by Bella King
The rhythm of his hips increased. His cock slid in and out, building me up into a waterfall of orgasmic pleasure. This had to be more intense than before, with him sucking on my ear and oozing more passion than I had seen from him before into my body.
I couldn’t draw it out any longer, though I wished that I was able to. Making love to Caleb was the pinnacle of my time spent in Italy. My body twitched and jerked as I succumbed to the rapid movement of Caleb inside of me. I tightened myself around him and rode every wave to completion. By the end of it, I was full of his semen.
I wanted to fall asleep in the hallway, but he didn’t allow for it. He carried me to the bedroom like I didn’t weigh a thing, placing me gently down on the bed and getting in beside me. The kiss before he turned out the light was the best part of the whole night, a simple peck on the forehead. For some reason, that stuck with me. It was such a loving thing for a man to do to a woman.
I pulled him close when he slid into the sheets beside me, having him spoon me while I quickly drifted off into the beautiful land of dreams and relaxation. This was how things should be.
Chapter 20
You’re never ready for the big leaps, but they’re the ones that you need to take.
I spent weeks with Caleb, talking about everything under the sun. It was delightful to be able to prance around in the gardens with no worries about money or work. Life with Caleb was shaping up to be a big long vacation, and I was down for that. I may have been 19, but life on the police force wore you down quick. I could use a refresher.
Besides, once we were married, I could always go to school and do something safer for a living. I felt like I had a bit too much sympathy for criminals now to be busting them for a living. It would be a tad hypocritical.
I had already made up my mind that Caleb was the man for me. I had been so reluctant to trust him, and for good reasons, but he had finally broken through to me, and I spiraled deeper into love every day.
I was shy to admit it. Telling a man that you love him is no easy task, especially when you made it clear before that you certainly did not. He probably already knew that I had fallen for him by the way that I acted, but I needed to hear the words from him too. This couldn’t be a one-sided thing.
There were days when I wanted to tell him so badly that I felt like my lungs would burst from keeping it in, but I didn’t let it slip until I simply couldn’t hold back any longer. I was afraid to admit it, but I had to tell him. I didn’t care what he said in response, just as long as he knew how I felt now.
“Caleb,” I said, one summer evening in the rose garden.
He turned his head to me, flashing me the same charming smile that pulled me into his heart in the first place. He was wearing a nice suit, as usual, with charcoal slacks and no shoes. He liked to have his feet in the cool grass on a hot summer evening like this one. It’s important to enjoy the little physical things in life, lest you forget why you’re alive in the first place.
“What is it?” He asked, twirling a small clover in his fingers that he had picked from beneath one of the rose bushes.
His brown hair was pushed back and swept to one side, and he appeared to have just shaved. I confirmed it with a kiss, inhaling the intoxicating scent of his aftershave. I loved his three-day stubble, but I loved it when he shaved even more because of how fresh and masculine he was afterward.
“I have to tell you something,” I said, my voice suddenly struggling to function. My throat was dry as bone, and I felt like I had no air left to breathe even though we were outside. I took a step back from him and clasped my hands in front of me, gripping them and wringing them like a washcloth full of suds.
“I’m listening,” Caleb said, a pleasant smile glued to his face.
“I’m in love with you,” I managed to choke out.
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m in love with you too, Kalila,” he replied, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. His confidence in every situation impressed me. While I was a stuttering mess, he was as calm as a cucumber.
I leaned back toward him, placing a kiss on his soft lips. I didn’t know why that was so difficult for me. Maybe it’s because I had never said that to a man before. Whatever the reason, I was relieved now that it was done. A huge weight was lifted from my bosom.
“What do you like more, silver or gold?” Caleb asked, cocking his head to the side innocently and changing the subject.
“I’m sure you already know that,” I said, testing him.
“Well, I just have to be sure,” Caleb said. “I think, gold.”
I nodded. “It’s more valuable too,” I said, waving a finger.
He laughed. “You’re the most valuable thing here, but this might be the second most,” he said, suddenly dropping to one knee in front of me and pulling a slender black box from his pocket.
I should’ve expected this, but part of me thought that there wouldn’t be a formal proposal, only a court date and some signed papers to make the marriage valid. I gasped when he lifted the lid to the box and the ring glinted in the evening sunlight. This was the moment that I saw coming but didn’t at the same time.
“Kalila,” Caleb said, his eyes sparkling brighter than the diamond sitting atop the gold ring, “Will you marry me?”
I almost forgot to say yes. I was so enthralled by his proposal, and the ring was just as gorgeous as he was. Caleb looked at me expectantly, giving me time to recover.
“Yes,” I finally exclaimed, running into his arms and practically throwing myself at him, nearly knocking him over. My heart beat a thousand times per second, and my cheeks were flushed pinker than when we have first made love. I was on top of the world.
Caleb stood up, holding me in his arms for a moment before removing the ring from the box and slipping it over my finger. It fit perfectly, as I knew it would. Caleb knew more about me than I did, and I loved his attention to detail. He never missed a thing.
