My heart swells, incapable of accommodating the mass surge of blood pumping into it. It completely stops beating when a final peck is pressed onto the dip in my collarbone. It isn't the softness of the kiss that has my heart defying logic; it's the beautiful pair of dark eyes staring down at me. Rico's hair falls into his face, framing his chiseled cheekbones and shaped brows. His lips are swollen from our kisses shared in the back of the car during our travels. But his most exquisite feature is the look beaming from his eyes. Nothing but admiration reflects back at me, abundantly proving I'm not the only one who has fallen head over heels in a matter of hours. He loves me too.
Rico places a kiss on the edge of my mouth, drawing my sole devotion back to him.
“Are you sure this is what you want, Blaire?” he asks with his gorgeous dark eyes dancing between mine. “This is your last chance to back away. Once this happens, I’ll never give you up, so I need you to be sure.”
I cup the edge of his jaw and return his devoted stare. "I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life," I reply, only just concealing my smile at the way his jaw twitches under my touch. “I love you, Enrique. From the tips of your toes to the top of your gorgeous head.”
Blood surges to my heart, making it swell even more when the most captivating smile stretches across Rico’s face. . .
I gasp in a quick breath, shell-shocked by my admission in my flashback. I’ve never spoken those three words to another man before. But I was fully willing and able to give them to Rico within hours of meeting him. What type of drug was I given that it knocked down my walls so quickly?
My eyes stray to the side when a cold hand gives relief to my flaming cheeks. Rico's dark eyes are rapt on me. His gaze is primal, dominating and strong, and it adds to the heat rushing to the surface of my skin.
“You remembered.”
Although he appears to be asking a question, his powerful gaze isn’t reflecting that. He seems to know me well enough to know where my thoughts strayed to. That adds even more astonishment to the giddiness clustered in my baffled brain.
When I nod to his question, the first lot of tears spill from my eyes. Rico intakes a sharp breath before the back of his fingers slides across my cheek, catching my tears in one swift motion.
“If you remember, Kitten, why are you crying?” His voice is gravelly and crammed with worry.
Noticing his eyes are wearing the same tender look they had in my memory, my heart swells. Even digging through the mountain load of darkness suffocating his beautiful eyes, I can tell Rico cares for me. I’d be lying if I said he was the only one harboring unexplainable feelings.
Even knowing Rico isn’t a man I should fall in love with, I can’t deny the weird sensation my heart gets every time he is near. I’ve tried to ignore it. It isn’t possible. Although Rico is technically a stranger, in my heart, I feel like I’ve known him half my life.
While I'm being totally forthright, I'll admit just the idea of falling in love with a man who equally thrills and terrifies is a truly petrifying notion. When I'm with Rico, it feels like I'm standing at the crest of a very large waterfall. It's beautiful from the high vantage point, but if I jump off the edge, what's hidden beneath the water waiting for me? Am I plunging into a sea of blackness? Or something truly magical?
When I fail to answer his question, a stormy cloud of concern forms in his tempestuous gaze. I try to get my mouth to cooperate with my brain, to say something to ease the hurt in his eyes, but nothing comes out. Not a single peep. When more tears unwillingly spill from my eyes, Rico scoops me into his arms and pulls me into his chest.
“Shh, Kitten, shh. You’re okay.” His deep tone is just as rickety as my composure.
Even knowing I’m balancing precariously on the crest of a very steep waterfall, I nuzzle into Rico’s chest and accept his comfort without protest, throwing my lingering wariness to the side for a few moments with the hope of gathering my scattered composure.
I sit in silence for several moments, feeling like everything in my world has been upended. It might seem a little dramatic to outsiders, but in reality, it's true. In a matter of a week, everything I knew about my life changed. My career, my marital status, my heart. In the blink of an eye, I went from a kindergarten teacher to mob wife: two vastly contrasting roles.
While sitting here wallowing about being forced into a family I would have never chosen to become a part of, a new reality dawns on me. Rico never had a choice either. He was born into his role. I had a normal upbringing with two loving parents nurturing me. Rico was raised by a monster.
My pupils widen when the veracity of my last statement dawns on me. I've heard those exact words before, and no, I'm not referring to the time Rico said it in the back of the Escalade after signing our annulment pages.
I close my eyes as my brain labors over the last time I heard that statement.
When another memory smashes into me, I inhale a quick, jagged breath. . .
“No, Blaire, you do not belong in this lifestyle. I will not drag you into the darkness.”
I tighten my grip on Rico’s hand and dig my heels into the ground. Even though a man of Rico’s size could easily yank me across the pristine marble floors, he stops walking and spins around to face me. Excitement mingled with anxiety lines his face.
“You're not a monster, Enrique. You were just raised by one,” I mutter as my glistening eyes dance between his.
"We’ve only known each other for three hours. You're not qualified to make that assumption," Rico replies. Although his tone is aiming for stern, it comes out with more sentiment than he is aiming for.
“I only needed thirty seconds to see the real you.” I peer into the eyes that captured my soul in under a minute. “Now I want a lifetime to show you what I already know.”
After taking a few moments to register his shocked expression, I drift my eyes to the chapel on my right. I feel Rico’s gaze slide over the features of my face before he too shifts on his feet to face the chapel.
“If we do this, Blaire, I can’t promise you a lifetime of sunshine, but I promise to always protect and cherish you.”
I don’t even need to look at him to know what he's saying is factual. The truth is evident in his voice.
