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"I can read you better than I can read myself." I bring her palm to my face and press it against my cheek. "Marry me, Via. Let me take care of you. Marry me because when I’m with you, I like what I become. I know you and I both wanted it to be a one-night stand, but that night was something so much more, and you know it. Marry me because you’re the only woman I see myself spending the rest of my life with."
Her gaze widens. Her expression softens. She glances into my face and a small smile curves her lips. I’m sure she’s going to agree, when something flickers in her eyes. She firms her lips, and tugs her hand from my face. I release it.
She presses her fingers together over the sheets, and turns her gaze away. "I can’t marry you, Massimo."
"Why not?"
She swallows, then, without looking at me says, "I... I’m in love with someone else."
"What?" My heart seems to stop. The hospital room, the equipment, all of it fades away. My vision tunnels. "What did you say?"
Her chin trembles, then she seems to collect herself. "I’m in love with someone else."
"I don’t believe it."
"Believe it." She bites the inside of her cheek.
"Look at me, Via. Look into my eyes and tell me that you don’t have feelings for me, that you’re not lying to me."
She hesitates, then slowly turns her face to stare at me. She holds my gaze, then tips up her chin. "I don’t have feelings for you. I’m in love with someone else."
It feels like a ten-ton truck slammed into my chest. I rear back so suddenly I fall on my goddam ass. I stare up at her from my sprawled position on the floor. "It’s not true. You’re lying."
She shakes her head. "I’m not."
"You’re with someone else, but you slept with me?"
"I don’t have to explain myself to you."
"Like hell, you don’t." I jump up to my feet and glare down to her. "Why did you lead me on if you were with someone else?"
"We, uh, had a fight, decided to separate temporarily. That’s why I was at the bar that day looking for a hookup. I wanted to sleep with someone else to see if I could get him out of my mind."
"And you did."
She shakes her head. "I admit, the chemistry between us is off-the-charts, and the sex was above-average, but I told you even before we slept together that it was going to be a one-time thing. That I didn’t want us to exchange names or contact details or anything. I emphasized that we were going to walk away the next day like nothing happened."
"But something did happen. That was more than sex, and you know that."
"Maybe." She raises her shoulder.
"And you fucked me again on the plane."
She glances away, then at me. "Only because you wouldn’t take no for an answer," she mumbles.
"Bull-fucking-shit." My voice echoes around the room, and she pales.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I know you’ve been through a lot, and this is not the time to be having this conversation." I take a step toward her, but she cringes.
"Please leave."
I swallow thickly. "I can’t, Via. I can’t leave you like this."
“When I was floating in that space before coming awake, I thought I heard someone reach out to me. It’s the reason I returned, why I woke up from my unconscious state. I heard a voice call out to me, and it wasn’t you, Massimo. It was him. I love him."
I ball my fists at my sides. I squeeze my eyes shut, unable to understand how everything could have turned upside down in such a short period of time. I watched her sleep, andI wassure she was the one for me. I felt it in my bones, in the pit of my stomach, in my heart, in my head. Every part of me insisted… Still insists, that she’s mine. How could she be in love with someone else when everything in me maintains that she belongs to me?
"Via..." I shake my head. "If you’re lying—"
