As I removed my stained shirt, throwing it in the hamper, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. My hair was a fucking mess, and my face was splattered with snake remains. Mamma blew that fucker to smithereens. She was a fucking good shot. She said she got it from her Grandmother Poésy, my grandfather’s mother. Papà had to steady her, though. She couldn’t absorb the kickback, and he had to keep her from blowing back.
I paused for a second.
Everything about that scene—my mother and father—was exactly the perfect way to describe their relationship. Each person was strong, in their own ways, but together, they were like the blast from a shotgun.
Shaking my head, I finished undressing and met my wife in our small shower. After we left for our honeymoon, we had plans to redo the entire space. Make it more like a spa for Stella. She seemed to like that kind of stuff.
Her eyes rose to meet mine at the same time she ran her hands up my chest. She took a soft cloth and washed me clean, then rose on her toes to place her lips against mine. She set her head against my chest, and we let the warm water run down our bodies for a while, neither of us saying anything, until she whispered, “Was I wrong to do what I did to her?”
I stiffened and took her chin in my hand, forcing her to look at me. “No,” I whispered. “No one is allowed to disrespect anyone you love. You had every right. I would kill someone for that type of disrespect.”
“To be honest.” She looked away from me. “I surprised myself. Even though I felt like acting like that over the years, I only acted on it a few times. And nothing as severe as when those people took my things, what I had left of my mom, but they stopped me. That was the night you found me.”
I held her tighter to me, my arms trembling from the rage that was rising to the surface. “No one will ever fucking hold you down again. Treat you in such a way.”
She looked up at me. “Your eyes…” She took a couple of deep breaths. I felt the coolness wash across my chest. “When you get mad, they get so dark. Much darker than they are normally.”
She went to run her hands through my hair, but I took her wrists in my hands, forcing her against the wall. Her breath rushed out and she kept blinking, tiny droplets of water rushing down her face. Her eyes were such a silvery blue—so vibrant—and when they turned grey, it seemed to be at night, when she shone brighter than any star in the sky.
“Tell me, what do you see now when you look into my eyes?”
“Light,” she whispered.
“Whose light?”
“Mine. All mine.”
We stared at each other for seconds—minutes—what could have been years, letting the connection between us swirl like the steam, and then lowering my face, I kissed her. She tasted so sweet, and when she moaned into my mouth, it went straight to my already hardened cock like a strike of lightning in my bloodstream.
Without a word, I turned the shower off, and she wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. I carried her over to the sink, where she could watch us. She squirmed and wriggled as I licked up every droplet of water on her body. I set my hands on her hips and told her in Italian, “Still yourself.”
She understood. “I can’t,” she barely got out. “It’s been too long, and I need you inside of me.”
It had only been hours, but it felt like centuries to me too.
“Like this?” I barely grazed her thigh with the tip of my cock.
“More,” she pleaded against my lips, our tongues swirling.
I moved my cock closer, rubbing it against her folds. “Tell me,la mia stella, close enough?”
“No.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me even closer. “Fuck me, Matteo!”
I set her back some, and ordered her to look at me, to watch.
“Watch how fucking beautiful you are.” I ran my cock through the wetness on her thighs. “How wet. How wild you get when I’m inside of you.”
“Yessss.” Her eyes were lowered, but when I set my cock at her tip, she closed them. Taking in the moment. Taking in how fucking good this felt.
We both groaned when I slipped inside, just the tip at first, until I was reaching depths that was too far for anyone but me to reach. Her words were garbled, but her nails against my back was a beautiful fire speaking to me—she needed more.
“Open your eyes, Stella.”
She slowly opened them, and those eyes—fuck me. They were moving me, calling me to her more than I needed the fucking release.
“That’s it,” I breathed. “Watch. Watch how fucking gorgeous you are. How we make magic together.” I pushed into her with a slow thrust, and she watched as my dick slid in and out of her.
The noise she made sounded like a whimper—it came from deep inside of her chest. Whimpers turned into panting, and when she shattered on my cock, I kept pushing, working the both of us, moving faster, harder, her eyes still on my cock, my eyes still on her. My hands were hard on her hips, but she kept begging for harder.
