by Sadie Black
“Love is wanting to put another before yourself. Love is when the first thought of the morning is of someone else. Love is a kind of tingling warmth caught up in the middle of your chest, right beneath your throat, that won’t leave you alone, even if you want it to. Love is wanting pain, if that means the person is better off for it.”
At that point, Luka paused to take a deep breath.
“I know love when I think of you, Ciara. When I promise you forever, I mean it. No matter what happens, I will do everything in my power to keep you happy and safe.”
There was no doubt that what he promised was true. Ciara understood Luka’s determination, and she understood the sacrifices he had made. Although they approached life from different perspectives, they were one in the same.
“I couldn’t ask for a better partner. Know that as you are mine, so too am I yours. Forever, humbly, yours. I love you, Ciara. I’m so glad you found it in your heart to give this dork a second chance.”
A laugh built, but Ciara bit it back. Instead, the corners of her lips twitched upwards as she pressed her lips together, the grin trembling as she fought with her mirth.
A respectful pause elapsed before the priest resumed the service.
“With that said, if any person can show why this pair should not be joined as one, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”
No objection was sounded, although Camilla continued to sniffle.
“Luka, if you would repeat after me...”
The time had come, and yet all of her nerves had eased. Forever was a long time, but there was no doubt in Ciara’s mind that she had made the right choice. Ever level-headed, ever in touch with herself, she trusted herself with her decision. Sharing a lifetime with anyone was not a light commitment to make, but with Luka, she knew she’d found her match.
“I, Luka Belmonte, take you, Ciara Simmons, as my lawfully wedded wife. From this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, I vow to honor and cherish you until death do us part.”
When the priest turned her gaze to her, Ciara’s pulse quickened in anticipation. The moment was here. Before a crowd of family and friends, before New York, she was to devote herself to Luka.
“Ciara, if you would repeat after me...”
“I, Ciara Simmons, take you, Luka Belmonte, as my lawfully wedded husband.” As she spoke, it felt as though she floated. All that kept her tethered to the earth was the warmth of Luka’s gaze. “From this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, I vow to honor and cherish you until death do us part.”
“I give you this ring as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you.” Luka slid the ring onto Ciara’s finger, the fit exact. The thin platinum band felt cool on her finger, but Ciara knew that before long, it would feel like a second skin.
“And now you, Ciara,” the priest encouraged.
“I give you this ring,” from the pillow Ciara plucked Luka’s band, “as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you.” The ring fit Luka’s finger just right, and once more she caught his eye. Luka was smiling.
“By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
If Luka’s eyes kept her tethered, it was his kiss that anchored her to pull her back down. New York’s most recently married mayor swept her up in his arms and kissed her, and as he did, it felt like the entire city cheered for them. Ciara closed her eyes and hooked her arms around his neck, feeling on top of the world. For all the struggle they’d been through, and for all the misunderstandings they’d had, at last there was peace.
“For the first time, New York, I give you Mr. and Mrs. Luka Belmonte.”
The kiss broke, and before Luka turned to look across all those who had gathered, he caught Ciara’s eye and winked. Mrs. Belmonte — she could get used to that.
Hand in hand, Luka guided her down the aisle among the cheers and applause. Her grandmother, a wisp of a woman, blew her a kiss and Ciara pretended to catch it against her heart. A black limousine waited outside to whisk the newlyweds away to their reception, but before that, Ciara had a surprise arranged for her man. Luka never saw it coming.
From the back aisle closest to the door stood a tall, broad man that Ciara knew Luka missed very much.
“Eyy, Luka!” Gino Ferrera called out. “So I guess I won’t be wing manning for you anymore. Shit. I can’t believe it. Congrats, buddy. You look respectable as all fuck.”
The reaction was instantaneous. Luka skidded to a stop and snapped his head in the direction of the sound. Biting down on her bottom lip to keep from grinning too broadly, Ciara watched as realization sunk in. Luka’s jaw slacked, his eyes wide.
