Italian Rhapsody Ch. 04

She shuddered and physically recoiled from the images she described. Daniel's eyes were murderous and his jaw was so tight the muscles bulged. Her first instinct was to flee, and she fought it with everything she had. She made herself sit there and face him. She had to do this. She had to face it. It wasn't going away no matter how hard she wished it.

"Don't let me run from this," she cried. "It's what I'll do. I don't want to run when things go bad. Don't let me run from this."

He stroked her hair with his hand and gently kissed the top of her head. "If you run, I'll just come after you and bring you right back to me."

She let out another sob, nearly choking on it in an effort to prevent it from escaping.

"Why do you even want to be with me now?" she asked. "I'm damaged goods. I'm scarred."

"I could say the same thing, sweetie. Why do you even want to be with me, Roxie? I'm damaged goods and I'm scarred.

She reached for him, hugging him tightly to her lush form. He hugged her just as tightly, his arms like steel bands around her body.

"It's going to be okay, Roxie," he whispered in her ear. "I'm not going anywhere and we'll get through this together."

She closed her eyes, savoring the promise. It was the only tangible thing to hold on to when so much else was steeped in darkness and evil. She couldn't trust herself, her state of mind. But she could trust Daniel. He wouldn't let her go.

Daniel paced the bedroom floor, wondering for the umpteenth time if he'd made a big mistake. It had been presumptuous of him to barge ahead and follow through with his idea, and now he was having serious doubts. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Roxie and have her run like she said she would.

He let out a huge breath and ran a hand through his long hair. Damn it but he'd blown it big. He damn well knew that he shouldn't have made a move so soon after her abuse and rape, and her rescue from captivity.

And the very fact that she seemed to be handling it so well should have been a huge warning sign. She'd tried to deny that those bastards had hurt her. She'd shoved everything back, refusing to face it because that's what she had to do in order to cope.

He felt like a total jerk. She'd fallen completely apart. He'd ended up holding her until she'd drifted off to sleep, and he'd made damn sure he got up before her so she wouldn't feel any awkwardness when she woke up.

To take his mind off Roxie, he busied himself making breakfast. He was going to bring her breakfast in bed and make darn sure that there was no awkwardness between them or that, heaven forbid, she'd try and apologize again.

He put the pancake on a plate, plus three stripes of bacon and two eggs off the skillet and then put them beside the pancake. After grabbing a squeeze bottle of honey from the pantry, he arranged everything on a tray and started for the bedroom.

Roxie was still asleep when he entered the room. The satisfaction of seeing her asleep in the bed, her head on the pillow, was overwhelming. She looked like she belonged there. Belonged to him.

Daniel lowered himself to the edge of the bed, tray across his lap, and he softly called her name. "Roxie. Wake up, belladonna. I have breakfast for you."

She stirred and mumbled something in her sleep, turning onto her back.

"Roxie, wake up," he said again.

Her eyelids fluttered, revealing her beautiful eyes. She looked confused, as if she were trying to gather her thoughts. He knew the moment she remembered everything that had happened. Her lips turned down in a frown and shame darkened her eyes.

"Sweetie, I brought you breakfast," he said, determined not to allow her to feel even a moment's awkwardness.

She slowly pushed herself upward. She grabbed one of the pillows and put it behind her back so she was propped up, and then he placed the tray over her lap.

"It smells good," she said with a weak smile.

"Dig in. I already ate, but I'll keep you company while you enjoy."

She glanced at him then focused on the food in front of her. Then she started eating.

"Thank you," she said. "It was very sweet of you to do this for me." She sat the tray aside.

Daniel cursed under his breath. He couldn't help it. He wanted her. It took all his strength not to haul her into his arms and make love to her. He knew she wanted to. He wanted to replace her bad memories with good ones. If he took her in his arms now, would she freak out again?

"Get dressed while I clean up," he said. "Soon we'll be on our way home. Our ride will be here soon."

When she smiled, he relaxed. Warmth spread through his chest. If this is what it felt like to be in love, he didn't mind it after all. Thank God for Roxie. As sure as she was sitting here, she had changed his opinion on love. Before he'd met her, he didn't believe such a thing as love existed.

