Hush 2: Slow Burn (20 page)

chapter Thirty-six

Precious Shannon

Luca

Italy

I wish I could take her pain away. As Shannon lays cradled in my arms sobbing like a broken child, it is ripping me to shreds. This has been a long and trying day. It started out great.

We went down to one of the small village markets to walk around and enjoy the beautiful day. Shannon has been glowing from the inside out and I love seeing her that way. I just want to make her happy.

She wanted to spend some time with her father, but he has other business to attend to in Sicily. I reassured her she would have plenty of time with her father before we return to the States. She has been content with that and we have gone on like nothing else in the world matters.

I just turned my back for one second. Shannon’s face lit up when she saw a pair of earrings that were handcrafted by one of the locals. I let her wander off so that I could purchase the earrings for her. I knew they would look gorgeous on her.

It was just as I retrieved the little sash the old woman put the earrings in that I felt something was wrong. I looked around quickly to locate where Shannon had got off to. My body being like a magnet to hers found her right away and that was when I felt the tug in my heart. Something was very wrong.

~B
~

Shannon

We had been having a great day. Luca has been sweeter than sweet. We have only been here in Italy for two weeks, but it has been a great two weeks. I have enjoyed spending time with his mother and father.

I think I get why Valentina has become so close to her own mother-in-law. It is like getting the attention we have craved for years. At least, my sister knew her mother for a short time during her life.

That was what I was thinking as I stopped to feel and smell a few melons. I wanted to get a little something for Ava. She mentioned the fruit down at this market as being fresh and some of her favorite.

Luca told me to explore, but to not get too far away from him. I had a feeling he was buying the earrings I had just been admiring. He has made no bones about spoiling me lately.

A smile creeps on my lips as I think of how he spoiled me this morning with his mouth. I lift my hand to my lips and trace my smile with my fingertips. My lips are still a little swollen, which makes a laugh bubbled from my lips.

“Shannon,” I hear a shaky female voice say.

I turn, startled to find an older woman staring at me with misty eyes. I smile softly at her, searching my brain for recognition. My father knows so many people here and in the States, but the little older woman with weathered skin is not ringing any bells. She clearly knows me, though.

“I’m sorry, do we know each other,” I ask politely.

“I knew your mama,” she says with trembling lips.

I immediately take a step back away from her. My small smile fading from my lips, anyone that knew that monster can just stay the hell away from me.

The small woman looks around as if checking for safety. She turns back and looks me in my eyes. She takes a few small steps toward me, leaning into me and speaks softly.

“I mean your real mama,” she whispers.

I feel my knees go weak and right on queue Luca’s strong arm wraps around my waist, pulling me back into his warmth. I sag into him taking in his safety. He kisses the top of my head as his warm hand splays my belly.

“Is everything okay,” Luca asks sternly.

The little woman’s eyes widen at the sight of Luca. She takes a few steps back this time. “I – I’m sorry, Signore Donati. I met no harm,” the woman rushes and turns to leave.

“Wait, please wait,” I choke out.

The woman turns back to me worrying her lip between her teeth as she looks in between Luca and me warily. I look up at Luca pleadingly and he nods at my unspoken request. I place my hand over his to draw on his strength.

“You…you said you knew my mother,” I say in a slight whisper.

She nods. “Yes, I was her midwife. She lived with me during the pregnancy,” the woman smiles warmly at me. “Her precious Shannon, the gift she would not get to keep.”

The woman wipes at a stray tear. She pauses as she looks at Luca seeming to be debating her next words. “She was sick before getting pregnant with you. She could not kick that habit that was destroying her life. But while pregnant with you, she was a different woman. She had hope in her eyes and peace that wasn’t there before,” she says sadly. Then to Luca she says. “Signore Donati, I have something I would like to give Shannon. You can come to my home. I will not waste much of your time. Please.”

Luca squeezes me lightly but nods his head. I watch as he signals his men to begin to follow us more closely. Usually, he has them off to a safe distance to make me as comfortable as possible while still safe.

We follow the woman to a small cottage right outside the town. Luca has his men wait outside the cottage as we follow the woman inside. She looks nervously at Luca and wrings her hands.

“I heard that you were engaged to the new Don. You have grown to be such a beautiful woman. Your mother named you Shannon. She wanted to, at least, give you a name. She said it would be one of two things she would ever give you.

“I think she knew what that evil woman had planned for her,” the woman sobbed softly before turning and rushing to a chest in her small living area.

After shifting a few things around inside she pulls out a box and brushes it off, before wobbling to her feet and moving back towards us. She looks at Luca for permission before placing the box in my hands. She squeezes my hands in her old weathered ones after I wrap them around the box.

