But when the man brought me as much pleasure as he did, who was I to complain?
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Tommaso
Iexpectedtofeela rush of guilt after consummating my relationship with Danica.Guilt over having had sex with someone other than my wife.Over having feelings for someone besides Erin.
But I didn’t.
Not in the debilitating way I expected, at least.
I was grateful for the moment of solitude, however, when I left her to get dressed, and made my way out to the kitchen.Portia had long since finished her snacks from her enrichment toys and was passed out, legs in the air, in her princess bed.She opened one eye when I entered the room, but closed it a moment later when she realized it was just me.
I grabbed a glass of water and poured one for Danica as well, setting it on the counter for her when she entered.Then I took my drink and stood in front of the sliding glass doors, gazing out into the Sound and at the lapping waves as they ate up the beach on the rising tide.
I hope she didn’t see how nervous I was.I didn’t want my nerves to spill over into hers.She needed someone with confidence, compassion, and patience.And I tried to give her all of that, while maintaining a continuous dialogue, and checking in that she was okay.The last thing I wanted to do was traumatize her any further about intimacy than she already was.I took her sharing that part of herself with me as an honor, and one I would not betray.
“Is this for me?”came her soft voice behind me.
I spun around to see her flushed face and bright eyes checking in on me.“Si,” I said with a nod before holding out my hand so she knew to join me.
She finished the water on her way over to me and set the empty glass next to mine on the dining room table.I hauled her in front of me where she fit perfectly, both of us now facing the water, and I wrapped my arms around her.
“How do you feel?”
“Is ‘amazing’ the correct answer?How about fantastic?Wonderful?Superb?Terrific?Awesome?Pick one.”
I smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.“No regrets?”
“Is ‘not meeting you until now, even though we’ve both lived on the island for years,’ the correct answer?”
Chuckling, I squeezed her tighter.“I’m not sure I would have been ready any sooner.”
Sighing, she leaned back into me even more, the scent of her hair, sweet and slightly spicy, making me a little light-headed.But in a good way.“I don’t know if I would have been either.”
“Be honest with me though,bella.You feel okay after?”
She spun around to face me, looping her arms around my neck.The sun beat into the living room at just the right angle to make her eyes glow like two beautiful prehnite.The dark-hazel striations were extra prominent as she grinned up at me.“I feel more than okay.That was more than I ever could have hoped for.Thank you.”She rose on her tiptoes and kissed me.
What started out soft and sweet quickly turned into much more.Leaping up onto my hips, she tightened her grip around my neck as I stepped forward, pressing her back against the sliding glass door.My cock was already getting eager again and thickened in my jeans against her hot cleft.
We easily could have taken this to the bedroom for round two, but Portia’s loud, abrupt grunt, followed by her trottersclackingacross the hardwood to the dog door, at alarming speed, pulled us out of our romantic fugue.
She burst through the dog door like that giant jug-man in old commercials.I tuned into the sounds of the property only to hear a high-pitched, frightened whinny.
Danica was already off my hips, and the two of us raced for the door.I slid into some loafers, since my Blundstones were still in the bedroom, but she realized she didn’t have shoes at the door and darted back to the bedroom.
I didn’t wait for her and sprinted across the gravel to the barn, where Portia waited at the door, grunting wildly.More frantic whinnies echoed from within, and when I hauled open the door for my pig and me, I knew instantly that it was Raven and Midnight’s stall where the noise had come from.
Most of the other horses were out in the field, but Galahad and Monarch hung their enormous heads over their stall doors as I passed.I didn’t have time to say hello.
I reached Raven and Midnight’s stall just in time for the sound of a child crying to permeate the air and send chills down my spine.
Why was there a child in my barn?
I flung open the stall door to find the young boy from next-door on the ground with a red welt on his forehead, and he was crying.
“What are you doing here?”I asked, stepping inside the barn and positioning myself between the child and Raven, who was blocking Midnight.The foal was in a corner, his legs wobbling a little as he peeked out from under Raven’s legs to see what was going on.