An hour later, Leonid came to pick them up in a white van. He took them to the airport where they got on a private jet to fly them to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, in Bergen County. The airport was twelve miles from midtown Manhatten in the New Jersey Meadowlands. It was popular for private and corporate aircrafts. It was the home to many charter companies that fly nationally and globally.

Congaree Swamp, South Carolina

Two weeks later

Finally, after two weeks back in the States, Roxie felt comfortable enough to try and make love once again. So far so good.

The more he touched her, the more he wanted to possess her. He knew as time went on, it would get more and more difficult to leave her when they would finally have to decide what they really wanted. But he didn't feel man enough to stop her if she did decide to leave him. Until she'd make the decision, they lived and slept together.

Right now, her wandering mouth was just below Daniel's navel, teeth nipping over tanned skin, her tongue doing a little dance to ease each stinging nip. He closed his eyes, shifting onto his back, letting her work his pants open and down off his hips. It was dark in the room, but she could see the thick, long erection she was building with those small sharp teeth, soft lips, and moist, velvet tongue. "Lower, sweetie," he growled. "Lower and a little harder."

"You have no patience." Her soft laughter played over his abdomen like a feather. "I'll get there. I want to do a little more exploring first, just to see if you will lose control."

She might make him loose his control before she'd even sheathe him in her incredible body. Her soft lips were like heated silk, gliding over him, a sensation almost beyond his ability to feel. It was enough to make his shaft jerk and get harder in anticipation of oral pleasure. Her teeth drove the breath from his lungs and sent fire rolling in his belly. Tiny, stinging bites covered by a stroke of her tongue. Of its own accord, his body arched up toward her, his fists gripping her hair as a groan tore from his throat. His testicles actually pulled up tight, so tight he feared he might explode as his shaft filled, growing harder and harder until it was at its full length. He couldn't get his mind and tongue to work when she wrapped her fingers around the base of his shaft in a tight fist. He was so large, her fingers couldn't even encircle him. He looked down at her, her expression eager and hungry. She was beautifully sensual, the dark shadows playing over her naked body. Her breasts jiggled as she moved over him. He could see scars across her stomach, and bruises from the beatings she most likely received and that sent another rush of anger surging through him.

Roxanne traced his scars, the rigid lines crossing back and forth over his thigh, chest, shoulders, and back. She studied him, fascinated, as if she'd never seen a scarred man. She leaned down and licked a glistening bead from the tip of the broad crest of his erection. She didn't just lick it. There was that same faint sensation as if butterfly wings had brushed over him, and then her teeth followed scraping along the underside, dragging out a cry of pleasure from him.

The breath slammed out of him. His jaw clenched. He fought for control. One touch and he was lost. He tugged on her hair, tried to drag her body up, but even as he did, his hips surged forward, forcing half his shaft between her lips and into her mouth. He groaned again as her warm breath blew over him. As her mouth opened and slid over the broad head, her tongue curled and her teeth found the most sensitive spot right beneath the crest. She bit down experimentally and heat shot through him, pulsing in waves, until he couldn't breathe, fighting for air, fighting for his sanity.

The pleasure was so intense he was sure he wouldn't last another ten seconds. She was effectively destroying his belief in his own control. He couldn't allow her to take that from him, it was far too dangerous. Her teeth scraped again, right over that sensitive spot, and he writhed under her, wanting to forget all about going slow. Her nails joined in, scraping back and forth over his heavy sac. Stars exploded behind his eyelids, lashes of heat streaking through his bloodstream.

"More, Roxie. Harder." He bit the command out through clenched teeth.

Her mouth closed over the head of his shaft, tight and hot and so exquisite, adding suction to the combination of teeth and tongue, and he nearly came off the bed. He wasn't prepared for what Roxanne was doing to him. Sweet Lord, she was burning him alive with her mouth. Her teeth found every nerve ending.

She moaned deep in her throat, and the vibration traveled straight through his shaft to his testicles and spread down his thighs and up into his belly. He couldn't stop the hard thrust of his hips. He tried, straining for control, but it was impossible with the roaring in his head and his heart beating like thunder in his ears. A soft curse tore from him as he slipped deeper, as her throat constricted tightly around him, sucking at him until he felt his seed boil up hot and fierce. He caught her head, holding her to him as fiery heat washed over him, flames licking at the base of his spine and washing over his body. Her teeth found the spot again as she took him deep again, her throat once more constricting.

