Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

In the past, I’d visited my family’s beach house to find inner peace and remind
myself of the beauty in life. I’d gotten up early to stand on the porch and watch
the ocean roll over the white beach, to listen to the calming whooshing of the
water without being disturbed. I often brought work with me.
Today, I slept in. Something Giulia had taught me. It was already past nine
when I stepped onto the porch. Giulia and the kids were already up. Laughter
drifted up to me from the beach, not the quiet of the past. I didn’t miss it. I
hadn’t come here to find inner peace or see something beautiful. Inner peace had
found me when Giulia stepped into my life. I didn’t have to drive hundreds of
miles to seek a beach house for that. Now I only had to come home to my wife.
Too beautiful for words—inside and out.
I closed my eyes, tilting my head up to the early morning sun, letting it warm
my upper body and face. Many aspects of my life remained dark spots of
brutality, but my home had become my safe haven.
“Love, won’t you join us?” Giulia called.
I looked at her. She cradled our two-month-old son with one arm while her
other hand clutched her ginormous sunhat against her head. The wind was
tearing relentlessly at the ugly thing. I’d made peace with her quirky clothes, but
some things were beyond my tolerance.
“Love?”
That word wasn’t a casual endearment born out of habit coming from
Giulia’s lips. Every time she said it, it held meaning.
Giulia encompassed that word “love,” that feeling, in every action, every
smile, every fiber of her being.
I headed down to her, sand clinging to my bare feet as I crossed the dune to
the beach. Simona and Daniele were taking a dip in the cold ocean, chasing each