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Since I was in the mindset of confessions, I decided to continue on by adding, “I also let my partners at Black Secrets know that I would be retiring. It’s time to let the dark shadows of my life go. I’m ready for something new. Hopefully, something new with you.”
Her eyes widened, and a smile grew on her perfect face. “Anthony?” she managed, obviously struggling to speak through the tears.
“Yes?”
“My answer is… yes.”
“Yes?” I looked her in the eyes, knowing exactly what she meant, but I wanted to hear her say it.
“Yes, I will marry you.”
I wanted to swing her around the bedroom by her waist. I wanted to fly under my own power. My heart burst painfully in my chest, again and again with each beat.
She was going to marry me! She said yes!
I settled for kissing the life out of her, and growling, “Thank you. You brought me back to life.”
“We brought each other.” Raychel snuggled as close to me as she could get.
We cuddled quietly together for a minute, and then I said in a soft voice, “I talked to someone a day or so ago who wants to see your paintings.”
Raychel went stiff in my arms. “Excuse me?”
“He’s someone who might want you to have a show at his gallery on St. Romero Street.”
“A show?”
I laughed. “You sound like a parrot. Yes, a show. And I want you to show him all of your paintings—even the one of me.”
“I’m not going to let him show that one,” she said adamantly.
“No, but I think it—and the one of Dasha—are your best, and you should show him your best work.”
* * *
Raychel
I was surprised that the idea of a showing didn’t seem that scary. I knew Anthony would be by my side.
“Well…” I began.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not giving you much of a choice.”
“I’ve noticed that a lot about you,” I responded wryly.
Anthony hugged me close then tipped my face so that he could see my eyes. “I love you. Everything I do is because of that. I don’t love lightly.”
“I love you, too. I feel like I can’t say it enough. I have been holding it inside for so long.” I sighed as emotions threatened to suffocate me.
“Yeah—I’d like to talk to you about that…”
I wanted to run and hide, but there was no way I could get away from him when he was holding me so close, and I was also hindered by my casts, which thankfully were scheduled to come off within the next week. So I wasn’t going anywhere.
“How long have you loved me?” Anthony asked bluntly.
I squirmed and wiggled as much as I could, but Anthony held me fast. “I don’t want to tell you,” I whispered, not looking at him.
“Why not?” He made his voice as soft as it could be.
“Because—because I would never dishonor my father.”
His eyebrow rose. “That long?” He watched me nod slowly. “Well, you never did dishonor your father in any way. We never knew. I figured you didn’t like me very much, frankly, but Dasha always just said that you’re shy and quiet and to give you time to warm up to me. But you never did.”
I couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say, so I didn’t say a word.
“My God, you have loved me for so long—I can’t believe it. When I saw that portrait… it’s incredible. The emotion you put into it. It’s like looking at something tremendously intimate. I want to look away, but then it’s me. You painted me like that.”
“I have never loved anyone else.” There. I said it. It was like having a boulder moved off my heart.
Anthony looked like I had pulled a gun on him. “Never?”
“Never.” Another painful swallow, but if this were Confession 101, and he really did love me, then I needed to get it all out. “I have loved you since that night when my father first introduced you to the family. I knew then that you were the only man for me.”
“And what if your father had never—if he hadn’t—”
I shrugged awkwardly. “Then I would have died loving you, but never having had you. You were not mine to love.”
Anthony kissed me everywhere he could find skin. He licked his way down my neck across my collarbone. He even kissed my cast, then licked each of the fingers that stuck out of it. He suckled each deep pink nipple, while his hands gently drifted down my sides. He followed the lines of my body with his mouth, carefully spreading my legs, arranging my casted leg to one side so that it was relatively comfortable. Then he licked and kissed his way up my nude leg, from the sole of my foot up the inside of my calf to the inside of my thigh, where he lingered for a while. I moved against him, my hips arching slightly, seeking the warm hardness of him.
