My Saving Grace

"Sophia, do you know what day it is?"

"What day is it, Mommy?"

"It's Daddy's birthday! He's turning thirty-two. Do you wanna help me surprise him?"

"Yes!", I exclaimed with a huge smile, flashing my missing two front teeth.

"Perfect! We'll let your brother and Dad sleep in. I'm gonna bake my signature chocolate mousse cake—it's his favorite." She was smiling radiantly, her cheeks glowing.

My mommy was the prettiest person I'd ever seen. And she loved Nick and me very much. No wonder Dad picked her to be our mom and not some ugly witch lady.

"Can you run upstairs and grab my phone for me, dear? I'm going to get started on the cake."

"Yup!"

I ran to the stairs, and remembering that Daddy and Nick were still sleeping, began to tiptoe quietly up the steps.

"This house is humongous, you don't have to worry about waking them up." I heard the laughter in my mom's voice.

"Okay!"

I snuck into Mommy and Daddy's room, careful not to wake Daddy up from his sleep. He'd had a long day yesterday. Grabbing Mommy's phone from the dresser, I quietly left, shutting the door behind me.

"I have your phone, Mommy!", I announced, skipping back into the kitchen.

Only to find Mommy lying on the ground, unmoving.

"No!!!", I wailed, dropping the phone and running to her side.

"Sophia. Sweetheart, wake up," a voice called, ringing in my ear.

I felt someone shaking my shoulders and immediately, my eyes flew open. I reached a hand up to my cheek, feeling moisture there.

"Wh-what happened?"

"You had a nightmare, I think. I just woke up and felt you thrashing around." Antonio's dark eyes were filled with concern.

"I...I dreamt of my mom. It was a memory I had of helping her surprise Dad for his birthday. But it ended with that god awful scene..." My words trailed off as I remembered the fateful moment in the kitchen that had turned my childhood upside down.

Strong arms wrapped around me, and I focused on the steady sound of my husband's heartbeat.

"It's okay. I'm right here," he murmured.

"I haven't dreamt about her in so long. Our wedding must've triggered old memories because the majority of the time, I thought about her."

"That makes sense."

I nodded slowly.

We lay there in companionable silence for a few moments, letting the remnants of my nightmare fade away.

"So, you mentioned yesterday that you wanted to watch the sunrise while swimming in the beach," Antonio spoke, tracing my back with his long fingers.

"I did, yes."

"Well, according to the clock, we have about fifteen minutes left until sunrise."

"Shit, we gotta hurry then!"

I detangled my body from his and scrambled out of bed, grabbing my bikini which I'd left to dry on the balcony outside. Today was our last day in Hawaii, and I wanted to make the most of it. We'd been staying at the Moana Surfrider hotel on Waikiki Beach, the oldest hotel in the area. There were rumors about it being haunted, but I didn't care.

Besides, the hotel was absolutely stunning, with views to die for. The lobby area was completely open, allowing the ocean breeze to constantly pass through. Our breakfasts were served underneath the canopy of a banyan tree at the veranda, along with afternoon tea.

Since arriving in Oahu, neither of us had had to drive. Everything on Kalakaua Avenue—the shops, clubs, and restaurants—was within walking distance of each other. We'd only taken an Uber twice to get to Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head. At Pearl Harbor, I'd bawled my eyes out when they played the documentary detailing the events of that historic day.

And of course, I'd thought about the movie, which led to me crying over how much I missed my mom.

Thankfully, the day we'd spent hiking at Diamond Head had been a fun one. We left early in the morning and reached the lookout point by eleven. From the top, you could see the entire expanse of Honolulu and all of the hotels along the beach along with the vast, deep blue ocean.

People weren't kidding when they called Hawaii paradise. It truly was.

The beach area behind our hotel was empty when we arrived, with the exception of two other young couples. Antonio and I slowly immersed ourselves in the water, and I let out a squeal when I felt his hand squeeze my ass.

"Would you behave for once in your life?"

"Nope. I married this ass, I can do whatever I want with it," he said with a smug look.

"Would you fuck it?" I waggled my eyebrows.

"Now that's an idea." His eyes darkened with lust as he snaked an arm around my waist. "But only when you're ready," he whispered in my ear.

"Sounds good," I said breathily.

We both looked into the distance where the sky and water met, watching as the sun slowly rose, its rays reflecting off of the water and giving it a reddish-orange tint.

"Beautiful, huh?" Antonio remarked.

I nodded in appreciation.

"I don't ever wanna leave this island."

"Me neither, baby." He sighed, resting his chin on my head. "I'm gonna miss having you all to myself for the entire day."

"You still have me for the rest of your life, Antonio," I reminded with a sultry voice, turning in his arm to lightly trace his broad, tan chest with my fingertip.

He growled.

"I'm having you the minute we get back to our hotel room."

"Let's go back. Now," I breathed.

"As you wish." He smirked, grabbing my hand as we grabbed our belongings and ran the short distance back to the hotel.

The moment we made it through the door, Antonio yanked my beach towel off of me then his deft hands worked to untie my bikini top, freeing my aching breasts.

