AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I take her hand and start walking again. “There’s something I want to show you.”
We turn the corner, ending up in an open area overlooking the sea. The bright blue water looks like polished glass. The sky is clear enough to see Monte Pellegrino in the distance. Makenna soaks it all in like a fascinated child. Immediate guilt tears at my stomach for wanting to keep her from all of this, for thinking hiding it from her was protecting her.
“July was my mother’s favorite time to come here. She loved going to the mountains. The city was crowded but the mountains weren’t. I remember one time we came and there was this weird summer storm that came out of nowhere. The huts were closed so we had nowhere to go. We ended up stuck on one of the mountain trails. My father looked ready to murder someone. But my mother—” I swallow hard at the memory and how easily it comes tumbling from my mouth. I haven’t talked this way about her since she died. I haven’t felt anything other than anger since that monster fired the bullet that ended her life. “My mother laughed and grabbed my hand and pulled me out into the rain. She’d said,‘How else will all these beautiful trees and flowers grow,figlio mio, if God doesn’t water them?’”
I blink away the thought and glance at my angel. Her eyes are glossed from unshed tears, but she manages a small smile. “I think I would’ve loved your mother.”
“I know she would’ve loved you.”
52
Makenna
Callisto might as well have opened up his heart and let me climb inside. He’s never shared anything like that with me. He’s never even mentioned his mother unless it was to condemn himself for a crime he didn’t commit. He believes because he was there when one of his father’s enemies shot her that he could’ve saved her. He thinks by not being able to stop it that he might as well have pulled the trigger himself. And he’s spent the last five years punishing himself for it.
I wanted to get a glimpse of the world as Callisto knows it. I’d begged him to let me in. Seeing him like this, watching him relive these memories makes it feel like the world makes sense again, that somewhere in the middle of regret and heartache lay tiny seeds of hope.
I touch my stomach.And one of them is growing inside of you.
He brings me to one of the city’s few wide-open market spaces. Street vendors sell hats and tapestries beneath canvas-topped booths. We pass wooden crates filled with fruit and vegetables and buckets full of flowers. He speaks to the man selling flowers, then reaches into his pocket and hands him something. A moment later, he plucks a single white rose from one of the many buckets and hands it to me.
“An apology.” His copper eyes are both passion and ice, the calm and the storm. He’s so beautiful I can hardly stand it.
“I don’t need an apology.” I want to know what he’s thinking but his eyes give nothing away—just thousands of secrets written in honey, and I want to read every single one of them.
“I’ve been so focused on keeping you safe that I didn’t even realize I’d been keeping you hidden. I don’t ever want to keep you from things. I don’t want who I am to affect who you are or what you want.”
My eyes close tightly as I slide my hands over his shoulders and into his dark brown hair. Why can’t the man who knows everything without even trying, know that he is my entire world? He is all I want. He’s all I need. Everything else is just a bonus.
I lift up on my tiptoes and grip his thick strands as if I were sinking and he were my life vest. Because that’s how I feel when I’m not with him, like I’m drowning. I let my mouth trail along his jaw until finally stopping to hover above his lips.
“What I want is you,” I whisper against his mouth. “All of you.”
A deep growl rumbles in his chest. His hands grab my ass and hold me in place. I open my eyes and find him staring at me,intome.
“It’s time to go home.” His polished voice sends fiery sparks straight to my core.
I couldn’t agree more.
53
Callisto
Five years ago, my life changed forever. I thought I had lost everything that night. My heart. My soul. My will to go on. I knew the blue eyes that found me by the dumpster, a broken and angry shell of a man, would eternally haunt me. What I didn’t know was that they would become the first thing I want to see every morning and the last thing I want to look into every night. That the woman behind them would become my heart, my soul, and my will to go on.
I will never forgive myself for leaving her alone, and I’ve spent every night for the past month making up for it. She assures me it’s okay, that’s she’s strong enough to live in my world. And after everything I’ve seen, I believe her. She is strong, stronger than any woman I’ve ever known. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to protect her, to hold her close, and keep her safe.
We’re on the veranda, looking out over the gardens. The skyline is beautiful at night. Peaceful. I’m lying on an oversized lounge chair and she’s between my legs with her back resting on my chest.
She scoots her body in closer to mine, wiggling her ass against my cock.So, she wants to play?
“You want me to fuck you right here? Right now?”
She shoves my hand between her legs, pressing my fingers to her dripping pussy. Somewhere between the city and here, she got rid of her panties. Fuck she feels good. “Does it feel like I want you to fuck me?” So bold. She rolls over onto her stomach. Her eyes light up and she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth.
She grinds against me, closing her eyes and rolling her head back. My dick is rock hard and throbbing. I slide my fingers up the nape of her neck, tangling them in her hair. She moans that pretty little moan. I buck my hips, urging her to give me room to yank my pants down and free my cock. I hold it at her entrance, teasing her. She moans again, louder this time.
“This.” I take a handful of her ass. “And this,” I continue, pushing another inch of my dick inside her wet pussy. “Is mine. Only mine.” I want to erase every painful memory she has. “The face you make when you come, is only for my eyes to see.”
