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Something feral and possessive flashed in Luca's brown eyes as he drew in a deep breath. "I've waited a very long time to hear those words."
I leaned my forehead against Luca's and smiled at him. "They always belonged to you. I've known since I was ten years old that you were the love of my life."
"I beat you," Luca replied. "I was twelve."
Given that there was a five year age difference between us, Luca must have fallen for me a couple of years after we met. "That's a long time to love someone."
Eighteen years by my count.
"Oh, my love." I reached up and threaded my fingers through Luca's hair. The hard shudder that shook his body told me a lot. As hard as his life had been, I doubted there had been a lot of tenderness in it. I planned to change that. "You've waited so long for me, but I'm here now."
Luca's arms tightened around me and he buried his face in my neck. I said nothing about the tears dripping on my skin. I just held him close to me, giving him whatever strength I had.
I'd never be as powerful as he was. Our bodies were made differently. But I could give him this. I could give him the love, care, and the tenderness he had been missing all these years.
I jumped when the door to the hotel room slammed open and a man in a dark suit came charging in. Luca jumped up, still holding me in his arms, and swung around to glare at the man.
"Franco!" Luca snapped.
"Apologies, sir, but Mr. Borelli has been trying to get a hold of you. He says it's important that we get you and your guest on the plane and back to Italy as quickly as possible."
Luca frowned as he glanced toward the coffee table. He kept one arm wrapped around me and reached for his cell phone with the other. "Damn it, the battery died." He set me on my feet, but kept me close to his side. "Let me use your phone, Franco."
The man handed over his cell phone without comment.
Luca gave me a gentle push toward the bedroom. "Go get cleaned up and finish getting dressed while I talk to Vinnie."
I wasn't sure if he really wanted me to get ready to go somewhere or if he was having me leave the room because he had to speak to Vinnie about mafia business, keeping his promise to keep me out of it.
I barely had time to wash my face and pull on my shoes before Luca was calling out my name. I grabbed my suit jacket and hurried back into the other room.
"What's wrong?" I asked as soon as I saw the tension in his face.
"Vinnie called to tell me that we needed to up our timeline. Your parents are calling the cops, telling them that you have been kidnapped."
Technically true.
"We need to get married before they can stop us." Luca held out his hand. "Will you marry me?"
Why was that even a question?
I walked over and took Luca's hand, sending him a bright smile. Luca brought my hand up and pressed a kiss to the top of it, returning my smile.
"Franco, this is Nico, my fiancé and soon to be my husband. Nico, this is Franco. He's my bodyguard and right hand man. He's pretty much my brain on most days."
Franco gave me a respectful bow. "Sir."
"It's nice to meet you," I said.
Franco gave me another bow before looking at Luca. "Sir, if we want to get to the plane and in the air as soon as possible, we need to get downstairs and get you two married."
"Our ceremony wasn't supposed to be for another couple of hours. We'll have to see if they would be willing to bump it up." Luca winced as he glanced at me. "I'm sorry, amore mio. I wanted to give you a real wedding."
I smiled as I wrapped both hands around Luca's arm. "I don't care about the ceremony, just the groom."
"I promise I'll throw you the biggest most extravagant wedding ceremony ever when we get home to Italy."
"I don't need extravagant, Luca." The mere thought made me shudder. My parents did extravagant. I wanted simple, but meaningful.
