Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
The words were warm. Dark. Deep. His voice shivered through me, and I cried out into the room. The pleasure was too much to bear. My vision was tunneling as he bit down onto my lower lip, and my tongue captured his once more before my body finally collapsed. I had nothing more to give him. I felt our intermingled juices dripping from between my legs and coating his bed while he slowly slid out of my aching channel.
His hands made quick work of my restraints. He gathered me in his arms, his entire body shaking as he held me. In that moment, he was so vulnerable that it nearly took my breath away.
“Are we safe?” I finally asked.
He pulled me close and pressed a kiss to the nape of my neck, and nodded.” “Yes, we’re safe,” he said, his eyes begging me not to ask him to elaborate.
“Good,” I said. “Because I can’t live without you.”
He raised his head and looked at me, a shocked expression on his face. “You can’t?”
“No Camillo,” I said breathlessly. “Because I love you.”
His eyes widened, and his eyebrows hiked up on his forehead. His darkened eyes lit up a shade, and
“Say it again,” he said.
“I love you.”
“Again,” he said heatedly.
“I love you, Camillo.”
He pressed his forehead against mine and closed his eyes, and I finally felt him exhale.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE – CAMILLO
I stared out at the water while I watched the ship dock in the early morning light. The staff was there, loading the boxes into the Jeeps, and I watched while they made their way up the hill. Everyone was still asleep, and I relished the quiet for a few moments while I sipped my tea.
I went out to meet the staff, and they helped me get the boxes into the living room. I sat on the floor with my knife, and I ripped boxes open. Then, I began wrapping all the gifts for the kids. I wrapped up video games and sports memorabilia. I wrapped up new toys for Ana and placed her beautiful new dresses flat in boxes with bows on them. I got Cassie a new Keurig coffee machine, as well as a personalized coffee mug, complete with a thousand-dollar gift card to a website that specialized in k-cups.
She’d been drowning in coffee by the time she spent it all.
And for Rose, I got her jewelry and specialized lingerie. I bought her new outfits for winter in the Poconos and a gift card to the local furniture store so she could restock her house with comfortable things. New beds for everyone and couches that didn’t have stains. A kitchen table that didn’t wobble and bed frames that didn’t creak.
I’d set up college accounts for both Kevin and Ana. I’d dumped five hundred thousand dollars into each of the investments accounts, which would grow over the years into almost one million dollars. Schooling children was expensive, and I wanted to make sure they had the best start in life possible. I put all of that official bank documentation into a folder and sealed it up.
I wanted the kids to have the perfect Christmas.
I wanted them to remember this Christmas for the rest of their lives. I wanted this Christmas to change the way they viewed the world. I wanted this Christmas to be remembered as the Christmas they stopped struggling and started living.
It was the first Christmas I was spending with my family, and I wanted it to be filled with happiness, smiles, and love.
But Rose had been distant after our lovemaking the night before. As much as she’d seemed to enjoy herself during, afterward she’d curled in on herself. I thought back to how she’d told me she loved me and the words warmed me all over again. But then she’d changed.
Maybe after the haze of her orgasms had dissipated, she had truly realized what it meant when I’d told her we were safe. She had finally admitted to herself that there was only one way that could have happened. Maybe she regretted loving a man with blood on his hands. What would I do if she did?
I sat there by the tree until the sun was high in the sky and shining down on this Christmas morning.
Suddenly, I heard the boys stirring from their beds. I heard the chef come in and walk toward the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee before he came and took the tea cup from my hands. Cassie was dragging herself down the hallway with her heavy feet as she schlepped into the room, but the gasp that fled from her lips caused me to turn my head toward her.
Her eyes were sparkling in shock at the presents lying underneath the Christmas tree.
“Boys, Rose, get the fuck up!” she yelled. “Get up now!”
For the first time since I’d known her, I smirked and shook my head at how brazen she was.