“Massimo,” she says my name like it’s a promise. Warm breath against my cheek. “Don’t shrink with me. I don’t want an easier or quieter version. I was told to be small too. Look how that ended. I’m loud. And you love it.”
My mouth actually twitches into a grin I didn’t plan.
“Yeah. I love it way too much.” The memory tugs at me, and I huff a laugh. “First day I saw you in those big-ass gold hoops? Red markers stabbing the board? Drawing stars all over your name. I think I knew then. Em knew the second he opened his eyes. Staring at these DSLs.”
My thumb tugs on her lower lip, stealing a kiss, and she pushes me away.
“You two need to stop calling my lips that. They are?—”
“Perfect.” I shake my head, thumb brushing back and forth over her pillowy lips until she pushes my hand away. “I knew then you were gonna boss the hell out of me. Same way you’re doing right now.”
She opens her mouth to argue, but I quickly add to what I’m saying.
“You do and don’t you dare say you don’t,” I warn, my fingers curling into her waist when she squirms against my cock. It’s torture and perfect all at the same time. “But you make everything better, baby. I’m so happy with you. So happy that you’re into what we’re into.”
She blushes a bit. Even with all the nasty shit we do to her all the time. And the even filthier stuff Em and I have planned tonight.
“And the tattoos? They’re for her?”
That makes me instantly frown.
“No, baby. They’re definitely not for her. They were a promise I made to myself to . . .”
I sink back a little, my hands still on her hips, needing a second just to breathe through all that heaviness. She waits. She always waits when it matters.
“The ink…” I gesture vaguely at my arm. The black lines, the bold angles winding down my skin. “It wasn’t about her. Not really. It was about everything I didn’t want to be again.”
Her eyes drop to the ink, tracing it the same way she does when we’re lying in bed.
“I started getting tattooed after she left. Every piece is a promise I made to myself. That next time I fall, I’d fall with my eyes open. That I wouldn’t be so naïve.”
My thumb brushes along one line just under my bicep.
“This one? It’s about surviving shit that should’ve broken me. Reminding myself, when she walked away, I didn’t crawl back to her. Didn’t beg her for another chance. I took it on the chin. Like a man.”
I drag her hand over the ink that wraps from my shoulder down to my forearm.
“Like a road map to my future. One direction only. No turning back for what didn’t choose me. And that map led to you.”
Her breath catches, soft and warm against my face. But her hand tightens in mine.
“Yes, it did, Papito. This map and your wild brother found your way to me.”
I kiss her for that.
For being soft and sweet, loud and bold, and everything in between. There are so many sides of her, I love them all. The pain once owned by Cecilia in my heart has been carved out and made new by Sofia.
“And no looking back. Not to my past and not to yours.”
Her ex.
Em and I did go trolling for him. Ready to beat his ass and suffer the consequences. Em loves to fight for fun, money, or simply revenge. He even dressed all in black to blend in, since he can’t run fast with his leg still in the boot. We never did find him. But the cops did. Busted him for drugs, possession, and selling. It made her temporary restraining order super easy to make stick. She felt guilty for ‘piling on’ and almost didn’t go through with it.
Em, in his own over-the-top way, convinced her to do it. Laying out the worst-case scenario and scaring the shit out of her. I wanted to beat his ass for doing it that way, but then he stuffed his body into a Superman costume. Where he found that, no idea. Said he’d leap thick thighs and tiny tits in a single bound to save her. That did it.
We also paid her rent. It was crazy cheap. It’s basically what Em and I spend on stupid shit every month. She argued. Got hella mad, and even kicked me out of my own bedroom. I had to bunk with Em, which was miserable until I just took to the couch in the middle of the night.
We didn’t bend on this. She didn’t get her way. Said it was taking away her independence. Not a chance, she’s still in charge around here. But now she can spend her money, save it or send it home. Whatever she decides but her rent and utilities is our responsibility even if she stays with us most of the time.
