Even though it was dark, our faces were close. I could smell the mint from his breath and mine when I breathed out and he breathed in.
“I’m going to have to pin you down,” he said, his voice quiet and hoarse.
The sound of it made me shiver, and my heart started beating even faster. No doubt he felt it against the beat of his.
I’d flirt with him in my own way when I wanted him, but he usually made the moves, turning into a hungry wolf when he wanted me. He seemed to be starving, devouring me constantly but never getting his fill. Something had come over me, though, a surge like the wave, and my nails dug into his shoulders to control the high of it. The sudden impulse to press my lips against his and kiss him until his breath was lost to the undertow, too.
We were so close. The only thing between us was the song playing on repeat in the background.
“Take what you want, Mariposa,” he said, the gravel in his voice like sand against my skin, eroding my inhibitions.
My mouth found his, but it wasn’t a soft kiss, or even slow. It was a crash as violent as the waves against the yacht. A moan that came straight from the depths of my chest lingered as I broke the kiss and pulled away from him. I explored his body with my lips and my tongue, tasting every inch of his skin. Like the beaches and the villages, he was full of textures and colors, too. I craved him; I wanted to absorb him like I did the memories.
His hand slid into my hair, and it felt lush in his grasp, something I had never paid attention to before. When he touched me, it almost made me feel transformed, a creature whose scars made her even more beautiful. The simple act of it made me feel like my hair was made of silk instead of what it was.
My hands slid up his sides as I came up for breath, finding his mouth again. Our hands entwined and we rolled with the motion of the ocean, Capo’s body on top of mine. The way he explored my body, every inch of it…his body seemed to worship mine.
Though, like the kiss, there was nothing soft or slow about our bodies. It was like we were both drowning, the other the life we needed to survive, and we couldn’t grasp on fast enough.
Sweat coated my skin from the effort of holding back, and my bones trembled. I felt the same knocking coming from his body, and when he entered me, the ship tipped forward, and so did he. I cried out; the intrusion was as sharp as it was smooth. My legs went around his waist, locking the sensation in, while he pinned me down, not letting me move away from him. Keeping me centered.
Somewhere in the depths of my mind, the sounds we made echoed, and so did the pounding of my heart, as he fucked me like his lifeandmine depended on it. His movements mimicked the violent and reckless motions of the sea; it rolled, we rolled; it dipped, he used it as momentum to go even deeper inside of me. Even though our bodies stormed, the pleasure was beyond anything I’d ever experienced.
He was wrecking me in the best way. Storming my cocoon, freeing me of its restraints, helping me move toward something even more beautiful.
Life.
With him.
The storm raged on, and so did we.
11
CAPO
“Kn-nock, kn-nock.”
The words bumped out of my wife’s mouth. We were riding bikes along the path on the private island, and in some places the terrain was uneven. It was the first time in a while that she’d said anything. Almost the entire ride, she’d hummed the song she had on repeat the night before, and I considered the lyrics. That’s what she did. She seemed to enjoy some songs as a whole, but she put some of them on repeat to memorize the words and really understand the meaning behind them.
Mariposa looked at me for a brief second, and then her bike started to shimmy, and I had to catch her before she fell. Living meant taking chances, getting dirty and bloodied, but if I was around, she’d get the experience without the scar.
She stopped and I stopped. We were under a canopy of trees, and through the gaps, I could see the distant sea rushing the shore, still rough from the previous night’s storm. She had on a light blue dress and tan sandals. She lifted the hem of her dress, inching it up to her thighs, and let the air touch her legs.
She glanced at my hand on her bike and then met my eyes. “You’re supposed to saywho’s there, Capo.”
“Who’s there,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed but then she laughed. “You’d mess up a trained comedian’s timing.” She shook her head. “Cactus.”
“Cactus who.”
“It’s supposed to be a question, but…whatever.Cactus makes perfect!”
Maybe from the look on my face, she sighed.
“Riding bikes, Capo,” she said, tapping the handlebar. “I still need some practice. Cactus? Get it?” She shook her head. “You need more knock-knocks until one makes you laugh. Uncle Tito told me you’d be hard to crack with a joke.Nonnoagreed.”
“I got one for you,” I said.
