Page 33 of His Beautiful Revenge
Giacomo, unrepentant, didn’t move. “No. You are my prisoner now, Reddy.”
She rolled her eyes, giggling. “Yes, I can feel your …um ...nightstick. I’m beginning to think it’s permanently at full mast.”
Grinning, he thrust his cock back into her and she gasped. “God, you are insatiable.”
“When it comes to you, yes …”
Norah gave in as he began to thrust harder. She would never get tired of making love with this man; at least, her mind wouldn’t. Her body was getting extra work outs that it wasn’t expecting these days.
Afterward, they showered together, and as they were dressing, she could see Giacomo’s eyes on her body, lust-filled and intense. It made her feel sexy and wanted. She asked him to pull the zipper up on the back of her summer dress and sighed happily as she felt his lips against her spine. When he’d fastened her dress, he slid his arm around her waist, splaying his hands over her belly and pulling her back into him.
‘Il mio amore,’ he murmured in her ear,‘Sei tutto per me.Sei la mia vita.” My love, you are everything to me. You are my life.
Norah’s eyes filled with tears and she turned in his arms. “Never let me go,” she said, her eyes soft with love.
Giacomo nodded, his face lit up by his smile. “I promise,Bella.Never.”
Zulika felt her whole body shut down with the shock. She barely felt Orlando’s hand holding hers.Cancer. Stage III.
This cannot be happening.
Dr. Miller, the oncologist, was looking at her with sympathy. “It is very rare for someone your age, but it does happen.”
Zulika blinked. “Did I do something wrong?”
She felt Orlando’s hand tighten around hers. “Of course not, Zulika. It’s just rotten bad luck.”
“Mr. Price is correct. You cannot have seen this coming. Now, look, I’ve given you the bad news. The worst of it. So now let’s look at the positives …and I promise you, they outweigh the bad. First, there’s your youth and your excellent health and fitness. We are at what we call Stage IIIa; your tumor isn’t large, but ithasspread to a few lymph nodes. The good news is, we can operate and there are several treatments we can try going forward. We found it before it spread too far or became inoperable.”
Zulika nodded along, glancing at Orlando for reassurance. Suddenly she felt a pang of guilt. This man had just lost his wife in the most horrific way …and he was here, comfortingher.She turned back to the doctor.
“When can we start? I’m assuming there’s also things I can do myself to help …diet, exercise?”
“Sure,” the doctor nodded, smiling at her. “That’s a good attitude, Zulika. Let’s go through some options now and start on a plan.”
Once again, Orlando insisted on taking her to supper afterward. “If you don’t mind, though, I do have to pick Ferma up from the sitter first.”
“Of course not …look, I don’t want to intrude.”
“You won’t be at all. Both Ferma and I would welcome the company.”
She studied him as he drove back towards his neighborhood. “How are you and Ferma coping? Really?”
He sighed. “Some days are worse than others. Ferma keeps asking questions about how mommy died.”
“What did you tell her?”
“At first, I didn’t know how …I was all for the wholemommy got sickvery quicklything, but then my sister, Claudette—I think you met her at the funeral—told me that kids at Ferma’s school had heard the truth. So I had to tell her that someone murdered Mommy. She wants to know why. That’s the one thing I couldn’t answer.”
He sounded so heartbroken that it made Zulika’s breath freeze in her lungs.
After a long silence, she tried to smile at him. ‘Listen, seeing as we’re almost at your house anyways, how about I cook for all three of us? Is that too presumptuous?”
Orlando smiled at her. “Not at all. We’d welcome your company. It’s just, I don’t know what we have at home.”
Zulika waved her hand. “Don’t worry about that. I have a gift for inventing recipes with whatever’s available. Ask Norah. Many a night, especially in college, we’ve had Le Coq au Vin Ramen—that one was ramen noodles, chicken soup, and beer. Surprisingly good.”
Orlando was laughing now. “Please tell me you’ve never used Ziggy’s food to make a stew?”
