Stranger (18 page)

He finally arrived and things were great for a few weeks.  He insisted we get married immediately so we had the ceremony within a month.  My father was very nice and polite, having us over for dinner frequently and stopping by to say hello.  Or should I say that my sister had us over for dinner.  She would stop by alone sometimes for no reason.  One night at my dad’s at dinner I’d left the room.  She whispered in Santino’s ear, ‘Don’t tell my sister but I love to do special things for you’.  About a week after that she stopped by again, my sister doesn’t wear a bra, she came in and stuck her breasts out and said, ‘Look how cold it is outside’.  I was speechless.”  I look at him with eyes wide showing how shocked I was by a woman showing her sisters man her hardened nipples.  “About a week after that she called and said my dad wanted us to come for dinner.  I could tell she’d been drinking but we went anyway.  She became belligerent, saying things like I’d always been jealous of her then she made some comment which I don’t remember to my father.  He was laughing off her drunken stupidness and making jokes.  She started a fight with Santino and asked him to go to her room to discuss it.  He refused and told her they could talk about it in the living room.  She raised her hand as if to slap him and he pushed her away.  She fell.  We left and shortly after that the police came because Adriana had called them.  That was the first night he hit me.  I couldn’t go to work for a few days because of my face.  The hell was non-stop after that until I put him on a plane to go back.  I knew I had to find a way to get him to leave when he threatened my family.  Whether or not he meant it, I don’t know, but I couldn’t take the chance.”

I look at him again and his expression hasn’t changed but there’s rage in his eyes.

“Before he got on the plane he said lovingly to me,” and I laugh, “that he would come back for me.  But I was so glad he was gone.”

I sigh and take a sip of wine.  “The first year he was gone we still spoke.  He was filled with anger.  He told me I ruined his life, that I sent him back humiliated and he blamed me for the disaster here.”  I take another sip of wine.

“For a long time, pretty much until this year, I felt completely responsible and extremely guilty.

Now, the situation that had happened with Adriana caused mine and my father’s relationship to stop.  Regardless of what Santino was doing to me she had caused the fight that night.  My father was going to disown me because of that.  And all the while I was going through hell and had no one I could turn to.  I felt very alone.

When my dad got very sick I went to visit him frequently and he came over for dinner by himself, we had some very special moments in the end.  The guilt I carry because of our strained relationship tears me up so badly sometimes and I blame Adriana.  And for that, I can never forgive her.”

I look into his eyes and he looks confused.

“Why haven’t you divorced him yet?”

I look up to the ceiling trying to find the words.

“I guess because of the guilt I felt for having put him in that situation.  I felt completely responsible.  You know, I made him come over here and give up everything.”

And I stop to think of my next words.  I knew I had to be completely honest.

“And I guess that I couldn’t believe that a love that strong could turn into such a tragedy.  It took me a long time to admit it and finally let it go in my heart.”

He comes to me and takes my hand. 

“He was and is completely responsible for everything.  His actions before, during and after.  You did nothing wrong.”

“You know he did that to your computer.  I don’t know how he found out about us though.  Only three people know about you and I.  And today he sent my company false allegations about me having inappropriate conduct both professionally and privately.  Now they need to do an investigation and a lie detector test and my privileges have been suspended.”

“What a coward, a complete and total fucking asshole!”

“I know.  But I did talk to a lawyer last week and I’ve started divorce proceedings.”

“I’ll expedite it for you so he has no legal standing whatsoever.  I don’t give a shit about the hacking.  I just hope he’s not stupid enough to mess with my contacts.”

“I don’t know about that.”

He hesitates, looking into my eyes.  “This is the reason you said you didn’t want to see me anymore.”

“Yes....,” I answer quietly.

“You should have told me, Elizabeth.”

“Everything happened so fast, Marco.  And to be honest, I didn’t know what this,” waving my hand back and forth between us, “is between us.”

He looks down and takes both my hand in his. 

