Irrevocable (Fated series (can be read as a standalone) Book 3) Read online

  I did miss Coco though. John had assured me that we would go back over to England as soon as we could. Ivy was taking excellent care of her and, knowing Ivy, Coco was probably now twice the size from far too many treats.

  My heart began to pound faster as I realised I could just make out John as he turned into the Piazza below me. I knew he would make the circuit at least five times before he made his way back up to me. This was the highlight of my morning; he didn’t know that I watched him and I got to spy on the fine-looking specimen that was all mine. He was wearing his black running shorts, the very same ones he had been wearing the first time I had seen him, his T-shirt was hanging from his waistband and his wrap-around sunglasses shielded his eyes. My heart accelerated as I watched every muscle he owned flex with his exertions. It was mesmerising. I took in the several admiring glances from the women who were busy opening their shops, or placing out their tables and chairs before the day’s business began. John politely replied to their “ciao” or “buongiorno” as he ran past, but while their eyes remained fixed on him, his remained pointedly ahead of him. He had no interest in them. Finally, I recognised he was on his last circuit of the Piazza as he started to slow down and pressed the stop watch button on the huge, antiquated watch he always wore, checking his time.

  I pushed myself a little further forward to see him and felt the feelings of panic begin to take over me. I stood up and away from the stone wall quickly and took several deep breaths, willing myself to calm down. I hadn’t had a problem with heights before the attack on the ship, but since we had been here it had reared its very ugly head a few times. I knew it had everything to do with the assault on me back on the ship, and the fact that it had taken place on the balcony. However, I refused to let it consume me and at every given opportunity I forced myself just a bit further out of my comfort zone. It appeared that, although the scars had all but gone on the outside, the inside would take a little longer, just like the others I had. I pushed myself again to peer down to the Piazza below, my eyes searched around quickly but John had gone.

  ‘Wow, stay there, just right there. Your choice of outfit has just blown me away.’ I heard his deep voice filter over to me from the open double doors. I smiled to myself just imagining how I must look.

  My hair was haphazardly piled onto the top of my head, with several pieces now loose and falling away from the clips, but worst of all I was naked apart from a little lavender thong. It covered nothing, but we had very quickly realised that no one nearby overlooked us as John had made love to me under the stars on our second night here. Every morning when he was running I sat out in the warmth and worked on the present I was making him, usually wearing very little. I stayed where I was, feeling his gaze rush over me like a warm breeze.

  ‘Jasmin, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.’

  Although he couldn’t see, my face was enveloped by a huge smile at his words.

  His voice started to deepen in tone with the lust that was now obviously coursing around his body. Without moving from my position of leaning over the wall I closed my eyes, allowing the feelings between us to wash over me. I knew he was close enough to touch, but I denied myself the action.

  ‘I love you, Jasmin. Those three words cannot convey just how much you mean to me, but believe me when I say, every day for the rest of our lives I’ll attempt to show you.’

  I spun around on the balls of my feet and propelled myself into his arms. His kiss consumed me, captivating all my senses at once. His firm lips encouraged mine apart as his tongue swept in to caress mine. His tongue was insistent, needy and unyielding. I felt his hand as it cupped the back of my head holding me in just the position he required. When at last we broke apart I lay my head on his chest and breathed in the comforting smell of my husband.

  ‘I need a shower,’ he whispered into my hair.

  ‘Mmm hmm.’ Reluctantly I pulled away from him.

  John turned and went back into the lounge of our suite of rooms. As he strode through the doorway he picked up a triangle of buttered toast and took a large bite, quickly swallowing it down. ‘Mrs. Edwards, do you often stand on the terrace naked, looking over the wall?’ He bestowed the smile I loved upon me, it didn’t matter how many times I saw it, I knew it would always make me go weak at the knees.

  ‘How did you know I was there?’

  ‘I can feel you, Sugar.’

