AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know.” She hooked the decoration on the tree, then turned to face him. “Let’s get those lights up.”
He nodded, handing them to her, watching as she meticulously weaved them in and out of the branches, making sure there was a nice coverage around the tree, and while she worked, his mind ran over everything she’d said, trying to make sense of it, needing to understand, wishing he could go back to that time and speak to Andrew. Wishing he could have been more emphatic with Kat.
He saw now that telling Kat he couldn’t be with her because of Andrew had been the wrong approach. He should have explained what he’d known all along: that the fantasy of forbidden love was drawing them both in. Sure, he’d been infatuated with her. He’d thought he loved her. But he knew now that wasn’t the case; and she didn’t love him, either.
They’d become trapped in a strange, obsessive cycle – and if Andrew had learned the truth, then Vitalo would regret that for the rest of his life. He had wanted to spare his friend that pain; he had wanted to repay Andrew’s kindness with loyalty and instead, he’d ruined his last few months of life.
“How does that look?” She turned to face him, and her smile was expectant, and happiness pierced his guilt, because the past was in the past, and this woman was his future.
His eyes dropped to her stomach, that was only ever-so-slightly thicker than when they’d first met, and his heart swelled, because the mistakes that tormented him were in the past, and his future was all ahead of him. A future that was going to be everything Bella deserved.
“Perfect.” And despite his good intentions, his determination not to ravage her at every opportunity he had, he swept her into his arms, staring down at her face. “It looks perfect.”
Her lips parted, and her eyes flew wide, like saucers, as she stared up at him. “I meant the tree,” she said, teasingly, but the words lacked humour – they were enveloped by anticipation.
“I didn’t.” And he kissed her with all of his body, and every promise he’d made to himself was in that kiss, wrapping around her, filling her up, telling her that this future of theirs would be bright and perfect in every way.
Hey Arrie,
I’ve got a thing in the States next weekend. You around? I thought we could spend a few days in Aspen. Dinner, skiing, snowman-building? Miss you. Xx
Bella read the WhatsApp from her sister, a smile on her face, and a pang in the region of her heart.
Two weeks after marrying Vitalo and she was pretty sure they were living on borrowed time.
She padded into the bathroom, but all thoughts of what she’d been about to say flew from her mind at the sight of her husband naked, in the shower, his body wet and shimmering all over, his dark hair like a pelt against his head. His head was bent forward, his expression bore a mask of deep concentration, and something else. Something darker.
Worry.
She frowned, but even as she watched, he lifted his head and pierced her with his steely, dark gaze, and held a hand out to her wordlessly.
Her heart in her throat, Bella moved towards the shower, stripping out of her night gown as she went, stepping into the warm water and his arms, plastering her body to his without saying anything.
He lifted her off the ground easily, so her feet were off the tiles, and he kissed her before replacing her.
“You were lost in thought,” she said after a moment, and he nodded, but there was something glittering in his eyes. Determination.
“Yes.”
“Something wrong?”
“I have to go to Athens,” he said, after a moment. “It cannot be avoided.”
“Is that all?” She asked, relieved then to discover it was something so simple. “It looked far more serious.”
“It is.”
“Why?”
“I realized I don’t want to go.”
Bella pulled a face. “Why not?”
“Or rather, I realized that I don’t want to leave you.” He lifted his hands, cupping her face, looking at her with a kind of wonderment that robbed her of breath. “Not even for the day and night it will be.”
Her heart rabbited inside her chest, and pleasure bubbled through her. Relief, too, because he spoke of a dependency that was consuming her, a dependency she had worried she might be alone in experiencing.
“I’ve become addicted to you,” he said simply, brushing his lips over hers before reaching behind her and grabbing a loofah from the hook. He poured shower gel onto it, then began to sponge her shoulders, moving with care and purpose as he went.