Daniel almost came apart, a violent explosion of body and senses, his life no longer his own, the pleasure consuming him. He shuddered with his imminent release, his hips bucking wildly, thrusting deep, and each time her teeth or tongue added to the hot, tight suction, he gripped her harder, anchoring himself in the silk of her hair.

She gave one last curling rasp with her tongue and released him. He drove her back, catching her delicate wrists, yanking her arms above her head.

"Wrap your legs around my waist." He loved looking at her in her aroused state, feasting on the sight of her curvaceous body spread out before him in an erotic display of sexuality. Her eyes were glazed with need, her hair wild and spilling like strands of silk across the pillow. A sheen of sweat made her breasts seem to glow, creamy flesh with little tight nipples begging for attention. He loved her tucked-in waist and the flare of her hips, but mostly he loved the sounds of pleasure that came from her throat as her body turned to liquid fire around his. "So beautiful."

He bent forward to kiss her neck, the action producing a delicious friction over her most sensitive spot. He sucked on the little pulse beating in her throat, dipped lower to find her breast, and did the same thing, feeling the answering wash of her hot fluids make his next thrust easier. His teeth and tongue spent time worshipping there, while he waited for her tight sheath to widen to accept his ten inch shaft.

"Please," she whispered urgently, her body thrusting up toward his, as he sank once again into her and held still, relishing the feel of her incredible tightness surrounding him.

"I'll make it good for you, Roxie. You are so tight."

"I am okay," she said, her voice breathy. "Make me forget. Love me, husband." Her body was already wet and aroused. She didn't want to wait. She needed his hugeness to fill her, crushing her. When he finally drove into her high and deep, she gasped in slight discomfort, but it quickly disappeared.

Every squirm of her body sent waves of pleasure through him. She was tight, but her small size only served to increase his pleasure. He needed the feeling of a tight fist gripping and squeezing, milking his shaft with hot clenches, bringing him to the point of exploding. "You make me so hard." She was the first woman who had ever given him so much pleasure. She was everything he could ever want in a woman. She wasn't afraid of his unusual size, scars, violent tendencies. She met fire with fire. Even when he held her down, her body responded to his with a wild, almost desperate need.

His thigh muscles cramped with the effort to hold back. Every cell in his body screamed at him to take her fast and hard and as rough as possible, giving him maximum pleasure. His breath came in harsh gasps. He didn't want to be rough with her. He wanted to be gentle. In the past, gentle sex didn't work for him, but Roxie deserved so much more; a slow tender lover, one coaxing her body into submission, not driving into her and taking by force what she was already willing to give.

He moved slow, testing his body, a long push through the hot, wet folds. The sensation was amazing, a blaze of passion beyond his imagination. A groan escaped, a soft hiss of need he couldn't hold back.

She locked her legs around his waist and pushed against him with frantic need. "Daniel, please. Drive away all the bad memories."

That ragged little plea was his undoing, shattering his control and stealing his heart. He brought his hand down hard on her bottom, feeling the flare of heat rush through her, the wash of her fluids bathing his shaft in response.

"You are eager. I want to make it good for you." He wasn't sure he could do another slow thrust. He wanted to tease her body into compliance, but just to show her things would be done his way.

"It's all right, Daniel. It is good for me. So good."

He gave one more slow thrust. She cried out beneath him, locking her fingers on his shoulders, nails digging into him so that he responded with more thrusts. He caught her hips and jerked her forward and up against him, angling her body to take more, taking his full length. He wanted to bury every thick inch of himself in her incredible body, merge them so close together no one would be able to pull them apart.

The moment he slammed into her, driving deep, he forgot every good intention. His hips began to thrust evenly, his fingers dug into her firm buttocks to bring her body up to his. It was heaven to be in her tight, narrow sheath, seemingly made just to rub and bring his shaft to virile life. He could stay here for hours, pushing her beyond every sexual limit she had ever conceived of, bringing her to orgasm again and again, only to back off to hear her pleas of mercy and see the desire building and building in her beautiful eyes.