I held up my hand, examining the fine diamonds that decorated the band leading up the spectacularly large one in the center. I wasn’t the kind of woman to expect a big ring, but I was impressed and amazed by this one. I would always be grateful for the care Caleb took in choosing things for me.
“I love you,” I said, this time with confidence as I looked back into his ocean blue eyes.
“I love you too,” he answered.
Chapter 21
In-Laws aren’t always that bad.
Caleb wasted no time driving me out to visit his father for the first time. He was eager to announce our engagement and give up the mafia life. The truth was that he hadn’t been back to the United States to take part in that business ever since we began dating. He didn’t have the heart for it anymore.
Caleb’s father lived in a mansion bigger than Caleb owned, with young women waiting at the door to welcome us in. I got the vibe that his father was a bit of a playboy, but I didn’t mention it to Caleb. I was sure he already knew that.
As I walked down the red-carpeted hallway to the back of the house where Caleb’s father was presiding, I couldn’t help but feel like I was walking into a meeting with the most important man in the country. Caleb’s father didn’t call the shots, but he did have enormous amounts of money.
I kept adjusting my dress even though it was in perfect condition, and even Caleb looked slightly nervous to come here to his father to talk about the marriage. He said it was just a formality that we had to go through, but I think he was seriously stressed out about discussing the estate with his father.
When I looked up at Caleb’s handsome face and sharp jaw, I saw a man who knew what he was doing. He may have felt slightly nervous about the situation, but he was confident that what he was doing was right. He didn’t have to fake a marriage to gain access to his father’s estate. He could get that through true love, and his father would see that, clear as day.
We entered a smoky room that was lit only with candles. An older man in a red leather armchair sat smoking a cigar and reading
a newspaper like phones didn’t exist. By his similarly square jaw and blue eyes, I knew instantly that it was Caleb’s father. He was just as calm as Caleb always was, tapping the ash off his cigar into a crystal ashtray and looking up.
“You’re late,” he said.
Caleb chuckled. “I never informed you that I was coming.”
The old men squinted at him, adjusting a thick set of frameless glasses. “Oh, it’s you. I thought that was the butler with lunch. I don’t know where that man has run off to.”
Caleb shook his head. “Jesus dad, maybe new glasses are in order?”
I held back a laugh. I wondered if his father had even seen me yet. I cleared my throat.
“Dad, this is my fiancée.”
His father’s head snapped over to me so fast that I was afraid his neck might snap. “Come to rob me of my riches then, eh?”
At first, I thought the old man was angry at Caleb, but after a second I could see the softness in his eyes. This was how mafia men spoke to each other. I was witnessing two of the greatest men to walk the earth discussion their fortunes.
“I told you that I wanted to give up the mafia life,” Caleb said, bringing me closer to his father. “I’d like you to meet Kalila.”
The old man pressed his veiny hands in the arms of the sofa, the cigar still glowing between his fingers, and lifted his thin body from the chair. With the cigar in his left hand, he offered the right one to me first, shaking my hand with surprising force.
“John Anthony,” he declared.
“Kalila. Nice to meet you.”
He smiled, then turned to his son. “She’s very beautiful,” he said while shaking Caleb’s hand.
“She’s a lot more than beautiful,” Caleb boasted, giving an equally firm shake.
“Indeed,” John said, glancing over at me. “When is the wedding?”
“We don’t have a date yet,” Caleb said.
John chuckled. “Then I suggest you get one, and soon. I’m not going to be alive for a whole lot longer. It’s a wonder you came to your senses and got a woman when you did.”
My heart sunk when I saw Caleb’s panicked expression. “What?” He said, his voice wrought with worry.
“All my life they’ve been telling me to stop smoking, but I never listened to them. I would never take it back though. I need it to function. Keeps your brain right, you know?”
“What are you saying?” Caleb asked, placing a hand on his father’s arm and studying his face.
“What I’m saying is that I’m dying, so you better get your ass married soon so that I can witness it. The estate is yours either way, but I prefer it this way,” John said, his voice calm and collected.
I couldn’t say the same for Caleb. He looked hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
John waved his cigar in the air. “I’m old, son. You already know that. What’s important is that you’re here now. I want to see you give up all this mafia nonsense while you still can.”
Caleb squeezed his father’s shoulder. “I will. Kalila and I are getting married, and then I’m turning it all over to the FBI. I need to right my wrongs.”
“The FBI? You’re going to piss a lot of people off like that,” John warned.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Caleb replied.
I smiled at him, rubbing his back and trying to comfort him. I could see that he was a good man, and he was genuinely upset about the news that his father didn’t have much longer left. Of course, I could have told him that after seeing how frail the old man was.
“Let’s talk about the estate, son,” John said, finally ashing his cigar in the crystal tray.
“We don’t have to do that now,” Caleb said politely.
John laughed. “I think now is as good a time as any. Let’s go.”
