Beautiful Life: The Carpino Series (20 page)

Smiling back up at him while pushing down on his fingers, I answer, “Always.”

“Good,” he murmurs as he pulls his finger out and surges into me. 

I moan, loving the feel of him and pull my other knee up to take as much of him as I can.

“You know I’m shitting you,” he says and I feel his thumb come to my clit, rubbing circles as stays planted inside me deep.

“I know,” I say with hooded eyes.

“About the big wedding,” he goes on.

“Tone,” I try and admonish him but it comes out really lame because he’s making me warm.

“And I would never let my mother plan anything,” he adds.

To this I can’t even respond because the warm is turning to tingles. 

“But I was serious about everything else,” I hear him say as my tingles turns hot and I do everything I can to press harder into his thumb. 

“It’s gonna happen, might as well happen sooner than later,” his voice, rough and deep.

"Please stop talking.”

After a few minutes of Tony torturing me, giving me what I want, I cry out and he really starts to move.  Hard and fast, the way I’ve grown to love it from Tony.  Taking me, making me his.  I love being his, more than anything. 

He leans down to take my mouth giving me a searing kiss as I feel his body become rigid and tense.  He stuffs his face in my neck as he slams into me two more times, staying planted deep and giving me his weight. 

I tangle one leg around his big heavy thigh and keep the other high by his side.  He presses into me one more time before he lifts his head and looks down at me.

“Love you,” he says on an exhale. 

I pause and let that seep through me before uttering the words for the first time without being drunk or demanded to, “I love you, too, honey.”

Tony’s face softens and he dips his head to kiss me softly.  When he lifts his head, his words come at me as a promise, “Yeah, you’re ready.”

But before I can protest, add to the conversation or heaven forbid, agree, he pulls out of me and climbs out of the bed to head to the bathroom.  I roll over and pull the covers up around me and hear him call for Finny to let him out and put him to bed.  Finny jumps down and races out following Tony.

When he returns, he drops his pajama pants again and climbs in bed with me.  Rolling into him, I decide quiet is the way to go.  I don’t need Tony making me anymore promises or declarations, let alone teasing me in a way that doesn’t really seem like teasing because I think he really means most of it.

“You tired?” he asks.

“Mm-hmm,” I hum into his neck. 

I feel his lips come to my forehead and he says, “Goodnight, gem.”

“Night, honey.”

*****

I turn the corner to my street and start up hill hearing nothing but my running shoes hit the pavement.  The morning light is barely peaking up over the horizon.  I decided to run outside this morning instead of hitting the gym before work since the warmer weather is supposed to stick around for another few days before the temps are supposed to dip again. 

I left Leigh in bed this morning, kissed her and told her I’d see her after my run.  Fin had jumped into our bed again and had his head rested on her stomach while she was scratching his ears.  I shook my head at her letting the dog up on the bed for the second day in a row.  I couldn’t get upset with her when she grinned at me with big eyes telling me she knew what I was thinking.  I’d do anything to see her like that, happy and naked in my bed, even if it means having a dog in it with us. 

I slow to a walk as I hit the sidewalk in front of my house.   Moving up to the front door I come to an abrupt halt as something catches my eye on the ground.  Half way sticking out from under the door mat is a manila envelope.  Wiping the sweat off my face with my shirt, I move to the door and bend to slide it out from under the mat.  It’s a legal size envelope and I swear this wasn’t here when I left this morning, I would’ve noticed.

It’s blank on both sides, so I pinch open the brackets to open the flap.  I reach in and pull out its contents, making my heart stop and my stomach flip at the same time. 

I turn immediately and scan the street.  I don’t see any sign of life.

Fuck.

Standing behind my desk in my home office, I stare down at contents of the envelope in front of me. 

Pictures.

And a note.

