* * *
Traffic is a nightmare,and all I can think about during the whole drive home is how much I want to get there and pour into Daniella. And once we walk through the front door, we don’t even make it all the way up the stairs before we rip each other’s clothes off—like gifts to our stored-updesire.
Then I carry her into my room and onto my bed, where we still lie. I swear there is no end to the amount of times I can pleasure this woman. Seeing her react to every touch, lick, and thrust; her body is like a sexual sergeant—keeping me standing hard atattention.
* * *
After ournap,we shower and head to the kitchen to prepare something toeat.
“Maybe we need to order takeout. I’ve got nothing in the fridge—all of the salami isgone.”
“Chinese?” she says, perched up on the kitchen counter looking too adorable in mybathrobe.
“Chinese, itis.”
We head to the living room after the takeout arrives and we eat it in front of thefireplace.
She looks at me inquisitively. “Nonna shared how she came to raise you in thishouse.”
“Yep she did. I’ve lived here all of my life.” I dip an egg roll into sauce and feed it toher.
“It’s a lovely home, that’s forsure.”
I shrug. “I suppose. But honestly, I’d take a small home away from the city, any day. Some guys have goals of living in lavish homes with a wife and kids. And in ironic contrast, I dream of amodesthome with a wife andkids.”
She nods as I feed her more eggroll.
“And you? What dreams of family life do you have,Daniella?”
Her eyelids sag and she doesn’t say a word at first. “I’ve never had dreams of a family life,” she utters as she looks at me with afflictedeyes.
I swallow hard. “And why isthat?”
She glances up at the ceiling, tugging at the end of her braided ponytail. “My parents were young when they had me and couldn’t always afford to take care of me. I remember when I turned five, we were all living in a shelter when I was placed in foster care, with a promise they’d come back for me soon. Only they never did.” Tears that shimmer in her eyes run slowly down her cheeks each time she blinks. “I grew up waiting for them to come for me. Every car that pulled up to my foster home, every phone call, I hoped it was them. When I realized they weren’t coming, I lost all hope in the idea of family, figuring they didn’t love meenough.”
I listen to her, open and vulnerable, realizing this is why she’s so hurt. With her parents abandoning her, the idea of love became tainted to her so long ago. She no doubt never dreamed of family life, having had no sense of it growing up, and with the foster mom who didn’t even care enough to comfort her in a thunderstorm, she’s probably grown up feeling unloved her entirelife.
I reach for her, and pull her into my arms, holding her as she sobs. “Daniella, my baby, I’m sosorry.”
I hold her for as long as she needs me to before we go back to my room. We don’t even make love; we just lie naked in each other’s arms and fall fastasleep.
