He took it from me. “What’s got you so fucking enthralled in this anyway?” He let me go, turning the page, soaking it some.
I went to grab for it, but he started to read it aloud. I was not ashamed, but when he started to laugh, my cheeks flamed.
“Jesse turned to me, his eyes heated, and I melted.” He sighed wistfully. “His powerful thighs controlled that horse, and now, I wanted to ridehim…” His eyes cut to mine. “Annie,” he breathed. “I had no idea this kind of thing…” He could not finish.
He was laughing so hard, he was shaking, especially when I went after him. I jumped on his back, nibbling at his neck. He set the book back in its protective case, shivering again.
“Keep doing that, Annie,” he said, “and we’ll see how good it feels to fuck on a hammock above the water.” He pulled my wrist to his mouth and kissed over my pulse.
We floated around for a bit, and I breathed against his skin, even if I loathed to breath out. He smelled…divine.
“Will you think about it?” I whispered.
“Hah?”
I grinned. “The date for Nino and Dr. Musa.” I kissed his neck.
He growled low in his throat. “Fucking can’t say no to you.”
We quieted again.
He cleared his throat. “You want them to date.”
“Perhaps,” I said. “I simply want them to be…happy again.”
I liked Nino and Dr. Musa. She was a doctor, but it did not seem as if she knew how to heal the issues her husband was having. I thought dating might remind them of why they fell for each other in the first place, and it would heal whatever was torn between them.
“You are fucking curious,” he almost grumbled.
“Not in this case. I am not curious. I am meddling.”
He laughed, but it was a short,huh, kind of laugh. It seemed as if he was lost to his thoughts for a while. The same as me.
“Did you see anything interesting when you went diving?” I asked to break the silence between us.
“Yeah,” he said. “I was coming to tell you. A turtle.”
“My turtle!”
He kissed over my pulse again. “Yeah, Annie, your turtle.”
On one of our snorkeling adventures, I spotted a turtle. It seemed to be swaying underneath the water, dancing to some nautical band I could not hear. I was able to capture it on camera. I was so taken by the shelled beauty, I spent most of my time stalking it. It seemed to notice, and although it was hesitant, it kept swimming around me. I would not touch it, but the moment felt as if it were mine. I started calling the turtle mine after.
It was different with the dolphins. One of those seemed to be my husband’s. I called hercivettuolain Italian.Flirty.She was obsessed with my husband. She kept taking her beak and poking hisculowith it. She would not stop this. He kept stroking her, but she was obsessed. At one point, he had to leave the water. I laughed myself almost to death on the shore.
He had given me a narrow look.
I had laughed even harder, waving a hand in front of my face. “You have finally met your match, Mariano Fausti. A female who ranyouaway!” I exploded again, plopping back in the sand, notcaring that I was coating myself in quartz particles, about to get fried by the sun.
My husband had stood over me, allowing the sun to break against his back, shielding me from it, even if he thought my humor was misplaced. Perhaps he thought I should be defending his honor instead of laughing about the entire experience.
My husband grumbled in real time. “You’re thinking about that dolphin again.”
I laughed. “Yes! She is my spirit animal.”
He shook his head. As soon as the moment passed, he became quiet, almost reflective. I had to fight the urge to ask him where his thoughts were.
He cleared his throat. “My old man started taking mamma on dates here.”
