by Ash, Nikki
My movements turn frantic, my breathing becoming more labored as I ride him harder, deeper, my hips bouncing up and down on his hard length as my orgasm approaches. Gio must feel me clenching around him because suddenly he’s taking over, his hips thrusting against me, hitting my G-spot over and over again until I’m screaming out my orgasm as my pussy explodes with pleasure around his cock, Gio following right behind me. My head drops to his chest in satisfaction. I had no idea how much I needed him until now, and I know in this moment, I never want to live another day without him.
“How soon until you can go again?” I giggle, but I’m serious.
I need more of this man. For the rest of my life.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
GIOVANNI
As much as I would love to stay buried balls-deep in Aria all day, I also want to spend time with her with our clothes on. I want to talk and catch up and find out how she’s been, what she’s been up to. I want to know how school is going. I want to know about everything I’ve missed out on over the last year.
So, after we shower and get dressed, despite Aria’s pouting face, I insist we go to the store so I can cook for her. Over the last year, I can’t even recall how many times I had wished I had gotten to make a meal for her before she left. Now that I’m being given this second chance, I plan to cook for her every day she’ll let me. She agrees, but only if I promise to be her dessert. My hard-again cock and I wholeheartedly agree.
We go to the grocery store and Aria pushes the cart while I fill it with the ingredients I need to make my homemade shrimp and chicken fettucine alfredo. After I order the shrimp from the meat department, I notice Aria has a huge smirk on her face, like she’s trying to hold back her laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
She giggles and shakes her head.
“Tell me, woman!”
“Nothing, it’s just…this is so very domestic of us.”
I raise one brow, needing her to further explain.
“Oh, c’mon. Back at home, you have a cook and maids and servants… and a bartender!”
“I was running a business.”
“Yes, but you never cooked for yourself, and when was the last time you bought your own groceries?” She’s got me there and she knows it.
I grab her by her curve of her hips and pull her into me. “This is a fresh start, cuore mio. I want this to be my home, our home. I want to do shit like this.” My eyes graze our surroundings. “I want us to go grocery shopping together. I want to cook for you every day. I don’t know what else normal couples do—”
Aria cuts me off. “Like doing laundry together?” She holds back her laughter. To her, this is funny. To me, this is everything.
“Yes! Like laundry. I want us to cook together and do laundry together…and I have no fucking clue what else, but whatever it is, I want us to do it all together.”
Aria grants me a huge smile, her arms going around my neck in the middle of the grocery store. “I don’t think I would ever call us normal, but baby, you can do laundry with me any day.” She gives me the most adorable wink and I laugh out loud. Then she leans in and whispers into my ear, “Or we can just stay naked all day and not have to do any laundry.” She gives the side of my jaw a kiss before backing up and grabbing the cart, leaving me with the visual of her walking through her flat naked.
“Let’s get the groceries and get the hell home.” I grab the end of the cart to speed her up, and she laughs, slowing me down. “New rule,” I say in complete seriousness. “No clothing allowed inside our home. Ever.”
Aria gives me a soft smile. “I like the sound of that.”
“Of no clothes? Hell yes.”
She shakes her head, tears filling her eyes. “No, well, yes, I like the sound of that, too. But I was referring to the part where you called it our home.”
I lean over the cart and give her a soft kiss. “Our home.” I repeat the words and she nods in agreement.
“Our life,” she whispers.
“Our life… I definitely like the sound of that.”
We get back to the flat, and after putting away all the groceries, I start preparing dinner while Aria sits at the island. We go back and forth talking about the past year. She tells me all about art school and how she only has one semester left after this one. I update her on Natalie and how she’s now strictly managing the bordello, and how Holly and Sienna are both going back to school. Aria wanted to keep in touch with them but couldn’t bring herself to, too afraid she would ask about me.
The only person she kept in touch with was Amber and they had a rule not to mention me. Amber and Nico are engaged and getting married next year, here in Italy. Aria is the maid of honor and I’m the best man. Mario is engaged as well and is planning to get married soon, and will more than likely have his wedding here as well.
I finish cooking the pasta and pour the sauce, shrimp, and chicken into the pot, mixing it all together, while Aria sets the table and grabs a bottle of wine. We sit down and I serve us both a plate.
“Oh my God, Gio. This food smells so good!” Aria takes a large bite, the cream from the alfredo sauce coating her lips, and moans loudly. My dick twitches not understanding that Aria is currently having a foodgasm and that moan, while hot as fuck, isn’t for us.
