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Vincenzo merely laughed and repeated. “We don’t get in the way. Now, I have a nap time to respect. I am certain we’ll meet again, Chiara De Luca. Take care of my brother and let him take care of you.”
“I’ll call you soon. We need to go shopping,” Suna called to me as she took her husband’s hand, and the two left the room.
CHAPTER14
Antonio
By the fifth day of my irritatingly long recovery, I could finally walk about, talk, and breathe without ripping anything. There were two reasons I couldn’t wait to recover. The first was that Giacomo De Luca needed putting down before he could try anything else, and the second was Chiara needed fucking so hard, she forgot everyone’s name but mine. I was finally close to what I wanted, what I needed to live, and I wasn’t letting her get away.
I waited until after we’d had dinner that night. She didn’t know, but the plan was in place to travel to Chicago mere hours from now. Giacomo was in residence at his compound, and it was also where Chiara’s mother was. By tomorrow, all of this would be resolved.
Chiara was a good cook. A fucking good one. I savored the simple pleasure of eating food cooked by someone I loved. Loved? Yes. I didn’t even try and deny it now.
She’d learned Italian recipes at her mother’s elbow, and not being the legitimate daughter of the former patriarch of the De Luca clan, she’d never been supported to study or find something she enjoyed doing.
That would all change when she became my wife. Whatever she wanted, she would do. Whatever she needed, she would have.
I heard the faint clink of her washing the dishes. I’d suggested letting the staff return to the apartment, but Chiara hadn’t wanted anyone else. I got out of bed and pulled off my t-shirt. The bandage against my wound was dry and white.
It was time.
I waited for her to return. She usually sat in a chair beyond my reach and read each night. Well, tonight, her book wasn’t getting looked at. I planned to keep her busy.
She entered the room with two cups of hot chocolate and her damn book tucked under her arm. She’d been force-feeding me hot chocolate since I’d been ill, and I drank it, despite finding it too sweet because I hated saying no to her. She stopped once she realized I wasn’t in bed.
“No hot chocolate for me tonight,” I said quietly behind her.
She spun around, the cocoa sloshing over the rim of the mugs to the floor. Her blue eyes were comically large as she took me in. I was leaning against the door and turned the lock slowly and intentionally. The sound of it sliding home was like a siren going off. The hunt was on.
She tensed, nerves and anticipation building in her eyes.“You don’t like it?”
“I fucking hate it.”
“Then why have you been drinking it?”
“Because you made it, and in case you haven’t noticed, I’ll eat anything you make me, drink anything you give me… because I’m crazy about you.”
Her eyebrows climbed up her forehead, and she shook her head lightly from side to side. “Who says stuff like that? How can you be so honest?”
“I’ve tried lying around you. It didn’t work. I’m going with complete honesty from now on.”
“Complete honesty? That’s a bit much.” She backed away as I slowly advanced on her.
“I think it’s just right. I’m tired of pretending anything in my life, and I love you.” I chuckled as she stopped again, frozen still by my comment, her pretty mouth hanging open.
“You love me. Me?”
“You and no one else,” I said, finally getting close enough to grab the two mugs from her and set them down.
She stared at me, trying desperately to distract herself from the building tension. I got it. I felt it too. An electric excitement building under my skin.
Her eyes flicked to the mugs, and she swallowed. “Those will make ring marks.”
“I don’t care,”
“It’ll get cold,” she tried again, even as she tilted her head back and sank into the cage of my arms.
I shook my head and brought my hand up under her chin, holding her prisoner with my grasp. “There’s only one thing I’m eating right now, and that’s you, tesora,” I told her roughly, pushing her down to the bed.
