“Necessary? So you admit that you ordered Elijah to flirt with me to see how I would react? You should trust me.” Pain resounded in my voice. “I don’t trust anyone.” My first impulse was to react with anger, with a dry comment because that day had been hard and I had no shoulder to unload on, only a husband who treated me like a child and did not trust me. But my anger would not change anything. It would only lead to more resentment. “I don’t know what happened between you and Gaia.
Maybe you worry that I am like her. I don’t know her, so I can’t promise you that I’m not. What I do know is that if you don’t allow yourself to know me, you will never trust me, and if you don’t trust me, then this marriage will fail either way.” I swallowed, turning away from his hard expression. “Maybe you need more time. You obviously don’t want my closeness except when we have sex. I won’t push you, but I’m not sure I can. Not right now. I’ll give you the room you need and move you to the bedroom next to Simona’s bedroom. That way you will have the bed to yourself.”
Alessio
Gianna came out of the living room. I was frozen, not because Gianna had joined Elia. No, because she wanted to leave our bedroom. This time it was definitely my fault. I had not argued with Gaia when she had insisted on having a room to herself many years before. I had accepted that. I would not make the same mistake, not only because I feared a repeat. I wanted Gianna in my bed, next to me.
I chased after her and joined her on the stairs. Cupping her elbow, I turned her toward me. She almost lost her balance and had to cling to my shoulders to hold herself up. Her eyes were filled with tears. It was at least the third time I had made my young wife cry. Marriage was no place for cruelty. That was what my father had said, and I was sure I was not guilty of it. Yet cruelty came in different forms. Gianna had done nothing to deserve my suspicion, my coldness, and yet she had been punished for the crime of another.
“I will not let you leave our bedroom, Gianna. You will stay.” Gianna peered into my face. “Why? You won’t even hold me at night.” Cursed. The look of pain in her eyes made me long for those whips again. “Stay.” I stroked her cheek. She leaned into the touch. I brushed her cheekbone. “Why?” “Because I tell you.” She shook her head. “Give me another reason.”
“Because I want you close. Because I liked to fall asleep with your strawberry scent at night.” Her mouth twitched. “Strawberry scent?” I leaned down, pressing my face into the delicious spot where his throat met his shoulder, soaking in that sweet aroma before pressing a kiss to his skin. “Like a damn field of strawberries. I don’t even like strawberries.” She giggled, squirming under my mouth. “Who doesn’t like strawberries?” “Me. They are false packaging. They promise sweetness, but most of the time they are sour and watery.”
Gianna tried to wriggle out of my lips, which I passed down her throat, savoring her choked laughter. “Alessio, that’s ticklish.” I lifted my head. Her eyes lit up with amusement, and just watching her unguarded delight dispelled some of the heaviness from my soul. “No one can resist a sweet strawberry.” “Yes,” I murmured. “I realize that.” Gianna shook her head. “I can’t smell strawberry. My shampoo is cherry.”
I giggled. “For me, it’s strawberry.” “Sure. If you order cherry to be strawberry, that’s what it will be.” I shushed her with a kiss, not the hard ones summoned by anger. A gentle kiss. She kept her eyes open, not letting me go. “Do you want me near you at night?” “Yes.” “Okay.” No mind games, just a simple okay. I took her in my arms and led her upstairs. “Alessio…”
“Shhh… We’ll talk about it later.” She didn’t argue. The moment I laid her on the bed, she molded her body to mine. Would I ever get tired of her scent and taste?
Later she was lying on top of me, her hands stretched out on her firmness. Her bangs clung to her sweaty forehead. “Now let’s talk,” she said when I had not yet caught my breath. “Gianna…” “You promised me,” she said, and her eyes stopped protesting. “I did.” He waited. For an admission, for my guilty plea. “You’re right. I asked Elijah to test your fidelity.”
Gianna sat down, straddling my stomach. I liked the fact that she was not shy about her body, and I loved admiring her. Her expression made it clear that she was not trying to go for another ride. She wanted the higher position to make her feel more in control. I would give it to her. I grabbed her hips; I needed to touch her. “Testing my loyalty? You told another man to come to me to see if I was willing to cheat.”
Bitterness distorted my thoughts. “I trust no one, not just you.” “I am your wife, Alessio. We have to trust each other. I don’t want us to be strangers living under the same roof. I want this marriage to work, not only for us but also for Simona and Daniele. They need a happy family.” “Happy family,” I repeated. My children had never had a happy family. For a while, Gaia and I had managed to hide our resentment of each other, but in the last two years things had taken a turn for the worse. “I do,” she whispered fiercely, lowering herself until her face rested on mine.
“So do I,” I said. But I was a realist, and in a few years Gianna would be too. “But you don’t believe that.” Looking at Gianna’s hopeful and kind face, I really wanted a happy family. “It’s not a matter of faith.” “It is. If you don’t believe in it, if you don’t work for it, then it won’t become reality.”
I smiled wistfully, wondering if I had ever been so optimistic. “Don’t blame me for being young,” he warned me, his eyes shining with annoyance. “Being positive is not a characteristic of young people. You are a grumpy old man by choice.” A laugh erupted from me. Gianna smiled. Then she became wildly confident. “Alessio, I want to be happy. I want us all to be happy.” “What do you want me to do?” I asked without thinking. Gianna was young. I would not be responsible for her unhappiness, at least not on purpose. I wasn’t sure I had a choice in the matter. With Gaia, I thought I had done everything I could to make her happy. In hindsight, it had not been enough, but I was facing an impossible challenge. “Allow yourself to trust me.”
I ran my palm down her back along the delicate bumps of her spine before cupping her head, pulling her down for a kiss. “I’ll try.” “You could start by telling me what happened with Gaia and why Daniel is acting the way he is.” I shook my head. “That’s the past, and it has nothing to do with us.” Gianna smiled sadly. She knew as well as I did that it had everything to do with us, but the past with Gaia was not something I would share with her. It would have served no purpose except to destroy the bond that was forming between Gianna and me. She was young. Maybe that was why I was willing to try. I didn’t want to be the one to destroy her beauty. “All right.” It wasn’t. Gianna’s body language made that clear. “What else?”