*Olivia*
I paced back and forth in front of the unlit fireplace in our living room-turned-war room. I paused, gnawing on my thumbnail, and looked at the troops we’d gathered.
Gabriele was bent over his cell phone, whispering rapid Italian along the line. At least, I thought it was Italian. With worry clouding my mind, the second language kept slipping through my fingers, and I couldn’t make out a word of his conversation.
Alessandro claid a whole couch for himself and covered it in paperwork and laptops. He leaned over and typed sothing into my laptop, which I’d happily offered up. The school logo and smiling coffee cup stickers on the front seed oddly grisly at the mont.
Dahlia bustled back into the room with another tray of coffee and more potent energy drinks. She didn’t have the sort of connections that let her aid in the search concretely, but she’d turned over her social dia passwords in case she and Elena shared any mutual friends I didn’t, and she’d been ferrying in caffeine non-stop ever since.
I could hardly rember the last ti I’d seen my friend so serious. She paused for just a mont to squeeze my arm as she left.
On the far end of the room, Gio shuffled through all the docunts he and Gabriele had collected over the course of their multiple background checks on Elena. Occasionally, he called out a detail that caused Gabriele or Alessandro to dive deeper into their research. They had plenty of boots on the ground while they were in here digging.
Tears pressed against the backs of my eyes. I felt totally useless. It was my baby out there, and I couldn’t find him to save my life without all these wonderful people around . What kind of mom let soone run away with their child? I hadn’t been able to protect him, but with the help of my friends and Gio’s coworkers, we’d find him. We had to.
Alessandro leaped up suddenly. “Got a lead. Be back.”
He only spared enough ti to grab his phone from the pile before disappearing out the door. Hope and fear warred in my heart. Was it a good lead, or was he chasing any thread in case it offered so clue? I wanted to believe this man, practically my brother, could save the day, but I had a hard ti believing anybody could. My mind kept going to the worse case scenario, that I’d never see my baby.
Gabriele snapped his phone shut. “Three of our best noses are eting for coffee on the other side of town. This seems the sort of problem better explained in person.”
“Go,” Gio snapped.
Gabriele nodded at him, then , and departed as Alessandro had.
Suddenly, Gio and I were alone in the havoc of our living room. There were no sounds but the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner, and tears started to overwhelm again.
All of my worst fears had co true. Every problem I’d predicted with surrogacy, with our relationship. Our baby was gone, and my husband was sitting on the far side of the room.
A strangled sob burst from my lips, and Gio was on his feet in an instant, crossing the room to be at my side. He wrapped his arms around and pressed into his chest.
Distantly, I rembered being angry, but all I wanted was to collapse into his arms. I grabbed his waist and cried.
After a mont, I realized he was shaking. I looked up into his face and found him drawn, his own eyes shining.
“I’m so sorry, carina,” he murmured. “This is all my fault.”
I shook my head and held him tighter. “No, no, no.”
He laughed bitterly. “You warned . You were right. I let it go too far, and now this woman has disappeared with our baby.” His voice cracked on the final word, and I recognized the last hour’s distance for what it was–overwhelming guilt.
I tucked myself in closer to him. “It’s as much my fault. I picked her. I said we should do this. I pushed you, in the beginning, to let her into our lives. I can’t even help, and I’m going to be an awful mother if we ever do find her.”
“Don’t say that.” His voice was thick with unshed tears. “We’re going to find her, and you’re going to be the best mother. Don’t say ‘if.’”
I buried my head in his chest. I couldn’t stop worrying, couldn’t stop thinking about my what-ifs, but I didn’t have to tell him.
“I have half of Italy looking,” he said. “We will find her and the baby, and then I’ll make everything right.”
“That isn’t just your job,” I murmured. “You have to let help.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Yes, carina. I’m sorry, so sorry. I will listen. I will let you help.”
I leaned up closer to him. “And I will stop jumping to conclusions. We have to face this together. Otherwise–” I stifled another sob. “Otherwise I don’t know if I’m getting through this at all.”
Gio lifted off the ground, bringing my face up to his height. I wrapped my legs around his waist, felt the warmth of his body.
“Together,” he repeated. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
He leaned in and kissed , the sort of kiss I’d been missing for weeks. I parted easily under his touch, gasping into his mouth, and he ran a hand delicately through my hair.
“There is nothing to do here,” he said when he pulled back. “And I will drive myself mad with worry without sothing to do.” He was sober now, after all of these hours, and I knew he felt compelled to take action.
I looked into his eyes and found heat in the depths of his blue gaze. I could think of sothing he could do here to keep himself busy. For a mont, I worried. What if sothing happened while we were in bed? What if we missed sothing because we sought comfort in each other?
I shook my head. I had worried myself into this situation. I could not worry my way out.
By way of answer, I claid my husband’s mouth. I felt him begin walking underneath , and the rocking motion ground my center against him. I leaned into the rhythm and let a fire start to build within .
He carried down the short hallway, past our sitting room, and into the bedroom, breaking apart for air only when absolutely necessary. He laid down on the bed, and I marveled at him. He was only barely out of breath, and I knew it was more from the kissing than my weight.
“You’re amazing,” I murmured.
He smiled, but the expression was tinged with doubt. I leaned up on my elbows.
“I an it,” I repeated. “You amaze .”
He averted his gaze, and I sat fully up and put him between my legs. I undid the buttons on his shirt one by one, kissing each inch of exposed skin, before letting go of the sides and allowing it to fall open.
