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“They’re grown-ups. Let them figure out what they want because we both know they want each other.” With a tight smile, he places a kiss on my forehead.
“You’re right, Heaven.” The doorbell rings again and Lars appears next to me.
“Ani,” he whispers near my ear. “Is it just me, or does Sir Luca’s sister look just like all the women that Sir Murphy brings to the club?” I don’t need to answer him but give him a bob of my head anyway.
“Anisten.” This time it’s Caroline, who hugs me with so much force like she’ll take me down.
“I’m not Tawny Shandy. No reason to tackle me,” I retort, and all of us have a long laugh over my comeback.
Caroline is more than just my paralegal these days. We’ve become fast friends, and though she still works for me, it’s not as formal as it was. And I took Luca’s advice the day she tackled Tawny. Caroline is worth every penny I now pay, not that I’ve returned to work.
At this point, Coultier, Artmann, Mann, Armstrong, and Atkins Law firm no longer exists. It’s now just Coultier and Atkins, and almost sixty percent of the clients have moved with us. Penn and I can build it any way we choose, without the influence of those that wouldn’t stand up against Jeffery Mann.
As everyone helps themselves into our home and they begin their self-introductions, Luca pulls me into his side and I take it all in. “This is our future, Heaven. Don’t think I’ve forgotten, we have a future we’re building.”
I lean up on my tiptoes as I do often when I kiss Luca. “I’ll hold you to it.”
* * *
“I have a surprise for you tonight, Heaven. As much as I love you in my bed, I think it’s time we take charge of our lives again.”
Leaving the safety of our home is scary, but as long as I’m with him, he’s my shelter.
“As a lifelong Chicago native, I’ll always think of it as the Sears Tower,” he explains, our elevator taking us to the Skydeck in the Willis Tower. He’d asked me to wear my Pamela Roland dress I wore the night of our fake dinner meeting. In my shimmering gold gown, my hands tighten around Luca’s when others crowd into the elevator. I’m jumpy and nervous, and my pulse quickens, but in his presence I know I’m safe.
He leans over, whispering in my ear, “I got you, baby.”
I know he does. That I have no doubt, and when we arrive at floor 103, we’re escorted to our private dining area on the Skydeck.
With candlelight and the view of Chicago, this is the Luciano De Santos treatment.
He pulls out my chair, and like he did on our first date at Alinea, he moves it toward me, his hand working up the slit of my dress. “I asked you something three weeks ago, and since then, we’ve yet to talk about it. But I won’t let you take it back. You’re stuck with me.”
He slips out of his chair and drops to one knee, pulling out a blue Tiffany box. “I’d ask you to marry me again, but since you already said yes, there’s no taking it back. This is to show that you belong to me always.” He slides at least a two-carat pear-shaped platinum ring onto my finger.
“Only you, Luc, would demand I marry you, but you’re lucky, I can’t think of a better life than to live alongside you.” But there’s more. A surprise I have for him. I open my purse. I’ve not worn my white-gold collar since it had fallen off of me the day of my kidnapping.
“I have something for you, too.” I give him my necklace. He’d given it to me the day I chose to be his submissive.
“What is this, baby?”
“Turn it over.” He’s hesitant. On the back where it had saidForever my Heaven,next to it is the wordinfinityI added with the ultimate gift for him. He stares at the numbers—24/7. “I’m yours forever, Luca De Santos, infinity, but more so, I’m yours twenty-four-seven.”
He’s silent. “I’ve rendered the one and only Luciano De Santos speechless, haven’t I?”
He pushes to his feet, pulling me with him. “That mouth of yours. What the hell am I going to do with it?”
“I have some ideas,” I jest.
His mouth crashes to mine, his kisses sending spirals of ecstasy through my body. He pulls back, just enough to whisper in my ear, “What would you say if I told you I wanted to bind your hands?”
My smile, decorated in the deep red lipstick he loves painting his cock, is devilish in nature. Remembering the first words I ever spoke to the man, I reply, “Bring it on.”
EPILOGUE
Five Years Later
I wake up without my wife near me. There’s only one place she can be. It is where I found her two years ago after bringing our Bryana home.