  I stopped still in the warmth of the sun. He stood half in the shadow of the doorway and half in the sun, the sheen of sweat making his skin sparkle. His eyes penetrated mine trying to convey the depth of his feelings for me and then he allowed them to wander all over my sun-kissed skin. Every single area of flesh that his gaze drifted over ignited. John didn’t need to touch me to get me to a heightened state of arousal, he just had to look. His eyes expressed his need, passion and every other thought and feeling that flew through his mind. The atmosphere quickly escalated, I didn’t think I would ever get used to the strength of feeling between us. I stuck out my tongue childishly, breaking the heat between us.

  ‘Go get your shower and I’ll get dressed, we still have places to see.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’ He mock saluted and turned away from me with a laugh.

  I followed him into the room, watching him a few steps ahead of me. My eyes struggled with the change of light and when they eventually sorted themselves out I saw he was standing at the dining table looking at what I had been working on earlier.

  ‘Oh bugger!’ I exclaimed.

  John was running his fingers over the leather-bound book I was making him, it contained my sketches and photographs I had taken as we explored Rome together. My friend Tammi made the most beautiful scrapbooks at home. I knew it wouldn’t be as good as hers, but hoped it would mean something to him. I had bought the leather-bound book two days before, from a shop that seemed to sell everything, and had spent our days collecting things to place in it, subway tickets, photographs etc. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to put it all away.

  ‘What’s this?’ He turned over a couple of pages and a photo fell out.

  ‘Well it was a surprise for you, but stupidly, in my haste to spy on you, I forgot to put it away.’ I crossed my arms over my chest.

  ‘For me?’ he questioned, his eyes didn’t leave the things I had placed between the pages. ‘This is us dancing at the restaurant on Tiber island.’ He wasn’t talking to me, he was just verbalising what he saw. I thought back to the day and evening, when I had first told him I loved him after he told me about his father. A small band had played that night and he had twirled me around in his arms to an old Nina Simone song, explaining to me that his mama had taught him to dance when he was young. The waiter had taken the picture with my permission on my phone. We were wearing casual clothes and only had eyes for each other in a sea of well-dressed, smiling people. Piece by piece he picked up everything I had collected.

  ‘Thank you, Jasmin. I’ve never had a gift like it.’ He lifted his head and met my cautious face.

  ‘You don’t think it’s silly and too sentimental then?’ I questioned, voicing my insecurity.

  John moved over to the rattan chaise longue next to the open doors of the terrace, holding up his hand for me to come and join him. I walked the few steps over the antique rug and placed my hand in his. Immediately he pulled me down to sit next to him.

  ‘I never understood sentiment, not until I met you. The fact you want to place our precious moments together forever is overwhelming, but definitely not silly.’ We were sat close together, our bare limbs touching each other, fused together by the still present sweat on his skin. He held one of my hands with both of his large ones and gently rubbed his calloused thumb over my knuckles.

  ‘Well, you weren’t meant to see it just yet. I was supposed to put it away before you got back.’ He nodded, lifted our conjoined hands, placed a kiss to my hand and turned his head to look at me, winking at me as our eyes met.

  ‘I have a gift for you too, you’ll h
ave to wait until this evening to receive it. But for now, I think I need to show you just how much you mean to me. I think I need to remind you that you’re it for me… Lie back, Jasmin.’ I did as I was told and watched as his eyes took on their dark, dominant hue. He stood up so I could lie down on the cushioned furniture. ‘Arms above your head, Sugar.’

  I lifted my arms and draped them over the top of the scrolled rattan, never once removing my eyes from my husband. Our connection was so strong, in moments like these it stole my breath away. His eyes perused the length of my body, in turn goosebumps broke out over my skin in their wake. He allowed one of his fingers to trail up and down my near naked body, stopping occasionally to place a small kiss to my already burning skin. The same finger trailed around the outline of the miniscule triangle that covered up the small amount of hair between my legs.

  The pheromones exuding from his body were all-consuming. My libido wasn’t climbing steadily, it had already ramped up to way past needing any form of foreplay, just by taking in the look in his eyes from earlier. I fought hard to keep my hands up and away from touching him.

