MR AND MRS ROSSI | 18+

Chapter Two | Kissing Our Demons Goodbye

Ravenna
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I didn't remember falling asleep last night as I woke up cradled in Rafael's arms. He breathed lightly as if he was finally given some moments of peace and the streaking tension in his face was nowhere to be found for once.

It hurt me to know that I had forgotten about his pain while dwelling in mine. I forgot how not only I had, but he also had lost his daughter. But, Rafael was never good at showing his emotions. He kept them hidden for this very reason, the reason that it made him look more human.

These past couple of days, I have seen the man I love wither away from the inside. Just like me, he is in need of me and my love. I know we won't make it out of this heartbreak if only he was the one that held the burden and pain of losing something dear to us. Rafael was feared and respected by everyone around him, but he was cherished by me.

That is what I was for him, his safe spot. A spot where he chooses to wear his wounds proudly and make love painfully beautifully.

I carefully brought my fingers up to his chest where intricate ink marked his skin. He was beautiful. Rafael was one thing in my life that kept me from shattering dead and it was my job as his wife to make sure he was taken care of the same way.

He seemed to notice the gentle tracing on his skin as he opened his dark blue eyes to meet my lighter ones. Instantly hiding the pain behind them with a soft smile, just for the sake of me.

"Buongiorno amore." {translation: good morning love.}

"Good morning." I reply with a smile to return his. His eyes glistened with hope as he traced his gaze at the small smile embedded in my lips. I almost cried at how much he cared.

"How are you feeling?" He asks, just how he has been checking frequently everyday. I always answer him with my silence and he takes it as an answer, but he deserves better. He deserves more than my silence, Rafael deserves my honesty.

"It'll get better." I answer back and yet again he seems taken back at our few words of exchange. Each morning he was the one that kissed me goodbye to leave anywhere or to anyone that would lead him back to our daughter. Rafael was the one pushing the weight around for the long days, just in hopes it would leave me to heal.

He needed to heal just as badly as I did and I was going to have to make us do it together.

"You look beautiful when you smile." He whispers gently as if I was fragile as glass.

I smile and cup his face in my hands before pressing my lips softly down on his. He instantly sighs and melts into me. I smile against his lips and go back to return to his lips, but this time I need to dive deeper.

Our lips caress each other softly, before my tongue slips out and licks the seams of his lips, teasing him to seek for more. He instantly presses his tongue against my lips, begging for me to let him in even if it was for a day.

I part my lips open and his tongue tangles within mine in a furious war of emotions. My hand goes up to his thick black silky locks as he continues to spill each and every secret to my mouth with his tongue.

I feel his pain. I feel his guilt. I feel his hurt. But, dominating all of that is his undeniable love for me that soars through his heart and spills onto my own.

He pulls back, breathing heavy as we both catch our breaths. His eyes closed and his forehead against my own, as he seemed to be cherishing the simple moment between us. When he finally opens his eyes, I see the caged emotions he had been hiding from me. The tears in his eyes spoke to me more than a thousand words could ever explain.

My Rafael was in pain and I wasn't there to hold him this time.

"Vieni qui piccola." I say as I open my arms for him. {translation: come here baby.}

He instantly places his head on my heart as he wraps his arms around my waist, holding me close to him as his tears trailed down his cheeks onto my shirt.

"It hurts Ravenna. It hurts to see you broken. It hurts to see you hate me and love me all the same. It hurts to know I lost our daughter and deep inside you may be blaming me and may never love me the same." He cried into my chest as he laid his heart out in hopes for me to mend.

"I love you so much it hurts Ravenna." I feel my eyes well hearing his confession. I could never hate him, not when I love him too much. He was in pain and he was suffering just as much as I was, we both didn't deserve this. We deserved our happily ever after.

"I love you too Rafael, I could never stop loving you." I answer as he buries himself into my neck.

"I would go to the ends of the world, Ravenna, if that meant I could bring our daughter back."

"I know baby, I know." I reassure him as he continues to hold me tightly against him.

Kissing my neck softly, his eyes flutter close in exhaustion. He was tired and scared, and this time I would hold onto him with both of my hands to make sure he doesn't slip away to somewhere I couldn't pull him back from.

He didn't need the darkness, we both already had enough of it in our minds. I wouldn't allow it permission in our hearts, tainting our love for each other. Tainting something beautiful, that is ours to color.

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Thank you for reading, this is a limited time preview! The rest of the book will be written on the app RADISH, under my name JazmineIrisGrace.