I feel like my insides are coiled so tight I might explode.  Most of the pictures are just of Leigh, but a few are of Leigh and I together.  They were taken yesterday, I can tell from what we were wearing.  There are pictures of Leigh walking from her apartment building looking ahead as she walks, getting into her car and more of her sitting there.  Some are close up, some far away.   She’s wearing a private smile in some of them as she looks down at her phone typing on the screen.  One even looks like she’s close to laughing. 

Others are of Leigh and I walking Fin yesterday.  I’ve got my arm around her neck, pulling her close as we walk to whisper in her ear or kiss the side of her head.  More pictures of us walking and holding hands.  Some are of Leigh bent down, scratching Fin or looking up at me with a huge smile on her face.  The most disturbing by far are the close ups focused on Leigh.  And it’s worse because I remember everything she was saying to me when the pictures were taken and what we were talking about. 

But the note is what cuts me to the core and has me itching to hunt down the sick bastard that took these.  It’s typed in plain font and reads, “
You took something from me, now I’ll take something from you.”

I drop to my chair and lean forward to rest my forehead in my hands.  It has to be Preston.  But he’s cutting a deal today with the DA’s office.  Why in the fuck would he do this now?  With these pictures they could have proof of him violating his restraining order and I wasn’t kidding when I told Leigh last night he’ll be in deep shit if he violates his probation.  He’ll face jail time and so far he’s done everything possible to avoid it. 

I don’t want to tell Leigh about this but someone is following her, taking pictures of her and threatening me by threatening her.  She has to know.  But shit, this is going to set her back and she has progressed quickly, especially in the past few days.  Dreading what I have to do, I decide to leave the pictures and note here, breaking it to her first. 

I walk out of my office and start toward my room.  I hear her in the kitchen so I change my course but stop immediately before she sees me when I hear her talking.  And she’s talking to Fin.

“He’ll come around, Finny, I promise.  He just thinks you’re too big, but you’re not too big, are you?  Of course you’re not, you’re perfect,” she says in a voice women only use when they’re talking to dogs or babies.

I drop my head and squeeze my eyes shut listening to her talk to her dog. 

“Mama will talk him into it, I promise,” she goes on.  “I don’t want you to have to sleep in that old icky kennel.  Those are for bad dogs, not good puppies like my Finny.  I don’t know what your daddy is thinking anyway, he and I only use half the bed, there’s plenty of room for you.”

I feel my chest expand and even the fucking contents on my desk can’t keep me from tipping my lips from listening to this. 

“We’ll go for a walk later, the weather is still nice.  Maybe if you get in better shape, your daddy will take you running with him.   I don’t run, I think your daddy and Aunt Gabby are crazy because they love it.  It hurts my side.  But we’ll go for a walk later—Tony! You scared me!  You can’t sneak up on me like that,” she yells at me since I’ve moved into the open space by the kitchen where she can now see me.

She’s sitting on a barstool drinking coffee and Fin is sitting at her feet, but now they’re both looking at me, surprised by my presence.  Fin’s tail is going a mile a minute but he stays by her side, communicating to me who his person is.  Leigh is wearing my t-shirt again and it barely covers her ass on the barstool with her long thin legs crossed, turned to the side.  I can tell by their positions they were deep in conversation before I entered the room. 

I let my eyes drag over her like I’ve become addicted to doing.  Soaking her in, finding it hard to believe she’s here, she’s real and she’s mine.  I think about how far she’s come over the past few months, how she’s happy, she wants to be here and most importantly, that she loves me.

But someone is threatening her.  Someone wants to take her from me.  Someone could hurt her and the thought of fucking anyone,
anyone
touching her let alone hurting her makes me feel like my insides will explode.  It’s got to be Preston, but I don’t give a fuck who it is, no one on this Earth is ever going to hurt her again.  She’s had enough hurt to last a lifetime.  I’ll do everything I can to make her safe and make sure she’s never scared again. 

“Tony?” she calls, pulling me out of my trance.  “What’s wrong?”

