Page 89 of Isle of Beauty

Andrea and Giulia are here, Giulia looking at her cousin while Andrea only has eyes for her. His brother Nico is there too, silent as ever and eyes riveted to the twins as if he’s never seen such phenomenon before.

One seat is left next to Julian for the one we love who’s missing today. My brother is completely consumed with the search for his husband. We won’t stop until he’s back with us.

The May sun is high above us, the Mediterranean Sea on the other side of the cliff shining with thousands of silver flecks of light.

We waited until the events of the summer died down. I didn’t need Lana to tell me how shaken she’d been after her abduction, I could see it all over her body and hardened face.

I had failed at protecting her. Worse, I had brought pain and trouble to her doorstep and we both needed time to recover and start building our relationship on a solid foundation. I needed time to grieve for my uncle, even if I had been the one to end him, and for my mother and what her half-truths did to me.

Lana is actually the one helping me realise both can coexist, and I don’t have to do anything to squander my feelings. I can let them exist.

Her strength is what drew me to her all these years ago, and what I admire most to this day.

She insisted on getting back to work soon after we landed back on Kalliste and acted like nothing happened. Everyone on the outside, even Giulia, would think she is the most resilient person they know. And even though that’s true, she ended up sleeping only a few hours at a time, crying herself to sleep most nights, terrified and plagued by nightmares.

I’ve never felt more powerless than I did those nights where the only comfort I could offer was the heat of my arms around her. It broke my heart that she accepted them, that she accepted me and who I’d become for her, without a single thought.

A couple of weeks after that, she started therapy and her sleep has improved.

Now I’m waiting in my three piece suit, agitated by her delay. I know she wants this as much as I do but when I can’t see her, it gets me antsy.

When I see her silhouette descending the few steps from the manor to the garden, clutching her bouquet in one hand, the other wrapped around the elbow of her father, my heart skips a beat. I almost feel faint. She’s so beautiful and she looks at me like I’m the answer to all her doubts.

She’s wearing a beautiful dress encrusted with dark green gems and with green in the skirt as well, just like she was that first night, just like she was when she promised herself to me. Her hair is shorter now, cut shoulder-length in a neat bob.

When she gets closer to me, the sun reflects and shimmers in her dark green eyes, giving them an ethereal quality. I barely register her father tapping my shoulder, and putting her hand in mine.

I don’t wait, gliding my hands on the tulle of her dress and coming to her naked back to press her to me. I dip my head to take her lips with mine. Her arms wrap around my neck to pull me in further, her tongue sliding against mine in an unhurried rhythm, like we have all the time on Earth.

The crowd’s chuckles reach my ears but I don’t care. The only thing that matters is that she’s here in my arms, about to become mine not just in thought, our skin touching, our hearts beating in sync.

The officiant clears her throat and we break apart, our foreheads resting against each other, eyes closed, breathing each other in. I can smell the salt of the sea in the air, the spring blossoms from the tangerine trees, and her.

My throat clogs, silver lines my eyes when I open them to look at her. I don’t have the words. She’s grinning widely, misty eyes full of love and acceptance solely set on me. We might be in front of dozens of people, but we’re alone when we look into each others’ eyes.

“You’re gonna ruin my makeup, pinzutu” she says, dabbing at the corner of her eyelids with a white silky handkerchief that she probably hid in her bouquet.

I laugh, loud and unbridled. The derogatory term grew on me since she’s the one using it. Besides, I upended my entire life to come here and be with her. My original plan was always to keep her but also, to go back to London. Now I can’t see my life anywhere else other than on this wild island that brought me so much.

“Let’s get this over with” I order the officiant, earning another round of laughter from the crowd. I’m eager to be married to Lana. I’ve been calling her my wife for months now but the simple band of platinum she pushed onto my ring finger makes it a reality. Finally.

I’m searching for my wife, who disappeared fifteen minutes ago and is nowhere to be found. Walking through the hall of the Moretti villa, I make my way to the staircase when a hand reaches for me and pulls me into the bathroom. I've been on high alert ever since Lana’s abduction so my body tenses up. I don’t have time to react as a mouth latches onto mine, my wife’s hot body pressing closer as if she could burrow below my very skin.

I hear the telltale click of the latch and reach both hands down to squeeze her full ass before bending and lifting her up. Her long legs drape around me on instinct, her ankles crossed at my lower back. I make my way to the sink and deposit her on it, wasting no time to caress her thighs and bunching her dress up around her waist.

“If you tear my dress, I’ll kill you” she says breathlessly on my lips.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, wife.”

I smile before kissing her jaw, and going down the slope of her neck to her collarbone. I remove the knot around her neck with one pull of one end, the top of her dress falling open to reveal her naked breasts.

Her nipples are pebbled and ready for my tongue. I latch onto one, licking, sucking and grazing it with my teeth, my fingers flicking the other one relentlessly.

“Lisandru,” Lana cries out, eyes closed and head back, already lost to the burning lust between us. It’s as if we’re doing this all for the first time again, her taste on my tongue a drug I never want to be free of, my thirst for her too great and insatiable.

“Tell me what you want, baby.”

“I want my husband to make me come on his tongue and then fuck me in my wedding dress.”

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