Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 27333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
I can't help but cry at the way he stares down at me.
Oh, how he stares at me.
I've never felt so precious and cherished.
Never felt so wanted and needed.
And what makes it all the sweeter is how I feel exactly the same.
Because I want and need him like I've never needed someone before.
Because he's my precious husband, and though the world sees him as a beast, all I see is someone I want to protect just as much.
My lips slowly part.
I want, need to say the truth.
But before the words can slip out, it's my husband who moves first, his length entering me in one forceful motion, and it's his name that I whisper instead.
"Renzo..."
The pain is nothing, just nothing at all compared to the exquisite reality of finally belonging to him.
This is what my body was designed for.
This is what I was born to feel.
This right here is the essence of what we'll be for the rest of our lives, and I can only sob as I place my hand against his chest, and I feel his heart hammering as hard as mine.
"Oh, Renzo."
His big, hard body shudders over me. I don't know why I ended up shortening his name. It just felt so right to do it, just like this, too, felt right.
Yes, oh, yes.
How wonderfully right it feels, to have my husband slowly thrusting in and out of me, our bodies moving in rhythm as our breathless pants fill the air.
My hands curve over his shoulders as his thrusts pick up in pace. His every possession sweeps me up higher and higher, and every pounding beat of my heart echoes his.
I can't remember feeling this close to any human being, and I see my every thought mirrored in his beautiful green eyes. It's getting harder and harder for me to breathe, and so I know, of course I know.
We're both getting closer and closer to the end, with our bodies tightening and tightening until finally, oh, finally...
Aaaaaaaah!!!
My mind knows this is inevitable, but the way pleasure explodes inside of me is still a massive shock.
Renzo. Renzo. Renzo.
I cry his name out over and over as my body shudders under my husband's muscular frame, and when I fill him shudder, too, as his own pleasure takes over—-
Aaaaaaaah.
Everything starts all over again, and it leaves me terrified and intoxicated at how our pleasure seems to show no signs of ending.
Oh, my love.
It takes a while before our breathing gradually eases up and for our heartbeat to slow down. It takes a while before I even have the energy to lift my dazed eyes to his.
And I see right away that he already knows.
Oh, he definitely knows I'm his.
But it's just as clear that he doesn't believe my feelings are real.
No matter, though.
I prayed to God that my nonna would choose the same man He'd choose for me.
And she did.
Lorenzo is the man for me.
I know it.
I'm sure of it.
And even though I obviously have my work cut out for me in convincing Lorenzo of my feelings—-
No biggie.
It's not like my brothers were any better when they first met their wives.
I just have to do what the other girls did, easy.
It can be anything from making a bet that I'm guaranteed to lose (Cat), getting involved in a boyfriend-stealing scandal (Ysabel) to possibly accidentally killing a bad guy or two (Penelope).
Not a tall order, right?
Journal Entry
I'm not used to someone realizing how alone I feel.
And care enough to do something about it.
LORENZO'S MORNING ROUTINE had been set in stone even before being released from prison.
Wake up in the break of dawn.
Shower.
Then do whatever was needed that would occupy both his mind and hands.
Anything would do, for as long as he didn't have to remember the past.
And not once did he think marriage would change this.
But it did.
Because the first night alone he spent with his wife had destroyed everything he believed about himself.
I need her.
He had thought he was created to live alone.
I need her, dammit.
And destined to die alone.
I need her like I've never needed anything..
But the moment he had tasted her lips, everything had changed, and he knew then and there—-
I will always need her.
Things would never be the same again.
And every second he spent with her afterward only convinced him all the more of this.
The feel of her in his arms.
The sound of his name on her lips.
The sight of her under him as she yielded her innocence to his—-
I need you, Gazelle.
Every fiber of his being ached with the need to tell her the truth.
But fear like he had never known before had held him back.
And so all Lorenzo had been able to do was claim her again and again.
Pleasure her until she was begging for him to stop.
Fill her up until there was no longer any part of her that didn't bear his scent.