Page 411 of Under Her Skin

He was shaking Sera’s hand very seriously now as the little girl sized him up. Inca told him who Sera’s parents were. He nodded. “Ah, yes …I see the resemblance now.” He smiled at Inca kindly. “Although, she could just as easily beyours.”

Inca smiled sadly. “Raff and Enda could be twins and both Ama and I are of Indian ancestry.” She paused, then lowered her voice. “Sometimes I feel like it’s a cruel joke; showing me what my and Raff’s child would have looked like, would have been. I love this little girl as if she were my own, but she’s not.” Her voice broke and she looked away, dashing tears from her eyes. “Sorry,Como.”

He patted her hand. “Don’t apologize, Inca. It’sunderstandable.”

Inca nodded, not trusting herself to speak for a long moment. Sera seemed to register her distress and climbed on her lap, studying her in the guileless, non-judgmental way only a child can. Inca smiled back through hertears.

“Don’t cry, Inky,” Sera said, matter-of-factly. “I’ll give you a cuddle and that will make you feel better.” She hugged Inca, who laughedsoftly.

“You were right. I do feel better, Sera. Thankyou.”

Como watched them. “Have you and Raff talked aboutadopting?”

“We have, but I’m scared of getting excited, only to be told we’re too old or our pasts are too messy. We already know that Raff is past the age limit for adopting a baby.” Inca sighed. “So I don’t know, Como. It’s something we’ll have to make a decision on soon. Sometimes it’s hard when we see Tommaso and Bo’s troop of kids. So many of them at once.” She laughed. “Those are usually the days when we’re glad wearechildless. But when we just have this little pickle with us …” She hugged Sear tightly; the child was now occupied with playing with Como’s cufflinks, which Inca guessed were probably worth more than this entire block ofbuildings.

Como studied Inca, an unreadable expression on his face. “It doesn’t seem fair when you could give a child such a lovinghome.”

Inca shrugged. “Those are therules.”

Como nodded slowly, then got up. His tea sat untouched on the table. Inca was surprised by his sudden movement. “I am sorry, Inca. I just remembered I have to be somewhere. Would you excuseme?”

Later,at home, she wondered what had been going on in Como’s mind, and she wished she hadn’t blabbed her mouth so much. She felt guilty for dumping on him in a vulnerable moment. When Raffaelo came home, he could see she was preoccupied, and when Sera was tucked up in bed and asleep, he poured Inca and himself a glass of wine. They took it (and the ever-present baby monitor) out onto theterrace.

“Okay,Bella,let’s hearit.”

Inca told him about Como’s visit. Raff listened, nodding, then sighed. “Knowing Como, he’s trying to figure a way to get us the baby we want. I doubt if it’ll work out. At least, notlegally.”

“And we can’t use a surrogate because it’ll be illegal here.” Inca chewed her lip. “We’d have to move back toAmerica.”

Raff nodded. “And do you want to dothat?”

“God, no.” She smiled at him. “Look, maybe I’m just going through a phase. I love ourlife.”

Raff reached over and stroked her hair. “Do you know how much I loveyou?”

She leaned into his touch. “I do. And I know you’d move heaven and Earth to give me a child. Some things weren’t meant tobe.”

When they wentto bed that night, Inca fell asleep soon after lovemaking, but Raff couldn’t sleep. He watched his beautiful wife, her beautiful body stretched out beside him. Raffaelo traced the scars on her belly from the stabbing—frombothof her stabbings—and cursed the men who had put them there. He would give anything to see Inca’s belly, without scars and round with hisbaby.

Anything …

Ama feltthe steel of the handcuffs biting into her wrists and loved the pain of them. She lay on her stomach, bent over the back of the couch in the living room, while Enda stalked behind her, a riding crop in his hand and a cock ring around his ram-rod straight manhood. He brought the crop down on her buttocks and she yelped both with pain andpleasure.

“Louder!” Enda hissed at her, and she screamed his name. Enda thrust his cock deep into her cunt then and fucked her hard, pulling the handcuff so her back bent toward him as he tookher.

Ama was delirious, lost completely in their game, and when she came, Enda pulled out and eased into her ass, fucking her slowly this time to prolong her pleasure. As he neared completion, he pulled out, flipping her onto her back and coming on her belly, then bringing the crop down, creating two red, angry strips across herabdomen.

They had been playing their games for two days now, completely uninhibited. Ama found she loved the sting of the whip, or the crop, so much that she would grow wet just thinking about it. Enda, kissing her, would slide his hands between her legs—she didn’t bother with underwear here—and find her already so wet for him that he would take her wherever theywere.

They spent the days—when they weren’t fucking—exploring the island, swimming, and talking. They fucked against the trees in the forest, which was exhilarating until a giant spider dropped onto Ama’s shoulder and she screamed bloody murder. Enda hadn’t been able to breathe, he was laughing so hard, much to Ama’s chagrin. She had immediately placed a sex-ban on him …which had lasted for a whole ten minutes until they got back to the villa and Enda informed her she had far too many clotheson.

On the lastday of their holiday, they lazed around in the pool, the sun beating down on their bare skin. Enda kissed Ama, and she smiled athim.

“Piccolo, have you enjoyedyourself?”

“So much. I’m just sorry we can’t do this at home. But I think, with Sera in the house, I wouldn’t feel comfortable or enjoy it somuch.”

Enda kissed her shoulder. “I agree. But,Bella, we must make a pact. One a year, maybe twice, we come here and dothis.”