“Yes, everything was very fast.  But what I do know is that I’m not going anywhere.  I’ve tried staying away from you.....but I can’t.  Especially not now, I’m not leaving you alone.  Who knows what that crazy son of a bitch will do next.”  His face turns to mine.  “You’re not getting rid of me again.”  Sitting up he pulls gently on my hand, “Common, come sit with me.”

I stand, moving towards him as he slides back down to his end of the couch bringing me down next to him. 

“Come, lay down and put your head on my lap, baby.”

I take his invitation both hesitantly and eagerly. Gently letting my hair down, running his fingers through it, his gentle touch is a balm to my soul, each stroke easing a frayed nerve one at a time.

“It kills me, Elizabeth that you had to live through that.  But what’s worse is that he is still terrorizing you.  He doesn’t have the courage to be a man.”

“Let’s not talk about him anymore.  He’s taken so much time from me and I don’t want to waste anymore.” 

“You’re right, baby,” and he lowers his face to mine, kissing me softly.  With his lips close to mine, his fingertips stroking my cheek, he whispers, “I’ve missed you, Elizabeth.  A lot.”

“Me too, Marco.”  I lift my arms and pull his lips down to mine and kiss him with the passion that I feel for him.

“I want to make love to you.” 

“Yes, please...,” it comes out almost as begging.

“Let’s go to bed, baby.”

I stand and pull him to me.   Removing each other’s clothes slowly and leaving a trail on the way to the bedroom, our hands stroke and kiss the flesh as it is exposed, showering it with appreciation like precious gifts, each part adored.  Pulling the comforter down, he guides me onto the bed, never breaking our kiss.  Our hands are moving over our bodies in slow motion, burning a trail in their wake setting fire to our skin.  His mouth consumes my breasts with a smoldering hunger.  I take his hardness into my mouth needing to savor the taste of him on my tongue.  His fingers are inside of, me loving me there.  Then his mouth laps my juices devouring each drop.  Our lovemaking is sensual, taking our time, rediscovering our bodies with a thoroughness of lovers that have been apart too long.  He enters me slowly and I love the feel of every inch of him filling me.  He is consuming me completely and we ride the ecstasy with each trust into bliss.

As we lay there still on our high, I sigh with contentment.  Our limbs are entwined tying us together.

“When we get this behind us, Elizabeth, there aren’t going to be anymore secrets.”  His words are soft but the intent is clear.

“No, Marco, no more.”  And for once I feel hope, something I haven’t felt in a long time.  But there is still a little nagging feeling at the back of my mind of something about him that I don’t know about.  I know he’s referring to me not keeping secrets from him so I let it go.  For now.

My stomach makes a gurgling noise and his hand reaches down to caress it as he smiles.

“You haven’t eaten tonight, have you?”

“Um, no, I wasn’t in much of a mood for food, but you haven’t either, have you?”

And his stomach growls as if to answer. 

“I guess not, huh?”  He laughs.  “Common, I think I can find something for us to eat.”

He gets out of bed and pulls on his boxers, (I’ll never get enough of that sight), and hands me my robe.  We hold hands as we walk into the kitchen.

“Sit,” he says, kissing me gently, and begins to put together a snack.  He is so in control, he knows exactly what needs to be done and does it and it makes me feel safe.

  As we’re sitting down eating, Marco is stroking my thigh as he gently traces his fingers up the inside, across the edge of my thigh, and down the outer skin. I play with my food as anxiety begins to rise in me again.

“What’s wrong, Elizabeth?”  He asks laying his palm on my leg trying to calm me.

I look up at him and take a deep breath.

“You know, you don’t have to babysit me.  This is my mess and I never wanted anyone else to get sucked in.” 

“Are you serious?  Do you honestly think I’m here because I’m babysitting you?”  He sits back in his chair with a look of disbelief on his face.

Shit, I can tell I’ve insulted him again.  I have an incredible gift of screwing things up.

“I’m sorry.  I don’t mean to insult you but I don’t want you to feel responsible for me.”