“Gino?”
“In the flesh. You think I’d let my best friend get married without me being there to see it? Fat chance. Your new ball and chain sent me off an invite and I knew I couldn’t miss it. Thought I needed to get well enough for at least one dance, and so...”
On the spot, Gino spun. Although the motion was a little clumsy, Luka couldn’t help but laugh with joy. The last they’d heard, Gino’s chances of walking again were slim after the beating he took from defying Vittore. The recovery was miraculous — and expensive. Ciara had been sending Gino to visit top rehabilitation specialists across the city for months now. The efforts were worth it; there was no better wedding present than this.
“You did this?” Luka asked Ciara, eyes as wide as ever.
“There are plenty of doors that open when you use the Belmonte name,” Ciara replied with a wink.
Once more Luka swept her up into his arms and held her tight. From the back row Gino rolled his eyes skyward and shook his head.
“I didn’t go through months of grueling rehab to watch you mack on some chick who is now very off limits. Get in the car and go make out there. We’ll catch up at the reception.”
But even as Gino protested, Luka drew her in closer and whispered into her ear. “Thank you.”
All the cheers New York had to offer paled in comparison to those words. All Ciara could do was smile and return his hug, her heart brimming with love.
“You deserve it.”
From here on out, life was only going to get better; both of them were too stubborn to allow for anything else.
* * *
Luka
“Of all the romantic honeymoons we could have taken for — Hawaii, Rome, Tokyo. We came here.”
Luka pulled his suitcase to the foot of the king sized bed. The bay windows overlooked the water, the fall foliage stretched beneath them like eternal fire. The view was breathtaking, but it wasn’t the kind of honeymoon Luka had envisioned.
“I’m just a simple country girl,” Ciara feigned, coy. “All we care about is spending time back home.”
She set her suitcase to one side of the bed and walked to the windows instead, surveying the sights before them. The master suite offered the best view in the building, hotel staff had assured Luka when he called to book the reservation. Waterfront location wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when Luka envisioned Iowa. It was no New York, but it had small town charm. For the first time, he understood the culture shock Ciara must have experienced when she set foot in the big city. He felt all the more proud of her for being as confident and strong as she was outside of a familiar environment.
“Home is where the heart is, or so my mother always told me. So what’s it going to be, country girl? Iowa where your grandparents live, or New York with your husband?” The jab was made in good humor, and Luka boasted a broad, shit-eating grin as he said it.
“Well, you’re mayor of New York city right now,” Ciara said, turning from the window. She’d hitched her brow playfully, “so it shouldn’t take long before you run one of our quaint little towns, right?”
Luka laughed, shaking his head as he drew back and plopped onto the bed. The mattress was soft and comfortable, and the blankets stuffed with warm down.
&
nbsp; From where he laid on the bed, he had a perfect view of Ciara as she stood by the windows. Slowly she turned, the dark skin on her high cheekbones catching the light of the setting sun, to look at him. Tall and lean, with small curves that drove him wild, the sight of her was breathtaking.
Ciara reached the foot of the bed. Dressed in simple jeans that fit her ass just right, and a fitted t-shirt, she looked no different than any other woman her age. Knowing that she was so much more was a secret only he was privy to. Out here in Iowa, they were nothing more than a couple on their honeymoon. Famous reporter Ciara Belmonte and her equally famous mayor husband had been left behind in New York City.
Eyes lidded with lust, Ciara placed a knee on the mattress to one side of him, and then the other so that she straddled him. Both of her palms met his shoulders, their torsos now parallel. With grace, Ciara lowered herself further so that their cheeks brushed one against the other. The feel of her silken skin against his stubble was nothing short of fantastic, and Luka closed his eyes and exhaled. Arousal sparked in his gut and lit a flickering flame that would grow with time.
