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“Hell, yeah.” She nuzzled his nose and kissed him softly. “Jack, I know you’re joking about me wanting you for your big, manly muscles but I need you to know it really is so much more than that. You and Jules are family now. Welcome home.”
She heard his swallow, felt the tremble of his body. All his gratitude, his need, his love. Blinking, he buried his face in her neck. Underlying all that ambition lay a man more Italian than any guy she knew, who needed a family and heart big enough to embrace him and his. Her family, her heart. That Jack and Jules had found each other here in Chicago and now would be welcomed into the DeLuca clan swelled Lili’s chest with yet another upsurge of love. A few moments passed, the hum of the kitchen appliances providing backing vocals to the thud of their hearts.
“I love you so much,” she said because she loved how it tasted on her lips and it was true.
Drawing back, he coasted his hands along her arms. “With no show, my huge ego is going to need to hear that a lot. Tell me again.”
“I love you, Jack Kilroy. I love your cocky smile, your pancakes, your terrible singing, and how you never gave up on me.”
Hooking her foot around his thigh, she dug into that sensitive area she knew so well. She wandered her greedy hand down that wall of muscle to his belt buckle, and lower, to a bulge—yes!—with a hard-edged shape. Huh?
“What’s this?”
“Oh, a pocket-sized pity party.” He fished out a robin egg blue box—Tiffany blue, but a little squashed—and flipped it open, revealing the biggest diamond she’d ever seen, with a yellowish tint that made it look like a very pricey Jolly Rancher. Her head spun and her heart jumped clear into her throat.
“But, Jack, you came here tonight with no expectations.”
“I’ve had it for a while and until I left Chicago, I suppose I wanted to hold onto something.” His throat worked through his emotion, his eyes shimmering. “I’ve known from minute one this was it for me and I wasn’t ready to let that go. So what do you say?”
“About what?”
“Try to keep up, DeLuca. About being my wife.”
“You’re asking me to marry you?”
“You’re not usually this slow on the uptake,” he said, vaguely exasperated. “I’ll assume that not seeing me for several weeks has dulled your wits. Now, before you answer, you might want to take it out.” When she looked pointedly down, he added wearily, “The ring, you guttersnipe.”
Laughing, she obeyed and examined it from all angles. It felt light and oddly...sticky. “But this isn’t a real diamond.”
“Nope. It’s made of sugar.”
Molecular gastronomy, science and food run amok. “You made me an edible ring.” Oh, this man knew her so well.
“We’ll go shopping for a real one, but I like the idea of getting you off the market sooner than later, especially now you’re so famous.”
In a tremble, she put the ring on her wedding finger, feeling like a kid in the candy jewelry store. Another perfect fit. She gave it a tentative lick. “Tastes like chicken.”
“I should hope not or else I’ve really lost my touch.” He flashed that bone-melting smile and her heart pumped harder. “I love you, Liliana Sophia DeLuca. Now marry me and finish what you started when you clocked me with that frying pan.”
“Yes, Jack, I’ll marry you,” she said, trying desperately to sound like saying yes to a proposal of marriage from the hottest man on the planet was part of her usual skill set when really, her heart was in danger of bursting out of her chest.
“Thank Christ.” He kissed her hard, the relief ebbing and flowing between them like a tide. “Maybe Tony will finally forgive me for corrupting you.”
She caught her breath. “Let’s not run before we can walk, Jack.”
“You might be surprised. I asked for his blessing before we came in here. I figured after everything I put him through, I should do it properly.”
“Smooth move, Kilroy.” Wow, he would never stop surprising her. “You were positive I’d say yes, then?”
“Well, you’ve always been a sure thing.” He swept his fingertips along her jaw, against the wild pitter-patter at the base of her throat, and brushed her collarbone with a whispering touch. In his eyes, she saw right into his heart, the one that belonged to her. Completely, utterly.
She ran a lazy finger over the handle of the walk-in fridge, and pulled it ajar. “How about we see how long it takes to heat things up in here?”
His expression registered mock shock. “Evil woman. The last time I was in there, it didn’t end so well.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Jack.” And to prove how evil she was, she pretzeled herself around the body, and the man, she couldn’t get enough of and made him growl. “I’d say it ended very well indeed.”
