AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re happy for her?”
Bella nodded thoughtfully. “I think Sophia and I are both a little unconventional when it comes to marriage. I don’t know why. I mean, I married a guy I don’t love, just because it made sense. Because I felt obligated to. What does that say about me?”
Vitalo was very still, completely quiet, but when she turned to look at him, there was a tightness in his features, as though he was clamping his jaw together, as though he didn’t want to speak for fear of what he might say.
“You asked me the other day what regrets I have. That’s a big one for me.”
His eyes swept shut for a moment and he pulled his hand away, then pushed out of bed, standing and reaching for a pair of pants, which he pulled on brusquely. He stood with his back to her, his spine ramrod straight.
“When I suggested this,” he said, finally, clinically, coldly. “I didn’t know you as I do now. I truly thought marriage was the only way we could make this work. But the last thing I want is to force you to be here against your will. If our marriage is something you regret, something you wish didn’t happen, then we must dissolve it.”
Bella stared at him in complete confusion for several seconds and then the penny dropped and she pushed out of bed, moving to him and wrapping her arms around his waist, forcing him to look at her. “That’s very kind of you, Mr Katrakis, but I was referring to my first marriage.”
And comprehension dawned, relaxing his face almost at once, but only for a second before tension began to emanate from him in waves all over again. “I thought you meant me.”
“I’m addicted to you, remember,” she teased, but softly, earnestly, her heart wanting to scream at him that she was addicted to him in every way, that she loved him with all of herself. “I’m addicted to all of you.”
He lifted a palm, curving it over her cheek. “I’m sorry you regret your first marriage.”
“It can’t be helped now. There’s no sense lingering over it – I can’t change the past. I’d rather focus on the future.”
Something sparked in the depths of his eyes and he expelled a long, slow breath. “What place does the past have in our marriage?” he said, and she nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Well,” he murmured, “I have to go to Athens. You want to go to the States.” His eyes roamed her face. “Why do we not travel first to Athens, then onto – where?”
“Sophia and I have a place in Colorado,” she said, thinking of how beautiful it would be now, covered in snow, surrounded by crisp white mountains, all cozy and picturesque. “But you don’t have to come, if you’re busy, I mean. I could go…”
He lifted a finger to her lips, silencing her, and his eyes held a warmth and kindness that almost knocked her sideways. “I want to be with you.” He dropped his hands to her stomach. “With both of you.”
*
“This place is enormous,” she murmured, moving into the kitchen of his Athens townhouse, wearing only one of his business shirts, her feet bare, her hair tousled around her face. He looked up from where he was reading the paper, and his eyes latched to hers and the air between them seemed to crackle and spark with the hum of electricity.
Where she was casual, straight from bed, he was wearing a suit, like he had been the first time they’d met. His dark hair had been combed back from his forehead, and there was an air of untouchability about him that made her ache to touch him.
Her pulse hammered as she padded across the room. “You have to go to work?” She asked, knowing the answer. He’d gone to work every day since they’d arrived in Athens, earlier that week.
And Bella had thrown herself into the Christmas spirit, shopping for gifts for Xavier and Ellie’s kids, for Sophia, for her mother and new stepfather, for friends back home. She’d spent long hours watching h
er favourite Christmas movies, wrapping presents, drinking spiced tea. She wouldn’t make the gingerbread house, though. Not until she was with Sophia. That was something they always did together.
“Yes,” he growled, a hand lifting to her bare thigh, wrapping around it, his eyes on hers almost mocking as his fingers drifted higher. Her breath snagged in her throat as his fingertips found the cotton of her briefs and brushed over it, and then he scraped his chair back, his eyes still on hers as his head dropped to hers and his lips crushed hers.
Her hands lifted to his lapels, crushing his fabric as she pulled him closer, kissing him, tasting him, wanting him, needing him.
Needing him now, needing him always. Her addiction for him was becoming absurd – at some point, she had presumed, she would be inured to this. But a month after marrying, her lust showed no sign of abating.
“Do you ever think about what would have happened, if I hadn’t been pregnant?” She asked, sucking in a breath as his hand pushed aside her briefs and a finger slid into her moist, warm core. She moaned, bucking forward, and he caught her, a strong arm clamping around her waist.
“No,” he said, shaking his head, his eyes holding hers for a brief moment before dropping lower. His hand worked to unbutton the shirt she wore, and he watched as it parted to reveal breasts that were so much rounder now than before. With a finger inside her, teasing her, tempting her, he cupped one of her breasts, his fingertips finding her nipple and swirling over it so she made a moaning noise, from low in her throat.
“You’d never have seen me again,” she gasped, as pleasure began to build inside of her.
“How do you know?” He was watching her intensely.
“We were…” her voice trailed off as fireworks began to burst under her skin. “Both…” she gasped. “There in your…” She dug her fingernails into his shoulder. “Office.”