With a sharp tug that caused Ciara to squeal with delight, he pulled her against his chest and rolled their bodies over so she was pinned beneath him. The erection she’d teased from him pressed against her, and Luka knew she felt it just from the way she moved beneath him. Subtly pressing up against him for more; more was what she’d get. Luka’s hands grasped the bottom hem of Ciara’s t-shirt, and with a slow, controlled movement he lifted the garment up over her stomach until she raised her arms so he could draw it over her head. Beneath she wore a baby blue bra, the cups decorated with lace.
A gentle touch stripped the bra from her body, and Luka soaked in the sight beneath. Ciara’s breasts, just large enough to fill the palm of his hand, captivated him. They were irresistible. Luka moved down her body until his lips were upon one of her hardened nipples, and he wasted no time in licking and tugging with careful teeth. Ciara moaned and lifted her hips to press up against him.
As his mouth worked one nipple, his hand worked the other breast. Soft skin and giving curves were his to touch and toy with. Luka’s arousal swelled as he lapped and sucked. When she was panting beneath him, begging for more, only then did he consider drawing back.
“Luka,” the way Ciara said his name was breathy and wondrous. He glanced up from her chest to find her staring down at him. “Let me make you feel just as good as you make me feel.”
It was a slow shake of his head that denied her. Hunger burned in his eyes and rooted in his soul; right now he didn’t want her touch. Right now, the thought of her gasping and writhing in pleasure beneath him was the only thing he wanted. How times had changed since his party days.
“I’m not done worshiping the beautiful woman I married,” Luka rasped back. The bottom of his lip teased her hardened nipple as he spoke and grew another delighted gasp from her. Every day for the rest of their lives he wanted to make her feel like the princess she was, and there was no better time to start then on their honeymoon.
Down the smooth length of her stomach he descended until he arrived at the button of her jeans. Luka nuzzled the fabric, his sense of touch elevated as he anticipated the feel of her body. Ciara’s skin was scented like flowers, just which kind he could not distinguish. No matter what, she always smelled good.
The tight fitted waist of her jeans grew lax as the button popped open and he fished down the fly. A matching baby blue thong laid beneath, tempting him. Luka pulled the jeans, shoes, and socks from her body, and Ciara lifted each leg to help him rid her of each garment. When, at last, the denim hit the floor, Luka turned his attention back to the woman before him.
Slender body nearly nude, he drank her in. Dark skin, a slim waist, gorgeous thighs... Every inch of her he’d discovered countless times before, and yet every inch of her felt fresh and new. The excitement of their first coupling was identical to the excitement he felt at that moment. Ciara was more than just a body — she was an experience. No matter how much time passed, or how her body changed with age, he knew every time would be like their first.
His finger hooked around the string that stretched over her hip, but did not yet tug the thong from her form. A small noise of understanding warbled in the back of Ciara’s throat. Luka pulled her thong downward to expose the sex it hid. Carefully shaved and moisturized, Ciara’s skin was soft and flawless. The time he’d spent toying and teasing her breasts had left her ready for him — she was slick with desire. Luka’s hunger stirred further, cock twitching as he looked down upon her. There was no finer sight than this.
Both hands on her thighs, holding them slightly apart, Luka descended. His lips met the skin of her inner thigh, placing a kiss against it to introduce her to his touch. And so the tantalizing progression began. Kiss after kiss, he trailed upward. When he drew too close, his nose brushed along the smooth skin of her lip, and Ciara tensed in expectation, but she wasn’t given what she desired.
Luka continued to lavish her body with attention, but ignored the most sensitive parts of her anatomy until Ciara was whimpering and twisting, begging for more. Only then did he move inward, allowing his tongue to introduce itself first. The tip of it brushed against her clit, and Ciara’s whimper sharpened into a moan. She was his.
Over and over, tongue firm and steady, he lapped at her. At times it was little more than a graze, but at others his touch was unmistakable. The mild taste of her sex left his cock throbbing, desperate to take her. But Luka refused to give in to his impulses.
“Luka,” she gasped, the word difficult for how short of breath she sounded. “Luka! Oh, it’s good. You feel so good.”
