Ten

IT WAS FOUR IN THE morning, and a part of Cat was in awe that she still found herself wide awake, and if she had to be honest, even more deliriously in love with her husband than she ever had been.

"Can I ask you another question?"

Ezio's powerful form shifted slightly under her words, and bubbly hot water gently splashed over the edges of the Jacuzzi, which her husband had purchased and installed only hours ago. It was also the reason they had since moved to his room, discreetly of course. This was one of his wedding gifts for her, since he had heard from Sarica how much she loved a long, luxurious soak in the bath after a particularly long day.

"Certo." Of course.

His gaze focused on her as he spoke, and her heart skipped a beat.

It was just incredible, with how Ezio made her feel like she was his whole world just by seeing her.

And yet at the same time...

"How do you do it?" she blurted out. "How are you a good spy when you look like that ?"

His lips twitched. "Is that your way of saying you find me attractive?"

"You're beyond attractive—-" Cat couldn't help feeling slightly morose at this. "And you know it."

"All I care about is what you think," her husband said with a shrug.

Oh, if only.

If only she could swoon without, well, actually losing consciousness!

But since that wasn't possible, all Cat could do was frown, smile, and make a face, and all at the same time, too. He just had her so flustered, and well...

Great.

Her husband's eyes were gleaming again.

"Did I embarrass you?"

"You didn't."

"So I did."

"No, you really didn't, and you still haven't answered my question."

"There's nothing complicated to it." Ezio's tone was pensive, and he had also started playing absently with her nipple, which of course had her feeling the opposite of pensive. In fact, if he continued touching her like this, it was only a matter of time before she lost her mind and begged him to do, well, more.

"You just need to take the time to look for patterns. And when you find them, there will always be loopholes to take advantage of."

"Always?"

His fingers stilled. "Because nothing - and no one - is infallible."

The sudden grimness of his tone made her heart ache.

Because she knew without being told that his words were knowledge that he hadn't acquired without cost.

"Your grandmother told me just a bit about your childhood," Cat confessed.

Her husband only smiled, and her heart ached anew because she could see that it was a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"My turn to ask a question."

She nodded eagerly, relieved to have a change of subject. "Okay."

"Is it just me...or are you not as coordinated as most people believe you to be?"

"It's you," she said right away.

He smiled again, and it was real this time, and while she knew she should be happy about that...

"My wife is a closet klutz."

Oh, the way he said those words.

"Who would have thought?"

Cattleya made a face.

Yes, fine, it was true.

She was a klutz, and had always been so.

But because she also tended to blend with the background, people had never really noticed the frequency in which she bumped into things and tripped over her own feet.

And so most people had assumed she was this graceful little thing, and since Cat had secret dreams of being a ballerina, she had thought rather childishly, well, what harm would it do, to let people think what I also want them to think?

Cat mustered the courage to peek at her husband's expression after confessing the shameful truth, but instead of looking at her with condescension, he was actually smiling.

And yes, this, too, was real, but it was also different.

It was a smile that was so, so wonderfully gentle that it completely stole her breath away.

"You know there's only one solution to that, don't you?"

She could only shake her head, unable to speak or figure out what that one solution could be.

"We'll have to sign you up for ballet classes."

Cat's reaction to this was automatic.

"What? No. Of course not. There's no need—- " She could have have gone on forever, with how horrified she was at the idea, if not for her husband stemming the tide of words by gently pressing one finger against her lips.

"It's not a sin to chase your dreams, Cattleya."

Well, of course she knew that.

Right?

Because the more she thought of his words, the more confused she became.

She did know that.

Right?

"It's settled then," her husband said, and this time his smile was something she heard more than saw. And it was a sound that she had last heard from her parents. A sound that could only be made by people who were happy...because she was happy.

And just like that, the tears started to fall.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?"

"All these years, if I ever allowed myself to think of my parents, I'd only remember...what I shouldn't remember. But just now, when I look at you, and I hear you speak..." Her voice broke off, her shyness getting the better of her, and it suddenly became impossible to tell him that she believed he was happy when she was happy.

"What is it, piccolina ?"

But just because she couldn't say those words just yet didn't mean she couldn't show them.

All she had to do was let love be her guide, and oh...

It just suddenly felt oh so natural to rise up on her knees and as their gazes locked, she didn't allow herself to look away as she slowly impaled herself on her husband's length.

"Ah, moglie mia..."

Wife of mine...

The words were still magical and hotter than ever, and oh, how it made her forget her inhibitions completely.

Yes, oh yes.

She was this man's wife, and so she gave him everything.

She held nothing back as she rode him.

And bounced on his length again and again.

Oh, how she loved him.

Love you, love you, love you.

And she didn't stop until she heard him groan her name.

Cat...

And it was the most beautiful feeling.

Yes, yes, yes.

The way the heat of his seed filled her to the brim.

Ti amo. Ti amo. Ti amo.

The words played endlessly in her mind as she fell asleep in her husband's arms.

And as Ezio carefully scooped her out of the tub and dressed his wife in his shirt, those were also the words that echoed in his mind.

Ti amo. Ti amo. Ti amo.

And they terrified him to the core of his being.

Because he had a feeling it was true.

He was starting to fall in love with his wife.

And how could that be a good thing when he also knew that Cattleya had not married him for love?