Page 116 of Ricardo

She blinks at me, a little stunned.

I push myself up to a sitting position and take a deep breath to calm the rage that is surging through me. It will do neither of us any good right now.

I feel her shift to sit up as well. She pulls a pillow onto her lap. Modesty. I want to burn the word from existence.

I take the pillow and toss it aside.

She flinches. Just for a second. It's so small I might have missed it, but I don't.

I don't get angry at her reaction. I get angry at him all over again.

I sense her about to open her mouth, and I know what she's going to say before she can even breathe it.

"I swear, Julia," I warn, "if you apologize."

"I shouldn't have said anything," she says, apology in her tone. "We were having a good time, and I just had to—"

"Basta!" I growl.

She flinches again.

And then I feel like an ass. I didn't mean to be so harsh. The anger I felt for Harrison was clearly spilling over to her.

I soften my expression, my tone.

I reach for her and pull her close. She lets me, allowing me to gather her onto my lap. Her skin is warm and soft against mine. She fits here perfectly. As if she was made to be here.

I wrap my arms around her, holding her close. "I'm sorry," I say, my lips pressed against her hair. "I'm not angry with you. I'm angry with him. I am angry for you."

She relaxes against me, her head resting on my shoulder.

"He was my life for a long time," she says quietly.

"Then let me tell you something about him," I say and lean my cheek against her hair. "He was a bad lover. He was a bad partner. And he would’ve been a very bad husband. He is not ‘traditional.’ He is just inadequate. There is nothing natural about a man who takes a woman's desire and uses it as a weapon against her. There is nothing natural about a man who doesn't want to make the woman he claims to love feel good. That is not a natural order. That's a sad, pathetic little boy who is terrified of a real woman."

I pull back so I can look at her.

"So what does he try to do? He makes her small. He makes her doubt herself, her desires, her worth. He tells her it's for her own good, so she won't realize that she's too good for him."

I take her face in my hands, and I force her to look at me.

"Your pleasure is not an afterthought, Julia. It's a necessity. It's more important than my own. Your pleasure is my pleasure. Your desire is my desire. Do you understand?"

A single tear escapes and tracks down her cheek.

I gently brush it away with my thumb.

"He broke me," she says, her voice cracking.

"No, cuoro mio," I say gently. "He tried. If he had succeeded, you wouldn't be here right now."

I lean in and kiss her softly.

"Let me show you," I whisper against her lips. "Let me show you how it's supposed to be. How you deserve to be loved."

For a long moment, she just looks at me. I can see the war waging inside her. Years of conditioning versus the raw, undeniable truth of what she has just experienced.

This isn't just a continuation of what we started earlier, and she knows it. This is a real beginning for her. This is when she finally takes a step forward, not just physically, but emotionally as well.