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“Pretty sure you mentioned it. Don’t give her another thought, okay? She will fizzle—don’t worry.”

She shakes her head. “How do you know that? What if we end up married someday, and they’re still together? I’ll always have to worry about my fucking step-mom trying to fuck you. I already have to worry about every other fucking woman who meets you!”

There’s a tornado in her brain right now—I can almost feel the wind. I grip her upper arms tighter, not caring if I leave fingerprint bruises. She needs to hear me. There’s only one thing that can calm her and give her some confidence in us—the truth about how I feel.

“Till, I love you!” Extra enunciation on the ‘you.’ “You’re the one for me, and I don’t care if you’re moving to San Diego. I’ll drive or fly down there every weekend if I fucking have to. No one could ever replace you.”

“You’d do that for me?” she asks.

“Yes, of course.” I throw my arms around her shoulders and hold her head to my chest. “Anything for you.”

It’s a partial bluff. I love the hell out of her, but I don’t want her in San Diego. She should pursue graduate school, but that’s too far. I can’t move either, or else I would. The pressure of being the third generation to run Tenuta Valenti is on my shoulders, and I’ve already had to save Tilly twice this summer. What am I supposed to do if she has an emergency nine hours away?

She lifts her head from my chest, her eyes as big and doe-like as ever—the storm behind them calming. “You love me?” she whispers.

I tighten my arms around her shoulders. “So much. We’ve saved each other.”

“I think I love you, too.”

I let out a chuckle. “You think?”

“Yeah.”

“What can I do to make you more confident?” I ask. She blushes and looks away. “I guess I’ll have to convince you.”

I trail my hands down her sides and move to my knees in front of her. I slip them into the waistband of her running shorts and drag them down her thighs. Tilly going commando was one of my favorite looks on her. I press a kiss to her inner thigh just above her knee, and she shudders. I smile against her skin as I press another a little higher. Then higher.

“Enzo…” she sighs.

I kiss right above her clit.

“Shh.”

Tilly giggles, lacing her fingers in my hair. “Savor every drop,” she whispers.

“Oh, I will.”

Nothing could ever move me from this young woman.

Chapter Twenty

Tilly

“How are you feeling about Enzo?” Appa asks, sweeping a soft makeup brush over my cheeks.

I open my eyes and meet her blue ones. “What do you mean?” I ask.

She turns to her vanity and sets the makeup brush down. “When we talked that afternoon at Rob’s house, you mentioned how intense he is,” she replies as she dips the brush in bronzer and taps it on the lid to dust off the excess.

“Everything’s great,” I answer too quickly, giving her a faint smile. Here I am, still deceiving his family about what goes on behind closed doors.

“You know, Robby and I didn’t start conventionally. Not like you and Enzo did. Some might have called our dynamic illegal...”

I furrow my brows. “What do you mean?”

“We didn’t start with dating like you did with E,” she sighs. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but like I said before, Enzo and Robby are cut from the same cloth. And in five years, I’ve never told anyone how it started with Robby. You’re the only one who might understand.”

“You mean the Rook stuff?”