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Her face falls. A sight that kills me. Delphine upset. From the time she was fifteen, it’s had that effect on me.
I scoop my fingers behind her ear, brushing back some curls. “It’s hard seeing you like this. It makes me think our luck is going to run out. The next time, whoever’s after me might succeed. I could lose you for good. Renzo came damn close.”
“I know the risks. I don’t care.”
“I do,” I say, lost in her warm brown eyes. Even as worried and tearful as they are. “This can’t be happening. This has to be the last time.”
“But if people are after you—”
“This has to be the last time,” I repeat in a firmer tone. “I won’t accept it happening again. I don’t know what that means… how I’m going to get it to stop. It seems no matter what I do, there’s always going to be something or someone. Even from the grave Lucius tried getting his revenge by hurting you. I’m sure he’s laughing as he burns in hell.”
“Jon, I accept the risks. It’s part of being in your world.”
I hold her face in my hands and peer into her eyes. “That’s what you don’t understand. You’re not in my world, Phi. Youaremy world.”
Our foreheads come to touch as we spend a second embracing and savoring the moment.
When we pull away, I wipe more tears from her eyes. She leans into my touch, kissing the inside of my hand.
“I’m going to figure something out for us. We can’t take any more chances. What’s going to happen if you’re pregnant? If you’re the mother to our children? I can’t have you in danger.”
“But I want my kids to have their father alive and well too.”
“And I will be. It’ll take a hell of a lot to ever keep me away from you and our kids. But that’s just it. You’re my wife and they’d be my children. You come before I do. My children will come before I do. It’s my job to put you all first. Always.”
“You said you wouldn’t be a good husband and father,” she whispers, her smile as small as her voice. “But you prove you are at every opportunity.”
“I just don’t want you involved in my mafia life. We’ve got to find a way to draw a line in the sand. Francis helped me realize that I can’t control every moment… or every threat. Being apart from you isn’t going to stop them coming. If anything, it’ll make me weaker. It’ll make me miserable. I can’t survive without you. But I will do what it takes to keep you as separate as possible from it.”
She acts off instinct at the same time I do. We meet halfway in a sweet kiss.
It’s soft and slow, in a manner that’s unhurried, and yet it’s still powerful enough to get my heart racing.
Few things feel as comforting as Delphine’s lips. Everything else that compares are other parts of her—her addictive scent and the tender feel of her body. A mere look in her eyes can make me feel whole again, like my world is set right.
It perfectly describes the moment as our kiss ends and I nuzzle her face and stroke her curls.
“We need time to ourselves,” I say. I know she’s smiling before even opening my eyes. “Let’s go on a family vacation. Me, you, the cats. A week, no, a fuckingmonth. What d’you think?”
Her beautiful face has lit up. “I think I’m ready to get the hell out of this hospital and go pack.”
23
salvatore
three weeks later…
Delphineand I spend long mornings in bed. Often, it’s sleeping in. Other times it’s messing around. Morning sex and cuddling. It’s the most rest and relaxation we’ve gotten since our honeymoon.
This time we’re even more secluded, spending time at a resort located in the Maldives. Very few people can afford a stay here for a couple nights, let alone for weeks.
We haven’t discussed when we’ll be returning. Our vacation has been indefinite.
Delphine aims a sleepy smile at me as she wakes up. Being the insomniac of the two, I almost always wake before she does. I return her smile and instinctively pull her toward me. Gently, so that she’s still on her back and not her shoulder. I’m on my side, leaning over her, already infatuated with all things Delphine.
Her beautiful bare face. The way her curls slip free from the scarf she wears to bed. The same happens with her sleep shirt—it rides up and exposes her thighs. I run my hand over her supple skin, and she sighs contently.
“What do you want to do today?”
