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“Fuck, Button.”
***
She stood under the shower and washed her hair and the dirt that caked her skin. Distant bruises marked her arms and ribs where she’d been manhandled like a dog. The cut above her brow had stopped bleeding but it still looked painful.
I pressed my chest against her back and wrapped my arms around her waist. “Are you sure you’re alright? I can always have a doctor come to the estate.” I pulled her hair over one shoulder and kissed her temple.
“Crow, I’m fine.” She turned around and dipped her head back so she could rinse the soap out of her hair. “I’ve been through worse. We both know that.”
She was referring to the time my loving brother nearly beat her to death. “There’s no shame in admitting you need help. A doctor can give you something stronger than Tylenol.”
“Stop treating me like a doll. I may bend but I don’t break.” She stepped out from underneath the water and squeezed her hair dry. The drops fell to the drain while her damp hair hung over her shoulder.
My concern would never disappear. Even if she had a papercut it would get under my skin. She deserved a life free of any blemish. The only thing she could be concerned about is what dress she was going to wear for the afternoon and where we would have dinner. She shouldn’t look at her countless scars and treat them like freckles.
She stepped out of the shower and dried off before she blow dried her hair at the bathroom sink. With a towel wrapped around her chest, she ran her fingers through her hair as the warm hair blew across her tresses. She concentrated on her movements in the mirror without truly looking at herself.
Instead of washing my hair and soaping down my body I watched her. My eyes never left her frame the moment she was back within reach. My level of protectiveness reached an alarming height and I could barely stop myself from hiding her away in some foreign country where no one would ever find us.
After she finished getting ready she left the bathroom and I had nothing to stare at. I got out of the shower and shaved before I got dressed for the day. Button found one of her dresses in my closet, and she looked just as beautiful as she used to when wearing it.
“What do you want to do today?” I came behind her and pressed a kiss to her shoulder.
“Don’t you have to work?”
I kissed her again because my lips were starving. She just rode my cock like a cowgirl but I wanted more. All I wanted was her—all the time. “No.” Work could wait. I’d already neglected my duties this long. A few more days wouldn’t make a difference.
“You don’t have to stay just because of me.” She rested the back of her head against my chest and looked up at me. “Lars will play with me.”
I kissed her on the forehead, feeling just as much satisfaction as I did when I kissed her shoulder. The heat flushed my skin like coals in a fire. “I want to play with you.”
“Yeah?” She pressed against me, her ass directly into my cock.
I kissed her again in response.
“Can we take a walk? I want to see the vineyards.”
“Whatever you want.” I took her hand and we walked out to the path around the grape wines. The harvest had just come but the vineyards would bloom with grapes again in no time. The smell was just the same, full of greenery and Tuscan sun. Hand-in-hand, we walked along the rows.
Button’s eyes were enamored with the view around her. Not once did she look at me because she was infatuated with her bountiful surroundings. Wearing that dress with her long brown strands hanging down her back made her look like a native born Tuscan. “I never thought I’d seen this place again…only in my dreams.”
“Did you dream about it often?”
Her eyes moved to the hillside beyond where a shadow formed on the grass. A single cloud was in the blue sky and formed the only shadow across the land. Her attention was focused for nearly a minute before she returned to the conversation. “Every night.”
“Did you dream about me?” I knew her answer without needing to ask. But I wanted to hear it anyway. I wanted to hear that she adored me, that living without me was too difficult to bear. I broke down on her doorstep and I wanted her to break down for me.
Her answer was the same as the last one. She stopped walking and turned to me, her green eyes matching the vines on either side of us. “Every night.”
Chapter Seventeen
Pearl
The Barsetti estate was a beautiful mansion that possessed the kind of Italian elegance people couldn’t even begin to conceive of. Every inch of the estate was purposely decorated in just the right tone to make it come alive. Full of history, power, and beauty, it was one of them most spectacular sights I’d ever seen.
