Page 20 of Capuleto

After a gentle splash, my husband positioned himself behind me, insisting that I lean back against his body.

He hugged me and traced the side of my neck with his nose.

"I'm sorry for not being there, forgive me, amore." His apologies caught me off guard.

"Not being there?"

"You were kidnapped because of me, I wasn't cautious enough and you paid the price." It hurt me to hear him talk like that.

"That's not true. Those people knew what they were doing. They would have managed one way or another. You can't blame yourself for that."

"That’s easy to say," he murmured, gently kissing my neck. The skin on my arms prickled.

"You have to. I don't blame you, don't blame yourself." I caressed his cheek, which bore a slightly thicker beard than usual. It was clear he had neglected it over the week.

If I had looked closer earlier, I would have noticed he looked more worn and bore signs of all the worry he had been carrying.

"Relax," he urged. I hadn't even realized his words had tensed me up. "We'll talk more about what happened later. Right now, I just want you to feel good."

He took the sponge and gently squeezed it over my head. Streams of water moistened my hair. A sigh of pleasure escaped my lips when he filled it with the same soap he had poured into the bath and worked up a lather.

"God, you're beautiful," he murmured, lathering my skin. My eyes closed, allowing me to luxuriate in each caress. "Absolutely perfect," he whispered, reaching the breasts that emerged above the water. "I thought I was going crazy in your absence."

"And here I was thinking it was my presence that drove you mad..." I teased.

"Those are two different kinds of madness," he admitted, immersed in his attentions.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when you're by my side, I'm breathless. It might sound cliché, but I didn't feel the same with others as I do with you."

His response pleased me far more than I was willing to admit. I tilted my head back and arched my back to give him a broader view of what his touch was eliciting in me.

My breasts were firm, and my nipples demanded his attention. His masculine hand descended, invited by mine, towards the split of my thighs, which parted in search of an immersion between them.

"And when I'm not around, what happens?" I asked expectantly.

"Then I'm missing life." The sponge reached my groin, and I gasped. I raised my right arm and searched for his nape. I clung to it while I washed myself with my left hand, synchronizing the movement. I trembled, eager for him never to stop. For my senses to be dulled enough to drown them in desire and lavender. "You drive me absolutely crazy, Nikita. You have no idea what went through my head when I saw you lying there. I can't stop thinking about what would have happened if I had arrived a minute later. I..." his voice was cut off by mine.

"Shhh," I silenced him, "what matters is that you arrived. Like you said earlier, let's leave that topic for later. I'm here, now, with you, that's all that matters." I didn't like seeing how troubled he was. Knowing his state was the result of something neither he nor I had planned was maddening. What had Romeo done to deserve this except being born into the wrong family?

My mind was playing tricks on me. I couldn't think like that. I couldn't, damn it!

"Kiss me," I demanded. His gaze was still distant, but his face lowered and captured my lips with a sweetness I didn't feel I deserved.

I snatched the sponge from his hand and urged him to touch me with his fingers.

"Honey, you don't need to. I just wanted to take care of you."

"And you are," I murmured against his mouth. I wanted to forget everything that was happening, and the only formula that had ever worked was making love with Romeo. When I was intimate with him, everything else vanished. "Keep touching me, don't stop. I need you like this." I pushed his fingers deeper and sighed. "Show me how much you've missed me and kiss me the way you need to, not as if I were thirteen."

He did, igniting me like a match that turned into a bonfire.

I moaned unrestrained, deepening the kiss that twined our tongues. While his fingers penetrated me and his erection pressed into the roundness of my backside.

There was no worse drug than what Romeo triggered in my body, capable of sweeping away the side effects of the opium, making me an addict to his skin, his kisses, his touch.

I turned around, his fingers weren’t enough. I had to feel him completely. The water threatened to spill over with the abruptness of my movement. I didn’t care. Fortunately, the bathtub was large enough to accommodate both of us.

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