Wives and Champions (3 page)

“
Do you want me,
Emily?”

She looked at him. Was he kidding?
Like she could say no. Everything in her wanted him. She couldn’t
resist him and he couldn’t resist her. The combination made for
quite the explosion every time they made love.

“
Yes, Dante. I always want
you.”
Even when I’m mad at you, I want
you. Even when I feel like strangling you, I want you. Even when,
at times, I don’t think you understand me, I want you.

Short of breath, Emily whimpered when
his mouth latched on to hers. Stomach quivered when his hands
brushed across it. Again. He lowered her to the bed, carefully,
then took her mouth as his possession – delivering strong, sweeping
kisses that nearly rendered her unconscious. Dante was an
exceptionally skilled kisser and every time their lips touched, she
was getting the lesson of a lifetime.

Emily held on. With both hands on the
sides of his face, she tried her best to keep up with him, match
his angles, move her head to match his movements, but he was doing
it again. He was taking her breath away.

He afforded her an opportunity to
breathe when he asked, “Have I ever told you how much I enjoy
kissing you?”

Emily smiled. “Maybe once or twice,”
she teased. It was way more times than that. He told her often
though he liked to let his actions speak more than his
words.

“
Then let me tell you
again. I enjoy kissing you, Emily.” And he returned to her lips,
thoroughly kissing them before capturing her tongue, mating with
her.

He stopped abruptly to look at her
again. She said she wanted him, too, but he could sense something
was wrong. She was usually more into it but tonight, she was just
lying there, looking at him like she was in a daze.

“
Emily.”

“
Yes,” she said with a
forced breath.

“
Are you okay?”

“
I’m fine,
Dante.”

“
Then make love to
me.”

“
Okay,” she whispered,
lifting her head up off of a pillow to press her lips against his
while her hands were pressed tightly against the sides of his face.
She opened her mouth wide to get a grand taste of him, lips, tongue
and all. From the deep groan in his throat, she could tell he loved
that.

Now that their level of passion and
excitement harmonized, he left her mouth to kiss her neck, grazing
his teeth there, branding her. And, like the gentle giant he was,
he left soft kisses all over her, lingering at her quivering
stomach almost as if he knew his baby was growing inside of her.
And he crawled back up to kiss her lips again, feeling her legs
lock around him.

Emily gasped when she felt their
bodies join – sharing heat, so much so, she felt like they would
start a fire. Incredible.

Dante closed his eyes, intoxicated.
The joining of two souls couldn’t be sweeter, more delicious than
this. Every single time he made love to her the overwhelming
feeling of being in love with her consumed every part of him. Made
blood rush through him like hot mercury. Made him nearly lose his
breath. She’d been the only woman who had ever had that kind of
power over him.

“
Why does every time we
make love feel like the first time?” he asked, watching as she
nibbled at her bottom lip and writhe beneath him. “Why?”

He captured her lips again while
feeling her fingertips move up and down his back. Listening to soft
moans escape her mouth whenever they could. He moved slow, taking
his time, loving her the way she deserved to be loved.

Emily’s moans became a consistent hum,
like sweet melodic tones to his ears. He felt her legs lock tighter
around his, but control still belonged to him. He’d drive her to
the edge then retreat. Took her there again. Retreated again. Over
and over again, he held back, needing her to feel, let go and
forget everything. She only needed to recognize his presence, his
love, his body hidden in the depths of her. Giving. Taking. He
delighted in the sounds of her rough breaths, the beginnings of her
trembling body. But not yet. Not until they enjoyed each other a
little while longer.

Emily had completely given in to him,
enraptured by his lovemaking, feeling sweat form on his back the
way she saw it gather to his forehead. And she felt him teasing her
again, leading her to paradise but wouldn’t allow her to enter.
Maybe if he knew how desperately she wanted it, he would be more
forthcoming. So she began keeping up with his rhythm, grabbing
handfuls of him and pulling him closer to her until his only option
was to give and give and then it happened for her. She cried out
his name in a scream while sensations suffused through her body,
writhing underneath his. Moments later, he closed his eyes and
threw his head back as those same sensations waved and coursed
through him.

“
Oh, Emily. You’re so good
to me. So good to me baby,” he said in a rough breath as he
struggled for air.

“
And you’re good to me,
Dante,” she said. A strained smile appeared on her face.

Dante rolled next to her and pulled
her into his arms, holding her close to his chest. “I don’t want
you to over-extend yourself, sweetheart,” Dante said breathy,
threading his hands through her hair.

“
Now you tell me,” Emily
quipped, panting.

Dante grinned. He wasn’t talking about
their lovemaking and he knew she was aware of that. “You know what
I’m talking about.”

“
I do.” Emily stroked her
hand across the thin layer of sweat covering his chest. She could
feel and hear his heartbeat beating as wildly as hers
was.

“
Then, baby, why not just
put the boutique on hold right now?”

“
I can’t—”

“
Wait, let me finish,
Emily. By
on hold
I mean we can hire some people to run it for you while you
take a sabbatical.”

She found his hand, feeling him
squeeze hers. “I’m afraid that, if I do what you’re suggesting, I
will never make it back. It’s been a dream of mine for so long,
Dante, and you even had it redesigned for me. It’s beautiful. It’s
profitable. It’s everything I wanted. I don’t want to give it up. I
don’t think I should have to.”

“
So how are we going to
grow our family?” he asked.

Emily could hear the worry, yet
concern in his question.

“
We’ll grow our family, but
realistically, Dante, our schedules don’t allow much time for the
child we already have. Why would we have another one?”

“
Because we have help. We
can hire a second nanny if we need to.”

