Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
When we finished our lovemaking, he spooned me from behind, his hand resting on my stomach. He kissed the back of my shoulder before he buried his face in my hair because he liked the way it smelled.
Then he said the sweetest thing. “I can’t wait to marry you, sweetheart.”
Just when I couldn’t love him more, he made me fall head over heels. The wedding was in a week. It felt a lifetime away but also imminent at the same time. I already had my dress and everything planned because Constantine and Sofia had the connections to make anything happen on such short notice.
I was excited to be his wife, but I was also excited to start this new chapter in life, to finally leave the past behind and turn the page. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
My hand rested over his on my stomach. “Did you get your brother back?”
There was a pause like I’d pressed a button he tried to hide from me. “Yes.”
“Good.”
He was quiet.
“We should go visit sometime.”
“Yeah, we should.”
I turned around and faced him, and the second our eyes met, he hiked my leg over his hip to bring us closer together. He looked at me with tired eyes, but eyes that were fulfilled and at peace. “Is this really enough for you?” I whispered. “Us and a restaurant and a dog and two nephews to watch sometimes?”
“When have I ever given you the impression I was unhappy?” His eyes continued to bore into mine with a haze of calm and peace, not exhaustion like he was ready to sleep, just a subtle bit of Zen. “Are you happy?”
“Of course.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because maybe once you’ve had a taste for that life, that’s what you really want.”
I didn’t have to think twice about it. “I never want to feel the way I did a few days ago, when I was terrified you wouldn’t come home. I never want to see you with another bullet in your arm. I never want to watch Medusa stare at the door every day, waiting for you to walk through it. Your family feels like my family, and I love our quiet little life here. I just . . . want to make sure it’s enough for you. Because I’ll go back and do it all if it’ll make you happy.”
His stare didn’t change. He didn’t cut me off like he had before when we discussed this. He hung on every word like he wanted to memorize it forever. “There’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever that this is what I want. And you know I wouldn’t lie to you, sweetheart. I’ll sleep just fine knowing Rocco’s got it covered.”
I could finally relax, be happy without feeling selfish about it. “Okay.”
“Rocco asked if he could buy my place in Rome. I said yes, as long as we get to stay there when we’re in town. Is that okay?”
“You’re going to sell it to him?”
“I can’t imagine why we would need it. Unless you have a problem with that.”
“It’s such a legacy property. Those houses don’t come up, like, ever.”
His eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “I won’t sell it if you don’t want me to.”
“No, it’s your place. You should decide—”
“Our place. Come on, you’ve been my wife since the moment we met. A piece of paper doesn’t make that more true. Just true for lawyers.”
Sweetest, hottest man alive. “You’re right. We probably won’t use it. But I guess . . . what if our child ever wants it? What if they want to move to Rome when they become an adult and start a life there?”
He gave a quiet breath like he was in pain. “They aren’t even born yet, and I can’t stand the thought—especially if it’s a girl. I never really understood my mother’s perspective about the three of us until I realized I would be a parent myself. Everything hits different now. She was supportive of me when I decided to move to Palermo, and now I realize how hard that actually was for her. I know she still goes to the cemetery every day to visit my brother, and when I imagine going through something like that myself . . . I can’t breathe.”
I moved my hand to his arm and squeezed it.
His eyes drifted off somewhere else, his thoughts clouded by his sorrow. “We’ll keep it. I’ll tell Rocco I’m happy to share it with him. It’s such a big place, so someone should live there. And now he needs something of that caliber for protection.”
“He gets to live there for free, so that’s nice.”
“Fuck no, he doesn’t,” he said with a slight chuckle. “He’s gotta cover the utilities and the staff.”
“That’s fair.”
He lay there for a while, the silence trickling by. His eyes stayed on me all the while. “I know we can’t go too far for our honeymoon, so I thought we could stay at that hotel where we met.”