Page 49 of The Don

“You can’t just leave for good.”

“Bella,” he whispers, wincing as he sits up, pulling me against his body.

“Be careful,” I groan, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, so I can bounce on his dick.

“I don’t care,” he says. “You can hurt me all you want.”

That sentence pulls a quick, back-bowing orgasm from me without delay. Salvatore palms my ass cheeks with both hands to keep me moving up and down the length of his shaft while I come.

“I’m almost fifty years old, bella. I’ve lived here for so many years without you. That’s more than long enough.”

I don’t know what my life with Salvatore will be like in the future, but I imagine that it could just be like this. Us seeking pleasure in each other’s arms while we learn how to be gentle and open with one another.

And this morning, I learn that it’s possible for an orgasm to start before the previous one fully ends.

“I love you,” I scream, loud enough for whoever’s stationed at the door to hear.

“I love you,” he whispers before taking my mouth and grunting his own release as his hips piston into mine.

* * *

“What would you like to do today?”

I’m shoving the last of some flaky, not-too-sweet pastry into my mouth. I give Salvatore my widest quizzical gaze as I chew the last of my breakfast.

He chuckles softly and takes a sip of his espresso.

“Whatever you want to do,” I tell him, covering my mouth. “WhatshouldI do here? I never even dreamed of coming to Palermo.”

He takes a contemplative sip of coffee. His eyes go soft. He scratches at his beard. “I don’t know.” Those three words seem to distress him. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen him look at an actual loss for words, and it endears him to me. I wonder if this is what our child will look like, all pursed mouth and bunched bushy eyebrows.

God, I hope so.

“How do you have a house here, but you don’t know any tourist attractions at least?” I ask the question playfully, but the look on his face makes my heart break, like shatter into a million pieces, dust.

“I don’t come here often. Actually, this is the longest I’ve ever been here.”

“Why?” I gasp at the same time I begin to reach for the half-eaten pastry on his plate.

He wasn’t going to finish it anyway. Probably.

Anyway, it’s gone before he even has an answer to my question.

“Years ago, this apartment was my dream.”

“That’s not a bad dream.”

He smiles sadly and takes another sip of his coffee. “It was also a good investment.”

I nod like I know what the fuck that’s like. I’mbroke-broke, and I own even less than I did when he and I met.

“Although in the end, it was just one more thing I bought that I never really had the opportunity to enjoy.”

“But why? Aren’t you the boss? Isn’t that the point of being the head of like…whatever it is you’re doing?”

I know he’s much older than me, but I see the years between us in a new way right now. His eyes are rimmed red with exhaustion, and our age gap feels at least twice as big as it really is.

“I chose this, bella,” he says gravely. “This is who I am. When I started traveling down this path, I knew getting to the top of the ladder wouldn’t be easy, but I did imagine it would be the end. I thought it would give me the kind of freedom I always craved.”

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