AllFreeNovel
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“Fine. Okay? You wore me down. You win.”
“My favorite words.” He laughs at me and finishes his whiskey. “You want another? Or are you gonna finish the first?”
“I don’t know. What do you want to do?”
“Honestly? I’d be happy just sitting here with you for the rest of the night.”
I shake my head, astonished, but he’s clearly not joking as he orders a second whiskey. We enjoy a comfortable silence for a few minutes, and while he’s busy watching a basketball game on the TV in the corner, I enjoy staring at him.
“You’re not what I expected,” I say softly, pulling his attention back to me. His mouth quirks slightly.
“Let me guess. You assumed I’d treat you like shit and ditch you the first chance I got?”
“Basically, yeah. Can you blame me?”
“Not really. I deserve that. But do you still think I’m going anywhere?”
“No,” I admit and that’s a startling realization in itself. “But I still don’t get why you’re doing all this. You bought me a car. You bought this house near my family’s place. You gave up Vegas, stole me from Saul, basically upended your life, and I still don’t know what you’re getting out of it.”
He turns to face me. He’s smiling bigger now and shaking his head like he can’t believe what I’m saying. His hand presses against my thigh, his fingers tickling up and down, absently touching me like he doesn’t even realize it’s happening. He’s always doing that—reaching out and brushing something from me, taking any excuse he can to initiate contact, like he can’t help himself.
“You still don’t believe me, do you?” He leans closer, his full lips parted slightly. “I keep telling you exactly why I’m doing this, but you still keep saying you don’t know.”
“Say it again.” I whisper the words. My heart’s racing.
“I’m doing it for you. I’m doing it because I want you, Allegra.”
“Gian.”
“Listen to me. Really listen. I couldn’t stand the thought of you marrying Renzo, and it nearly killed me when you were going to marry Saul. That’s when I figured it out. Even ten years later, I haven’t stopped loving you.”
My eyes widen. My pulse hammers up into my throat. I hear the words he’s saying but they’re coming at me from a distance, at a strange angle, like a ghost in my peripheral vision. I want to understand, to look directly at what’s coming, but I’m afraid.
“We made a deal,” I say, feeling terrified and excited all at once. I expected him to be mad. He only shakes his head.
“And I’ll honor that deal. You asked me why I’m doing this and that’s the honest truth. I had to be with you, and now I am.”’
We sink into silence. My head’s spinning. I finally hear him, finally understand. It’s that word—he says helovesme, but that can’t be true. He ditched me and broke my heart. If he loved me, he would’ve come back much sooner, or he never would’ve run away to begin with.
How am I supposed to trust him? After everything? But I already know how, because I’m already starting to feel it.
He’s done nothing but prove himself to me.
Every single day since coming back into my life. Carefully, insistently, he’s shown me how he feels, and he hasn’t even tried to hide it, I just haven’t been willing to believe it’s real.
He told Renzo that we were in love. But what he meant was:he’sin love withme.
“Gian?” I ask quietly, my hands trembling. “I want to get out of here.”
“Okay, baby. Where do you want to go?”
“Take me somewhere. I don’t care where.” I move closer to him and hold onto his muscular arm. “Somewhere private.”
His eyes widen for only a moment. “Back home?”
“No. Closer.”
“There’s a decent hotel a block up.”
