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Her brain froze at the part where he’d said he loved her.Lovedher. It was a little too earth-shattering to process. Her gaze locked with his, her heart crawling up her throat. “I have trouble with trust. I told you that. It’s something I struggle with.”
His gaze softened. “Well, you’re going to have to get used to it, because I’m not going anywhere,cara.”
Her heart started to race like a runaway train. “You told me I’d never be what you needed that night in Milan, Cristiano. You were fighting your feelings for me. I watched you do it night after night.”
“Because I was trying to sort out my feelings.Processthem. Not because I didn’t love you.” He raked a hand through his thick dark hair, stark emotion written across his hard-boned face. “My parents loved each other deeply. Ilaria and I were shattered when we lost them. Maybe I decided I was never going to put myself through that pain again. So I chose a woman like Alessandra, who seemed a safe, logical choice. But I couldn’t pull the trigger on it.”
A glint of humor entered his sapphire gaze. “And then I met you and you whirled through my life like a hurricane, and I discovered a depth of emotion I’d never felt before. Apartof myself I’d never known. And I knew I could never settle for anything less.”
Her knees were feeling weaker with every word that came out of his mouth, dangerously close to giving way beneath her. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I know how much that night meant to you. It killed me inside. If I could do it over, find a way to make it right, I would. But I can’t.”
“I don’t need you to do it over,” he said softly. “That’s one of the things I love so much about you, Jensen—that you love so deeply. That you are still hanging in there with your crazy, misguided mother, when she’s given you a million reasons to walk away. Because you value family that much. But there is,” he qualified, “one thing I need from you,cara mia,if we are to make this work. Honesty.Full disclosure. Trust. It’s a nonnegotiable for me given my past. I have to know I can depend on you, no matter what.”
He was talking about the future. Her brain couldn’t seem to process it all, because it felt like a promise. “In exchange,” he continued, a solemn expression on his face, “I want to be the man you can always count on. Who will always be there for you. Who will protect you, no matter what. I have broad shoulders,tesoro. I can take it.”
Her heart thudded in her chest, like it might burst. And then, she thought it might have, when he dropped to one knee right there on the balcony in front of her, in his beautiful dark suit, so handsome he stole her breath, and pulled a satin box out of his jacket pocket.
Oh my God. She sagged against the pillar, knees weak, as he flipped open the box to reveal a sparkling sapphire ring surrounded by diamonds in what appeared to be a deep Vitale blue.
“It seemed fitting,” he murmured, capturing her hand in his. “Marry me, Jensen. I’m like a ghost in that damn villa, it’s so empty without you. I need you back.”
It seemed impossible to get the word out, past the lump in her throat, because he was all she’d never known she could have. And she was afraid he would vaporize like everything else good had done in her life. Except he was so very real as he slid the platinum band over her finger and the beautiful sapphire glittered in the moonlight. And she knew in her heart, it was forever.
“Yes,” she finally breathed, acquiring enough air to speak. And then she was in his arms, her fingers buried in his thick dark hair, and he was kissing her.
Neither of them heard Millie and Lucy traipse along a few moments later, stilettos clicking the stone beneath their feet. Until Millie’s audible gasp filled the air. “Oh my God.Oh my God. Look at that ring. That is so completely unfair.”
Jensen stirred out of Cristiano’s soul-searing kiss and smiled against his lips. She liked to think of it as meant to be.
“Go find your own,” she tossed over her shoulder. “This one is taken.”
“Sure, sure,” Millie grumbled. “Tell me where I can find one like that and I will.”
