I could imagine enjoying it a lot, especially Alessio’s mouth between my legs.
Alessio looked at me strangely, as if I were a strange creature. Then he shook his head with a giggle.
“I am a man.”
I headed toward him, also in need of a shower. I felt sticky and sore between my legs.
“Is that an answer?” I asked in curiosity. Alessio entered the bathroom and I followed him. His eyes traveled down my body, causing an unfamiliar shiver to run down my spine.
Now that he had seen me naked, I saw no reason to cover myself, and he didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary. I quickened my pace when I felt something drip out of me and practically jumped into the shower.
Sighing, I relaxed, glad to have avoided a mess. “You can shower first,” Alessio said.
“We can shower together.” I blushed.
“I mean, why waste water? There’s enough room for both of us.”
The corners of Alessio’s mouth twitched.
“It saves water, doesn’t it?” He stepped into the shower. With him in it, there wasn’t as much room as I had thought, and I suddenly realized that despite what had happened, we were still very much strangers. I focused on the bubble bath, trying to ignore Alessio’s presence as I soaped my body.
It was impossible. Alessio was everywhere. His heat burned my back. His manly scent still clung to me, overpowering the shower gel.
He said nothing, just wiped himself off. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him rub his cock to clean it of my blood. Soon the water at our feet turned a soft pink.
As I wiped between my legs, I gasped at how tender and sore I felt.
“It should be better in a couple of days,” he said. I turned halfway around so I could face him without bumping into him, which didn’t even make sense considering we had been much closer just a few minutes earlier.
“That long? I thought I would be fine tomorrow.” The shadow of the past crossed his face, his oceanic eyes became tumultuous. What had happened between him and his wife?
“We’ll see,” was all he said, and then he shut off the water. He took a towel and handed it to me before grabbing one for himself. He stepped out of the shower and dried himself. I watched him wrap the towel around me. Physically, we had been as close as two people could be, but emotionally we were worlds apart.
We were sharing the bed again, because I had seen the desire in Alessio’s gaze and because I wanted him. Emotionally, however, getting close to my husband would be difficult, I could already tell.
He walked over to the sink and brushed his teeth.
Watching him do it felt more intimate than being naked in front of him. His expression was guarded. Only briefly, during sex, had it been something else. I slipped out of the bathroom, giving him privacy. I had already done my evening routine.
I had managed to keep my hair dry during the shower, and I didn’t want to dry it with him in the room. How could all these mundane activities seem too personal after what we had just done?
I dropped the towel on the bench, grabbed my nightgown from the floor and pulled it over my head.
Trying to ignore the stain on the sheet, and continuing to see it, because I simply could not unsee it, I slipped under the covers. I was tired before.
I wasn’t anymore. My body was still buzzing with adrenaline. When Alessio came out ten minutes later with his black pajama pants off, my eyes shifted to him.
Many men gained weight once they got married, not enough to be frowned upon by their boss, but enough to cover the muscles they had worked so hard for in their younger years. Alessio had not done that.
Every inch of him was pure muscle. There was nothing tender about this man, not in his body, expression, or eyes.
If he noticed my silent scrutiny, he would not comment. Instead, he got into bed but left enough room for another person to come between us.
Wouldn’t we have snuggled against each other? That was something I had been longing for since marriage.
In recent years, cuddling had been absent from my life. I was not allowed to have a boyfriend, who could have given them to you, and I was too old to seek that kind of closeness with my father. To begin with, my mother had never been the type to show her affection on a physical level.
I had hoped that marriage would open the door to affection beyond sex. I wanted to be held and cuddled. Perhaps I had been foolish to think Alessio was someone who would live up to it. Alessio turned his head toward me, but stayed on his back.
“What is it? You don’t have to be afraid of me looking for you again. We have done our duty.” Duty.
Honor. Duty. I had lost count of the number of times I had heard those two words in my life. “That’s not it,” I whispered. “I just… I…” Alessio’s dark eyebrows drew closer together. “I’m not a mind reader, Gianna, and I don’t have the patience to guess your thoughts.”
His voice was rough. Tears burned in my eyes at her rejection.
She emitted a small sigh, lifted her elbow and looked down at me.
“Are you in pain? Did I hurt you more than I thought?” Of course, he would have thought it must be something physical that was bothering me.
“Gianna?” His strong hand touched my bare shoulder, and I shivered under his gentle touch. Misunderstanding my reaction, he pushed his hand away, but I grabbed it.
“Can we…” I couldn’t ask a man like Alessio to cuddle. Instead, I moved closer until I felt his warmth, my fingers still gripping his hand. “Stay close like this for a while?”
For a moment he didn’t respond, just looked at me with those ocean-blue eyes. Then, without a word, he lowered himself onto his back, but this time he raised his arm, opening a place for me. I moved even closer until I was pressed against him, my face on his strong chest, one of my legs thrown over his muscular thigh. He smelled good, so good.
Strong, warm and manly. I kept my hands awkwardly pressed against his breasts, unsure where to put them.