Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Chapter Sixteen
FRANCESCA
As I walk towards Isabella, I see someone behind her run up to her and say something to her. Isabella looks irritated and throws up her hands in resignation. Then she waves at me and follows the person back to the house.
Once she is gone from sight, I realize I do not want to rejoin the party and engage in empty chatter just yet. I want to spend some time alone exploring Nonna Fabiola’s unique take on the meaning of life. Is Nonna Isadora really ‘a little mad’ or is there great beauty hidden even in pain and suffering?
Leaving the garden and the crowds, I walk briskly towards a pair of tall wrought iron gates. They are heavy and open with a rusty rattle. I slip through them and walk down a path with high hedges on either side of it. At the end of it I come upon a vast vineyard. A patchwork of green rows that stretch as far as my eyes can see. Row upon row of grape trees heavy with fruit that look almost translucent in the setting orange sun. Nonna Isadora’s words ring in my head.
Every second of life is beautiful, immeasurably, stupendously so.
And a new awareness of my surroundings tingles on my skin. I walk along the rows, in awe of the stunning beauty around me. Can I live as if every moment is a gift? Find the silver lining in every dark cloud? Is my marriage a priceless gift? I would not be here, in this gorgeous place if I had not married Valentino. What about my love for Thomas though?
I hear a sound behind me and I whirl around to see Valentino standing a few feet away. That damn stealth of his! How did he come through the gate so quietly? He stands very still and becomes part of the exquisite beauty of the moment. I feel a rush of strange emotion. Emotion that frightens me. What is this feeling?
“Go away, Valentino,” I say, but the wound between my legs opens up again and calls to him to soothe it.
Instead of leaving, he saunters towards me. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“For good reason,” I say quietly. “You raised a gun to Matteo.”
He stops before me. “I don’t regret it.”
I shake my head at him. “He is your cousin, Valentino. If you can shoot him, I’m scared of what you can do to me!”
His eyes widen with disbelief and he chuckles, a low ruinous sound in the still evening air. “You’re scared?”
“Yes, I am scared,” I insist passionately. But that’s a lie. it is not fear that fills my heart. It is a shudder of pure desire shooting through my body. Jesus, I really am that ridiculous moth flying cheerfully towards my own annihilation.
Suddenly, I don’t want to be alone with him.
I try to march past him, but he picks me up like I weigh nothing more than a feather. I kick and fight for him to set me down, but his arms only tighten inexorably around my waist. One of his hands crawls up to my neck, angling my head to the side and keeping my gaze locked on his.
“I’m tired of you running and lying to me. Let me show you exactly what I can do to you,” he whispers in my ear, and I turn to pudding in his arms. Damn this dangerous fascination I have developed for him.
“Fuck you!”
He pretends to gasp, his eyes shining with amusement. “What do you think your Mama will say to that, uh? Her good little girl cursing like a drunken sailor.” He tuts. “Will she wash your mouth out with the holy water that she gets from the Church on Sundays?”
“She can’t expect any different for forcing me into this marriage with someone like you,” I growl, my tongue sharp while my Judas body betrays me.
“You know, you are a hypocrite, Francesca.” He kisses the exposed expanse of my neck, and I bite back a moan. “You act and pretend like you’re the good girl, but even the sound of my voice makes your virgin cunt ache, doesn’t it? Hmm?”
His words are too crass, but, dear God, I love it. My body loves it, and spasms of pleasure rock my clit. “That’s why you say you hate me,” he continues, kissing up my neck and licking the shell of my ear. “Because I’m the bad guy who makes your body feel all the bad things you won’t admit to wanting.”
He lowers me to the hot dusty ground. I can smell the dry earth as he holds me against his body with one hand while the other blatantly roams my body.
“I raised a gun to Matteo, and so fucking what? He’s lucky I didn’t fire it. Next time I might,” he murmurs as his hands slide under my dress, up my legs, and towards my panties. I freeze, all the fight leaving my body. I remember how good he made me feel last night, and I want to feel that same mindless pleasure again. Ethics be damned to hell.