“It’s not that we don’t want to give it,” Doc drawls. “We just don’t want you breaking our new toy.”
“At least not during her first time,” Bobby says. “JJ, maybe you can just jack him off?”
January dips her chin. “I—”
“What the fuck is your problem?” Adriano growls at Bobby and Doc. “I have as much of a right to take her as either of you.”
“Yeah, but neither of us is going to murder her with sex,” Doc retorts.
Adriano opens his mouth to say something, but Bobby beats him to it. “She’s already tender, Adri. You don’t want to hurt her, do you?
Adriano’s look of irritation collapses. He stares down at his feet. “No. Of course not. I’m sorry. Another time. Or maybe fucking never.”
He turns his back and heads for the door.
January shakes off my hand. “Adriano! Wait.”
He stops. “I want none of your sympathy, Pryntsesa. Anything but that.”
She takes a step toward him. “But I want to sleep with you.”
She’s flushing furiously as she says it, but her small chin is lifted in defiance. “I wanted to out by the water, but it seemed like you wanted to watch me instead.”
“What the fuck?” Doc laughs. “What happened out there?”
Everyone ignores him.
“I can do it,” January insists, a low throb in her voice. “I did ballet for ages, I’m really flexible—”
Doc gives a cracking laugh. “Holy shit she’s pitching for you Adri.”
January shoots him an icy glare before returning her gaze to Rossi. “Adriano… please can we just try?”
He shakes his shaggy head. “If this is about the money for your nanny’s daughters—”
“No.” She touches a hand to her bare breast, cupping the nipple. “I… want you. I wanted you when I thought you were a janitor. I didn’t understand because I didn’t know anything about men, but I really want us to be together. I want to know what it’s like to be yours.”
There are moments that bite into you and refuse to let go. Strange quotes. Peculiar scents. As I watched Adriano’s face change, I knew I was witnessing such a moment. This cruel, half-dead man, realizing that someone perfect and precious truly desires him. Adriano’s brutal mouth curves into a genuine smile, his scarred cheeks lift and his green eyes lighten and I understand now that some kind of sanity had been restored to him. A purpose.
“He loves her,” I mutter. “Gesù Cristoand all the dead saints, he loves her.”
Adriano takes a step toward January, and she straightens in response. Two partners preparing to meet in a dance. He is hers now. Her loyal dog. A man whose sole purpose is to kill and die for one woman. The same one I have given my heart to.
But perhaps it was always going to end this way. The broken boys that fled to Italy together, never lived apart again. Couldn’t last more than a few days on our own, little as though any of us want to admit it. We became one family in trauma. Now January has united us, we might remain one family in love.
Adriano and January draw closer, warm, almost dazed expressions on their faces.
“Let the games begin,” Doc mutters, swigging from the JB bottle. “Ten bucks says she can’t walk after.”
“Are you sure this is what you want, Pryntsesa?” Adriano rumbles.
She manages to lift her chin to look at him. “Yes.”
I nudge her. “Go,bella. Give your soldier what he needs.”
She walks carefully toward him, as carefully as she walked up the aisle on her wedding day. When Adriano picks her up, he makes her look like a doll in comparison. He kisses her with so much tenderness I turn away, picking up the discarded champagne bottle and taking the seat beside Bobby’s.
He lies her back on the dining room table and climbs onto the wood, holding himself above her. “I’ll go slowly,” he promises. “I’ll go slowly and I’ll stop if you need me to.”