Emily sat up and looked at
him. “But that’s not what I want. I don’t want to be that kind of
mother. I want to be a hands-on mother. Not the kind of working mom
who allows some other woman to be a fill-in mother. It may be
convenient for us to hire people, but, in the end, a child
appreciates the people who devoted their
time
to them. Not money. Time. I
want to be the one who takes Ezra to the park. I want to feed him,
help him learn his colors and dress him in the mornings. Gosh,
Dante, I feel so guilty when I’m not able to do those things for
him. So how on earth are we going to have another baby when the
only time we get to have some real wholesome interaction with Ezra
is on the weekends?”

Dante sighed while thinking over her
concerns. “You know what, baby? Come here,” he said, inviting her
to lay down again. After she rested her head, he said, “We’ve both
had long days and I’m drained. I know you are too, so let’s pick
this up in the morning, okay?”

“
Okay.”

“
It’ll give us both time to
think.”

Emily arched her head up high to kiss
his lips. “I love you.”

“
I love you, too,
Emily.”

When she rested her head against his
chest again, Dante closed his eyes. The only reason he brought up
the topic of a second child over dinner was because he knew she was
pregnant. She didn’t have to tell him. He knew. He ordered wine,
but she hadn’t partaken in any. And she had that same glow to her
skin as when she was pregnant with Ezra. That same smell she was
probably unaware of, but he picked up on it very easily. So why was
she against having a second child when one was already forming and
growing inside of her?

Chapter Two

“
Melanie, baby, we’re going
to be late,” Dimitrius said loud enough for Melanie to hear him
since she was still upstairs.

They were preparing to head to the
children’s museum with Grace. The museum was holding a special
ballet performance and since recognizing that Grace loved music and
dance, Melanie made it a goal to include her in as many programs as
possible, especially sing-a-longs during toddler time at their
local library and museum events. Afterward, they would take Grace
around the museum and let her play for a while. She’d just learned
how to walk a few months ago. It would be good for her to use those
little legs to go exploring with other children.

“
Mel.”

“
Just a minute, Dimitrius,”
Melanie said, stuffing Grace’s sippy cup into the diaper bag. Then
she came jogging downstairs with the diaper bag, her purse and
makeup bag. “If we are late, it’s your fault.”

Dimitrius grinned. “Why’s it my
fault?”

“
You kept me up late last
night.”

A sly grin touched his lips. He
couldn’t deny that.

“
Hey, did you find Grace’s
pink hair bow?” Melanie asked, using the decorative mirror in the
foyer to apply a peachy-colored blush to her cheekbones.

“
Yep, and she’s wearing it.
Looks beautiful. Daddy has some beautiful ladies in his life,” he
said as he walked to the foyer where Melanie was.

Grace smiled, showing a few little,
white teeth. “Da, Da.”

“
Yes, beautiful?” Dimitrius
said, looking at his daughter. “We need to tell mommy to hurry,
don’t we?”

“
Okay, okay. I’m ready.”
Melanie grabbed the diaper bag, throwing the strap over her
shoulder. Next came her purse.

“
You look so pretty,
Grace,” Melanie said to her daughter. Grace snuggled into
Dimitrius’ arms. “And such a daddy’s girl.”

Dimitrius grinned. Grace was indeed a
daddy’s girl, his little angel, the child they thought they would
never have – the child Melanie wasn’t even supposed to be able to
have according to her doctor.

Dimitrius followed Melanie outside,
locked the front door, stepping out into the crisp, morning air.
The sun brightened the day and according to weather reports, the
temperature would climb a few degrees closer to noon. But this was
good for May in Asheville. Sixty-five degrees on a Saturday.
Perfect.

Melanie placed the diaper bag in the
back seat while Dimitrius secured Grace in her car seat.

Then, Dimitrius started the engine,
turning to his right to look at Melanie – his beautiful
wife.

Melanie turned to him, catching his
gaze before her eyes rolled down to his lips. She smiled, then
leaned forward, pressing her lips against his, giving him what she
knew he’d been waiting for. Every time they made eye contact, she
realized how fortunate she was to have him. They almost didn’t work
out as a couple.

Due to a medical condition, Melanie’s
doctor told her, years ago, that she wouldn’t be able to have a
child. She struggled to tell her boyfriend at the time, Scott
Porter. They were together for a couple of years and she knew he
was on the brink of proposing. She could feel it. That’s why she
had to tell him about her condition. Had to. She couldn’t wait
until after they married to spring something like that on him. The
right thing to do was to tell him beforehand. So, she told him.
While she knew he would be disappointed, she didn’t expect him to
break up with her. Via voicemail. He couldn’t even break up with
her like a man. He’d left a voicemail message on her phone, told
her he couldn’t be with her anymore and that he was sorry. No
explanation. He didn’t even try to hear any explanation from her.
Didn’t want to hear one. Then she ran into him at a restaurant –
surprised to see that he had married some woman named Jackie and
they had a new son – Jordan.

Talk about feeling crushed…

She was dating Dimitrius at the time
she’d unexpectedly ran into Scott, remembering how she felt when
Scott ran for the hills. She couldn’t survive another devastating
breakup so she ended her relationship with Dimitrius, thereby
saving herself the embarrassing conversation and the utter
disappointment to follow. Dimitrius, both angry and hurt at the
time resented her for breaking his heart until Emily, Melanie’s
best friend, interfered and informed Dimitrius why Melanie broke up
with him – that Melanie was worried he would leave her after he
found out she couldn’t have babies.

But Dimitrius wasn’t that kind of man.
Yes, he was stern, set in his ways and meticulous about almost
every detail of his life. One of those men who had to have
everything arranged in a particular order. Who had his shirts and
suits sorted by color. Shoes arranged by designer. A man who hated
being late. The kind of man that made you want to slap him across
the back of the head and tell him to loosen up a bit.