Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
I walk ahead and smother my laughter, as Chip responds, “I’m eighteen, just finished my senior year.”
Ling walks to my side. “Well, congratulations, Chip. That’s wonderful.” Under her breath, she mutters, “Just how I like ‘em.”
I utter quietly out the side of my mouth, “Behave yourself.”
She snorts, before responding, “Now where’s the fun in that?”
We stop at our assigned rooms, and I let myself in just in time to hear Ling ask Chip, “Can you bring it inside for me, sweetie? I just had a manicure. I’d hate to ruin it so soon.”
Not wasting any time, I shower quickly before climbing into the stale-smelling bed.
An hour later, and I’m listening to a concerto. Cries of passion and pain emanate from the room next to mine. I fall asleep to the raw sounds of sex as Ling turns Chip bad for the evening.
My marriage wasn’t always this way. In the beginning, it was everything I could have hoped for. In fact, I had secretly wished for a husband like Dino. He held me together. He was supportive and patient and kind. Dino swiftly became my rock.
Having dated for six months before our wedding, I quickly learned Dino Gambino was a sweet, funny man. I loved that he was possessive and kept me in arm’s reach, always touching me, seeking comfort and warmth. It was nice to be needed by someone for once in my life.
What I hadn’t expected was the bond we had formed in the short time we had known each other. It was the two of us against the world. Comrades. And soon enough, he became my best friend, the person I called when I just needed to vent about my father or hear a familiar voice. He always made me smile and laugh. His happy-go-lucky attitude was contagious. Dino could always pull me out of one of my dark moods.
The day we married, I looked up into the eyes of my best friend and said “I do” without hesitation.
I considered myself lucky. How many people could say they had married their best friend?
My sisters watched us in awe, amazed that two people in an arranged marriage could be so happy. It gave them hope.
As the ceremony completed and we shared our first kiss as man and wife, Dino dipped me, and I clutched at him as we laughed into each other’s mouth. Both families erupted in a roar of applause and catcalls.
We truly were united, then and forever.
Till death do us part.
That night, Dino took me to our new home. That’s when it got awkward, for me anyway. I was a virgin. During one of our late night conversations, I had confessed this, my face warming with a harsh blush. I smacked my palm to my forehead in the deafening silence that followed.
Duh! I was an eighteen-year-old daughter of a mob boss. Of course I was a virgin.
But Dino just chuckled, and the rough sound washed over me like a safety blanket. “I know, Bella. Don’t worry about that right now. We’ll talk about it when we need to.”
He just made it so easy for me to be me, and I appreciated that to no end.
Regardless of how awkward I was, Dino took me in his arms and kissed me. We had shared kisses before, but they were nothing like this one.
This one was slower, deeper, much more precise, and I felt something stir inside of me.
Sure, Dino was my friend, but he was also my husband, not to mention stunning. This was his husbandly right. I believed in living marriage in every sense of the word. I wanted children, and there was only one way to achieve that goal.
As he pulled away and his lips left mine, I felt the loss deep inside me. He looked down into my eyes. “Is this okay?”
I nodded immediately, enthusiastically, and he huffed out a laugh before his lips were on mine once more. He touched me in all the right places, and for a moment, I was appalled at my body’s reaction to him. It was only after Dino explained that everything that was happening was a good thing that I began to relax.
With no mother or aunts to tell me what to expect, all I could do was rely on Dino and trust him.
Who else could I ask about sex? My father? My brother?
I don’t think so.
He undressed me with such care and kissed me in places I had never been kissed before. I was lost to myself. I willingly placed my body in Dino’s care.
As he began to undress, I watched in silence. The more clothes he removed, the higher I drew the sheet, hiding behind it. When the final piece of clothing was removed to reveal the one part of a man I had never seen before, I dropped the sheet, blinking in shock.