Her makeup free face is now wearing a concerned look as she questions me.  I find myself having to clench my fists tightly to control myself, my emotions, my need to rip someone’s fucking head off.  I let my mind wander back to when Gabby brought her home from the hospital, her eye swollen shut, bruises on her fair skinned face, a broken arm and how she was recovering from losing a child because of blows to her gut.  And that was just what was physically wrong with her.  Her nightmares that would take over her brain in her sleep, nightmares that stayed with her night and day.  Demons she couldn’t seem to escape.  Demons I could see in her eyes every time she woke from dreaming of her reality. 

“Honey?” she calls again, her beautiful but worried emerald eyes wondering what in the hell is going on with me.

Doing my best to put all that out of my mind, I pull in a calming lung full of air and let it out before making the decision saying to her, “Marry me.”

I don’t take my eyes off hers, but I know her body jerks and hear her coffee cup hit the granite as she yelps, “What?”

“Marry me,” I repeat.  “Tomorrow.”

Her eyes get bigger and her voice gets higher, “Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

“We can’t get married tomorrow!”

“Yes we can.  I’ll get a license today, take a couple days off.  You’re off tomorrow, too.  It’ll be just you and me.  You want Gabby there, we’ll call her and Jude, but that’s it.  No one else.  Not my family to make it something we don’t want, not your mom to stress you out or piss me off, just you and me.  Marry me, Leigh.”

“Tony, what is this about?  We can’t--”

“You love me?” I demand.

She slumps ever so slightly in her seat she hasn’t moved from and with a little shake of her head, she says on a huff, “Of course I love you.”

“Is that going to change?” I ask, not moving a muscle from where I’m standing.

Her face softens and she says quietly with meaning, “No Tony.  I will always love you.”

“You’re mine?” I ask further.

With as much meaning, she says simply, “Forever.”

I finally let my body move to her and her head tilts back not losing my eyes.  I claim her face with my hands and lean into her to say in a low voice, “Then let me be yours, Leigh.”

She closes her eyes and I feel her exhale against my lips. 

“Sweetheart,” I call to her.

Opening her eyes, she states, “You’re crazy, Tony Carpino.”

“I’m not crazy,” I assure her.

“Your mother will hate me forever,” she goes on.

“How could a mother hate someone who makes her son happy?” I ask.

“Tony,” she huffs.

“Tomorrow.”

She shakes her head slowly asking, “What are we doing?”

“We’re starting our lives together, gem.  And it’s going to start tomorrow,” I answer her.

“Your words, Tony.  They carry such heavy meaning.  Soon…ready…next…tomorrow…I’m honestly afraid of what could come out of your mouth next,” she starts rambling. 

“Say yes.  It’s all you have to say,” I state.

What she doesn’t do is say yes, she says, “Crazy.”

“Say it,” I demand.

“Will being a Carpino make me crazy, too?” she asks as if she’s giving in.

“Probably,” I answer.  “Leigh, I need you to say it.”

“I’ll have to change my name on everything again,” she sort of complains, but now I know she’s going to say yes.

“Leigh,” I give her a warning with my voice.

She pulls in a breath and while looking deep into my eyes, she says softly, “I want you to be mine, Tony.  I’ve never wanted anything more.”

“Say it, gem.”

After many beats, she murmurs, “Okay, yes.  I’ll marry you tomorrow.”

I try and control myself but I can’t help it, my fingers tense on her face and I pull her up to kiss her.  I kiss her deep and long and intense.  If I couldn’t feel her in my hands and taste her on my lips, I might not believe this is real.

I break the kiss and tip my forehead to hers holding her close to me and say, “I love you, Leigh.  I promise to give you a beautiful life.”

“You’ve already made my life beautiful, honey.  I’ve never had anything as beautiful as this,” she says looking up to me.

