Forever With Me(85)
He lifts me out of the tub, sets me on my feet, and holds his phone up, getting a selfie of us with Tuscany in the background, laughing, delighted with each other.
“You know,” Gianna comments as she watches us. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy, Dominic.”
“I haven’t been,” he replies, and rests his forehead on mine. “Until I found her.”
“Get your ass out of bed!” Dom calls from the bathroom.
“You’re bossy,” I grumble, as I roll out of bed and tug on panties and a bra, then decide, screw it, and throw his white shirt on from yesterday and join him in the bathroom. He’s standing in front of the mirror, shirtless, and leans his hands on the vanity as he watches me.
“You’re going to wear my dirty shirt to meet your parents?” he asks with a grin as I hop up onto the vanity next to him and swing my feet back and forth.
“You know, you don’t have to go,” I reply reasonably. “They’re nice enough, but you shouldn’t have to endure it. I can go alone.”
“No,” he replies simply, and combs his hair.
“I still can’t believe they called,” I say with a frown, watching Dom. “I mean, I told them to, if they ever wanted to have a relationship with me, but I didn’t expect them to actually do it.”
Big, gigantic butterflies take flight in my belly as I think about meeting up with my parents for lunch. They flew up here just to see me.
“I can’t believe they even knew what airport to fly into.” Dom snickers and pulls his shaving stuff out of a drawer. “I mean, this is kind of ridiculous.”
“Alecia.”
“Yeah?”
He slides me over in front of him and pins me here, his hands on the granite at my hips, and kisses my nose lightly. “Stop worrying.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.” He kisses my forehead, then hands me his shaving cream. “Lather me up.”
“This could be fun.” I grin and shoot the white foam into my hands, then rub them together and begin rubbing it on his handsome face. I’m all smiles, delighted with him, as he clenches his lips closed so I can get the area between his nose and lips, then laugh when I get it up his nose. “Sorry. I don’t put shaving cream on a face often.”
He laughs with me as I concentrate on my task, making a complete mess of him.
“Spread it down on my neck.”
I follow his directions, then lean back and take in my handiwork.
“I suck at this.”
“It’ll get the job done,” he replies, and hands me his razor.
“I get to put a sharp instrument against your neck?” I ask incredulously.
“Don’t make me regret this.”
Before I can begin, he leans in and plants a kiss right on my cheek, leaving a dollop of cream on my skin, making me giggle. “You’re making a mess!”
“We’re even on that score.”
He watches my face calmly, and holds perfectly still, as I glide the razor down his cheek, doing my best to get all of the whiskers.
When I get to his neck, I give up.
“You finish. This part makes me nervous.” He grins and takes the razor, slides me aside, and leans in to the mirror to finish up.
“You did a good job, amore.”
“I was worried that I’d cut you, my love.”
He stills at my words. He always does when I call him my love.
He wipes his face off with a towel, and I lean in and kiss him on the cheek, resting against him for just a moment.
He tosses the towel aside, and slides me back in front of him.
“You can’t wear this,” he says and slips his shirt off of me, then to my surprise, simply wraps his arms around me and hugs me close. “Your back is so slender,” he murmurs. “My hands look so big on it.”
“I love the way your hands feel on my back,” I reply softly, and breathe him in. “You smell good.”
“Alecia, you take my breath away.” He buries his face in my neck and, still holding on tightly, takes a deep breath. “You are everything good in my life.”
“Are you okay?” I ask, a bit concerned. He’s holding onto me almost desperately.
“I need you to know,” he begins and kisses my cheek, then pulls back only far enough to look into my eyes. “I don’t want to just spend my life with you. I want to spend my only life with you. Every day.”
He swallows hard and drags his fingertips down my back, then up again, caressing me sweetly. “I know that forever is a long time, but if you tell me that I get to wake up to your sweet smile every day, it will never be long enough.” He sweeps my hair back behind my ear. “A smart woman once told me that love is a daily reminder. It’s saying, I choose you. Today and every day. Spend forever with me, Alecia.”