Farewell, My Loves Read online

  Oh, my, God!

  He unzipped the petticoat as he said this and let it drop to the floor in a pile of tulle.

  I was panting from the torturous, too slow undressing, and short of breath from his dirty words.

  The effect they had on me, hearing him for the first time in my life speak so explicitly, spurred me to grab his hands and press them onto my breasts.

  The acute pleasure of his hands massaging them, hardened my nipples against my bra, and caused a direct throb down there, making me desperate to get out of the last of the undergarments.

  Instinctively, I pressed my bottom into him wanting to feel him, causing him to hiss in my ear.

  He let go of me and turned me around quickly, lifting me up from the waist making me automatically wrap my legs around him as he moved us toward the bed.

  He laid me down in the center of it and stepped back to slip off his socks and shoes, loosened his tie and began unbuttoning his dress shirt, never taking his dark eyes off of me.

  I was shaking with excitement and didn’t know what to do with my hands. At first I tried to lay a hand across my belly in what I thought was seductive, but felt stupid.

  I then tried to lay one above my head, but eventually gave up trying and sat up on my heels and placed both my hands flat on my thighs because if I didn’t, they were going to continue flurrying everywhere like the little nervous hummingbird I felt like.

  Something about waiting for him in that subservient position made him feral, with brown eyes ablaze and nostrils flaring from his deep breaths.

  When his tan, muscled chest came into view, my mouth watered.

  God, he was incredibly manly, lithely muscular, I really wanted him.

  “Do you know how sexy you look right now?” He asked, startling me; I had been lost in the sight of him.

  I looked up at him and I couldn’t help feeling so powerful in that moment.

  So vain even.

  It wasn’t until right then I noticed the effect I had on him.

  With that sudden awareness, I used the rush of confidence to lean forward and touch his chest.

  The strength I felt in the planes of his chiseled body stole my breath.

  He was so damn beautiful, I didn’t know how to take it all in or where to begin.

  Now I was staring back at him with the same hunger reflected in him and I was overwhelmed with the need to get as close as I could to him.

  But when I couldn’t venture down any farther than his chest because I was simply still too afraid, he reached for both my hands, lifting one to his face to kiss my palm while he guided the other below to cup him outside his trousers.

  My eyes closed of their own accord at the daunting feel of him.

  “Giorgio, kiss me,” I demanded breathlessly.

  He leaned forward and made me lie back on the bed.

  He slowly dragged both his hands up my thighs toward my girdle, and told me he’d kiss me, but didn’t move from where he was... making me crazed.

  I’m about to beg him when he says, “But I’m not kissing you where you think, bella.”

  I was so needy I didn’t register his words completely, I beseeched him... “please, anywhere!”

  He hooked both sides of my panties with his thumbs, lowering his head between my legs. “I’m kissing you right here,” he whispers, pressing his mouth to my sex right on top of my underwear.

  “Oh God,” I moaned, my head pressing back into the mattress.

  Everything in me clenched, my skin fevered all over.

  I couldn’t think past what he was going to do.

  Then he pulled everything down my legs, my panties, my girdle and the nylons that were attached to the garter belt in one fell swoop.

  My eyes tightly shut being exposed to him like this for the first time in my life.

  I felt him kiss my belly, working his way toward my breasts.

  I moaned with each wet kiss; it felt fucking delicious with his mouth all over me like that.

  He didn’t even bother to try and figure out how the bra was supposed to be unclasped, he just lifted it by the bottom of the cups and ungracefully swept it over my head. I couldn’t even care about his impatience, I felt the same urgency.

  He threw the bra somewhere to the side and didn’t hesitate to keep the momentum going, moving forward and encircling his mouth around my nipple.

  I think it was hardwired directly to down there because it felt like his mouth was affecting the two places at once.

  “Gio,” I panted.

  I wanted to do something. Say something. But I was so overwhelmed with sensation.

  I wanted to urge him on and let him know I liked how he was making me feel, but my words were failing me. All I could do was moan my pleasure out loud.

  His hands had cupped my breasts, massaging them, gripping them, doing everything to them, even softly pinching my neglected nipple as he sucked on the other.

  It felt so good, like this feeling... of rising.

  What, or where to, I couldn’t figure out.

  I just know it was rapidly building up and my lower belly felt warm, as if there was a pool of fire swirling in it.

  “Gio, my God. What am I feeling?” I groaned.

  Or moaned.

  It was all sounding the same to me at this point.

  My hands went in to his hair of their own accord, and the silkiness of his dark locks made me flinch.

  I was sensitive all over. I was in delightful agony.

  I felt him smile into my skin, but he never answered me. He just kept licking, kissing and sucking on my breasts, moving his mouth to repeat his ministrations all over to the other one now.

  I was breathing really hard.

  “Please, Gio!”

  What I started begging him for, I didn’t have a clue.

  “Va bene, bella,” he said, and then started kissing his way down my torso.

  Hot open-mouthed kisses trailed south until he almost reached the apex of my thighs.

  But he maddeningly skipped me there and instead lifted my foot and bit the instep softly.