With greater fervor he worked, stoking the flame that burned inside of her. Pushing his fingers inside her wet pussy, he could feel her muscles clamping down against him as he pushed her over the edge of her pleasure.
“Your shirt, off.” she managed, and so he did. Button by button he went, tongue never halting in its pursuit of her pleasure. When the shirt hit the ground near her jeans, Ciara twisted beneath him, pressing up against his mouth.
Her body tensed up around him as her orgasm pinned her to the bed. Only then did Luka pull his mouth away. Knowing how sensitive her pussy was during her release. Ciara wrapped her arms around his neck and drew herself up to him. They kissed, hard and deep, her passion unbridled. The wild woman Ciara had become dragged him down to the mattress as they kissed, her hands darted from around his neck to the bulge of his pants. The sharp pleasure of foreign pressure shot through him, and Luka’s hips bucked forward involuntarily. As much as she was his, now he was hers to do with as she pleased.
Ciara tugged open his fly and let her hands slip inside to tease his cock through his boxer briefs. The contact chased a moan from Luka’s lips, and he bucked against her again in untamed need.
“I want you,” Ciara whispered, her hand taut against the bulge of his underwear. “Please let me have it. I want all of it.”
There was no need to ask him again. Luka lifted his hips and pushed his pants off the rest of the way, left behind along with his shoes and socks. The boxer briefs he wore followed leaving him nude. Hard for her, a bead of precum suspended from the slit of his cock, it took a great deal of restraint to not take her hard and rough right then.
Ciara’s eyes, almost all the way closed, kept watch as she brought the tip of his cock to her slit. Up and down she slid it, allowing his head to meet and play with her clit before it traced downward to her entrance. When finally she pressed forward just enough that his member caught against her entrance, they moaned in unison.
“Give it to me,” she begged.
The plea was impossible to resist. Luka pushed inside steadily. The embrace of Ciara’s body was second to none, and the breath hitched in his throat as he plunged deeper.
“God, Luka!” Ciara moaned. His cock drove into her, and both her hands met the small of his back and pushed him onward, greedy for more. Her appetite made him want her al
l the more.
Once he was buried all the way, Luka pulled back and did it all again. Each thrust controlled as it was, was blissful. Ciara tightened around him as her pleasure grew. And then, all at once, he felt it. Ciara gasped. The first convulsing ripples of pleasure shot through her, tightening and loosening around him in near hypnotic patterns. Luka grunted and buried his head against the mattress above her shoulder, trying to hold back.
Despite his best attempts, nothing he could do held him back for long. As Ciara came, body wracked with orgasmic shudders, so too did Luka cum. Milky strands shot through him and buried themselves deep into her. The pressure Ciara put on his lower back intensified as she felt it — he wasn’t going to pull out, she would take all of it.
And then, stillness. Ciara sighed and closed her eyes. This was what they had to look forward to for the rest of their lives.
A smart, beautiful woman who would always keep him on his toes and in his place. A whole future to look forward to. As the couple settled down next to each other and enjoyed the afterglow in each other’s arms, Luka knew he was blessed. He was the luckiest man in the world to have won Ciara’s love, and he would never make her doubt it again.
* * *
Ciara
“I am way too old for this,” Lisa Olsen sighed as she entered the office. Ciara looked up from the documents she had been pouring over and offered a grin. No matter where Lisa went, her sarcasm and flair for the theatrical never failed to brighten the lives of those around her.
“Good morning, Lisa,” Ciara said, tone overly chipper on purpose. Lisa scowled at her, but the expression was made in good fun. “You’re usually in the office earlier than this; what happened?”
“New York happened, honey,” Lisa grumbled. “Traffic like you wouldn’t believe over the bridge. Traffic like you’d never imagine in the streets. Pedestrians walking in the streets like brain-dead cattle. Then, and you’ll never believe this, there was a peacock. An honest to God peacock, sitting in the middle of the intersection and fanning his feathers at the cars. I have never seen anything like it in my life.”
