His precious Serafina settled into the bath, and Alessandro was struck by how fortunate the unknowing water was.<br/><br/>Did it not slide over her, completely free to roam over her body? Did it not even begin to settle into her precious, perfect skin, becoming a part of her delicious essence?<br/><br/>Alessandro grinned at her, and pursed his lips thoughfully.<br/><br/>“Why, love? Why court agony?” He smiled, allowing his gaze to fall to the outline of her body within the bath. “I shall offer that it must be so. It must, because were I to lie with you now, tonight, I know in my heart that I would be ill-prepared to adore you as you deserved. I shall not do that to you, give you anything but that which you deserve, Fina. I will not.”<br/><br/>He shook his head, and smiled softly.<br/><br/>“Do you select the most perfectly sublime book, a tale of wonder and exquisite, perfect beauty… and then rush to the last page? Of course not. You<em>savor</em>it. You relish each page, hands trembling in awe at the artistry of what you discover and gasping in delight at each revealed nuance.”<br/><br/>Alessandro grinned, perfectly and unrepentantly roguishly, and regarded her intently. “I shall not rush to your arms nor coax you into my bed because, my love, I intent to<em>devour</em>you, page by perfect page. Every word and every phrase of you. Before we reach, you and I, that last trembling page wherein our story fully unfolds and we consummate that which is between us…?”<br/><br/>He leaned forward, to stare into her eyes. “I will<em>know</em>you. Know the scent of you, for it shall be so familiar to me that it utterly haunts and consumes me, leaving me aching for the need of you. I shall know your skin – the way that light bends around it and the sun brings a perfect blush to your delicate shoulders. God, Fina, will I know you… every breath, every laugh, and yes every sigh as well. Should a single tear fall from those eyes, so precious to me, you must summon me and tell me at once; I would know that as well, both to banish from your presence that which displeases you, but also to taste that tear and the salt of your frustration.”<br/><br/>Alessandro leaned back and grew quiet for a moment.<br/><br/>“I will love all of you, Fina. I swear this to you with my life, that I shall learn every word of your story and be blinded by the sublime beauty of it. I promise you this with complete confidence; you must know, you<em>must</em>, that you may believe me completely in this, and that it is no less a surety than the sun rising in the morn.” He nodded solemnly, to reinforce his point. “Any why am I able to say this with such a guarantee? Your famous ‘why’?”<br/><br/>The slightest of shrugs caused his shoulders to cast ripples through the stillness of the bath. “Because, my darling, I have done this before once – and only once. You know that story, and know that my devotion there is… all of me. Simply all of me.”<br/><br/>There was profound emotion rolling off him in waves, for foremost among Alessandro’s many failings and flaws as a man was his inability to conceal his inner-most thoughts. “Nicolette’s and my story is a perfect love story, bound together by God himself. Upon every single page of our lives there appears beauty, and love. Devotion, in all things.” He smiled softly. “And yes, Fina, I shall not pretend otherwise, there may at times appear upon the pages of our tale a drop of blood now and again at some venture gone mad, or the occasional blotch of spilled wine or fallen rain, but… love. That is the very tale of who she and I are. And… who you,<em>and</em>she, and I shall be.”<br/><br/>He spread his hands and shook his head. “I am not a decent man, for my own greed and inability to deny myself your perfection makes me so. And I<em>embrace</em>that label, should it make it more easy for our dynamic to unfold. That Letta finds this arrangement satisfying and pleasing as well? I will not countenance you labeling her indecent – that is<em>my</em>title, and mine alone – but perhaps she also recognizes that we as three shall be more than any pairing might every hope to hold.”<br/><br/>Alessandro laughed, and stretched his foot out across the bath. Looping one of her legs, he raised her small foot to the surface of the water and caught it gently, cradling it in his hands. Tenderly he kissed the top of her foot, and a shudder of delight ran through him. After a moment he released her foot, to then trace a finger lightly over his lips as if to memorize the feeling of her skin against them.<br/><br/>“I will know you.”<br/><br/>Spent from his confessions, he reached for his wine from the small table beside the bath, and took a respectable drink. Replacing the glass carefully, he regarded her.<br/><br/>“<em>That</em>, love, is why I court the agony of being in your presence in such an intimate manner as this. Because it takes time to add pages to a book. It must be done properly, reverently, for the resulting tome to be worthy of those it is written about.” He nodded, his eyes upon her intently. “Do not, I beg of you, misinterpret my hesitation tonight or in the nights to come. It is not because I do not desire or love you – but because I do.”<br/><br/>Alessandro met her eyes and laughed softly. “Fools fall in love, Fina my darling. Fools and weak men, only they<em>fall</em>in love.” At that his smile widened, as though he was about to impart a great truth. “I am not such a man. I do not<em>fall</em>in love, as though it were some hole in the ground meant to drag me down and diminish me in the process. No, not that. I<em>leap</em>into it, Fina! I… I shall fling myself off the highest peak of love, and scream your name in delight the whole way down as I fall into your embrace! And at the end of my fall, when at last I fall into your arms, you must decide to either catch me and accept my love or let me meet my fate upon the hard ground at your feet. Nothing else will do. And I tell you this: you must give unto Letta and I your story, every word and every page, for you shall never be loved as you will be by us.”<br/><br/>Alessandro stood then, the water barely coming to his waist, and walked across the bath to her. Bending, he crushed his mouth to hers and kissed her with the longing of a man that has just given a woman he adores his very soul, praying that she will keep it safe. He kissed her as though he might, through that single act, take enough of her into him to sate his need for her for a time. Gasping, at long last he released her from his embrace, and his eyes flared wildly as he looked at her. Shakily he stepped back to his side of the bath, to sit again and stare at her in raw desire.<br/><br/>“<em>That</em>is ‘why’.[/i]”<br/>