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October 23 - October 24, 2022
Loving him wasn’t the end of everything.
Loving him was just the beginning.
“Kissing you is the sweetest agony,” he murmured against my damp lips as one big hand moved to my throat. The feel of him collaring me that way should have been deplorable. Instead, it felt like the most exquisite necklace, one I wanted to wear with pride forevermore. “I never want to stop kissing you, at the same time it makes me hungry for more.”
Do not deny me the pleasure of kissing you here. Of tasting you straight from the well.”
MMM SIR!
“I want to be the one to make you lose control. I want to watch you bend and break beneath my hands so I can glue you back together with pleasure.”
“There has never been another man for you,” he said fiercely, eyes flashing up to mine and filled with primal possession. “I am the only one to touch you this way, to bring you this pleasure. Forget the past, Elena, because I am the only man in your future.”
AS HE SHOULD!
“Partner? Mmm, I don’t think so. I like the sound of… my lover, my woman, innamorata mia, amora mia.” My love, my heart.
Owning the heart of a man like Dante Salvatore didn’t make me weak, it made me strong. I was proud to be seen as his because I was proud of the man he was and the woman he helped me to become.
“You don’t understand this yet, but you do not need your armor all the time now. Not when you have me.”
“I will be your sword.”
I would not lose Elena. Not for anything. Not for my bloody kingdom and stacks of crisp bills. Not for my honor or my family, my Italian ideals. She was it. Mine. Forever.
“Do not ruin it by insulting my people, mmm? I belong with my man as much as he belongs with me. No one will take him from me, not God or the devil himself. Not even you, the mighty capo dei capi of Napoli.”
AS SHE SHOULD!
“But not for a baby of ours. Not when he or she will have you as their shield and me their sword.”
“You have nothing to fear in me, capisci? You have had enough to fear in your life and I will break apart the entire universe if it dares to harm you again. Do you understand me?”
“Tu si l’azzurro dò mare sì duci e si amar,” I told her. You are like the sea, sweet and salty. “A sailor does not leave the sea because it storms, and it does not begrudge the ocean her moods. I have no intention of giving up on you, Elena, because there is no part of you I do not find worthy and fascinating. If this ends, it will be because you choose to end it, and you refuse to let me fight to win you back.”
“When Rocco had dared to insinuate that I could be taken from you…” I shivered. “I realized that I need to stop being a passive participant in my own life. I think I’ve been the victim too long. I want to be the kind of woman who fights for what she wants. And I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you.”
“That’s my girl,” Dante praised,
Dante was home, so no matter what, I would never be homeless. I’d have his shelter, his protection, and his love to guide me through the worst of life and the worst of myself.
“Do you know how good it feels to have you vulnerable in my arms? To know it is a gift you only give to me?”
“It is a privilege, Elena, to know you intimately. To know what makes you hurt and what makes you blush. To know what your demons are so I can slay them for you when you don’t have the strength or watch you overcome your own nightmares because I love to watch my fighter conquer everything in her path. It is an honor to know you, and I won’t ever take that for granted.”
STAAWWWWWPPPPPPPPPPP
Dante said solemnly, running his rough fingertips over my cheek to collect my tears. One by one, he brought his wet fingers to his mouth and kissed off my tears.
“You aren’t my lawyer anymore, Elena. Tu sei la mia regina.” You are my queen.
“Ti amo, cuore mia,”
“Elena,” he called when I turned away, waiting until I looked back to smile and say, “You’ve made me happier than I’ve ever been before. You had the courage to follow me here and I won’t ever forget that or stop striving to be worthy of it.”
You were always looking for chaos, si? Someone who makes you feel alive.” So alive I burn.
“No one will take you from me without a fight,” she whispered vehemently.
I enjoyed watching Dante scare him the way most people might have enjoyed watching a well-acted play. I was engrossed and more than a little proud that that man, the one with all the power, the diamond-bright and hard-cut mind, and massive, threatening physique was all mine.
