Page 37 of The Hottest Daddy
River drew her close. “Listen … we talked about going away. Why don’t we just go? Before Berry starts school again, before the summer and everyone is taking their vacation?”
She leaned into his solid, muscular body. “Let’s do it.”
“Italy?”
She loved the hope and the excitement in his eyes.
“I would love that, so much, baby. I want to see where you call home.”
So, after a few days of organization, the three of them flew to Italy. River’s villa was just outside Siena and they drove through the hills, Berry exclaimed excitedly at the lines of cypress trees and the secluded, rustic villas. River drove up a small hill to his own villa and as he glanced at Sunday to see her reaction, he saw that her eyes were full of tears. She smiled back at him. “It’s so beautiful, darling.”
He followed Sunday and Berry as they explored the villa, its white painted rooms, cool tiled floors, and comfortable furniture. “I have someone who does the housekeeping for me, and a gardener, but I love to come here and just be alone. Now I have a family to bring here.” He smiled at Sunday and went to open the shutters on the windows of the main room, a large open- plan living space which opened out on one side onto a veranda overlooking the valley.
Berry exclaimed with excitement at the sight of the pool. “Hey, shall we all get changed and take a dip? I could do with a cooldown,” River asked his daughter, who nodded eagerly. He raised his eyebrows at Sunday, who grinned.
“Let’s do it.”
River and Berry beat Sunday out to the pool and when she finally emerged, she saw the admiration in River’s eyes as she walked down to the pool, her already caramel skin glowing in the white bikini.
“Wow,” River said, and Sunday grinned at his obvious lust. She stepped into the water and swam over to him. Berry was sitting in an inflatable ring, singing to herself, and Sunday snickered mischievously as she surreptitiously cupped River’s cock through his swim shorts.
He groaned as his cock reacted immediately and Sunday swam away from him, giggling. “You’ll pay for that later, woman.”
They played games with Berry in the pool, Sunday and her ganging up against River until he complained, laughing. Later, Sunday and River cooked a simple meal of roast chicken and they all sat out on the veranda as dusk settled over the valley.
After Sunday had put a sleeping Berry to bed, she came back out to find River opening a bottle of wine for them. He offered her his hand and she took it, sitting on his lap, and he drew her close. They sat in companionable silence for a while, and Sunday saw him gazing out at the scenery, eyes slightly squinted, and knew what he was testing.
“Baby?”
He sighed, nodding. “Yes. The colors are different to how I remember them. It’s like I’ve spilled water onto paint and the color saturation is faded. Damn it.”
Sunday covered his eyes with her hand. “Close them,” she ordered, and he obeyed. “Now, River Giotto, you know what, say, Hooker’s Green looks like. See it in your mind.”
She waited until he nodded. “Now open your eyes and look at that cypress tree at the edge of your property. See it with that hue you can see in your mind’s eye. See it.”
River concentrated and she could see he was struggling. “Baby, remember how you first learned to draw. See it now as how you’ve been taught it looks, but rather how your imagination sees it. Light and shade. See the hue.”
She watched as his bright green eyes focused and unfocused as he tried to see it her way. “Any luck?”
There was a faint smile on his face. “Almost, and I can see where you’re going. It’ll take practice.”
“Anything worth doing will. This is the reality: you have a condition for which there is no cure. So we’ll have to learn to see the world differently. Your art will evolve, perhaps not in the way you had foreseen it, but it will evolve. It’s part of you.”
River was looking at her, his eyes intense, and he crushed his lips against hers as she finished speaking. “We,” he said with feeling, “you said we will have to see the world differently. God, Sunday Kemp, have you any idea how much I love you?”
She clung to him. “Show me.”
He lowered her down to the cool tile of the veranda, covering her body with his. He stroked the hair away from her face. “You look even more beautiful in a Tuscan sunset.”
Sunday grinned at him. “Coming from anyone else, that would be cheesy, but from you … I’ll take it.”
River chuckled. “Good.” He kissed her lips then trailed his lips along her jawline and her throat as he unbuttoned her dress. She had decided against wearing a bra in the heat of the Tuscan summer and River sucked on her nipples until they were rock hard and Sunday felt an urgent wet heat between her legs.
“I want you inside,” she whispered and he smiled at her.
“You want me inside?”
“Yes …”
