A Promise of Forever (33 page)

What am I suppose to do?
She had no idea how much Maggie knew about their marriage or what he wanted her to know.
She couldn’t just bring her things to another room.
She sat there for a long time until he came out of the bathroom clad only in a towel.
She was breathless at the sight of him.
“I thought you’d be gone by now,” he said.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, I wasn’t sure what Maggie would think if we slept in separate beds,” Katelyn whimpered as she sank deeper into the bed.
For a moment there was complete silence between them and she didn’t think he was going to join her.
She wanted to sleep with him more than anything.
She wanted more than just sleep.
This would be the hardest test that she had ever had to face.

He had a look in his eyes, something between hunger and fury.
Then, in a matter of one second, it turned to a more playful gleam.
He laughed arrogantly as he dropped the towel that clung to his waist.
“I guess this is as good a time as any for you find out how your husband sleeps.”

Katelyn recalled the nights they’d shared and locked in those memories was this same vivid image standing before her.
He smiled as he joined her in bed, retrieving some of the blanket that covered her body.
“I think we’ll share this.
I may not like clothes when I sleep but when I lack the warmth of woman’s body to keep me warm, I do use blankets,” he added with a smirk, enjoying the discomfort he saw in her face, having his naked body this dangerously close to her own.

She was annoyed with him and the fact that he was enjoying himself at her expense was making it worse.
“I guess, from what Maggie tells me, you use blankets often,” smiling as she jerked the blanket back from him.
She couldn’t see him but she could feel the smile spreading across his condescending mouth.

“Snooping into my private life, Irish?
Let me offer you a bit of advice.
I enjoy making love and if you expect my fidelity, I expect you to be my wife in every sense of the word,” he added, taking her hand and placing it over his erection, holding it there.
“If you want, I will take a lover but I’d rather my lover was my wife,” he said sulkily.

His warning was meant to scare her and it did.
If she understood what he was adamantly making clear, she needed to be a compliant bride in his arms or he’d find someone else who would be.
“Are your threats meant to hurt me?”
She asked the question knowing full well that was his plan exactly.
She tried not to show it but it was growing increasingly difficult, having this conversation while she still held his shaft in her hand.
She let go roughly and tried to make him believe that it was what she had intended to do all along.

He had a look of triumph on his face, a look that said she took his bait and reacted exactly as he knew she would.
She wasn’t ready for him when he rolled over on top of her and pinned her beneath his naked body.
“Is this how you really like it?” he asked.
“I had no idea that you enjoyed rough sex.
If this is what you want, I will oblige you but it saddens me that any part of this body would be marked,” he added as he traced her breasts with the back of his long masculine fingers.

“Get off me,” she said stubbornly pushing him aside, her actions unmerited.
“I don’t want you to touch me.
You have a filthy mind,” she added angrily.
He laughed, knowing full well how aroused she was.
He knew her body better than she knew it herself and he knew she wanted him.
She tried turning over on her side, hoping that would be the end of it but he left a trail of kisses down her neck and shoulder as he removed the only two barriers between them.
He tossed the blanket aside and lifted her nightgown over her head.

“Tell me, Irish.
Tell me to make love to you and I will.
I want to hear my name on your lips this time.
Please, say my name,” he begged as he repeated the words over again in her ear.
“I loved you before I ever met you,” he said, in a voice so low it wasn’t meant to be heard.

Their lovemaking was always raw and complete; it didn’t take long before she cried out in ecstasy.
She cried out his name over and over again until she thought she would die from sheer exhaustion.
Why did it have to be like this between them?
Together, the sex between them was elated.
It didn’t take long before she was consumed by the rapture.
She fell asleep in his embrace as their naked bodies clung to each other in slumber.
When she finally woke, Gianfranco was nowhere to be seen.
In his place was a book on erotica.
Katelyn picked up the book, glanced at it and threw it across the room.
Who does he think he is?
Is this another attempt to anger me?
She was a little embarrassed when, seconds later, Maggie knocked on the door, asking if she needed anything.
Maggie said she’d heard a noise and when she glanced down she was without doubt embarrassed by what she found there.

Katelyn grabbed the sheet up to her neck, looked down and saw that the book was lying open on the floor.
The opened page contained a truly exotic pose of two people making love.
Katelyn grew more embarrassed when she realized that they had been in that same position the night before and the page was clearly marked for her benefit.
What does Maggie think of me?

“Did Gianfranco leave for the office already, Maggie?” she asked, trying to avoid eye contact with the housekeeper.

“He left hours ago, Mrs. Broccolini.
I’m sorry…Katelyn.
He asked that you not be disturbed.
He said you didn’t sleep well last night.
He left the impression that you were ill but I can see he is back to his usual teasing self,” she said, shaking her head as she picked up the book and placed it on the table.
“Do you have plans for today?” she asked in her Irish brogue.

How ironic that Gianfranco Broccolini employed a housekeeper who was as Irish as could be.
“I haven’t thought about what I would do today to tell you the truth.
The first thing I have to do is call my daughter and then I was thinking about doing something to make this place feel more like a home.
It needs a woman’s touch.”

Maggie smiled and encouraged her.
“It will do this place good to have a woman and child running around.
I’m sure that is just what the doctor ordered for Gianfranco, Mr. Broccolini, I mean,” she said correcting herself.
She was hardly able to catch herself from saying his given name.
Maggie didn’t know Katelyn nor did she know how Katelyn would stand on formality, so she didn’t dare take such liberties.

