In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

eyed into empty space.
"This is the happiest day of my life," he announced to the
ceiling. "I am the happiest man of the world."
"In the world."
He turned and whispered in her ear, "You make me this."
"Sandro..." Penny began. He rolled on top of her and kissed her
lips, her throat.
"O, Mia vita. Can I make you happy? As happy as me?"
Penny nodded helplessly.
"We will pay for this."
"Pessimist."
"Penelope, love me always."
"Forever."
"Per sempre. I love you per sempre. I live inside you, it is
paradise."
He reached for her breasts.
"Most beautiful in the world. This one, and this one, how
friendly. O, Penelope, I love you so much, so much."
He lay his head peacefully between them and she streamed her
fingers through his hair.
Night fell in shades of gray. They heard sounds outside the
door, not much, just enough to guess who it must have been. No telling
for how long, either. He got up, frowning. His arm tightened around
Penny's shoulder as they stood on the other side of the door and held
their breath.
The door moved imperceptibly from contact with the ear held
to it, and they heard the brush of her hand as she bent down to look
through the keyhole. They froze, expecting the worst. Instead, she
slowly rose, her hands sliding up the surface of the door. A mute note
as she leaned her forehead, then in a cloying wave of contact, her entire
body into the door, her hands suctioned flat and still on the wood.
They could hear her breath behind the wood. Slowly, she moved away
towards the library door, trailing her nails along the plaster. Sandro
hugged Penny close, his heart pounding into her chest, until he was
sure the danger was past.
The blackened fireplace came to life after Sandro's ministrations
and washed the room in a a tide of orange that ignited the room with
gold: the frames, the satin damask coverlet lying in a heap at the foot of
the bed, the roaring lion heads on his Vermeer chairs. She turned to his
golden fractured face and looked deep into his eyes, where the fire
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