Chapter 53

‘I love you’

The words staggered Eliza.

She should have expected them, should have known Romano would say them, but for some reason she hadn't and now she had no idea how to deal with them or how to process them, or worse, how to believe them.

Romano smiled bittersweet.

"I know you don't believe me yet," he whispered. "But I'll make it my life's work to convince you."

Romano bent his head and kissed her gently, his lips moist, gentle, and sweet on Eliza’s lips.

Romano raised his head much too quickly, and Eliza went up on her toes to prolong the contact.

"Rome..." Eliza didn't know what to say, but Romano shook his head and smiled gently.

"It's okay. I just wanted you to know." Romano kissed her again, a little bit more urgently this time.

Eliza’s dormant hormones sprang to life in an instant, and she pushed herself closer to Romano, deliberately rubbing herself against his hardening cock.

Romano deepened the kiss, his tongue plunging into her mouth in clumsy desperation, and his lack of finesse made Eliza even hungrier for him.

"The doctor gave me the all-clear for sex last week," Eliza reminded him, and he let out a groan at her urgent words.

"I didn't tell you how I felt because I was trying to get you into bed." His voice was thick with desire, and Eliza smiled up at her husband's flushed face.

"I know that, Roman. Now hurry up and take me to bed, will you?" 

Romano shuddered and lifted Eliza into his arms before carrying her out of the baby's room, into Eliza’s bedroom next door.

He gently deposited Eliza onto the bed and watched as she dragged the nightgown up over her head and tossed it aside, Romano’s dark eyes going slumberous with desire.

Suddenly self-conscious, Eliza remembered that she had gained weight and acquired some stretch marks during her pregnancy. She wasn't the same slender, smooth-skinned omega Romano had had sex with last.

Romano lifted her hands to cover herself, but when Romano swore reverently, she paused and looked at him.

Romano couldn't take his hot eyes off her; he looked like a starving man staring at a feast wondering what dish to start with.

Eliza watched in fascination, her initial shyness forgotten, as Romano fumbled with his boxers and kicked them aside. He was so hard it looked painful, and Eliza could see how his heart was racing with every throb of his gorgeous cock.

"Dio," Romano groaned slightly, his voice awed and a little disbelieving. "Oh God, oh God, oh God...you're more beautiful than I remembered."

He stumbled to the bed and gathered Eliza into his arms, kissing her hungrily. 

Romano’s usual finesse was gone; the hungry kiss was almost adolescently awkward with bumping noses and clashing teeth. But neither of them cared as they went at each other with a ferociousness that bordered on animalistic.

Eliza had one brief moment of lucidity, when she asked Romano to wear a condom. In the past, Romano would have been infuriated by the request. 

This time he stumbled from the bed in a daze and made his way to the en suite, where they stocked a new box of condoms every six months, in case their guests needed any. 

He was back in seconds, box in hand, but was shaking so badly that the packaging defeated him.

"I can't..." Romano growled in frustration, and Eliza took the box from him with slightly steadier hands.

She managed to extract a condom, tossed the box aside, and ripped open the foil package. 

She held up the little rubber circle with a questioning glance and her husband's pupils dilated even further.

"You do it please," Romano groaned and urged huskily, and Eliza smiled before, with agonizing slowness, rolling the condom down his length.

Eliza gave him one more stroke for good measure, but Romano arched himself away from her touch.

"Don't...baby...I'm going to come."

Eliza lifted his hand to the nape of Romano’s neck and dragged him down for another urgent kiss. 

Without breaking the kiss, Romano flipped her onto her back and parted her thighs with his own. 

Despite his obvious desperation, Romano entered her slowly and with infinite gentleness.

"Am I hurting you?" Romano asked against Eliza’s mouth, and Eliza murmured a no, pushing back up into him, to make it clear that she wanted more of him inside of her.

It was all the invitation that Romano needed before he sheathed himself completely. 

They both groaned, and Romano tilted his head back, his eyes closed in ecstasy.

"Oh God...Eliza...so long! It's been so long," he whispered. "I've missed you. I've missed you so much."

He began to move, and Eliza gasped at the feeling of fullness inside of her.

Romano knew her body very well and shifted his position slightly until every stroke hit her in exactly the right spot. It didn't last long—barely ten minutes—and for the first time in their marriage, Romano lost all control and came before she did.

Eliza watched his face contort, as his body clenched and his back arched. A desperate sound was ripped from his throat as he tried to hold back and couldn't. Eliza followed seconds later, Romano’s orgasm triggering hers. 

Eliza clenched around Romano, squeezing him tightly and prolonging his pleasure as she took her own.

For a few moments they both hung suspended in stasis after their powerful mutual orgasms, and time seemed to freeze until Romano collapsed onto the bed beside Eliza moments later, breathing heavily as he gathered Eliza into his arms.

"Eliza, Eliza, ti amo...sei la persona più bella che abbia mai visto, oh Dio, ti amo," Romano kept whispering into her hair, as they fought to catch their breath, and Eliza smiled before snuggling into his chest with a contented moan and falling asleep in his strong arms.

(Trans: "I love you... you are the most beautiful person l've ever seen in my life, oh god I love you")