holy fuck, I love you,” he mumbled against her damp skin.
Valeria’s breathless laugh filled him with satisfaction because that’s what it sounded like, too. “You better.”
He shifted her in the tub, allowing her to turn around and curl up into his lap as his raging heart settled.
Pleased there, Valeria’s breathing came out slow, and steady. His fingers traced lazy, wet circles across her shoulders, and down her back. Each swipe of his fingertips had her shivering and sighing. Minutes passed—too many to count. Long enough for the steam to leave the bathroom, and the hot water to turn only warm.
They were content to stay like that, together, still humming from sex, and almost ready to fall asleep, but a quiet call from outside the bathroom had Chris perking up. Little Maria’s cry for her mom came again, and Valeria stiffened before she pushed up from his arms.
“Stay in the bath, enjoy it,” she said, “she’s probably just scared because she woke up
in a new place, and—”
Chris leaned in, quieting her words with a kiss. “I’ll come, too. You don’t have to do anything alone anymore. You know that, right?”
Valeria pulled him in for another burning kiss, whispering, “Yeah, I do.”
21.
Three months later ...
“Is it weird to have two homes?”
Valeria tipped her head sideways, careful not to interrupt the kind woman who was removing the curling rollers from her hair. “You’re asking me that?”
Haven’s brow dipped. “Well, yeah. Why not?”
“You, Haven.”
“What?”
“Doesn’t Andino have two vacation homes on the west coast?”
Soft laughter floated throughout the hotel room, reminding Valeria that they weren’t alone. It was easy to get lost in the pampering she was experiencing, considering it had started the moment she opened her eyes that day.
It was, after all, her wedding day.
“I think,” Ginevra said, the roundness of her twenty-week pregnancy swell coming into view of Valeria’s gaze as she stepped between the two women’s chairs, “what Val means, is that Andino still has the brownstone, doesn’t he? Oh, and the vacation homes. The mansion in the—”
“I don’t use those,” Haven said.
Ginevra winked at Valeria, and she grinned back. This was nice. The easy banter between friends, no topic off-limits, and no worries. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had more than one friend to count on, and now it felt like she had a small army around her at all times.
Between the people Haven brought into her life from the Marcello side of the things, and with Chris’s family ... Sure, her circle was still small in a lot of ways, but it was wider than it had ever been.
That’s what counted.
“And you actually live between your two homes,” Haven continued. “Weekends in New York, and the week in Toronto. I wondered if that gets tiring.”
The travel could be annoying.
Also, very much worth it.
“You let Maria choose, didn’t you?” Ginevra asked.
Valeria nodded. “I did. I knew she missed her school in New York, but she also liked Chris’s home in Toronto, and the private school she would attend there. As long as I promised she could visit Haven every weekend, she decided Toronto was where she wanted to stay.”
Chris, bless his heart, hadn’t said a thing. Oh, Valeria knew he wanted to ... more than anything, that man wanted her and Maria with him as much as possible. Yet, he kept quiet for those two weeks it took Maria to decide what she wanted to do.
Really, Valeria had always known what her daughter’s decision would be. Chris didn’t realize it, but Maria loved him inexplicably. He was the exact opposite of the men that had been forced upon her as male influences, including her—may he enjoy his place in hell—dead father.
And to give credit where it was due, Chris loved her little girl. He would spend hours with Maria doing whatever she wanted just because. Bedtimes were spent reading a dozen books because he couldn’t seem to tell her no. He learned how to manage her thick, unruly hair because Maria liked their conversations in the mornings while Valeria cooked, and Chris styled it for school.
It was painfully sweet.
Everything she thought they wouldn’t have.
Some people didn’t understand how, in just a few months, Valeria went from not knowing a man, to living with him and marrying him, but it was an easy choice for her. The right one. Because that’s what Chris was.
The right man.
The perfect one.
Hers.
And her child’s.
“I thought, after a couple of months, you might have felt differently about weekends in New York, and the rest of the time spent there,” Haven said, bringing Valeria back to the conversation. “That’s all.”
“Or are you slyly asking me to spend more time in New York with you?”
Before Haven responded, the stylist pulled the final curler from Valeria’s hair, and urged her to tip her head over. A brush was dragged through her thick strands, leaving it wild, and wavy. Once she was sitting straight again, the woman nodded.
“Let me get the hair piece, and I’ll work on the style you wanted, Valeria.”
“Thank you,” she told the stylist.
“And I am loving this,” the woman added, pointing a finger at the gold lettering on her silk robe.
Mrs. Guzzi, it read.
She wasn’t a Guzzi yet. A few more hours had to pass before she would walk down the aisle to meet Christopher waiting at the end, but still ... she loved the robe, too.
“It’s great, isn’t it?”
“I’ll let Corrado know his gift is appreciated,” Ginevra said, sneaking a piece of cheese from the tray next to Valeria’s chair. “This is good, I need more.”
