Page 154 of Alessio

All at once, Alessio closed the distance between them, and Ginevra had never been more grateful. She found herself wrapped up in his strong, familiar embrace. She pulled in lungful after lungful of his heady scent, letting the comfort take her back to a happier place.

Alessio’s hands slipped under her jaw, and he tipped her head back. First, he kissed her soft, and tentative. So unlike him though she loved the gentle press of his lips against hers. But then, the kiss turned into something else when his tongue snaked out to tease the seam of her lips, seeking more.

God.

She gave him that.

And took what she wanted, too.

Nothing was like kissing someone you loved. Everything was … perfect. Her world almost tilted back on its proper axis. Except she missed someone else, now. They missed someone else.

Alessio pulled away, but his thumbs stroked her cheeks, taking away the tears that had escaped from her eyes. “Don’t cry, sweetheart.”

“I … this has been a lot.”

“We’ll fix it.”

“How?”

Alessio chuckled, and pressed another quick kiss to her mouth before saying, “By not giving him a choice—making a statement.”

Ginevra gave him a raised brow. “What, like a grand gesture? Cliché, yeah?”

“Maybe, but it is Corrado. And as much as he figures he’s hard to understand, he really isn’t. Sometimes, show him where he’s wrong while you also admit to your own. Those flaws of his again, and you have to love them, too. Not just parts of him.”

“I do, and you, too.”

Alessio’s throat jumped when he asked, “Do you?”

“What?”

“Love me?”

Ginevra reached up and stroked the underside of his jaw. “Too much. I love you too much.”

“How else would this work, huh?”

Exactly.

Now, she had to let Corrado know, too.

I’ll see you there.

Corrado stared at Alessio’s last text after he’d cut the engine to the Porsche in the driveway of his parents’ mansion. He hadn’t wanted to come to this goddamn Halloween party at all, but he wasn’t able to come up with an acceptable excuse to get him out.

He couldn’t even use Les.

Not considering Alessio was here, or if not, was on his way, if his last text to Corrado was any sign. He had no idea where Alessio had been for the last couple of days. He hadn’t come back to Vegas, he wouldn’t pick up Corrado’s calls, and he only answered back one of his texts.

The one about the Halloween party in Toronto.

That was it.

Corrado wasn’t sure what in the hell was going on, but he didn’t like it. At all. It felt like Alessio was hiding something from him, and he needed to find out what that was. Which was what he planned on doing tonight.

He couldn’t do that if he continued to sit in this damn car, so he shoved his phone into his pocket, and stepped out of the vehicle onto the driveway. He took in the fake strings of a spider web hanging from the trees lining the driveway, and the pumpkins decorating the cobblestone. He didn’t know what it was, or why, but his mother never went half-assed for decorating.

Cara didn’t understand the meaning of subtle.