  I couldn’t help but curl my toes and he started to laugh against my foot and I smiled with him, but it died down as soon as his lips moved to my inner ankle and up again causing me to shiver.

  When he was close enough, he eased himself down onto his elbows and gently pried my legs apart, opening myself up for him.

  “You are so fucking gorgeous, Gianna,” he said, and then he groaned when he finally put his mouth on me.

  He literally kissed me there, just like he’s done to my mouth and I couldn’t believe it was like that.

  I don’t really know what I imagined, but fuck, it was truly unimaginable.

  Whenever he sucked, I would twitch, feeling electrocuted in the best way.

  He put one hand on my belly and the other on my thigh to hold me down. I didn’t want to go anywhere, but I couldn’t keep still.

  I was moaning and moaning and moaning. I couldn’t keep quiet.

  This was being in a frenzy.

  My hands were in his hair, my hips would move up on their own on his mouth.

  He would say dirty things, remarking on how wet I was for him, telling me how good I tasted, explaining to me how hard I made him.

  I loved all of it.

  I would’ve been embarrassed if I hadn’t been caught up in the ecstasy instead.

  The hand he had on my belly moved up to my breast, and he pinched my nipple at the same time he sucked in the sensitive little nub, making a warm flush spread all over my body, brimming to the point I felt as though something was about to burst open and overflow.

  Giorgio sucked me in his mouth again and relentlessly rubbed his tongue against me; my body was suddenly drowning in what I could only describe as absolute pleasure.

  It was a culmination of the pooled fire I felt in my stomach earlier, spreading through each and every vein, my fingertips and toes becoming a bunch of little dams that went numb from trying to stop all that
pleasure from literally pouring out of me.

  I must’ve left my body at some point, I had to consciously work at being present again.

  Remembering where I was, what he just did, I realized how hard I was still breathing, how tightly my eyes were shut.

  Euphoria relieved that building ache, but really, nothing could truly describe just how amazing that was.

  “Gio,” I whispered in reverence.

  His name was all I could say or think at the moment.

  I felt him climb up my body, the tip of him brushing me, making my eyes snap open when he lifted me up and positioned me to straddle him, causing electricity to shoot through me all over again, renewing my nervousness all over again, too.

  Before I could utter a word he was pressing the back of my neck toward his face and kissed me deeply and thoroughly, belatedly realizing I could taste myself on him.

  He broke the kiss and gently cupped the back of my head, pressing my face into his neck as he began coaching me while grabbing himself in hand and rubbed me with his tip, driving us both crazy.

  “Gia, I don’t want to hurt you, bella, but it will at first. I have you on top so you can pace yourself as you need to, okay?”

  “Okay,” I nodded into his neck and laid my palm flat on his chest and felt his heart beating rapidly.

  “Don’t be afraid. I promise, it’ll feel really good again soon,” he assured me as he trailed a hand down my back to grip my hip while he pushed up the barest hint.

  “I trust you,” I told him, because I did.

  “I love you, Gianna,” he said and gripped my hip a little harder, pushing me down just a little deeper, spreading me open with his shaft.

  “ I love you too,” I said on the verge of tears, emotion overcoming me.

  I tried to seat myself on him a little more when I felt a sharp pinch of pain, making me retract from him quickly.

  “Take your time. There’s no rush, tesorina. Little by little, alright?”

  His patience and gentleness enveloped me just as his arms did.

  Looking him in the eyes, I took a deep breath and persevered to make the ultimate connection with him.

  As soon as I got to the point of feeling that pinch again, I braced myself with my hands on his shoulders and widened my knees to be able to drop a little easier.

  He began kneading one of my breasts while kissing and softly biting my neck, then on to my ear lobe.

  His ministrations distracted me from feeling my pain, instead feeling the pleasure of his affections.

  My head fell back with the snug feeling of us and I pushed down farther, breaking into a sweat, needing to take deep breaths.

  I opened my eyes to look at him, seeing his beautiful face lost to the sensations of my body. Watching him marvel at our tight fight was all the encouragement I needed to go deeper.

  Steeling myself, I stared into his warm brown eyes and then sat down on him quickly—losing all the breath in my lungs, hearing him take in a sharp breath once I was completely seated.

  I couldn’t keep my eyes open through the sharp sting, regretting not being able to see Gio’s face, but I felt his reaction all the same.

  We were both very still, allowing me to acclimate to him, trying to reign in all of our emotions.

  Our faces were touching, our breaths mingling, the tenderness being in his arms like this made me want to cry from the absolute beauty of this moment.

  I opened my eyes to see his were half-mast, lost in this feeling with me, with his bottom lip caught between his teeth and it was sexy as hell, causing me to clench, making him hiss, snapping him out of his daze.

  He locked eyes with me and suddenly flipped us over to lie me on my back where he pulled out some, and pushed back in for the first time, very, very slowly.

  And to think, when he was devouring me with his mouth, I thought it was the ultimate feeling in this world.

  Giorgio stroking himself inside me was phenomenal.

  Discomfort quickly gave way to bliss just as he promised and we were soon in a rhythm only lovers could harmonize.