She takes another bite and after swallowing, says, “Seriously, this is delicious. The way to my heart just might be through food.” She laughs, taking a sip of her wine, then takes another bite. I smile, feeling genuinely happy for the first time in a long time.
“Come here,” I say, suddenly needing Ari in my arms. She gets up and climbs into my lap. “Thank you.”
Aria looks at me with a confused look. “For what? You made the dinner, silly.”
“No.” I shake my head. “You once thanked me for saving you, but the truth is, Aria. You saved me.” I take her face in my hands and place a soft kiss on her forehead, on each of her cheeks, on her nose, and lastly on her soft plump lips. “Thank you, baby, for saving me.”
Aria sniffles and shakes her head back at me. “No, Gio. We saved each other.”
Epilogue
ARIA
Three years later
I jolt awake, shaking slightly from a horrible nightmare. I don’t get them often, but when I do, it takes a minute to remember that the darkness, which only appears in my sleep, is nothing more than a dream. I open my eyes and the brightness hits me, reminding me that the color is my reality. I roll over and notice the side where my husband should be sleeping is empty. I lie there for a few moments wondering where he is, listening for any voices. He got home late last night from the restaurant, and was up even later making love to me.
The smell of bacon assaults my senses and then I hear the most beautiful sound of a giggle. Grabbing my camera from the nightstand, I turn it on and head to the kitchen. Standing against the stove with only a pair of black sweatpants on, is Gio. With a spatula in his hand, he flips the bacon. Standing on a stool next to him is our two-year old daughter, Bea, who loves cooking almost as much as her dad does.
Snap.
Snap.
“Fluff them,” he instructs, handing her, her own spatula. She giggles some more, taking the spatula from him and pushing the eggs around in the pan, knocking some out and onto the floor. She giggles as Gio laughs, picking them up and throwing them into the sink.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
I take several photos of them until it reads memory full. I must have put the wrong card into the camera when I left the studio after a session with a family yesterday. I click view and scroll back several pictures until I get to one I took years ago.
It’s of the Giardino Delle Rose. A beautiful garden here in Florence. I can remember the picture like it was yesterday, yet it feels like forever ago that I took it. I was studying for a test and decided to have a picnic in the grass. The flowers were blooming, deep pinks and yellows. The grass was a deep shade of green.
The next pi
cture is one I took during my weekly trip to the outdoor food market by myself. Ripe red tomatoes, purple eggplants. I flip through them, realizing these were taken during the year Gio and I were apart. I flip through each picture and it hits me that I created a life here during that year apart, filled with so many colorful memories. The problem was I couldn’t see the color. I was lost in the grey, in the darkness.
The next picture is one I took of Gio and Bea eating dinner at the restaurant last night, both laughing at the camera. I click to the next photo. It’s a selfie of Gio and me. He’s tickling me in bed and I have my eyes closed, my head thrown back, and the silliest grin on my face as he snaps the picture.
I flip from picture to picture of us, laughing, smiling, and I end up at the ones I just took, of Gio and our beautiful daughter cooking in our kitchen. I close my eyes and take in a deep breath, pushing away the nightmares from my past. It’s a struggle every day to live in the moment.
I open my eyes and exhale a deep breath. Gio is standing there, staring at me with the most gorgeous smile on his face, holding our daughter in his arms, and I can finally see it. The beauty in the darkness. The Rainbow that comes after the storm. The bright colors that make up my life when Gio is in it. To an outsider looking in, my story may appear dark. Gloomy. Black. Gray. Like a horrible storm that comes through filled with destruction, destroying everyone in its path. But to me, those colors are just the outlining of the bigger picture, because inside those dark stormy lines are shades of the most beautiful colors.
And those colors are my life.
The End.
Other books linked to Finding Beauty in the Darkness
Fighting for your Love: a single mom, friends to lovers romance about Ashley, the stripper Giovanni lends money to.
Finding Prince Charming: a secret baby romance about Natalie, the escort who works at the bordello and is friends with Aria.
No Strings: a single dad romance about Benjamin Fields, who took Aria out on a couple dates.
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About the Author
Reading is like breathing in, writing is like breathing out. – Pam Allyn
Nikki Ash resides in South Florida where she is an English teacher by day and a writer by night. When she’s not writing, you can find her with a book in her hand. From the Boxcar Children, to Wuthering Heights, to the latest single parent romance, she has lived and breathed every type of book. While reading and writing are her passions, her two children are her entire world. You can probably find them at a Disney park before you would find them at home on the weekends!
