My eyes softened at the mention of my father, who wasn’t here in the flesh, but deep in my heart.
“And he’d be so fucking proud.” His grin widened, and his eyes dazzled like the nighttime sky.
I inhaled a hard breath because the thought immediately made me emotional.
“But there’s one thing missing. Something that he wanted.”
My eyes took him in with greater interest, unsure what he meant by that.
His grin remained. “A husband to protect you.”
A shock went through my heart instantly. Bumps formed on my arms. I knew my life was about to change irrevocably. I automatically inhaled a breath, knowing it would probably be my last for a minute or so.
“A bloodthirsty, unhinged psychopath no one would be dumb enough to fuck with. A husband to watch your back and your front, a man who will shield you from bullets and knives, a man who would die for you with a fucking smile on his face.”
I knew what was coming, and I felt a little tremble in my arms. I suddenly felt ice-cold and blazing hot at the same time. The breath I’d held released, and I sucked in a deeper one as I felt my eyes smart with moisture.
“I would like that to be me—if you will have me.” The smile remained on his face as his eyes flicked back and forth between mine, already knowing exactly what my answer would be. “Donna Mancini.”
My eyes watered further because his proposal was so simple…and so perfect. It wasn’t a fancy dinner over candlelight or on an expensive trip to Paris. It was in the room where we met for the first time. That was when this story began, and it’d been a lifetime commitment from the start. We didn’t even date. We immediately moved in together and had a marriage before we called each other husband and wife. “Yes.”
He smiled even bigger as he yanked down the front of his shirt and reached for a chain around his neck. Hanging from it was a beautiful diamond ring, diamonds through the band with a princess cut stone in the center. He grabbed the ring and tugged on the chain until it broke, because unclasping it would apparently take too long.
He let the chain drop to the floor between us as he presented the ring to me. He took hold of my left hand and slid the ring onto my finger, a perfect fit over my knuckle. The band was platinum, and the entire piece was stunning and flawless…and a little flashy. “I love it.”
He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me against the desk.
I immediately melted into him at his touch, my hands landing on his big arms, feeling the coolness of the band against his flesh. His tongue danced with mine and he sucked my bottom lip, but then when the passion ignited, he pulled away and looked at me instead. The smile was gone, and his stare had deepened into one I’d never seen before. “I will protect you. I will fight for you. And I will die for you.”
15
FRANCESCA
We continued to inhabit the guest bedroom on the second floor, and while it had everything we needed, it felt more like a temporary hotel room than our home. It didn’t feel like the villa on the vineyard or the beautiful seaside home in Palermo. But we were together in one bed as a single person, and that was all we needed.
The house was quiet, and we were the only two on the second floor. My gun was on my nightstand, and he had his rifles and shotgun leaning against the wall in case he needed to grab them in a split second.
He moved over me and dipped his head to my stomach, kissing my belly and my hips, his big hand palming my thigh before his mouth moved farther up my body, between my tits and then to my neck.
His heavy body covered mine as he brought us close together. His dark eyes looked at me underneath him with a look he’d never shown me before. It was more than love—but what wasdeeper than love, I didn’t know. But it was, he felt it in his soul, and that brilliance shone out of his eyes.
He hooked one of my legs over his hip and brought me into the position he wanted before he dipped his head and kissed me. It was slow and gentle, savoring the feeling of my lips with each embrace. He’d made love to me before, but this was even more stripped-down and bare. His soul was expelled from his chest and warm against my skin.
His hand slid into my hair, and he continued to kiss me, continued to hold me close and smother me with a heat hotter than the summer sun. He pulled back to look as he guided himself inside me, his stare penetrating mine with a hint of possession and respect. He didn’t just love me and want me, but he respected who I was. I wasn’t a possession but a beloved person.
He entered me with a quiet sigh, sinking into my slick flesh like it was the first time. We weren’t married, just engaged, but now our lives were forever intertwined by an eternal commitment we both acknowledged.
He didn’t enter me fully, gave me as much as would feel comfortable, and then he kissed me again, gently rocking into me like this had nothing to do with pleasure. It was a moment where our souls connected, when our hearts grazed each other as we moved together. “I love you, Francesca.”
I cupped his face as I squeezed his hips with my thighs, and I stared into the eyes of the man I would love for the rest of my life. The man who had changed my life the moment our eyes met across the room. He showed me how capable I was, and even during the moments I was scared, I was still strong. I wouldn’teven be alive if it weren’t for him. I would be a prisoner or rotting in a shallow grave somewhere. “I love you, Wolfe.”
We didn’t have dinner because as soon as the workday was over, we holed up in the bedroom until the crickets started to chirp outside in the dark. Eventually, Wolfe grew hungry and got out of bed to put on his sweatpants.
“Hungry?” I asked, already knowing based on his quiet mood.
“Starving. Gonna head down to the kitchen and look for something.”
“I can whip us up something,” I said as I left the sheets and grabbed a dress to throw on.
