He pauses in the act of pulling down his boxers.Some of his tattoos are catching the light, especially the sad, mourning angel on his chest.But the ones underneath all the crosses and other symbols of death—the flowers and birds, palm trees, and waves—are somehow more visible in this light.
“Are you afraid you’ll almost drown again?”he asks.“Don’t worry.I saved you once and I’ll do it again.”
“You didn’t just save me once,” I mutter and turn my back on him.“Help me with this zipper.”
He moves like I’d just given him the present of his life and has my dress open and is slipping it off me in half a second flat.I didn’t wear a bra with it, because I didn’t buy one without straps and this dress is the off-the-shoulder kind so I’m suddenly standing before him in just a very translucent lacy thong.
“You really are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he says hoarsely, sounding like he’s been holding his breath for a long time too.
“I bet you said that to the first girl you brought here too,” I say, wondering why I can’t just take his compliment, bask in it and his sunshine gaze like I’d bask if the sun really was shining.
He laughs.“Yeah, I probably did.But I don’t even remember what she looked like.I don’t remember what any of them looked like.I just remember you now.”
Wow.The surge of warmth those words brought burned right through whatever cynical thing my mind might’ve come up with to deflect his words of love.
“Come on, all of it,” he says as he pulls down his boxers,
He’s already striding towards the water before I remove my thong and is standing hip deep as I walk into the waves.They lick my feet and ankles like an invitation to a seductive dance, the feeling so much different than in any other ocean I’ve ever been in, especially the one back home.That one is cold and harsh, daring you to test its might.This one is soft and inviting, calm despite the waves crashing on the rocks.It’s much warmer too.
“What are you waiting for, the water’s great,” he calls to me.I approach him slowly, enjoying the way the water is accepting me.
Which all comes to an abrupt and sudden end as he splashes me once I get close enough.I shriek and he laughs then dives before I can return the favor.Dives right into the melted moonlight that is the water here.
And doesn’t come back up.
The ripples from his dive are already disappearing and he’s still nowhere.Seconds pass.They feel like hours.My heart is beating so fast I’m having trouble breathing.
“Matteo, where are you?”I call out, even though I know he can’t hear me under the water.“Come on!This isn’t funny anymore.”
And still nothing.Now even the ripples are gone.There’s just melted moonlight all around me, pulling me in, pulling me closer.
“Matteo, come on!”I call out again, softer this time.Because it feels so useless.He’s just gone.And I’ve never felt so alone.
Then he suddenly jumps out of the water right in front of me, splashing me again.He pulls me into his arms, holding me tight under the surface of all this moonlight around us.
“Were you scared I wouldn’t come up again?”he asks grinning at me.His eyes are full of that same moonlight all around us, but they’re as warm as the sun, and his lips are glistening nicer than the stars.
“Yes, I was,” I whisper and kiss him.
Because it’s the truth, because I’ve never felt as alone as I did when I thought he was lost to me, and because it’s just the two of us here, on this beach, bathed in this moonlight and I wanted to taste his starry lips.
The kiss just lasts and lasts, better and softer and more inviting than the warm, pleasant water we’re floating in.And I want it to last forever.No matter all the rest that would bring.Despite it.
Because Matteo Rovina and I, we were meant for each other.I know that now.I’ve always known it.And I accept it.
The path that brought us together was rocky and thorny and all wrong.But this is all right.This kiss, the feel of his arm around me, the sun in his eyes when he looks at me.
It’s all exactly perfect.And exactly the way it must be.
Chapter25
MATTEO
She kissed me.The way she used to.Back when I’d sneak into her bedroom and she was only just learning how good kissing the one you’re falling in love can be.Did I already love her back then?
I’m pretty sure I loved her from the moment I first saw her in that nightclub in New York, dancing by herself in her shimmering golden dress.
And I certainly know that I will never stop loving her.Not for as long as I live.Not after.