  ‘I need you, John.’

  ‘Where do you need me, Sugar?’ As he asked the question the nail he kept longer for plucking his guitar strings grazed over the top of the lilac fabric and set my clit on fire. A moan left my lips. ‘I love your moans and whimpers, Jasmin. I love that they’re for me and me alone, but I need more from you before you get my cock. I want to go bare inside you. I need to feel your heat and arousal. I’m regularly tested. Are you on birth control?’

  My desire dropped to some extent as I had to think coherently just so I could answer.

  ‘I’m tested regularly,’ I took in a cleansing breath, ‘and yes, I have it covered.’

  I felt his fingers slip into the thin strips of fabric at the side of my thong as he ripped it away from my body, every single hair follicle stood on end.

  ‘You are so going to owe me! I’ll have no knickers left at this rate.’

  ‘Complaining about our sex life again, Jasmin?’ John had dipped his head down to my breasts. I had always been proud of the fact that they were firm and in good shape, but under his stare I was even more so. His lips were merely centimetres away from my nipples, his warm breath had made them harden to almost painful points and I craved the wetness of his mouth to consume them before I spontaneously combusted. His mouth eventually found one, sucking it so quickly into his mouth I let out a small scream and the other one was pulled and twisted, until they had both grown longer and harder. He moved his mouth quickly across my chest and after squeezing and twisting my needy flesh, my other nipple was also sucked with force into his mouth. He laved so much affection onto my nipples, my hips were beginning to flex in response.

  ‘Please, John,’ left my mouth in a soft rasp.

  I was relieved to feel him open my legs wide with his knee as he climbed on top of me, making the rattan creak under my head. His weight settled in between my legs and I began to whimper for him to enter me. He was keeping his weight off my upper body by resting on his elbows and his hands gripped my biceps holding my arms in the position he had demanded. I realised that, somehow, he had removed his shorts without my knowledge, when I felt his large engorged cock rub against my clitoris. Upon feeling the sparks of contact from the part of his anatomy I was nearly ready to plead for, my eyes shot open from the heady bliss he had catapulted me into when he had been sucking my very grateful nipples.

  ‘How much do you want me, Sugar?’

  ‘I’m so wet, it’s pouring from me. Doesn’t that answer you?’

  A knowing smile flicked over his face as he lifted his hips up, pushing into me in one movement. The feeling of being full surrounded me as I stretched to accommodate him, the feeling of completion flooded my system as he slowly began to rock in and out of me, but it was the feeling of love that came from his eyes that overwhelmed me the most. He moved his upper body down close to mine as my body started to race towards a mind shattering orgasm.

  ‘I need more, John. Please move quicker.’

  ‘Slowly, Sugar… I need to go slowly; I want to watch you as you fall apart in my arms.’

  His hands made sure my arms never lifted from the position he had demanded. The need to touch him only added to my heightened senses as he moved so painfully slow, in and out of the drenched core of my muscles. Tears started to pool at the corner of my eyes as I finally reached the crescendo of my orgasm. My screams and cries filled the space around us. As I pulsed around him he picked up speed chasing his own release, finally I felt the heat of his eruption hit the inside of me. He called out my name and then his head dipped down to my shoulder and I kissed his wet hair as the longer strands fell haphazardly around us. We lay unmoving until I felt his semi-hard cock begin to stir once more inside of me. My lips formed into a smile.

  ‘More, John… You want more already?’ I asked with amusement attaching itself to my words.

  ‘No, Sugar, you have me all wrong, I don’t want more, I want everything.’

  He began to move again but this time he allowed my arms to loop over the back of his neck as he made love to me once more.

  He lay in my arms once we had conclusively sated our need for each other. I couldn’t see his face as he lay on my chest and I drew shapes on his firm back. I watched as our beautiful room changed colour as more and more of the sun entered through the open doors. The light danced off the large oval mirror and travelled around the room, like magic. I was mesmerised and lost in my own thoughts when my fingers came to the only tattooed place on his body, in between his broad shoulder blades.

  ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you about this tattoo on your back, it’s a compass, isn’t it?’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘Does it have any significance to you?’

  He thought for moment.

  ‘It used to, Jasmin… but not anymore. I had it put on my body when I belonged nowhere, it showed how I was constantly looking for a place that felt like home. I’ve found home… my home is anywhere you are. I’ve come to realise in the short time we’ve been together that I want my day to start and end with you. I want to understand and experience everything that being in love has to offer.’ He lifted his head, grazing his stubble gently on my upper chest and smiled up to me, breaking out his dimple and the crease above his shining aqua eyes. ‘I want the cottage with the white picket fence. I want to be the father to our many children.’

  He lifted himself up, placed a chaste kiss to my lips and began a trail of kisses all the way down my torso until he came to my stomach, where he placed a long lingering kiss as he took hold of my hips and lifted them up to meet his face.

  My heart pounded faster at his declaration, I ran my hands through his hair holding him to my stomach, but mainly holding him in a place where I knew he wouldn’t be able to see the expression of terror on my face.

  ‘Thanks… that’s just what I needed.’ I dipped my head down to take in the deliciousness just presented to me. My lips met the freezing chill of the liquorice gelato and I sighed with the sheer bliss of the contact. I loved sitting here at the bottom of the Spanish steps, people watching. It was even better with gelato in hand.

  ‘Jasmin, have a heart.’ I opened my eyes quickly and shielding them from the strong sunlight I looked up at the man towering beside me, in time to see John’s eyes open wide as they caught alight with the sound that fell from my lips. I smiled, shook my head slightly and patted the space beside me for him to sit down. My husband was relaxed and I liked what I saw. John kicked his Converse off his feet and placed his toes in the cool water of the Fontanna Della Barcaccia. The water was a welcome relief from the heat of Rome in July.

  ‘You need to stop staring at me like you’ve never seen anyone eat an ice cream cone before, John.’ I ran my tongue around the lip of the cone consuming all the drips that were threatening to fall onto my bare thighs.

  He leant in closer and hooked a stray piece of my hair behind my ear, a
llowing his mouth to briefly touch the skin below my lobe in a small kiss, causing me to immediately stop eating and close my eyes again.

  ‘Then you need to stop licking and sucking on that cone like you wish it was my cock, Sugar.’

  Deliberately I sucked a little harder, making sure he could see my cheeks hollow slightly.

  ‘I’m normally a restrained man, Jasmin, but I swear if you keep on doing that I will take you over my knee, here and now. I don’t care how many people are around, are you listening?’

  I stopped what I was doing and looked up, taking in the number of people just out enjoying the weather and the water like us.

  What did it say about me that I seriously contemplated continuing, just to bait him?

  Did I not care about having an audience while my husband smacked my arse?

  Surely he wouldn’t?

  I tentatively placed my lips back to the cold gelato in my ever-tightening grip, lifting my eyes up to his as I watched his eyebrow rise further in question. He answered my unspoken thought.

  ‘Try me.’

  Like a reprimanded child, I offered him a small smile and continued to eat my gelato like the lady it seemed he required me to be, stifling down a small giggle at my petulance and his dominance.

  As we relaxed again in each other’s company, I lightly splashed my feet in the cool water, making little droplets fly up to find his shin bones, and my mind wandered over the few days we had spent here.

  They had undoubtedly been the best of my entire life.

  We had seen things that I had only ever dreamt of experiencing, things that I’d seen in books or on TV. We had shared laughter and banter, like we had been friends all our lives. We had played and teased each other like children and in turn that had turned into such intense passion between us. I could honestly say I had never felt love like we had with any other person. I had felt that love between us grow, if that were even possible? But, with all that, I was still unsure we would be able to take the huge step of being together in reality. I was gutted to realise that as much as I had thought Rome would be that reality, in all honesty I now knew that we were just as cossetted as being on board the ship.