“You’re damn right I feel responsible for you.  You’re mine now, Elizabeth, and the sooner you accept that and stop pushing me away, the easier it’s going to be for both of us.”  He comes in closer, intense emotion in his eyes.  “Listen to me very carefully.  I hate that I wasn’t the one you met four years ago.  I hate that it was him you fell deeply in love with and worshipped.  And I especially hate the fact he ripped that love and adoration to shreds, beating you, tearing you into a million pieces.  If I could, I would tear all of that from you and erase that completely from your soul to take your pain away.”  He looks deeply into my eyes as they fill with tears.  “But I can’t.  What I can do is help you heal, replace all of that shit with everything I can give you, adore you as you give yourself to me.”

He wraps his hand around the back of my neck bringing his mouth down hard on mine, branding me, claiming me with his searing kiss, shoving his tongue so deep in my mouth I feel it in my heart.

Pulling his face slightly away from mine as tears stream down my face and he wipes them gently away, saying in a gentle voice, “Don’t cry, love, I’m here now and I’ll take care of you.

“Thank you,” the words come out choked.  And all the years of holding things in, hiding behind the walls I’ve built up, everything comes crumbling down and in that instant I give myself to him, heart, body, and soul.

He takes me in his arms, kissing the tears away and takes me back to bed. He holds me close until the sobbing subsides and I’m finally ready to move on, the burden of guilt now gone. 

I’m a sniffling mess, wiping my nose on the back of my hand.   He gets up and returns with a handful of tissues and hands them to me.  We laugh, both of us feeling lighter.  He settles back in bed, wrapping himself around me and rests my bottom against his groin.

“Sleep now, baby,” he whispers in my ear sucking the lobe between his lips.

And for the first time in years I feel completely and utterly calm and safe.

I wake in the morning to an empty bed and the murmured sound of Marco’s voice coming from the main rooms.  I can tell he’s agitated.  I get up and go to the bathroom to fix the bedhead mess that I am.   Going to the kitchen I walk in quietly not wanting to disturb him.  I make his coffee and my tea and hand him his cup.  He mouths, ‘Thank you, baby,’ and puckers his lips asking for a kiss and I answer giving it to him.

“What the fuck?!  I thought we had more than sufficient security measures in place?!  Some insignificant piece of shit hacker shouldn’t be able to break into our stuff!”  He’s yelling into the phone.

A pause. 

“I don’t want to hear about IP addresses!  Just get it fixed.  NOW!”  Click.

Silence hangs heavy like a pregnant hippopotamus as we look at each other, Marco with a seething expression, me worried chewing on my thumbnail.  I don’t want to know the details.  I already know its Santino.

He shoves himself from his seat and begins pacing the room with frustration pouring off of him.  He’s dressed just in his jeans and his skin glows with the flexing of his muscles rippling below the surface.  He is still sexy as fucking hell.

“Piece of fucking shit!!  I would love the opportunity to beat the shit out of him!”

I don’t say anything because I know I need to give him time to calm down.  But I can’t help envisioning Marco as a bad ass.  I can definitely see it and it is arousing, a bad boy in a nice suit.

He walks the room a few times as I watch him decompress.  Whew.  He comes over to me and grabs me by my hand and takes me to the couch pulling me down on his lap and buries his face in my throat breathing deeply and squeezing me tight.

“Good morning, baby,” he breathes out heavily.

I shove my hands in his hair grabbing fistfuls.

“Good morning,” I say softly into the top of his head.

“I have some things to take care of, as I’m sure you heard.  I’ll be a little while.”

I kiss his hair.

“Ok, I’ll take a shower and fix us breakfast.”  He sucks the flesh of my neck causing my breasts to press into him involuntarily.  He brings his head down and bites each nipple through my t-shirt making me gasp.

“Later, baby, I’m going to fuck you until you shatter,” holy shit, the angry Marco is so hot!   He slides his hand down my panties, over my clit and inserts a finger deep inside me, palming my whole sex as he does.  My hips move against his hand automatically.  He removes it and pulls me off him and slaps my ass gently.  “Now go or I won’t be able to wait.”