Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 110824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“Not really, but you probably have some. They’re boundaries we will keep until you’re comfortable to go beyond them.”
I feel her body tense with my words. When we make it to her bedroom, I walk us over to the bed and lay her down gently. Her beautiful auburn-copper hair spills over the pillow. The blonde she used to dye it to is now nothing but a memory and I’m glad. This is my Kitten. Her beauty is beyond compare and the dusting of freckles over her body calls to me like a prayer in the middle of the night. I love everything about this woman.
“I don’t mean to have boundaries.” Her words are but a mere breath, so quiet that it is hard to grasp them over the beating of my heart. “It’s just—”
“You don’t need to explain anything to me, sweetheart. I don’t mind. I would think something was wrong if you didn’t have limits we needed to explore. What you need to realize is that I’m here because there’s nowhere else that I would choose to be. You’re all I want. I’m not going to get mad at you because we need to go slow. I’m not going to change my mind or even disappear. I’m here with you and I will always be here.”
I sit down on the bed beside her, rolling to my side so that I’m facing her, and propping my head up on my arm. I know she’s going over my words, weighing them and thinking about her response. That’s who she is. She’s not spontaneous at all. Life has taught her she can’t be, and I accept it. Hell, I even respect it. However, I can’t not touch her while she’s processing things. I put a hand on her stomach, letting my fingers splay out against her soft body. One day my child will rest here. I’m more sure of that than the next breath I take. I won’t allow any other future.
For me, women have always come easily. It’s not because of me the person, though. There’s a reason Antonio and the others call me “pretty boy”. It’s not an exaggeration. I know the reflection in the mirror is pleasing to the eye. Women do flirt and throw themselves at me. That sounds cocky as hell, but it’s the truth. They see the way I look, they take in my designer suits, and that’s all it takes. Money and looks get you almost anything you could imagine. The problem with that is that it is never real. I’d learned that early on. There are days I hate the way I look. That sounds crazy, I know it does, but it’s true, nonetheless. My looks have caused me trouble with Niko, Antonio, and several others. I usually laugh off their jealousy when I’m around their wives. They’re assholes at times, but they know I’d never go there. Hell, their women wouldn’t either. Yet, I get the feeling the way I look gives Angelina an excuse not to give into me. Because of her scars, she feels that she’s less. Most of that has to do with the way her mother treated her. She bases too much value on how someone looks because her mother has beat it into her. That’s getting frustrating as hell. I know her self-confidence has never been much because of that woman. Since Gia’s attack and the scars that the bastard gave her, she has no clue to her value. She can’t see what everyone around her sees. She’s lost in her pain. In her eyes, she’s worthless.
I’m not stupid. It’s going to be a hard climb to get my woman to see what I see when I look at her. I may never achieve it completely, but I’m sure going to try like hell. All I need from her is to get her to let her defenses down—at least a little. I need her to let me in. Yesterday was our first step in the right direction. I hope that she can see I’ve been here for a year and never wavered. There’s no way I’m going to now, not when I finally have the taste of her on my lips.
“You can’t say that, Victor.” Her face shows her pain as she finally responds, and I can’t resist leaning over and kissing her forehead.
“I can. Do you doubt I’m a man of my word?”
“Of course not, don’t be silly. It’s just, we both know my head is a mess. I’m trying to work through it and have for years, but nothing has really changed. The thought of being intimate with a man terrifies me,” she confesses, her face turning blood red.
“Then we’ll tackle that first. It may take a while, but together we’ll knock down that hurdle and move to the next one, Gia.”