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“I guess we were both wrong. I was actually the moron all along.” Her smile shuts down and she turns away. “I’m heading to bed.”
“Allegra. Wait.”
“I don’t want to talk anymore, okay? Just let me go. We’ll deal with all this stuff tomorrow when we go home. Don’t follow me.”
I want to argue. There are a dozen things I want to tell her. But most of all, I want to hear about her life since college, about what she’s been up to, about that nonprofit she worked for, a thousand other little details about her life. I crave her, all of her, in a way I’ve never wanted another person before.
But she doesn’t stick around. I watch her disappear into the other room before sinking down into the spot on the couch she’d been curled up in. I raise her wine to my lips and can almost taste her on the rim of the glass.
One night apart. We’ll spend one night apart, but after this, I am going to treat her like she’s my wife. She won’t like it—but I have one year to change her mind.
And to make sure our families don’t disown us.
Chapter 14
Allegra
The plane takes off early. I’m exhausted. I tossed and turned the night before, and kept waiting for Gian to come storming into the room. It was terrible, and now I’m so tired I can’t think straight, but I’m also too wound up and nervous to sleep on the plane.
Gian insists on sitting in the seat next to mine, his big body somehow swallowing the gap between us. I swear he’s doing it on purpose, angling his legs as close as he can just to piss me off.
“We should talk logistics,” he says once we’re in the air. The flight attendant is up front near the pilots on the other side of a curtain, which means we have some privacy for a while.
That’s the last thing I want to do, but he’s probably right. I fiddle with the ring on my finger, turning it around in circles. “What’s there to talk about?”
“You’ll move into my place as soon as possible. I can send people to move your things?—”
“No,” I say, interrupting him. “I’ll handle that. I doubt my father will want Rossi soldiers anywhere near his house after all this.”
He acknowledges that with a grunt. “I gave you my word that we’d live near your family, and I plan to keep it. But before we do any of that, we need to talk about how we’re going to break the news to our families.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” I say, shifting to look at him. Gian’s so handsome it makes my stomach flutter, and he’s sitting so close that it’s hard to think straight. Maybe that’s just the lack of sleep though. “We should go to your brother first. My father’s going to be pissed, but if your brother is already on board, that’ll help ease the blow.”
“I agree.” Gian hesitates for a few moments. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
The abrupt change in topic makes me hesitate. “Not really,” I admit. “But that’s not really your problem.”
“Weren’t comfortable?”
“More like worried. Can we stick to the topic, please?”
“You’re on edge.”
“No kidding. We just blew up our entire lives. You’re not freaking out?”
He tilts his head to the side. “No, I’m not. I made my choice and now I’ll live with the consequences, even if they’re painful.”
“Good for you, I guess. We can’t all be robots.”
He smiles and holds out a palm. “Give me your hand.”
“Sorry? No, thank you.”
“Please,tesorina?”
“Enough with the pet name,” I mutter, but I give in and do what he’s asking. As soon as my skin touches his, I feel a little thrill trickle down my spine. He’s so warm—I always forget how hot he runs. I’m always freezing cold, and being with him is like having my own personal heater.
His other hand begins to massage my palm. At first, it’s kind of weird, but it feels really good and after a few seconds, I decide not to question it. Instead, I lean back in my seat as his finger kneads the heel of my right hand.