“Maggie, it’s perfectly alright if you call us by our given names.
I really want you to.
For that matter, like I said yesterday, I’d prefer it.
We’re going to be family around here and I don’t want you to feel you’re not part of that family,” she said still holding on to the sheet that hid her body.
Maggie smiled happily and told Katelyn she would leave her to get dressed as she prepared her breakfast.

Katelyn wrapped the sheet around her body and went over to the book lying on the desk.
She picked it up and instantly she felt her breasts respond to the memory of last night’s events.
He was an excellent lover and Katelyn was learning things from him that she hadn’t dreamed possible.
She placed the book on the table and decided she would have to give some thought to her revenge.

Katelyn checked out the closet filled with her clothes as well as new and untouched outfits.
They were hung neatly across from his.
It was strange seeing his things next to hers and she couldn’t resist the urge to touch the jacket that still held his scent from the night before.
She closed her eyes and held the jacket to her body as she took in his scent.
Her body longed for his touch to relieve some of the need that he had created with his little innuendos.
She took the coat from its hanger and cocooned her naked body with it.
She hugged her arms around herself as the silk fabric inside brushed against her breasts; they tingled against the silk.

She took a cool shower and changed in order to put last night behind her.
After the shower, she dressed and dialed Rosa to see if she had gotten her message from the day before.
She answered almost right away and it felt good to hear her familiar voice.
So much had happened since the last time she’d seen Rosa and that was such a short time ago.
She knew Rosa would be shocked at all the news she had for her and possibly hurt at not being included in the wedding plans but she knew she’d understand.
She was a good friend and she didn’t want to hurt her; somehow she’d make it up to her.

“Is that you, Katelyn?” Rosa asked into the phone.
“I got your message and I was a little concerned about you but I didn’t get a chance to call you last night because it was late when I got in.”

“I’m not sure how to tell you this but I should just come right out and say it.
Gianfranco and I were married yesterday in Montana.
I’m sorry that I didn’t get in touch with you but everything happened so fast.”
Katelyn listened, the silence was deafening.
She couldn’t figure out if it was from shock or a disappointment.

“I’m happy for you but isn’t this a bit soon?
I’m just a little taken back by the speed of the wedding.”
Katelyn supposed she was right but, looking back, they had waited seven years too long.

“Rosa, if you’re free today, I’d love to have you come and see the place?
I could send a driver for you?” she suggested.
Rosa agreed without hesitation.
She couldn’t wait to see Katelyn and make sure her friend hadn’t made a mistake.
Katelyn decided she would skip telling her about Italy for now.
They talked a little about Jenny and her feelings about having her father in her life.
After a short conversation, they decided to put off the rest of their conversation until later when she arrived at the penthouse.

Rosa wasn’t expected to arrive for a couple of hours so Katelyn decided to use the time making the penthouse into a little less of a sterile environment and more into what a home should look like.
She got busy on the phone and before she knew it she had ordered a host of things to spruce the place up; she also made appointments with interior decorators.
It wasn’t until Maggie came to announce Rosa’s arrival that she realized how much time had passed.

“I can’t believe this place,” Rosa said as she looked around.
“You could fit all the apartments on our floor into this one place.
I’m sure there’s nothing you could want that Gianfranco couldn’t give you,” she said, admiring the amazing penthouse.
Katelyn couldn’t help but keep the secret her heart wanted to scream out; she had everything except his love.

Maggie told them that lunch was being served; both women followed her as she escorted them to the dining room.
Surprised, Rosa suddenly realized that this was definitely more than she had expected.
She put her wineglass down but not before remarking that everything was so proper.
“I’m sure this wineglass is in the proper white wine flute or is goblet?
Not like at home, where we’ll drink from a mason jar if we need to,” she said laughing.
“You deserve all of this.”

“Gianfranco made arrangements for Jenny and me to go to Italy with him, in a few days.
We’ll be living there for an extended period of time.”
Katelyn could tell from the expression on her friend’s face that she didn’t understand the expediency of this trip.
She told her that it was all so rushed, the marriage, and now moving to Italy for an unknown length of time.
Rosa didn’t trust Gianfranco’s motives.
“How could he marry you within a few days of seeing you again and then insist on taking you out of the country?
Are you sure you can trust him?” Rosa asked with concern.

Katelyn knew his reasons for the trip but she couldn’t share them with her friend.
How could she explain that her husband of only two days didn’t trust her?
She wanted to share her secrets with Rosa but she couldn’t.
The look on Rosa’s face when she told her they would be moving was enough for her to handle.
They both cried as if they were losing each other forever.

“I know it’s not your fault.
You and Jenny have to go with your husband but you guys are my family.
This is so hard,” she said as she hugged Katelyn and cried again.
Rosa picked up her glass of wine and toasted Katelyn and her future happiness.
She wanted Katelyn to have everything she longed for and more.

They each chatted for what seemed like hours before Rosa had to leave.
She told Katelyn that she would miss them both but she promised to get a passport as soon as possible so she could come and visit.
It wouldn’t be the same as it was before but they would both have to accept the new roles they were about to play in each other’s lives.
After Rosa left, Katelyn went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea in spite of Maggie’s objection.
Maggie insisted that she was there to take care of her.