Her eyes came down, staring at the proof of my words—I wanted her. Still. In more ways than one. Her cheeks flamed, and the fact that she still burned for me made me grin.
“Long is in the eye of the beholder, ah? Forever means nothing to me when it comes to us.”
“Bene,” she whispered. “We need to get moving. We’re going to be late.”
“Nah, we live in a small town. I’ll have us there in no time.” I tugged on her jacket. “The leather jacket. It’s not good enough anymore?”
“Of course.” She sighed. “This one is thinner. The weather hasn’t made up its mind yet—hot or cold.”
“Mmm.” I buried my face between her breasts. “You smell…”
A shiver tore through her when my hands roamed up her dress, pulling it up slowly, her legs cool against the hotness of my palms, and came to rest on the skin over her hips. So small in comparison to the length and width of my hands, but firm, as strong as she was.
“Brando…” She pulled my hair, but not hard. Just enough to tug, to try to get me to pay attention. “We have to—”
“Get going,” I murmured, breathing her in. Her scent was mine alone, almost enveloping me. Home. She smelled like coming home feels. “Stay with me for a while longer. Like this.”
A softoof!escaped from her mouth when I drew her against me, plopping us both down on the bed, her landing on top. I slapped her ass and then squeezed her cheeks, enjoying the way she squirmed against me.
“You are insufferable,Beast!” She laughed. “Let me gothisinstant!”
Grinning, I locked my legs around her, arms like bars, not giving her an inch. “Under one condition,Beauty.”
“I refuse to negotiate with a terrorist!”
“Save that one for ourbambini,” I said. “Tiny little terrorists that they are. Marciano especially. He’s the worst.”
She pretended to consider that for a moment. “True. Still! Let me go! We’re seriously going to be late, Brando!”
“What didyou call me?”
She started to laugh even harder when I started to tickle her, making growling noises as I went in for the kill, my nose tucked into her neck, my teeth going for her pulse.
“Hu-hu-husband!” she shouted. “All r-r-right!Husband!”
“Acceptable,” I said, halting the assault. “You either call me husband or beast, but I don’t answer to anything else in this world when it comes to you.”
“Since when?” she asked, breathless.
I leaned up and kissed her nose. “Since the start of time.”
“Ah…?”
“Time started when I was born.” I shrugged. “So, since then. You call me beast or husband. I know you remember our secret names—the ones we’d know in another world. Our children call me daddy orpapà. Conversation settled. Now listen to my condition.”
She smiled at me—the kind of brightness that made my heart stop like it makes a seeing man blind. “I’m ready,mio marito.” She stared at my lips for a moment—a smile had formed there—and then they moved up, up, up, to meet my eyes.
We gazed for a while, neither of us moving. We were as still as the air around us.
Reaching up, I set a wild strand of her hair where it was supposed to go. “Baciami, mia moglie.”
“Ooh,” she whispered. “I’ll do you one better. Kissmelike tomorrow might not come.”
She went to rise, squirming against me, but I kept her pinned until I decided it was time to release her. Once freed, she kept close, placing her cool palms against my bare chest, using me for purchase, after she moved her underwear to the side. As slowly as a graceful, lapping wave moves with the current, she moved over me, taking me in, forcing me to work for the breath in my lungs.
The air changed between us, became charged enough to cause a spark in the darkness. Her face transformed, a subtle shift—feline eyes lowered, mouth parted—and I knew she needed me as much as I needed her.
Kissmelike tomorrow might not come.Those words made me desperate, a falling man reaching for something solid to hold on to when all he’s clinging to is vanishing ghosts.