Caleb nodded and turned to me. “Could you get my pen from the car? We have some papers to sign.”
Chapter 22
When you know, you know.
The long white dress billowed out behind me as I was walked down the aisle by Caleb’s father. I passed by new faces and old but kept my attention straight forward. My chin was up, my pace was steady, and I was sure of what I was about to do. Today was the day I married Caleb Anthony to become Kalila Anthony.
The music was live, and the metallic hum of acoustic guitar rung through the air in the most heavenly way. I had picked the guitarist for the event, and I was quite happy with it. I never liked prerecorded songs at a wedding, and there was no budget on this one, so I went with what I felt was right.
My hair was tied up in an intricate bun, woven in across my head in a way that I could never repeat on my own. I had three stylists along to do my hair. Excessive? Perhaps, but it looked amazing. I only planned on getting married once, so I wanted to go all out, and why not? I was getting married to the richest man in Italy.
We didn’t make it a very public wedding. There were only around two hundred people attending, and most of them were friends of Caleb. I had made some friends myself, but I didn’t have time to rack up nearly as many as he had. I felt comfortable with the people there, because I knew that inviting the whole country would be risky. I would never risk Caleb and I’s future for status. We were better than that.
A bee whizzed past me, undoubtedly heading toward the many flowers decorating my path toward the stage. I didn’t have roses, even though they were my favorite. There was something about the thorns that I felt didn’t bode well for a wedding. I had chosen daisies, which were more lighthearted and fun.
It was symbolic in a way. The days of thorns were over, and Caleb and I were making new steps toward a clean and bright future together. We could do a lot of good in the world with the fortune we had amassed, and I intended to make sure that we reversed the negative impact he had in the states. That was part of our deal.
I kept my eyes ahead of me as I walked toward the stage. Caleb stood there, beaming like a goofball in a slightly nicer black suit than he usually wore. It was difficult to find something fancier than his daily outfit, but he had managed.
I was impressed with how he presented himself. As I moved closer, I could see his hair was neatly trimmed, his face so smooth you would have thought he never had a beard in the first place, and there wasn’t a speck of dust to tarnish his jet-black suit.
Leading up to this, I had been worried that I would get cold feet and have second thoughts about the wedding, but the moment I set my eyes on Caleb, I felt calm. He always radiated that kind of energy, but this time it was coming from inside of me. I didn’t need to feed off his calmness to feel right, I just did on my own. I knew this was the best decision that I could have made.
I had been met with a lot of them since meeting Caleb. One the first day, I could have stabbed him with that knife that he handed to me. I could have run from him when we got outside on the way to his car. I could have screamed bloody murder in the restaurant where we had dined, and I could have tried to shoot him in the bed after we had made love for the first time. Caleb claimed the gun was full of blanks, but he had never actually proven that to me.
He did insist that nobody was ever watching me, and that there had been zero security the whole time that we were together. I could have killed him in a thousand different ways, but I hadn’t. I guess I had seen something in him on the first day that surprised me. When you come face to face with the biggest mafia boss in the country, you don’t expect to be treated so well, especially when you assume you are his prisoner.
Caleb was full of surprises, but they were only surprises because of my expectations of how he should behave. He was more consistent than any man I had known. It had been me who had tried to paint him as the villain, and he had been at one point in his life, but those days were over. We were starting a new life together, one that was pure and beautiful.
It was a good thing that the walk down the aisle was so slow, because Caleb’s father insisted on being the one to escort me. He was even frailer than he had been when I first met
him, but he still had that glimmer of life in his eyes. He wasn’t going to miss this wedding, nor would he sit on the sidelines. His only son was getting married, and that meant a lot to him.
We walked up the stairs onto the platform as the music switched to something gentler, and the priest between us began the ceremony. He read off scripture in Italian while I gazed up at Caleb’s gorgeous face. His eyes, once those of a stone-cold killer, had melted into the most beautiful pools of blue, reflecting the sky in all its glory. The sides of his eyes crinkled in happiness, and I could see tears of joy forming in his eyes.
“I love you,” I silently mouthed to him as the priest spoke.
“I love you too,” he mouthed back.
The ceremony continued, with Caleb and I reading out our handwritten lines in two languages to appease the audience. It was a wonderful moment.
“Kalila, do you take Caleb to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do.”
“And Caleb, do you take Kalila to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do.”
“Then with the power invested in me by the church of Italy, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
I moved toward Caleb fast enough to chip a tooth, but he took me in with open arms. I kissed him with the passion of my love pouring out for everyone in the audience to see. I wanted them to know how much I was in love with this man. Now, nothing could ever tear us apart.
We had been through a lot together in a short amount of time, and those tests had been enough to seal us into a lifetime of love together. We had shown mercy on each other for reasons only God knew, and now we were enjoying the fruits of our mercy.
The priest’s expression was a bit amused as we finally came apart. I bet he wasn’t expecting that level of excitement from a marriage of this caliber, but I couldn’t hold back. It wasn’t me to contain my feelings.