“This was the second thing she gave you,” the woman says. “You were so precious to her.”

She lifts a hand to touch my curls and then my face. I can see the tears in her eyes again. I am fighting back my own tears. I never expected this. I came to Italy with Luca because he asked me to. I was surprised at first. Before he left me, he never took me on his trips out of the country. It is why it took me so long to realize he had run on me.

“You are beautiful just like her. You were such a beautiful baby. Be well Shannon and be happy, it’s what she wanted for you,” the woman says and pats my cheek.

“Will you please tell me your name,” I ask softly.

“Beatrice,” she and Luca say in unison.

I look at Luca and he gives me a small smile. Sometimes I forget who he is. Luca has lived in the States his whole life, but his family has spent just as much time here. I should know better. Luca is like royalty here. Everyone knows him and obviously he knows everyone as well.

“Thank you, Don Luca. I will not take any more of your time,” Beatrice says.

“Thank you,” Luca gives her a kind smile and places a hand on the small of my back.

I have so many questions, but I let him usher me out of the little woman’s small home. My head is spinning so fast it is starting to hurt. I want to… no, I need to know what is in this box, but I need to look into it in private.

“We’ll go home and look together,” Luca answers my thoughts and kisses the top of my head.

chapter Thirty-seven

Pieces of the Past

Shannon

Italy

My head was truly throbbing when we got back to the beautiful guest house we have been sharing. It sits right on a hill giving us a beautiful view of the ocean. I didn’t even take in the view this time.

I went straight to the bedroom clutching the tattered old box to my chest. Luca followed along behind me silently. When we arrived in the bedroom, he kneeled in front of me and removed my shoes.

I climbed onto the bed and sat in the center staring down at the box. Luca removed his shoes and climbed on the bed behind me, placing his legs on either side of me.

“Whenever you are ready,” he said in my ear.

I nod wordlessly and reach to remove the lid with shaky hands. Placing the lid down gently I look into the box and see a bundle of pictures and what looks like a journal. On top of it all is a letter. I pick up the envelope and open it with my hands still shaking.

I pull the timeworn letter from the envelope and open it up slowly. Tears fill my eyes as I realize it is a letter to me from my real mom. I brush my fingertips over the words hoping to feel connected to her somehow.

Dear Shannon,

It is my hope and dream that someday you will read this letter and know how much I loved you. I didn’t understand what I was getting into when I first agree to have you. You see I have not always done the right thing, but you are the best thing I have ever done, no matter the circumstances and all the things surrounding you coming into exists.

I know now it was wrong to do what I did, but it brought me you. My beautiful Shannon, I know you will grow to be beautiful and I hope you grow up to be happy.

I was happy once. My sister and I were best friends and we were so happy. I won’t burden you with the details of how I ruined my life. I just pray that you grow to be sweet just like my sister. Khayla was everything I wanted to be.

I made a vow to do right by you as best as I can, that was the day I became aware that my sister was no longer on this earth. I didn’t know then what I was up against. I know now I will never see you grow up. I will never know your laugh, see your first steps or have a glimpse of you from afar.

I have come to accept that, but I can leave you a small piece of me, a piece of us. I can give you a glimpse of the small time we have shared together.

Love your Mama,

Iman Grant

Hot tears soak my face. I place the letter aside and pick up the bundle of pictures. There is a stack of them, picture after picture of a beautiful light skin woman in various stages of pregnancy. I have her hair; my face is shaped just like hers. I have seen a picture of Valentina’s mother before and the two could be twins. Just like Valentina and I look like two complexions of the same face, so did my aunt and mother.

We may have many of our father’s traits, but we are our mother’s daughters as well. There is no mistaken it. When I get to the last picture, it is my mother smiling down at me as a newborn baby. I can see the love in her eyes. It is all too much, but I can’t stop moving forward.

I reach for the journal and open it to realize my mother journaled her whole pregnancy. She shared everything with me, going through withdrawal while in the beginning stages of her pregnancy. The day she found out that Khayla and her niece Lissette were murdered.

The emotions in her words rocked me to my core and break my heart in two. I read until I could take no more. As if knowing it was too much, Luca gently pried the journal from my hands and neatly placed everything back in the box before recovering it and placing it in the bottom drawer of the nightstand.

And that is how I ended up sobbing in Luca’s arms for the last few hours. The sun has set outside the windows and the glow from the main house can be seen in the small distance. Yet, he has not moved a muscle other than to smooth my hair from my face and to rub my back as he whispers soothing words.