“Just look at you,” I said, following my own instructions happily.
He took my mouth with another kiss.
“What about you?” he asked.
He reached behind and untied the knot of the halter-neck dress I was wearing. The fabric dropped away, exposing my braless chest.
He took each of my breasts in his hands and ran his thumbs over my nipples reverently. “I could look at you forever.”
I t his gaze. “I love you.”
He smiled. “I love you.” It was nice to hear him say that after I’d posed the question before only to have him leave the room.
I scooted back on the bed, pulling off the rest of the dress and leaving in just a pair of plain cotton panties. Despite their plainness, Gio looked at like I’d just shown him the most delicious dessert.
I leaned back on the pillows of the bed one of us had slept alone in too often recently and beckoned him forward.
He shucked his shirt and jacket, then undid his belt and shoved his pants down before climbing into bed with . I watched the display, however efficient and utilitarian, with reverent eyes. I loved seeing him stripped out of the suit, no longer a mafia Don but just a man–a man who loved , and who was going to turn the world upside down until we got our baby back.
He leaned over on both arms, and I stroked a finger down his chest. He shivered at the contact, and I grinned.
I pulled my hand off his chest and booped him on the nose. He pressed his lips to my finger sweetly, and I lingered in the mont. My beautiful husband, rolling with the punches of my silliness with love shining in his eyes.
Then, he opened his mouth and licked a stripe up my finger with his talented tongue while eting my eyes. I bit my lip and swallowed as I felt my underwear begin to soak through, but I didn’t move my finger.
With a small smile, he leaned forward and took my whole finger in his mouth. The wetness and warmth nearly overwheld , and I gasped. He licked around the digit with the sa talent and easy grace as I had felt so often between my legs, then bobbed up and down a few tis in an imitation of fellatio.
His gaze never left mine, and I felt like I was drowning in his eyes. Like I was in a dream, I pressed another finger against his lips, and he accepted it with the first. He was barely touching , and already I could feel my first orgasm building.
After a few monts, he released my fingers with a wet pop and rolled to the side, off .
I gaped at him blankly.
“I want to watch you touch yourself,” he said, his voice rough. “Use those fingers, please.”
I swallowed heavily. I felt holy under his gaze, and I would do anything he asked in that mont. I stripped off my underwear with my other hand and lay bare before him.
He leaned up on an elbow for a better view and nodded.
I trailed my soaking fingers around my nipple and arced up into the touch in surprise. Usually, I didn’t like touching my own breasts much, but his saliva made the feeling electric. My fingers glided across my skin, and I teased my nipple to a point.
Gio panted, and I looked up at him. He gazed remained with my hand, hot and intense, and I trailed the hand down to my pubic hair while I watched his face. His pupils widened, and his eyes beca half-slitted.
I dipped my fingers between my own lips with a soft moan. His gaze rocketed to my face, and he t my eyes for a mont. The air humd between us, thick with tension, and I almost could have cum on the spot. I swiped my fingers across my clit, and his na escaped my lips on a gasp.
He groaned and pald himself through his boxers. I realized, even with his mouth, I didn’t want to co without him.
I circled my clit again.
“Help , please,” I begged.
He furrowed his eyebrows, and I grabbed the hand over his cock and positioned it at my entrance.
“I’ll touch myself. Please watch. But,” I moaned as he stroked up my slit, wetting his fingers, “I’ve missed you for too long.”
His mouth fell open, and he fucked into with two fingers as I rubbed my clit in increasingly frantic circles. Moans dropped from my lips, wanton and desperate. He fucked in ti with my hands on my clit, and I t his gaze once more.
His eyes burned into , and my orgasm swept over . I spasd around his fingers and nearly blacked out from the pleasure.
I scrabbled at the waistband of his boxers as I ca down. “Need you inside , please, please.”
Without a mont’s hesitation, Gio stripped off his underwear and rolled back on top of . He positioned himself with practiced ease and sank into before the final ebbs of my first orgasm faded away.
He groaned, and I choked on a moan that almost beca a scream. I’d missed this feeling, his bulk over , his cock inside . I never felt more complete.
As opposed to the frantic pace of my fingers, he fucked slowly. He balanced on one arm and toyed with the breast I’d teased to attention with the other. My brain lted into a haze of pleasure. I thrust with him, arced into his touch, anything to get more of him as he kept the pace molasses-slow.
He smiled down at , sowhere between teasing and loving, and I almost scread at him to speed up. Even at this pace, I could feel a second orgasm on the horizon. I wanted to co around him desperately.
I grabbed his hips and tried to force him into , deeper, harder, faster. I knew he could resist my weak grasp, but he indulged, eting my hips loudly.
I moaned and dug my nails in, dragging him inside . He trailed a finger over my nipple and whispered, “Almost, carina. Just wait for .”
I groaned in disappointnt and tried to stave off my own encroaching orgasm as he picked up speed. I wound a hand in his hair and pulled. He hissed with pleasure and picked up the pace. I leaned forward to flick my tongue across his nipple, and his breathing hitched.
After a mont of attention, his thrusts grew uneven, and I knew he was close.
“Co with ,” I begged.
He pressed his lips to mine and jerked with release. I tumbled over the edge after him as he filled .
He rolled off as we both caught our breaths. I grabbed his hand in the quiet and squeezed. We could face this together.
On the floor next to the bed, in his pants, Gio’s phone rang.
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