The Breaking Point. Mariella Starr

How long has this been going on?”

      “We don’t know, but we suspect since my father died, although it might have started sooner. That’s been a while,” Ales said. “I know you’re not fond of my mother, Faith, but she is my mother. I do love her, and no matter how badly she has behaved, I have to deal with her. God knows you have your reasons for not wanting to help, and I do understand, but I don’t have a choice.”

      “Ricco is not going anywhere near her until this issue is resolved,” Faith said fiercely. “I won’t have it! Good, God! How many times has she been in a car driving with him while under the influence? She was driving him home from his Little League practices!”

      “I thought of that, too,” Ales admitted. “I’m also worried about what she’s doing to herself. I’m not asking you to get involved with this. Not after what she did to you. You won’t have to deal with her. I promise.”

      Chapter 4

      Ales walked into the bathroom as Faith stepped from the shower. He’d been in Hancock for three weeks now. Their dedicated time together was getting closer to an end, but if he needed to extend it, he would.

      Tyrell, his business partner, had been supportive. Ales was the architect, Tyrell was the business manager, and together they were Benedetti/Monroe Design. They worked well as a team and as partners. They’d been best friends since their first year in college.

      Faith had been given a clean bill of health, and the cast had been removed from her foot. She’d been warned to continue restricting her working hours and to get plenty of rest. She still had occasional headaches, and she’d lost quite a bit of weight she didn’t need to lose. Ales suspected that trying to get his wife to pace herself was going to be a problem. Faith had one speed, and that was full-speed charge ahead, all the time. She had never been a champion of rest and relaxation. She had to stay busy all the time.

      He’d been trying to take care of her, making her favorite foods, giving her massages, and restricting the hours, she painted. The bruises on her face, chest, and arms had faded and healed. The remaining ones were a few big ones on her legs. Ales had asked the doctor about them, worried they might indicate a problem more serious, but he’d been told they were fading, and it wasn’t uncommon for bruises on the legs to heal slower. To Ales, it was an indication of how hard her body had been abused in the collision. They were sharing the same room, sharing the same bed, but they hadn’t been sharing each other.

      He felt himself harden under the towel he had wrapped around his waist. “Let me see those bruises,” he said matter-of-factly, as he sat on the only available seat. Ales turned her naked body around in front of him to inspect the still dark bruises on her thighs.

      “Alessandro,” Faith said, running her fingers through his hair and pulling his face against her breasts.

      “Don’t do that,” he said raggedly. “I want you so badly, but I don’t want to push. You’re not ready yet.”

      “Why don’t you let me decide when I’m ready, or not?” Faith asked. “You come to bed late, knowing that pill I take makes me sleep.”

      “I’ve been dealing with business issues late at night,” Ales said, breathing in her natural scent. “I want you to be sure before we start that part of lives again.”

      “I think at this point we’ve settled most of our issues,” Faith said. “I haven’t stopped loving you, but I’m beginning to think you’ve lost interest.”

      “Sweetheart, I’ve been afraid to ask.”

      “You don’t have to ask, all you have to do is make love to me,” Faith said.

      Ales stood and dropped his towel. He reached into the shower and turned the water back on.”

      There was a knock on the door, and Ricco yelled, “I gotta go!”

      Ales stepped over to the door and opened it a crack. “Use one of the other bathrooms, and go fix your breakfast!”

      Faith was smiling when he stepped under the pulsating spray of the showerhead. They kissed as he began touching every part of her as if he were discovering something new and precious.

      She started to tremble as she felt a throb between her legs. Ales carefully went to his knees, and his mouth went to her center, his tongue was teasing, searching, and thrusting. He spread her legs further apart to allow him more access as his tongue worked magic. Her knees were getting weak, and she felt the support of his strong hands, holding her steady. When he stood, he wrapped his arm around her waist and set her outside the shower as he turned off the water, joining her to towel her dry. Then he stuck his head out the door to make sure the hallway was clear of their son, and carried her to the bedroom across the hall, locked the door behind him, and laid her on the bed gently.

      Faith curled her legs around his waist as he sank into her, and began the thrusting that was so familiar to her. Everything below her waist was tingling and trembling.

      “Oh, my God!” Faith exclaimed as she orgasmed for the first time in months.

      Ales wasn’t through yet. He knew his wife, and he wanted to extend their pleasure as long as possible. He was still buried deep into Faith, and he continued the ritual of thrust and withdraws, faster and harder. Ales was so turned on that he had to muffle his groans and moans.

      Faith went over the edge again, her natural response torturing his sex by tightening around him, but he still wouldn’t allow himself the pleasure of coming until she bucked under him again. Raising himself on his forearms, he pounded into her until he couldn’t control himself any longer, and he let go to enjoy those few fleeting moments of pure heaven.

      Ales buried his face into his wife’s still damp hair and pulled her against him, and from the bed. They darted across the hall naked, and he turned the shower on again. They washed each other, and Ales even shampooed her hair, being careful to work around the red scar where the stitches had been removed.

      “Was I too rough?”

      “No,” Faith said truthfully. “You’ve never been too rough.”

      He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “Does this mean we’re getting back to normal?”

      Faith nodded. “Normal, as our new normal. Not our old normal.”

      “We can be a work in progress,” Ales said with a grin, and he wrapped her into her robe for crossing the hallway this time. “We’d better get downstairs. Without supervision, Ricco will eat a full box of sugar-coated cereal, and then we’ll be peeling him off the ceiling for the next couple of hours.”

      “He knows better,” Faith said, opening her closet.

      “Sure he does, but he’s a boy. All the warnings in the world won’t stop him, if he thinks he’ll get away with it,” Ales said with a laugh. “Arms up!” He pushed a tee shirt over her arms and her head and torso. “How is the rib? I didn’t put too much weight on you, did I?”

      “I’m fine,” Faith said. “As long as I raise my arms slowly, and don’t lift anything heavy, I’m okay.”

      “We have to go to either Cumberland or Hagerstown today. It’s time for car shopping, and we want to take advantage of the July 4^th sales,” Ales said as he continued helping his wife get dressed. “I think Hagerstown would be our best bet. There are more dealerships there.” Faith still hurt if she tried to bend over, so she sat on the bed, and he slid her feet into sandals.

      “Why can’t I go with Jill or Carrie?” Faith asked.

      “Because they don’t know diddlysquat about vehicles,” Ales retorted.

      “The last two times we went looking for cars, we got into arguments,” she reminded him.

      Ales frowned. “My concern is safety for you and Ricco, and the kids you haul around.”

      “My