Today I have fallen in love with Luca all over again. I can tell he is feeling my pain. I know he wishes he could fix it, but he is giving me more than he will ever know. This day when I have finally found who I am, he was with me and I will never forget that.

“I love you, Luca,” I sniffle when the sobs finally stop.

“I love you too, Shannon. It will get better. We will make it better,” he says as a promise.

chapter Thirty-eight

Love You Right

Shannon

Italy

“Luca stop,” I mumble as I start to wake up. I’m exhausted after the events of yesterday. I just want to sleep for the next month and forget the ache in my heart.

“Do you really want me to,” he purrs against my neck as he hovers over me.

I must have rolled onto my stomach in my sleep. Luca has his chest pressed against my back as his hands roam my body. His feather light kisses start to awaken my body against my own will.

I moan as Luca starts to create magic as always. I am going to be honest with myself because, no I don’t want him to stop. Not now, not ever. I can feel my body heating up as it knows what Luca promises to offer.

This is a perfect distraction from my thoughts and I know that is Luca’s point. He will be leaving me today for business. When he told me last night, I saw in his eyes that he doesn’t want to go, but he has to. He said it would be better if I stayed behind with his mother for the few days that he would be away.

I am going to miss him. I become desperate with the knowledge that he will be away for so long. I try to turn in his arms, but he splays his hands on my shoulders pinning me in position on my stomach.

“Don’t move, Baby. I want to love your pain away. Stay just like this,” he says huskily into my ear.

I obey and am rewarded with Luca’s lips making slow patterns across my neck, shoulders, and back until he gets to my butt cheeks. Using his fingers to part them he slips his tongue between them making his way down to my pussy.

I cry out as his warm, skilled mouth muddles my brain. Luca laps at my sex not stopping for a moment. Then his tongue travels higher once again and he begins a feast I never thought I would like, allow, or be offered.

I am a multiple orgasm mess when I feel Luca rise and straddle my thighs. If he wanted to distract me, mission accomplished. Give the man a reward.

~B
~

Luca

I have to go to Sicily to meet with Shannon father and mine. I will be gone at least three days. This is not something I want right now, but it is necessary. So I want to leave my woman knowing that she is loved.

I am still shredded over seeing her so broken yesterday, but I plan to fill both of our bleeding hearts right now. As I look down at Shannon’s smooth skin and her round ass, my cock is leaking in anticipation. Each time I am inside her is like pure heaven. I don’t want it to end.

I grab the base of my cock and push one of her full globes to the side as I straddle her hips. She is nice and wet for me. I contemplate taking her other hole for the first time but think against it. I want to take my time when I do and time is not something I have a lot of this morning.

I aim for her sweet tight pussy and watch as my steel hard rod pushes into her. I love watching my cock slide in and out of her. The contrast of her skin to mine is mesmerizing. Being in the sun yesterday has given her soft skin a bronzed look, tinting her skin a slightly darker brown that is amazing on her with her jet black hair.

I thrust all the way in and we both cry out. Before I start to thrust back and forth while resting on my knees, I still for just a moment inside her tight heat not wanting to hurt her or end this too fast. I grab a hand full of her hair. She looks so hot lying flat on her stomach beneath me as I thrust against her juicy ass.

With my free hand, I knead one of her globes. I know she is loving it as her moans fill the room and her pussy starts to coat me in more of her juices. Watching my large dick slide into her tight little pussy is a major turn on.

“I’m everything you need, Baby,” I growl. “I’ll be whatever you need me to be, whenever you need me to be. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whimpers. “I love you.”

“Ahh, I love you too. You feel so good. Fuck, Shannon. You have no idea how good you feel. I have never had pussy this good, Baby. Never.”

“I’m coming,” Shannon screams, but I’m not ready.

I squeeze her ass cheek hard and tighten my hold in her hair. When I feel her orgasm rip through her, I keep plunging into her. I release her ass and reach for her ankle pulling her leg up, using it for leverage as I thrust deeper. I know I am going to come so hard.

We both need this right now. Sweat is dripping down my face and I can see the sheen of sweat on her back. I love the way her ass is bouncing with every thrust. The harder I thrust the harder it bounces.

Her pussy starts to tighten around me again feeling like a vice grip. I can feel my own release heating at my spine and tingling in my toes. I am not going to last much longer. I lean down against her back as my thrust start to get out of control.

“Come with me, Shannon,” I breathe heavily in her ear.

We both cry out in unison as we find utopia together. Yes, this trip is necessary for more reasons than she knows. It is time to reel all of this shit in.