I leaned down some, setting my mouth next to her ear, and whispered, “Good enough to lick?”
She laughed a little, but it was breathy. “Considering you smell citrusy…it’ll be like sucking on a sweet orange with a lemony twist.”
I threw back my head and laughed. “Yeah?”
She tried to turn around, but my hold was too tight. I gave her a little breathing room and she faced me. She looked into my eyes, and it felt like I was bewitched for the umpteenth time since I’d first seen her in Paradiso’s bar.
“I’d lick you all night if I could,” she whispered.
“If you could.” I leaned down and set my mouth against her racing pulse, letting my free hand drift down her exposed skin from the deep dip of the dress to settle on the curve of her hip. “You don’t need an invitation.”
“That’s not what I meant. I know I can. And would happily try.”
I put her words together. “Are you implying I don’t have the self-restraint to let you?”
“Idon’t have the self-restraint to do it. After a while…I’d be begging for more. You feel so damn good inside of me.”
You feel so damn good inside of me.
Her words were sexual, in one way, but I knew they went deeper than that. Leonora had a hard time sharing her feelings, and in her own way, she was telling me that letting me inside of her world felt good. I belonged.
I took her chin in my hand. “You beg for nothing. You belong to me, therefore, whatever you need or want is already yours.”
Our eyes met, communicating in a way I never had before—silently. These conversations with my wife were the most powerful conversations I’d ever had or ever would have.
Her eyes flicked to the side for a second, before a mischievous grin came to her face. “If that’s true…you’d dance with me here?”
The streets were packed. She thought I wouldn’t.
I positioned her hand in mine and started moving her to the beat in my head, and then I did her one better, singing “Love In Portofino” loud enough to get people to stop and stare. The surprise on her face was easy to read, even if below it, a look of soft romanticism was starting to reach the surface.
“That’s it,” I breathed against her lips after the song and dance was over. “That’s the look.”
She said nothing as I took her hand and led her through the thick crowd. We had an appointment to see thecastellowhere Kitty had helped her plan our Italian reception. We’d already been to the church.
Leonora was quiet the entire time we walked there, either looking at me or at our surroundings. She stopped for a second to admire the lush gardens at the bottom of the hill thecastellowas perched on. The only time she opened her mouth was to breathe a bit heavier as we made it up to thecastello. The views of Portofino stayed with us the entire time, spreading out even further as we looked down at the city from above.
“From the inside, with all the stunning touches, to this view…this is…” Leonora set her hand over her heart, something I’d never seen her do, and her eyes devoured the scenery. “I don’t even have words to describe it all. I love it here, Tullio.”
I cleared my throat to loosen the tight fist that had seized my heart when she called me by my given name, and kissed her temple. “Molto bene.”
The organizer came back out to talk to us, but I deferred her to Leonora again as she squared away any leftover details. We took lunch there before we headed back down.
Leonora stopped me at the bottom and nodded up. “Are you sure about this?” she rushed out. “I mean…it’s a lot.”
“The cost is nothing,” I said. “Or I wouldn’t have matched the cost of the wedding to the donation.”
In the beginning, Leonora was against having three weddings. She said it was something rich people did when they had too much money and time on their hands. Maybe some of them did. It wasn’t why I wanted them. I wanted them for her. I wanted them for me. I wanted them for us.
Our wedding in Vegas made our union legal, but this was romantic. We had roots in all three places, and they would be witness to our promises to each other. One day, the pictures would grace our walls, and if we had children, they would see them. But she still wasn’t sold on the idea. To make it worth her while, I made a deal with her. If she agreed, whatever she spent, I’d match it and donate it to the charity of her choice. She finally agreed, and the money was going to a local shelter for women and children in Vegas.
“That’s not what I meant. Take the money out of it.” She sighed. “This is a lot because…so many people are going to be here. You know, watching us.”
“You’re nervous about being vulnerable.”
She nodded. “Our vows felt like they were just for us when there was only the two of us. Next weekend,the churchwill be filled with people. Smaller than the reception, but still…more people, and…it’s making me nervous for some reason.” She blew out a heavy breath. “Are you nervous?”
“No, but you being nervous tells me something.”
