He blinked hard once, and with a nod, met me upstairs. He stared down at me, and when he ran his finger down my face, I closed my eyes. He lifted me off my feet, took me to bed, and where we’d left off, we picked up, even more passionate than before.
Chapter 13
From the Ground Up
Aria Amora
Ididn’t sleep well at all. I didn’t have an instant connection with the…estate as a home. Wherever Rocco was would always be home, but this…estate felt entirely complete without me. It didn’t need my input, nor did I get the feeling it craved it. It seemed like an estate that would run with the people who worked here, and it would resent the woman who was looking to put her touch on it, to make it her own with her husband.
The estate was extremely independent, to sum it up.
Then our late-night visitor.
Monique Attigliano, considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, was a surprise, then again, I wasn’t exactly shocked. My husband had a past. A body count, if you will, and I wasn’t just referring to the ones who got in the way of the Fausti family. I was speaking of women who probably still dreamed of him long after they walked out his door.
I do not believe I will even see you in dreams any longer.
Yeah, not even meeting in dreams was going to work for me. My husband would turn dangerous for me in a breath. His wife would do the same for him. I wouldn’t cut him for his past, even though it wounded me, but…I had hard limits when it cameto what was acceptable in our marriage when it came to other women, just as he had them with me when it came to other men.
I knew who I was in Rocco Piero Fausti’s life, just as he should know, and anything less—I refused to accept. And even though my husband was who he used to be, I trusted Rocco with my entire heart.
Nonna was fond of reciting to me Proverbs 4:23.“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
It was one that stuck close to my heart. That was a big reason why I refused to allow any man near it that I didn’t feel had honorable intentions. I knew my worth and refused to settle for a man who couldn’t recognize it. I knew with my entire heart that Rocco was that man. Not only did he recognize it, but he also added to it, just as I would add to his worth as a man by being the woman he needed.
I’d waited too long for him to settle. My husband was, though, beyond my wildest dreams.
And he wasallmine.
Even though my eyes were closed, a grin came to my face. Life was waiting for me, and I was too excited to keep shutting it out. I slowly opened my eyes, a deep breath from the center of my chest slipping out. The estate might have not instantly felt like home, but anywhere with Rocco would be. I’d make it ours…somehow. Even if it was adding a touch of my style here and there. Even if it was only adding photographs of us from our wedding, his sons and family, and my grandparents.
We’d merge our lives together.
Another silent breath left my chest. I didn’t have a favorite season, per se, but if I did…summer and fall were my two favorites. Spring could be too chilly and drab for me with all the rain, even though it was the perfect time for a new start. Winter…winter was too cold, and I struggled the most with feeling lonely during it.
My husband made a manly noise in his throat, and as if he could read my mind, he pulled me closer, like the blankets were not enough, and he’d warm me all throughout winter. I had so much warmth to look forward to.
The grin on my face grew as I stared out the window at the vast view of the property. The sun was bright, but not bright enough to make me shut my eyes to the glare. The air here seemed…lighter somehow. Fresher. Almost oatmeal-colored, while the dark auburns shared a moody touch, the oranges vibrant and popping. I could even smell it in the air—meat roasting.
Maybe the staff had returned, and one of them was smoking some kind of meat outside. Rocco had told me he and a few of the men he employed huntedcinghiale. Wild boar. These dangerous beasts with tusks seemed to be an issue in Tuscany. Whatever the meat was, it was perfuming the air, and with my husband next to me, his scent in my nose…it almost felt like Christmas morning.
My fingertips danced along his strong arms, and I was almost impatient to see the land again. That was where I felt a true connection. Rocco showed me a place where I could try for a garden. I wasn’t all that great with planted things—my Nonna always said, if I had a green thumb, it would come from Nonno—but I wanted to give it a try again.
Maybe the peace I’d found would translate to the soil, and for once, things around me would grow.
The light shifted, throwing us in dimness, and all the issues we faced seemed to glare at me from the darkness. Free to roam in a place that didn’t seem all mine yet, taunting from the shadows.
Luca and whatever was going on with Maggie Beautiful first and foremost.
That seemed to be the most pressing issue of all, probably because I’d fallen for Maggie Beautiful, and whatever was going on with her felt as if it was sitting on my chest, like a weight that had made it to my heart.
Rocco’s sons had been on my mind too. Especially Massimo and what had gone down with the woman he had fallen in love with. The baby born out of their love who was being raised by Matteo and Stella was a big part of that thought. I turned some and looked at my husband’s sleeping form.
I gently ran my fingertip up his arm, turned some more, and faced him while he was resting. It was hard to tell if Rocco was truly sleeping or not. His breaths were coming nice and easy, and I could tell he was relaxed, but…I could feel it without having to write it out…he was carrying a lot of weight.
He loved his sons and only wanted what was best for them, even if he might’ve gone about things the wrong way with that woman and the sham of a marriage they had—regarding his sons.
If Rocco didn’t love them as much as he did, I would’ve been careful to offer any advice, or to feel as if things couldn’t be resolved between them. In my heart, I knew it could; they just had to find a way back to each other. Not so much Rocco’s younger sons, but his oldest.