I smile down at her and pull her in for another kiss, slow and soft this time before saying, “I need to make some calls and move some meetings for work.  Give me an hour and meet me in the shower.  We’ll get the license, throw the ball with Fin and take it easy the rest of the day.”

“Well, I told Rosa I’d go to the store for her and bring Finny over to meet her today.  I don’t think she has a lot of company during the week and she’s looking forward to us coming,” she says, like she’s apologizing for something. 

“Okay, we’ll do that after we get a license,” I say giving in to her.

She grabs on to my sweaty t-shirt and looks up to me with her soft face and says, “We’re getting married.”

“Yeah,” I smile down at her.

“You’re sure you don’t want a wedding?  I don’t want you to have any regrets.”

I brush her cheek bone with my thumb, trying to put the bruises and swollen eye out of my mind, “My only regret is this is four to five years later than it could have been, Leigh.”

“Tony,” she admonishes as she shakes her head back and forth.

“I could have had you all this time.  I could have saved you from him,” I mutter.

“Please don’t,” she says, fisting my t-shirt in her hands.

“I wish I could take that away from you.  I’d do anything to wipe that clean from your head.”

“Stop.  I chose him, that’s on me.  But today I’m feeling like the luckiest girl alive to get a second chance.  I’ll never take you for granted.  I thank God every day for you.  You made me whole again when I didn’t think I ever would be.  You healed wounds I never thought would close.  You took away my nightmares and replaced them with a dream.  Not many people have their dreams come true, but I get mine.  I get my puppy and my hot guy with daisies and milkshakes all tied up with a baby blue bow.   But it’s better than I ever dreamed because my hot guy isn’t just hot, he’s gentle and sweet and knows just what I need when I need it.  And he loves me,” she finishes on a sigh.

I shake my head at her, “Sweetheart, I don’t know what in the hell you’re talking about with the daisies and milkshakes, but I’m pleased to give you the rest of your dream.”

She stands and fits herself to my sweaty clothes informing me, “It’s my innocent girly dream, Tony.  Daisies, puppies, milkshakes and a hot guy.  What more could a girl want?”

“Wrapped in a baby blue bow?” I ask, holding her tight to me.

“Yes,” she grins, lifting to her toes to kiss me.  “I’ve out grown the polka dots.”

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say as I dip my hand in the back of her panties to cop a feel of my soon to be wife.

“It doesn’t matter,” she says.  “Go make your phone calls.  I need to figure out what to wear to my wedding tomorrow.”

I give her ass another squeeze, kissing her at the same time before letting her go. 

She throws me an excited grin, grabs her coffee and looks down to say, “Come on, Finny.  Let’s go find something to wear.”

I stand here and watch her pad off to my bedroom to look for something to wear to our wedding tomorrow.  I reach out to the counter and drop my head while squeezing my eyes shut.  I didn’t tell her.  How all that transpired I don’t know, but I’m fucking ecstatic about tomorrow.  I’ll keep her with me today, she’ll be safe and I’ll tell her before we get married.  I can’t keep it from her.  But to tell her right after she agreed to marry me, everything she said and shared about how happy she is?   There was no way I could tell her after that. 

I turn to walk to my office to make another police report about the pictures and note, call my family pastor to see if he can marry us tomorrow and then actually make some calls to move things at work for the next two days.  I put the pictures and note away in my desk but before I pick up the phone, I go to the closet in my office and kneel to the safe.  Punching the code, I hear the beeps, open it and find what I’m looking for.  I pull out my Baby Glock 40 Cal and ankle holster.  I check the clip, make sure it’s loaded and ready to go.  Turning back to my desk, I put it in the top drawer so I can come back for it after I shower.  Finally, I pick up my phone to make my first call to the police. 

*****

Today we went to the courthouse to get a marriage license, which was kind of weird.  I mean, I don’t have very many people in my life, but Tony has a ton of people in his life.  But the only other person who knows we’re getting married tomorrow is the attendant at the licensing desk at whatever city building we were at.