Racing the Sun(74)

I don’t ever want this to stop, this freedom, this connection. In the blue grotto we are soaring over colors and through light and we are moving as one, feeling as one.

This man has my heart. He has every part of me.

“I am going to come,” he says through a deep groan. “Come with me, mia leonessa. Please come with me.”

I always do. The pressure I’ve been keeping in check lets loose and as he drives into me with reckless abandon, and I’m thrust into the powerful throes. Behind my eyes, my world glows blue and my heart grows warm and I am swimming through waves of light, drowning in the feeling of pure ecstasy. I’m swearing and calling out his name and it echoes against the walls of the cave. Every single grunt and groan and breathless hiss he gives to me is magnified.

That isn’t just sex. That is supernatural.

“Holy shit,” I whisper raggedly, trying to catch my breath as I still pulse around him and we struggle to come down to earth.

“Yes,” he says, licking his lips and brushing the wet hair off my face. Even my cheeks tingle from his touch. “I have no words in English.”

“I have no words at all,” I say quietly, my heart racing like a jackrabbit. I breathe in and out, bringing myself back down from the clouds and into the bright blue.

He kisses me softly, lingering and wet, before pulling away and gingerly pulling himself out of me.

“Your back must be sore?” he asks, placing his hand behind my shoulder blades.

I wince a little but smile. “It’s a good kind of sore,” I tell him. “Do you think your fears are gone?”

“For now,” he admits, kissing me again. “For now, everything is gone, except for you.” He pulls me away from the wall and into him, his arms encircling me. “You’re all I need.”

We stare at each other, our faces lit from below by that brilliant blue, and continue to float. This is heaven after heaven.

In the distance, there’s the faint sound of singing. Derio seems to snap out of his daze and looks at me with big eyes. “First gondoliers of the morning. We better go.”

We start swimming for the entrance, the current and the act of having sex having pushed us farther back into the cave without us knowing it. We’re almost at the mouth of the cave when we see a small boat coming toward us. Derio pulls me to the side and we flatten against the wall as much as we can while staying afloat.

The boat comes in, the gondolier pulling it along by the chain and singing, his voice booming off the walls. A couple suddenly pops up at the back of the low boat after lying back to get through the low entrance. We watch as the gondolier rows the boat into the depths and the boat’s passengers, now dark figures against the glowing blue, start snapping pics and oohing and aahing.

“Let’s go,” Derio whispers to me and we quickly swim out through the entrance before another boat comes in.

Once outside, the sky and sun are blinding and we can see a few small rowboats towed just offshore by a larger powerboat. That must be how they get here for the day. We swim for the platform and I gasp when I see a young couple come down the steps. I’m not worried about getting caught by them—they seem to be tourists here to catch the first boats before the crowds set in—but I am concerned that Derio is stark naked.

Of course, he sees them, too, and shoots me a grin over his shoulder. He couldn’t care at all. And why should he. We just fucking had sex in the Blue Grotto. And at that thought, I realize that I don’t care either.

We reach the edge of the platform and he’s the first to go up. He does so like an athlete, using the pure power of his upper body, and I make a silent thank-you for the exercise room in the house. Then he bends over to help me up, absolutely mooning the couple down the stairs and probably giving them a good show of his balls as well.

I try not to laugh as he pulls me up but when I hear the girl giggling in the background, I can’t help it. I scramble onto the cement, slip my dress on while he pulls on his shorts, and the two of us trot up the stairs past the couple, snickering as we go.

“Buongiorno!” Derio cries out to them merrily with a big smile on his face. Their faces go beet red as they try not to stare.

We climb onto the bike in the parking lot and laugh all the way back to the house.



* * *



That day we prepare a big lunch for the kids upon their return, even though we know they’ll probably be full from a night of overeating. While Derio goes to pick them up, I get everything ready and create a bruschetta bar of sorts, grilling bread and preparing an assortment of amazing toppings. The two of us decided earlier that we would have a talk with the twins about our status. After all, Derio introduced me yesterday as his girlfriend, and that sort of news apparently travels fast around here.