CARMELO
It's not every day that I get free time like today.
And I planned to use it to the fullest with the woman who owned my heart. I even dismissed Storm today. She was, of course, reluctant as always, saying how stupid and pathetic Chiara was turning me into. But I wouldn't waste my time explaining what love felt like or what it made people do to someone who I'd never seen with a man before. No dating records, no hookups, nothing. She was the epitome of celibacy.
Since it's been a while, I decided to take quick laps at the pool before engaging with the love of my life.
After a long night of discussing our best airline option, exhaustion was my second skin. I stepped down the stairs, and flung the towel over my shoulder.
Oh, and Mr. Walsh shamelessly looked for me right after hearing the news of Marino's downfall. But do you take a spit back into your mouth? I'm a businessman. I worked with greed but as well as honor. And he happened to degrade mine and my family's honor both at the same time. I could never go back after that. My family was my honor and that was it. People like Walsh deserved to work with people of their own kinds, not a Conti.
I pushed the glass door aside and walked to the balcony. The radiant sun after a cold morning was always a moment to look after over here. My feet halted to find the woman who had been running in my mind already in the pool, swimming with speed like she belonged with the aquatic vertebrates. She dived and emerged to the edge after noticing me. Water drippling all over her skin while her eyes went through my body. "You finally remembered you own a swimming pool?" she uttered, pushing her hair back, I swallowed. She was so fucking hot doing that.
I smiled, walking over to the pool beds and placing down the towel. Glancing at her white crochet set. She must've been spending a good time with Marina. That thought made me worry less about being away from home most of the time. "I'm a busy man," I replied, loosening the strings around my waist and letting the sweatpants fall down before stepping off it.
I was bare at the top and was only left with shorts. "Yeah, the one and only," she muttered in tease. When I turned chuckling, I caught her checking me out without a shame. Fuck. I wanted her to look at me like that forever. "You know you could use your mouth to say everything that's on your mind, right?" I said walking to the pool.
"If I said everything that was in my mind, then I'd be long dead." She uttered and dived again. I stood there, now wanting to know what was going on in her mind. She emerged in the middle, "Are you just gonna stand there? I mean, I like being admired and all but the water is cordially pleasant today." She smirked.
I smiled. Cause how I fucking not? I took a long dive and followed where she was, appearing behind her. I leaned over her nape and whispered, "You look good tesoro," she stiffened even when she knew I was already behind her. I liked it. "I always look good," she said in a low voice. "Let me guess, and you don't like compliments?" I asked. She turned to me, "I never said that." I turned her over to me, "Oh, so you like it when I compliment you?" I smirked.
"Ok cute, but where are you getting at with this?" her narrowed brown eyes and the deep lines between them made her look so fierce and not easy to challenge. I wanted to capture that in my mind and store it forever. I knew her to be a bold and no bullshit kind of woman and that's the way I liked it. But a little tease wouldn't hurt would it?
"I'm just trying to get to know you, tesoro. And you look unexplainably cute when you are angry." I smiled. "Stop smiling," she said, turning away from me. "Why? What's wrong with my smile?" I shouted as she swam to the edge again, lifted herself up and sat there. Her hands resting back, pushing her chest out and her damp hair falling behind with few strings sticking on her skin. Her eyes shut and lips parted slightly. Glowing under the sun. If I ever survived the oath that I made of waiting for the right time with her… then it would be through hooks and nooks, ups, middles and downs, thunders and storms.
This woman was a living temptation. And she was so effortlessly elegant and hot and breathtaking and I wondered how those lips tasted and—Fuck. Blood shot to my groin. I was so damn glad that I was underwater. Most of the time I was my own enemy. Fixing my shorts, I swam to her, keeping a safe distance between us as I floated. I couldn't promise that I could keep my hands to myself if I touched even a strand of her hair.
I gulped and faced the view instead. The hills, the smoke on top of the hills, the endless ocean and the heat waves sounds, and the rapid heartbeat inside my chest. Fuck. Lord, give me strength, for this woman was undoing me.
"Madam, your phone." Marina came over. Chiara opened her eyes and looked at her with a frown. I let out a breath of relief as my mind shifted to the ringing phone in her hands and her signature purple apron on. Chiara took the phone and her eyes faltered but she quickly recovered from it and got up while Marina returned to the house. "I need to get this." She said and walked over the pool beds, picked up a towel and wrapped it around her with her single hand while the other pressed the phone to her ear.
I frowned. Was she hiding something from me? Why would—she turned and then went further away when she found me gazing at her. Alright. She was definitely hiding something from me. I wasn't a nosy person but I tend to be one when it comes to my family. I turned my back on her and let her have it her way, for now.
A moment later, she came over. "Sorry about that," she said, resuming her earlier position. "Who were you talking to?" I asked. "Just… someone." She stuttered. She never stutters! Without thinking, I moved over and parted her thighs, sliding between them… I placed each of my hands on her sides, caging but not touching her. Her eyes held mine in utter surprise. I could feel heat boiling under my skin.