"Nice tan lines," he commented, running a finger between my cleavage.

I blushed.

He leaned down to kiss me, the droplets of water in his hair trickling down my neck as he rolled my hardened nipples between his thumb and forefinger, I groaned into his mouth, pushing my chest forward.

I tilted my head, clutching his powerful biceps when his lips brushed over my jaw and throat. At the feel of them on my breast, my pulse quickened, and I moaned in pleasure as he drew my left nipple into his mouth, sucking with just the right amount of pressure.

"God, I can never get enough of your tits," he rasped, picking me up in his arms before walking over to the bed.

My body hit the soft, silk sheets, and he hovered over me, raining kisses all over my stomach and thighs as he slowly inched my bikini bottom down my legs. I was panting with the anticipation of what his sexy mouth could do to my throbbing pussy.

As soon as it was off, he tossed it to the ground, but to my disappointment, he moved to lie down next to me on his back.

"Wh-what are you doing?", I asked.

"Getting ready to eat your wet pussy for breakfast. Now come sit on my face, baby." His voice was laced with desire, and I nearly came just from hearing those words.

"You are so dirty, Professor." I moved to straddle his waist, feeling his thick erection against my ass.

"You have no idea." He grinned wickedly, intertwining my hands with his as he pulled me towards him until my knees were on either side of his shoulders.

"How's the view?", I asked boldly.

He chuckled deeply.

"Fucking delicious," he replied before proceeding to eat his 'breakfast.'

This honeymoon just kept getting better and better.

***

"You cook a mean steak, Antonio," Peter praised, cutting off another generous piece of the juicy ribeye on his plate.

"Thanks. Do you know how to cook?", Antonio asked.

"Only the basics. I have yet to cook dinner for Ella." He gazed at his girlfriend lovingly.

"Indeed you do. Sophia, you are one lucky girl."

"Eh, he's alright," I said with a shrug, glancing at my husband.

He shot me daggers with his eyes, and I snickered.

It was a Saturday night in September, and Antonio and I had invited Ella and Peter over for dinner. He'd cooked everything while I'd baked a cherry pie for dessert. Our house was now fully furnished, with all of the decorations in place. It was absolutely beautiful and everything I'd envisioned my dream home to be.

I leaned forward, bringing my hand up to cover the side of my mouth.

"He's actually a total control freak," I whispered to Ella.

"I heard that, mia bella." Antonio's tone was reprimanding.

"Whoops."

He chuckled in amusement.

It had been during the past two months spent decorating the house that I discovered Antonio was indeed a bit of a control freak. He'd already had extravagant ideas for what the theme for each of the rooms should be and wanted to adhere to them. Of course, he ran them by with me, and I pitched in my own ideas as well. We had very similar tastes in color schemes and preferred contemporary furnishings, so there wasn't much disagreement there.

However, at the home decor shops, we'd spent countless hours simply trying to find the "perfect" this or that. I'd told Antonio it was fine, if for example, the lamp for the living room wasn't the exact shade that he'd envisioned to go with the rug for the coffee table. Things like that.

Overall, though, it'd been a blissful two months, the process of turning this house into a home alongside the man I loved. Sure, his planning had been a little bit over the top but that innate skill of his was what made him so successful in his career. In college, I'd appreciated instructors who came to class prepared, not so much the ones who had no idea what the heck they were doing.

"Who has room for dessert?", I asked once everyone finished their food.

"Hell yeah, I do," Peter said with a grin.

"Same here," Ella joined.

I turned to Antonio.

"What kind of dessert are we talking about?", he drawled, a glinting smirk on his face.

"Lord help me," I muttered under my breath as Ella giggled. Peter full on laughed.

I stood up to grab the pie from the oven then cut it into slices, making sure to give Antonio the smallest one possible.

"I'm not on a diet, you know," he grumbled, gazing at the rest of our plates with longing when I set his in front of him.

"I know, sweetie. It's punishment for having your head in the gutter 24/7." I gave him the fakest smile I could muster.

"You two need to have your own show," Peter commented with a laugh.

"I agree." Ella was smiling so wide, her face looked like it would split in half any minute.

Antonio shook his head, his eyes gleaming with mirth before taking a bite of the pie.

"How is it?", I asked.

"My sister bakes better pies, and she has no sense of taste," he replied with a straight face.

"Damn, that's impressive," Peter said.

"Peter...Antonio doesn't even have a sister," Ella spoke.

"Oh yeah..." He gave me a lopsided grin, and all four of us burst out laughing.

When dinner was all over, Antonio cleared the dishes as I started the sink. Ella had offered to help, but I'd declined, telling her and Peter to turn on the TV since the football game was on. We'd all planned on watching it.

Antonio leaned against the counter, watching me as he nursed a beer.

"For the record, mia bella, your cherry pie was heavenly. Wish you'd given me a bigger slice, though."

I smiled, glancing up at him.

"Thanks. My great-grandma taught me her recipe when I was younger. And that last piece is all yours."

"Good."

He leaned down to plant a chaste kiss on my lips then went to join Peter and Ella in the living room.

I watched his retreating back and sighed with content. Ella was right—I was one lucky girl.