The stylist went off to do her own thing.
Valeria went back to the conversation with Haven. “Well, which is it?”
Haven laughed. “Neither. I would like to see you more, but we’re both busy, and it’s not like we can’t make time, right?”
“Right.”
“Oh,” Ginevra whispered.
Valeria shot her a look, but the young woman’s hand drifted down to rest atop her swell covered by a pale pink, silk robe. “You okay?”
A wedding day was stressful. Her future in-laws did every single thing to make today easy for her, not to mention wonderful and beautiful. Valeria barely needed to lift a finger to plan this wedding from the moment she said yes when Chris asked her at his father’s birthday celebration.
The most she had to do was sit down with an event coordinator and pick out things she liked. They delivered everything else for her approval.
The most difficult decision she had to make was picking her wedding dress, and deciding whether she should choose her girls’ dresses, or if they should. Haven picked her own dress. Ginevra ended up bringing Corrado and Alessio along last minute for her final fitting because she didn’t like the way hers looked with her pregnancy starting to show ... and those men calmed her about the dress, and the way she wore it.
Valeria smiled at the memory.
Yet another reminder she wasn’t alone anymore. She had a whole family, now, spread out amongst many people. Three months ago, she had not realized how much her entire life would change when she rested in a bathtub with Chris, and told him, yes, she wanted to be with him.
It moved fast.
Kind of like them.
Valeria didn’t mind.
A wedding day was still ... stressful.
She didn’t want Ginevra to experience any stress today. Not when she was carrying her niece, halfway through her pregnancy, and should only be glowing.
Which she was.
Mostly.
“It’s good,” Ginevra said at Valeria’s worried expression. “Here ...”
Ginevra took Valeria’s hand and pressed her palm into the side of her stomach. The soft movement of the baby girl turned into a hard jab. She remembered those hard movements from her long-passed pregnancy with Maria.
“Ouch,” Valeria said to Ginevra.
“Right?” She sighed. “I like the cheese—baby girl doesn’t.”
“Well, she doesn’t know what she’s missing out on,” Haven said, laughing as she grabbed a piece of cheese from the tray before popping it into her mouth. “Just saying.”
They were still laughing when the stylist came back into the room, followed by Cara, and little Maria who was already dressed up to the nines in her pretty flower girl gown. She danced over to her mother, doing a little twirl at Cara’s urging who beamed.
Already a proud grandmother. Or, that’s what Cara said when Maria asked if she could call her Nonny.
“She wanted to show you her dress,” Cara explained.
“Little early to put that on.”
Cara shrugged. “I’ll bribe it off her with something.”
Valeria sho
ok her head. “Well, if it works.”
“Do you like my dress, Mamá?” Maria asked.
Valeria leaned down to kiss her smiling princess. “Love it.”
“Come on, now,” Ginevra muttered, rubbing circles into the side of her swell. Cara didn’t miss it, a concerned frown growing when her attention turned on the woman. Ginevra was quick to explain, “The baby won’t relax—the cheese didn’t agree with her, I guess. I think I’ll find Corrado and let him calm her down.”
“Not Alessio?”
Ginevra laughed. “No, he makes her dance.”
“Ah,” Valeria replied, “well, we’re okay. We’ve got lots of time.”
“Thanks.”
Ginevra was quick to slip out of the hotel room. Valeria didn’t worry because Ginny would find Corrado soon enough, undoubtedly. Their entire wedding party had the whole room block booked for the weekend at the tucked away, private villa-styled bed-and-breakfast. It was one of the few things she wanted. A small wedding. The people she cared about the most.
And the man of her dreams.
Valeria had him.
“Mamá, it’s not raining,” Maria said, climbing up in her mother’s lap to sit. “I checked.”
Valeria laughed.
Yes.
Her one worry for today.
Canadian weather was tricky.
“That’s great,” she said, kissing Maria’s cheek. “It’s a beautiful day to get married.”
Cara nodded.
Haven, too.
“It is,” they echoed.
• • •
Haven made quick work of smoothing out the lace train of Valeria’s wedding gown. She held tight to the bouquet of white roses in her hands, staring at the double doors still closed in front. Almost time.
“Now?” Maria asked, bouncing on the spot.
Ginevra laughed. “Not yet.”
Haven came to stand in front of Valeria, and for a moment, the rest of the surrounding distractions seemed to disappear. “You okay?”
“So good.”
“That’s what matters. This dress ... wow, babe. Banging, huh?”
Valeria grinned. “You think?”
The form-fitted, sleeveless, heavy lace gown wasn’t what she had envisioned when she first thought about her wedding dress. She found the gown hanging on a back rack in a dress shop. It fit almost perfectly although they had needed to take the fabric in at her sides to make it tight to her curves. The ivory lace, decorated with pearls, covered the gown from top to bottom where the skirt flared out. The three-foot train was just enough, but not too much.