Roxanne moaned Daniel's name, yanked at his head, writhed under him, her legs locked in a tight grip as if she'd never let him go. She rose up to meet every thrust, crying out, driving him crazy with the way her hot muscles gripped him and her body so eager for his. He knew that no matter what happened, she would be the only woman he would ever crave. She had spoiled him for anyone else. That knowledge scared him. The heat kept building, until he swore his seed was boiling in his testicles. He was near bursting, his shaft stroking at the tight walls of her sheath confining and constricting him, forcing the velvet heat over him until jolts of pleasure took over his nerve endings and ripped through his body.

Roxanne cried out and buried her face in his chest to muffle the cries as her body rippled and pulsed and shuddered with her orgasm, the muscles clamping down, convulsing around him, drawing out his seed in hot bursts. Her orgasm seemed endless, her body quivering around his, at first hard and strong and then more gentle aftershocks.

They lay together, locked in each other's arms, trying to find a way to breathe when their lungs were starved for air and their bodies were covered with a fine sheen of sweat. He kept his hand in her hair, fingers lazily massaging her scalp while his heart quieted and he felt strangely at peace.

"I could lie with you forever. Just like this."

"I need a shower," Roxanne said after a few moments, getting up and went to the bathroom naked.

She was a sight to behold. He enjoyed looking at her short, curvy body as she walked to the bathroom, her bottom swaying deliciously. After a minute or two, he decided to join her in a hot shower, gently stroking her hair, her ears, her shoulders, down her side to her belly, and between her legs. Then he turned off the water and dried her off. He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, laid her on the bed, where Daniel stretched out on his back and arranged her on her back on top of him. He was already hard, as usual around her, and joined her body with his immediately, then spent a long time leisurely stroking his palms up and down her tummy, over her oh-so-sensitive breasts, and over her thighs. Then he sat up, burying his mouth at that very vulnerable spot where neck became shoulder and slowly, very slowly, he drove them both absolutely crazy until they both climaxed together. As they climaxed, she furiously ground herself against him while he grasped her soft buttocks in his big hands to encourage her to ride him until they were both spent.

After a few moments, Daniel lifted himself up onto his knees while his wife wrapped herself around him to stay anchored to him, and turned so that he could lay her on the bed. Supporting his huge body on his elbows and knees, he hovered over her. Then, holding his upper body up with one huge, muscled arm, he raised his other hand and brought it to her breasts. As he cupped and caressed one firm mound, her nipple responded by growing erect.

"This is so perfect now that I'm here with you," she said. "And now we have the rest of our lives to love each other."

Daniel smiled. "I'm sure I can think of something to keep you entertained sexually. I have so much to show you of my extensive carnal knowledge."

Warm hands slid sensuously over her bare back, and she moaned softly, arching under Daniel's caresses. Damn, but the man was spoiling her sinfully. His mouth soon followed and he kissed a line up her spine until he reached the sensitive skin at her nape. A full body shiver overtook her despite the sun shining down on them as they lay on the deck of their home in the swamp.

"I want you again," he murmured into her ear. He rolled to his side and rested his hand on her naked hip.

She scooted closer and then rotated so she was staring down at him. He gave her a light smack on one buttock cheek. Then she kissed him, long, hard and lusty.

"Damn straight," she said. "I also want you again."

His hand slid to her bare bottom and up her spine, rubbing back and forth. They were in the Congaree Swamp, and she didn't even wonder if anyone was watching them. And she knew for a fact that Daniel chose this place for privacy.

He touched her face, looking into her eyes. "Will you marry me?"

"But we are married."

"I mean for real. With your family and friends all invited. Make it official."

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!"

"I love you, Roxanne Serbati Fox."

Roxanne smiled down at Daniel, a sheen of tears blurring her vision. He leaned in and kissed the scar that ran under her breasts.

"I do love you," he said, repeating the words.

She smiled. "I know you do," she said softly, moving her hand up his muscled thigh. "Otherwise you and I wouldn't be in this...situation."

Moisture glimmered in his eyes before it was blinked away. Then he pulled her to him, his hand cupping the back of her neck. Their foreheads touched and then their mouths. His hands moved up her thighs. Then he lowered his mouth to the soft juncture between her thighs, pressing a kiss to either side of her sex. She shivered and closed her eyes as goose bumps rose from her thighs, to her belly and up to her breasts.