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“Okay, smartass,” I chuckle. “We need to have a serious conversation about something else for a second.”
“What about?”
“You need to understand that I won’t allow anyone to insult you, and that includes yourself.”
“I’m sorry?” she huffs. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“The next time you talk bad about yourself, I’m going to spank your ass until it’s red. I won’t allow you to say that shit. I won’t let anyone hurt the woman I love and that includes you.”
“Victor.”
As she says my name, there are tears in her eyes. Alarm hits me when I see them slowly move down her face. I’ve seen Angelina cry over the past year. Although, it was mostly after we first met. She admitted to me that she never cared for Dante, that she caved because of pressure from her witch of a mother. Still, it was all hard on her, especially the shit her mother pulled afterwards. I held her and was just there for her. I did my best to never let Gia be alone and dried her tears as often as I could. I didn’t mind. It was a privilege. Seeing her tears now, hit me harder. Did I scare her by threatening to spank her? Is she upset because I’m finally being completely honest with her?Shit.
I clear my throat, trying to figure out how to fix the problem that I unwittingly started. “Don’t cry, Gia. I didn’t mean to scare you,” I explain as I roll to my back and pull her in closer to me so her head can rest on my arm.
“You didn’t scare me,” she sniffles.
“Then, you’re going to have to tell me what is going on, because I can’t stand to see you cry. It kills me, Kitten.”
“You said you love me,” she confesses.
I almost can’t understand her because she’s talking and sniffling at the same time. Her voice is so quiet that it isn’t easy to make out. “That upsets you?” I ask, still not understanding.
“Before, when we talked about it,” she stops to try and catch her breath and wipe her tears away. She’s rolled onto her side so that I can see her better and I’m grateful. She uses the back of her hand to wipe away the tears.
“Gia?” I prompt her when she stops talking and just stares at me likes she’s looking for an answer to something. I just have no idea what it is.
“Before you made it sound like you didn’t believe in love.”
“I also told you I was trying not to scare you. Everything I told you I felt after that, though, should have made it clear where I stand.”
“Every woman wants to know that she’s loved and valued, Victor.”
“In that case, Angelina Ione Conroy, I love you endlessly. I will love you until the day I die and whatever comes after that. Does that make it clear?”
“My last name is not Conroy and I hate the name Ione. Honestly, I hate my entire name,” she grumbles.
“Your name is beautiful, or at least it will be when we legally add Conroy to it.”
“Are you proposing to me, Victor?”
“I am. Are you going to say yes?” I ask, knowing I will absolutely fucking marry her right this minute.
“Don’t you think we better see if I can ever be a normal person before we jump into talking about marriage? You’re a great guy, but I don’t think any man—even you—wants to be married to a woman who is terrified of physical intimacy.”
“I don’t think you’re terrified of me, Gia.”
“I’m terrified of having sex in general, Victor,” she counters.
“That’s because you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. I think we need to go slow.”
“Well, we’ve known each other a year. I don’t think you can get much slower than that,” she half-heartedly jokes.
“Will you let me touch you, Kitten?”
“Uh…what?”
“Let me touch you. We can quit at any time, but I think we both need to see how you react to my touch.”