  Feeling him like that, experiencing that rapture—he was right.

  I was devastated in the most fulfilling way.

  Making love with Gio changed me.

  I was done for.

  Utterly his.

  There was nothing in this world that could destroy a bond as fierce as ours.

  A few days after our wedding we set sail for America on The Federica.

  Salerno is where generations of the Vitales were from, making me the first of my family to settle elsewhere. It was home to all the sweetest memories of my childhood with Gio, the experience of our reunion, and our long-awaited marriage.

  Watching my family wave us goodbye from the dock was heartbreaking; deep in my heart, it felt like it would be the last time I would ever get to see them.

  Giorgio assured me we would go back to visit once we had our children, but something about it all said it was final.

  I couldn’t help it when the fat tears cascaded my cheeks and the choked sobs from deep within my chest broke free, making me reach a hand out to my family, wishing I could hold on to them forever.

  It was bittersweet this poignant time in my life, to leave my only home and make a new one with my husband in another country.

  I blamed my adolescent reaction on my tendency to harbor melodramatic feelings, just as I did that time Gio moved away and I thought I’d never see him again.

  I prayed it was just that.

  The days cruising to our final destination consisted of many moments in the comfort of his arms... and in our bed.

  Our voyage to New York was memorable, to say the least.

  Opulent amenities, prompt and over-the-top service, an on-demand availability of food, I hadn’t imagined a ship could be so accommodating.

  Giorgio assured me our life would be just as comfortable, if not more. He was rather vague in what he did for work, explaining away any of my questions to “business.”

  Pillow talks were about the exciting things he had planned for us in America and tried to explain to me what it’s like there, but mostly laughed his explanations away with “you’ll see for yourself, bella,” and then we didn’t talk at all, losing ourselves to the honeymoon phase.

  When our ship finally approached land, the infamous Statue of Liberty greeted us with her unyielding grace.

  But no matter how much he tried to paint a picture for me, never in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined what America was like.

  The magazines and newspapers I read over the years lacked the grandeur this extravagant country possessed.

  Once we passed the frenzy that is customs, I was immediately shot with a good dose of New York’s buzzing energy, stealthily seeping into my bloodstream.

  It was swift, potent and utterly addicting.

  Salerno, where?

  New York is the place to be! It was no wonder Giorgio never entertained the idea of living anywhere else.

  I couldn’t wait to explore every bit of this metropolis and bask in our new beginning.

  I may have lived all my life in a relatively small coastal town, but I wasn’t afraid anymore.

  I was excited to be exactly where I was, that being alongside Gio.

  Maybe he was the reason for all the bravado I had toward all these colossal life changes. Maybe I should have put more thought into everything, really step back and have things spelled out for me instead of just exuberantly going with the flow.

  But nothing could hamper the thrill of being anywhere with my love.

  Once we had our luggage, I imagined we were going to call his brother, Matti, or I should say Matteo now that he was an adult, or some friend of Gio’s to pick us up, maybe even venture into a cab for my first time.

  But instead, a black Chrysler Imperial had been awaiting us with a driver named Marco, to top it off.

  To me it was nothing short of luxurious, but from Giorgio’s mutter that it was nothing out of the ord
inary—I should have begun realizing his accustomed lifestyle.

  Driving to Manhattan where Gio said he lived, my face was fastened to the window in astonishment.

  The skyscrapers!

  Gesu Cristo, they looked taller than Pisa, I don’t know how they all weren’t just as crooked too by the sheer height of them.

  They were majestic; I couldn’t blink the whole trip to my new home, I tried to take it all in.

  “Amazing, no, bella?” Giorgio asks.

  “It’s, it’s so—wow.”

  He laughed a little at my stupidity, but governed my full attention when he whispered in my ear, “Is it possible for a man to be jealous of a city?” he teased.

  The tone of his voice got me paying attention to him instead of the sky-high concrete passing by.

  I was too shy with him still to respond in kind, but Dio mio, I couldn’t wait for him to make love to me again.

  He looks at me knowingly and presses a soft kiss to my eager lips.

  “I remember feeling just as awestruck when I first got here. It’s refreshing to experience it again through your beautiful eyes.”

  “Will we go out and explore today?” I asked.

  “If that’s what you’d like, tesorina. I could use a nice walk to stretch my legs and then we can do a rooftop dinner for some scenery.”

  “Oh, that just sounds amazing, Gio. I’d like to freshen up first, if that’s okay, but I can’t wait!”

  “Anything you want to do, bella. Anything at all.”

  Penthouse.

  Pen ta awz e, is how it sounded like I kept pronouncing it.

  The palatial apartment that occupied the entire top floor of the building was our home!

  It had wall-to-wall windows.

  A kitchen my mama would weep at.

  Concierge to do my bidding should I request anything, and he stressed anything.

  Too many rooms to know what to do with, for just us two.

  It had a view of Central Park, that he explained was a coveted spot in New York real estate.

  And we had a live-in housekeeper, so I can sit back and “look pretty” were his words.

  With everything done for me, I can spend my free time doing anything my heart desired... but up until this moment, I thought I had my life all figured out.