Married To The Mafia...?

Ethan winced and pulled back as I dabbed antiseptic against the graze, his eyes squeezed together and breath hissed through clenched teeth. I stopped for a mere second and his eyes looked up at me puzzled, the pools of green showing a mix of emotion.

“I- I’m sorry.” I bit down on the plump of my bottom lip and reverted my gaze back to the bullet injury my own hands had inflicted. Gently I touched the angry red mark, my hands softly gliding over his shoulder, the warmth of his skin radiating through my fingertips.

“Amelia-” His voice was low, husky in the silent air surrounding us and it’s sound made me weaken. “If I could take it all back I would.”

My breathing stopped, my fingers paused over the warmth of his shoulder, my stomach rotating with nerves. I didn’t know if I could handle hearing his words, I didn’t know if I wanted to let them spill from his lips, I didn’t know if I was ready for the truth.

“I wasn’t lying when I said I did it all to protect you. I thought if I were dead this whole thing would stop. Mason would drop the chase and everyone would just leave you alone. On our wedding day your father made me promise to watch over you, to make sure you were always safe and so far I’ve done a shit job. I let Mason think he’d killed me in the desert thinking that would be enough-”

“He didn’t think you were dead. He knew you were alive, he didn’t stop.”

“I know.” He shifted slightly so I could look him in the eye, the only thing was just because I could didn’t mean I would. “I flew to Italy and stayed hidden out with Louis. I had a few informants sending information back and forth so I knew exactly what was going on. I contacted my father and told him to sell his half of the hotel, I originally sold them to him when I first thought up this plan. When I heard you’d shot Mason I knew I had to come back, that things were getting out of hand and that nothing had happened the way I thought it would.”

“I can’t be the only reason why you pretended to be dead.” My voice was weak, the facts pooling into my head still didn’t quite add up.

“No. You weren’t. There’s a lot of underground things going on, a lot of little families popping up, a lot of challengers to my father. I posed for a while in Italy as someone else and it’s a lot worse than we first thought.”

“I can’t do this anymore.” It was barely a whisper, but I knew he’d heard, my fingertips once again running over the smooth heat of his tanned skin.

“Do what?” I heard the rise of panic in his voice and regretted my choice of words.

“This Ethan. I can’t handle being terrified that people are watching. I can’t worry every time you leave the house because there’s a target over your head. I can’t handle losing you.” Tears pooled in the blues of my eyes, their focus remaining on the skin beneath my fingers.
“I only thought about protecting you, I didn’t think about how much I would hurt you in return.”

“You did Ethan. You have absolutely no idea how much it hurt thinking you were dead. Thinking that somebody killed you and that you weren’t ever coming home.” The first tear fell rapidly and perfectly down my cheek. It broke the seal to the rest of them, cascading like rain.

“I’m sorry.” His lips brushed against mine, just lightly enough to feel the elated rise of anticipation in my blood stream.

Than pulled away just long enough for his eyes to cast down to mine, my vision burning through the blur of tears, my fingers just skimming from his shoulder, to his throat and landing softly upon his left cheek, the stubble rough and skin smooth in familiar contrast.

It had been months since I’d laid a hand upon him, since I’d manage to feel the familiarity of his skin, since he was within arms distance. Gently I pulled at his neck, his face instinctively etching closer until out lips touch, dancing along one another perfectly.

Lust filled my body, my hands tightening, touching, roaming. I needed desperately for his to hold me close, for our bodies to radiate heat, for his heart to beat in time with mine. I didn’t protest when my back lay against the carpet floors, when his hands roamed the underside of my bra. I didn’t stop him as Ethan’s body hovered over mine instead coiling my legs about his waist. Skin to skin, body to body I allowed passion to burn within my senses, to take complete control of my entire body. There was nothing that I needed more than my husband, no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise.