My hands reached a little further down, looking for something to hold on to, but all I found was a decorative, cool shape underneath my palms. Part of the stone had been chiseled to resemble a thick, twisted cord that hung around the pedestal. I wasn’t sure if it was part of the main stone or carved in a separate piece and attached.
I brought my hands up some but left them dangling at my sides naturally. My hair had mostly gone to one shoulder, and it landed halfway down my arm.
Naz watched as droplets of water slid down my skin, his tongue taking the route along the shape of his lips.
My heart skipped a few beats and my breath trembled out.
He removed the wet shirt, slacks, socks, and shoes. I was so in tune to him, I could feel the cold wetness clinging to my skin as if I had just removed my saturated clothes.
Even though he hadn’t touched me since he’d set me down, it felt like we were one already, his body an extension of mine.
Other things felt like an extension of mine, too, but those were too deep to even bring to the surface of my thoughts, not when the descendent of some ancient Roman warrior stood before me naked.
The candlelight fell on him like it was in love with him. It highlighted his high cheekbones, long, straight nose, and sharp eyes. The green color softened his darkness some, but not enough to give away the monster lurking beneath.
When my eyes met his, I realized he was giving me a chance to take him all in, memorize all his lines and paths, like they created a map of Nazzareno Piero Fausti.
He had been taking in my lines and paths too.
As he came to stand in front of me, his hands curled into fists, as if he was restraining himself from touching me. He looked down at me, and I was surprised I was still breathing by the time our eyes broke and he crouched down in front of me, his knees touching the marble, his ass touching his heels.
I shivered when his hands came to my feet, slowly making their way to my ankles. “Eyes on me, Ava,” he breathed out, his voice raspy.
I could barely hold them open.
At his touch, I found myself as lost as if his lips pressed against mine.
I’d never been touched like that.
Looked at like that.
It was adoration in its purist form.
A reverence filled with respect.
His mouth started at my feet and kissed its way up.
Higher and higher.
Every inch of my skin.
As he did, he whispered words in Italian, words I knew were vows.
His legs lifted him as his kiss reached my thighs, my stomach, between my breasts, over my breasts, up my chest, my neck, my throat, my chin…
When his mouth claimed mine, it was with a much harder kiss, and it sent an electrical current through my veins, down into the tips of my toes, like I was about to shoot sparks. His arm wrapped around me just before my body fell off the plinth. I wrapped my arms around his neck, he lifted me up, carrying me to the bedroom.
He set me down, lighting more candles. The room had that hazy feeling about it again. He walked over to me and gazed at my body until I was writhing against his sheets, fisting them in my hands, my body begging for the sweet freedom only his body could give me.
“You are beautiful,amore,” he whispered. “And I am about to ruin you for anyone else but me.”
And after this, your soul is going to disconnect from your body whenever your wife demands it. Whenever you’re with her, it’ll be me you see.
Those were the thoughts inside of my head. Thoughts that brought me back to a more romantic time because he did. The castles, the riches, the beautiful scenery…the honor and the devotion.
All I said, though, was… “If I’m ruined by this love, so are you.” I called it for what it was, love, and he seemed to breathe even faster when I did.
A quick breath or two…
