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“Twenty-one. I was sitting with her the night she died. Hospice had been called in, and they were giving her morphine, so she wasn’t suffering. She’d been out of it as a result, sleeping most of the time, her eyes unfocused, her mind distant when she was awake. One of the nurses said that sometimes a dying person needs reassurance that it’s okay to go. So that last night, I held her hand, and I told her that I’d be okay. She opened her eyes and looked at me. Really looked at me. She said, ‘I love you,’ and…that was it. She passed away before I could say the words back.”
She swiped away the tears, shaking her head. “God. I’m so sorry.”
“Shit, Gianna,” Elio said, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She tried to pull away, intent on going to the bathroom for a tissue, but he held her tighter against his chest.
“Stay there,” he demanded. “You gotta give me a minute, or else my stud status will be blown when you see what a blubbering mess I am right now.”
Gianna laughed through her tears, then clung to him, taking the time he was giving her to pull herself together.
When she felt his arms slacken, she lifted her head and realized he hadn’t been lying about his own emotions.
He kept one arm around her shoulder, the two of them nestling close, watching the fire.
“After Grandma died, I decided I was going to have a big family,” she said, breaking the peacefulness of the moment.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I love listening to the way you and Liza talk about your childhood, and Christmas Eve was…God, I never knew a holiday could be like that. It was loud and crazy and fun and there was just…so much love. I want that for my kids. You know, maybe I’ll have as many kids as your parents had. Four sounds pretty perfect to me.”
“Four, huh? That might be culture shock considering your only-child status.”
“That’s exactly why I’m having four. When Grandma died, I wasn’t completely alone because I had Sam. He moved in almost immediately and…he became my family. When he left, I lost more than my boyfriend and my best friend. I lost…” She swallowed heavily.
“Your family.”
“I’m not doing that to my kids. They’re always going to have lots and lots of family. A houseful of siblings, so they’ll never be alone.”
Elio leaned closer, placing his lips against hers. “You’re incredible, Gianna.”
Every time he said something like that, Gianna felt the heaviness that had been pressing down on her since Sam left lift a little more.
No, she decided. That heaviness had been there longer than the past few months. It had been there for years, weighing her down until the load felt normal.
Elio broke the kiss, standing, then reaching down for her. She took his hand, following him to the bed. He slowly undressed her, kissing every bit of skin as he exposed it. She did the same, stripping him, exploring, stroking, caressing all the beautiful parts of the man.
He was extremely handsome, but a few days ago, she would have used that word to describe him based on what she could see. His chestnut-colored hair that was long on top, so it fell over his forehead and brows in such a way that she constantly longed to run her fingers through it. His light brown eyes, strong jaw, the crook in his nose that told her he’d broken it a time or two, the cleft in his chin, his chiseled chest, muscular arms and thighs—all of it put together made him one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen.
But now, she knew that when she thought of him as beautiful, it had nothing to do with the way he looked on the outside.
He was beautiful because of who he was on the inside, and how he made her feel.
Once they were naked, Elio pulled back the covers, neither of them breaking the union of their lips. He pressed her down on her back, coming over her, kissing her for countless minutes.
“Please,” she whispered, overwhelmed with the need to have him inside her.
Elio’s gaze locked with hers, as he drew on a condom, placed his cock at her opening, and slid inside. Even as he began to thrust, he looked deep into her eyes, and she let him see every emotion, every feeling. Everything.
She lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist, locking her ankles at his lower back. The shift allowed him to go deeper, and they groaned in unison.
Every time they’d come together, it had been a whirlwind, a tornado, a goddamn force of nature—powerful, heady.
This time was different, slower, calmer, yet just as potent. He was taking her down with gentle, soft strokes, and sweet words whispered in her ear.
“Gianna,” he said at last, just as she felt herself about to go over. “Come with me,” he said.
“Yes,” she murmured. “With you.”
