Natalia is more than the sum of how she looks. She is inherently beautiful in a way few people are. It’s her goodness and the light that clings to her persona that always draws me in. Her fiery personality and sense of humor only add to the overall package.
I know I will live the rest of my life and never come close to finding anyone like her.
Because she is one of a kind. One in a million. A deity among mortal women.
I’m pretty sure I will love her until my dying breath because there is a part of me that believes we are meant for one another.
Only this world has other plans.
“Leo.” Her eyes blink open. “Please.”
“You don’t have to beg,dolcezza. Queens never beg. Always remember,” I say, running my thumb along her lush lower lip.
“I love you,” she says, and my heart aches. I want to tell her I love her too, but it will only bring us a world of pain.
My lips slant over hers, and I kiss her tenderly, making love to her mouth as I wish I could hold her in my arms and feel the warmth of her curves against my body. But I have to be careful with her body and her heart. Her fingers wind into my hair, and I moan into her mouth as blood rushes to my cock, hardening it almost instantly. I keep my distance so she doesn’t feel it, but if she looked down, she would see what she does to me. How easily she turns me on.
We kiss for a while, and it’s the most amazing experience just being with her like this. Kissing with no expectation. Just enjoying the taste of her on my lips and my tongue, knowing I am helping to distract her from her pain.
Reluctantly, I break apart, a few minutes later. “We need to stop. Brando will be back any minute and Mateo could arrive at any time.”
She puckers her lips, and I kiss her one last time. “God, I could kiss you for hours. Kisses have never felt so good.”
“It’s because you love me,” she says, and I detect some of her confidence returning. “You don’t have to say it for me to know, Leo. I know I’m not alone in this. I see it in your eyes. I feel it in the way you kiss me. I bask in it by the way you protect me.”
“Amore mio, let’s not torture ourselves.”
She nods in understanding, and sadness surrounds her like a shroud. “I live for these moments with you, Leo. Where we can escape reality and I get to pretend this is what my life would be like if I was allowed to choose you.”
Her words gut me, and I feel the same. I place my hand over my heart. “In every lifetime, I would choose you, Natalia.” Taking her hand, I place it over my heart. “We may be apart,dolcezza, but you will always be the only woman I love.”
Tears pool in her eyes, spilling onto her cheeks. “I will never love another man like I love you, Leo. I know you think I’m young and I’ll change my mind, but I won’t. I know what I want. I know who I love. It’s you. Always you.”
The weight of this conversation bears down on both of us. I caress her smooth cheek, aglow under the adoration in her eyes. She looks at me like I’m her everything, and my heart swells behind my chest. “I want you to know that shit Nicole said to you was crap. I fucked her once, and it was over fast. She was a lousy lay, and I was so bored I fell asleep straightaway.” That must have been when she took the photo. Something else I want to string her up for. “When I woke in the middle of the night, I couldn’t get out of there quick enough. She means nothing to me, Natalia, and I wish I had never touched her. I wish I could erase the memory and that she hadn’t said any of that shit to you because I hate she used me to hurt you. I will never forgive myself for that.”
“I forgive you,” she says without hesitation. “And I’m not stupid. I know there have been other girls. I know there will be more. I hate it. I hate the thought of anyone else putting their hands on you, but I have no right to ask anything of you.”
“Like I hate the thought of that asshole touching you.” When I saw his hand on her thigh at dinner yesterday, it took every ounce of willpower I possess not to extract my gun and shoot him at the table. How fucking dare he touch her. I suspect he did something later, but Natalia refuses to tell me. I shared my suspicions with Mateo, and he is going to talk to her. We agreed that one of us will be in a room with her and him at all times so the creep has no opportunity to touch her or threaten her.
“You and me both,” she says.
Silence descends. There is nothing more to be said on the subject of Carlo Greco.
The door opens, and Brando slides behind the wheel. I quickly close Nat’s shirt over her exposed torso. “Got some.” He turns around, handing me two medium-sized bags of ice. “Are you okay, Natalia?” he asks, concern filling his face.
“It hurts, but I’m okay. Thanks for the ice.” She smiles at him, and his eyes drill into mine for a few seconds before he turns back around, minding his own business. It’s one of the things I like about Brando. He doesn’t get involved in shit that doesn’t concern him.
Using my knife, I cut a wide strip off the end of my shirt, ignoring Nat’s protests. Then I wrap the torn shirt around the ice bags and place one on either side of her ribs. Taking her hands, I place them on the bags. “Keep still and hold them there.” I carefully lift her legs up onto the seat. Rolling up her school blazer, I tuck it into a ball behind her head, and that’s as comfortable as I can make her. Mateo will probably blow a gasket when he sees her exposed skin, but I can’t ice her ribs without leaving her shirt open.
And speak of the devil.
The back door swings open, and Mateo pokes his head in. His eyes narrow to dark pinpoints as his gaze scans his sister’s injuries. “La puttana!” he hisses. He’s immediately enraged. So much that he doesn’t rip me a new one for her state of undress.
“You need to get in there, stat,” I say. “Those cunts have been in the principal’s office for a while.”
“I will handle it.” He gestures for me to get out so he can climb in beside his sister. We swap places, and I lean against the open car door, unwilling to take my eyes off her for even a second. “I’m so sorry, Natalia,” he says. “You should have told me she was giving you shit.” I had messaged him en route summarizing what Nat had told me.
“You think I could come to you when it was you sleeping with her that made me a target?”