Same
“Yes,” I said truthfully as I lapped once, kittenish, at the bottom of his plum-shaped head. “But only because I want you to see how mad I am for you. Only because I want to do things to you I’ve never even dreamed of before meeting you, and I won’t have the courage to try if you take control.”
As she should !
EDDS + ECL
“I’m willing to take a life-altering risk for a life-altering reward,” she told me steadily, her flames cooling to ice-cold surety. “I don’t know what love means to you, but to me, it means loving someone no matter what baggage they come with for as long as they’ll let you love them and as hard as you possibly can. The only risk I fear is one where I lose you. You fell in love with a fighter, Dante. Let me fight with you.”
“You need me to kill this man to prove to you that you are worthy of love. You are worthy of passion. You are worthy of respect. In all my life of hardships, Elena Lombardi, you are the truest thing that has ever been worth fighting for. You deserve the loyalty and love you give to everyone but yourself, and now I know, this figlio di cane made you feel like a beggar when you are a motherfucking queen.”
He grabbed my hand and pressed it hard over his madly beating heart. “This beats for you. It bleeds for you. I am yours. Your sword, your champion, your lover, and your home. You don’t understand this yet, but I will never hurt you, Elena. I only ever hurt for you because fuck me, you’ve been through too much already. I will only ever hurt those who hurt you because I love you, and I won’t let anyone else ever get away with putting pain in your heart without consequences. Mi senti?” Do you hear me?
Yes sir. I do!
“I’ve never been the first choice,” I croaked. “And I won’t settle anymore for second place.
Omg what else is going to hit her in the face?!
How can you compare the beauty of a single bulb to the brilliance of light from the sun?”
Exactly … how?!
“You leave without a guard again, lottatrice, I’ll tan your ass so red you won’t be able to sit for a week,” he growled in my ear before pulling away.
Yes please!
“I would do anything for you, Elena. Men have said that to women before, but they couldn’t know what it means, not really. I will kill and die for you, but I will also shop for you because I like you in the clothes I’ve bought, and I’ll cook for you because I love to watch you rediscover the joy of indulgence. I will make love to you when your heart is aching and lonely, echoing with the past, and I will fuck you when you can’t stand to be empty of me for one second longer. I am capo dei capi of the New York Camorra, but that is not the most important title I have anymore. In fact, it means
...more
OMGGGGGGGGGGGG!
“Resta con me per sempre. Be my donna and my wife. My forever love.” Stay with me forever.
“Let’s get married, Dante. I want you to be my husband.”
“Sei bellissima,” I told her. You look beautiful. “You look like mine,” she responded with a slow, wicked smile.
“Flowers don’t thank the sun for shining on them or the rain for its wet. Whatever happened to you because of knowing me was always in you to give. I think you just needed a little love to realize how magnificent you are. How magnificent you’ll continue to be even while I’m gone.”
“Some people have hobbies, art, music, playing sport. Mine is learning you.”
I am proud of my wife, Elena. I want anyone who looks at you to see that you are unmistakably mine. We need a big jewel for that so here we are at Gatto’s.”
“I like the gray because it is the color of your eyes,” he told me, grasping my chin lightly to look into them. “I like the black because our soul shines brightest in the darkness.”
Omg who comes up with this?! My heart is about to explode.
You told me I was your hero, but I hope you know, Lena, you are my hero too.”
“Sono con te, lottatice mia, anche quando non lo sono.” I am with you, my fighter, even when I am not.
“And I didn’t come to beg forgiveness from a hypocritical stronzo. I came to warn you.” I sucked in a quiet breath and pulled the trigger. Bang! “…If you keep coming for my husband…” Bang! “…I’ll come for you…” Bang! Bang! “…And if you thought my father could be cruel, you should see what kind of monster he made of his daughter.” Bang!
AS SHE SHOULD!!!
“You are mine. Mine to fuck. Mine to protect. Mine to love.”
Poetry
