Page 79 of Till Death Do Us Part

Mia.

Mine.

Laying my head back on the pillow, I stared up at the ceiling with one thought going through my head. I’d walk through fire for that woman.

ChapterTwenty-One

Mia

Tomorrow Aléjandro and I would be married for an entire week. It seemed like it should be months. It’s felt like that long since I’d spoken to my family. There was an issue with me having a phone on Bella. The way Aléjandro explained it, I agreed that I wouldn’t risk his parents’ safety with a means to pinpoint my location.

Since I spent most of my time over the past week with my mother-in-law, this getaway couldn’t be considered a honeymoon. That said, my golden tan and sun-streaked hair showed visible signs of a week in paradise.

Most mornings when I woke, Aléjandro was already gone. He didn’t tell me much about the work he did. The lack of knowledge gave his absences a sense of mystery as well as danger. Thankfully, other than that first day he was gone, he hadn’t returned in such a dark state. Not that I minded the less gentle version in the intimacy department. In some ways, his ravenous hunger was my perfect initiation back into the world of sex.

Even that evening, the restraint he’d shown with my initial boundaries was still present in a different way. It was hard to explain, but those first nights set a stage that gave me a sense of peace I couldn’t articulate. And then the evening we were almost late to dinner, well, it reassured me that we can share in voracious hunger for one another without violence. To say he’d reawakened my libido, my desires, and my wanton needs would be inaccurate.

There wasn’t a reawakening.

Never before had I felt as free with my body or a man’s as I did with Aléjandro.

He took control while also encouraging my desires, showing him and telling him what I liked. It almost felt wrong to discuss such things so freely, like two consenting adults, but that was what we were.

Aléjandro didn’t marry a frightened virgin. He married a bruised soul, who never learned that sex could result in mutual satisfaction. Sure, I’d heard the stories. Giorgia didn’t hate sex. From the way Dario and Catalina cling onto one another, I’d guess they were both satisfied. Dante fucked whoever he could. Our parents weren’t shining examples of monogamy or consent.

Growing up, my brothers and I heard Mom’s pleas for restraint fall on our father’s deaf ears. That could possibly be one reason I suffered through Rocco without complaint. It would take years of therapy to unwind the knotted mess of my psyche.

And still, in a short span of time, by not pressuring me, Aléjandro gave me something simple that I’d never had before.

He gave me choice in a world where the concept was new.

To some people it may seem like a small thing, but those would be the people who have always had it. To me, choice was monumental and significant. I hadn’t chosen Aléjandro as my husband, but I also wasn’t powerless.

Now that I had that freedom of choice, I found myself choosing intimacy whenever it was an option. I didn’t plan on us fucking on the dining room table, but it would be nice to not be living under his parents’ watchful eyes.

My cheeks rose as I recalled Josefina the day after our nearly missed dinner. I met her on the pool deck for breakfast. And in no time at all, she casually asked me ifitsplashed.

I looked up, unsure what she meant.

“Look at your smile,” she said. “Something has changed about you.”

“I’m not sure.”

Josefina pressed her lips together. “You didn’t answer me. Did it splash, or was it so insignificant it didn’t make a ripple?”

Slowly, I understood what she was saying, and my cheeks warmed. She was asking if therocksplashed when I threw it overboard. I looked into her lovely dark eyes. “You do watch and listen.”

She nodded.

“I would say there was a splash. To claim no significance would be to say not only did I waste ten years of my life, but also, I allowed those memories to threaten my future.”

“Any element in life that forms us into the person we are is significant. Depending on how that element molds us, it can either be bright” —she wiggled her large diamond ring— “or burdensomely heavy. Those are the ones we must throw overboard.” She lifted her coffee mug to her lips and smiled. “You will be good for Jano, Mia. Keep him on his toes.”

I recalled being on my toes as he shattered my world in the most pleasurable of ways.

My thoughts came to present as my husband entered our suite.

“What are you smiling about?” Aléjandro asked.