“What is it?” Her lids were heavy, lips plump, and Aldo couldn’t remember ever seeing anything sexier in his life.

“This.” He plucked the tiara off the plate and settled it on her dark hair. She went from bewitching fairy to seductive queen.

She looked at him for a beat, lips parted. “Aldo, take your pants off.”

They stripped with more speed than finesse. But when Gloria straddled his lap on the chair wearing nothing but the tiara, Aldo knew lust. And when she positioned his cock at her entrance and sank down on him, taking him in inch by fucking inch, he knew love.

She watched him through pleasure-heavy eyes as she rode him by fire and fairy light. Gentle, smooth strokes. He touched her everywhere, wanting to memorize the feel of the moment as much as the look of it. The kisses he pressed to her lips, her jaw, her breasts, weren’t enough.

The feel of her skin under his palms and busy fingers wasn’t enough. Every time she rose, he felt desolate only to be plunged into ecstasy, completeness, when she took him back in. She rode him leisurely, loved him decadently. And he worshipped her.

He tasted the tip of her breast, stroked the side of her face, her neck. And felt it build between them. The pulse in her throat hammered away. Aldo lifted her arm, tracing his thumb over the birds in flight. He knew what they were flying toward, what they were migrating to.

She touched the birds over his heart with two fingers, traced them as her breath grew shallow.

He loved her. She loved him. It was that simple. Their bodies loved and moved together with one mind, one purpose.

He wanted to devour her and be devoured. He wanted to give Gloria a piece of his soul. And then he realized he already had.

She was tightening around him, sighing into his mouth, and he felt it welling up inside him, climbing his spine. Pleasure and love intertwined into something different, something invincible, something that burned brighter than history and carved a way into the future.

Their lips met, their bodies shook, their hearts blended.

And when they finally shared their first dance much, much later, it was naked in the firelight.

71

Thanksgiving was here and giving Gloria big, mixed feelings. On one hand, she was looking forward to her first real holiday with Aldo. Halloween didn’t count. Not when they’d spent the evening judging the jack-o-lantern carving contest on Main Street. On the other, her mother was out of town on her annual Caribbean cruise with friends. A tradition that Gloria realized had started to help Sara forget about her estranged, abused daughter and the holiday they should have been enjoying together.

“I promise to change the date next year, mija,” her mother swore when Gloria dropped her off at the airport.