“The Big Bad Nico Moretti fears me?”
“After Catherine, I never thought I’d…feel something again.I took one look at you, and I wanted you.”
“You want me?”
He strokes my cheek.“You’re beautiful and you make me laugh.You make me feel alive again.Fiore Mio.You make me care whether I live or die.You fucking terrify me.”
“I hear a little fear is healthy.”
He smiles, and my insides melt at the way he’s looking at me.
“I look at you and all I want is to be inside you.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“I loved Catherine.Losing her nearly killed me.It almost did.I don’t want to go through that again.If something happens to you…” he shakes his head.“I think I’d burn the world down.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me.I’ve got you to protect me.”
His face hardens.All humor is gone, and he’s back to being cold as ice.“That’s what she thought, and look where that got her.”
“Can I ask what happened?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard all the rumors.”
“I want to hear it from you.”This is my second time asking.
“You thought I murdered my wife, and you married me anyway.”He shakes his head.
He says it as if I had a choice.“If you say you didn’t kill her, I believe you.”
“Let’s not think about the past.I just want to be here in this moment with you.”
He pulls me down onto the black leather sofa.
I want to press him for answers and tell him about the whispers, and Marco, but I finally have him alone.He’ll tell me about his first wife when he’s ready to open up more.
I snuggle into his side, laying my head on his shoulder, and pressing my nails to his stomach, feeling his muscles tense and flex beneath my touch.
“So you stay here most nights?”
“Mostly.”
“But now that we’re married, you’ll be sleeping at the manor…”
“You’re full of questions.”
“I want to know you better since I’ll be with you until death do us part.Unless that is you’re already planning on getting rid of me.”I regret the words the second they leave my mouth, but if he’s bothered by the poor choice, he doesn’t vocalize it.I try to recover by keeping the conversation moving.“Where do you sleep?Is there a reason we have separate rooms?”
“I thought you’d like the privacy.My room is next to yours.”
“So if I asked you to sleep next to me, that’d be okay?”
“If I get in a bed with you, I won’t be sleeping.”
“What will you be doing?”
“Putting a baby in you.”He tilts my chin up and presses his mouth to mine.“I like kissing you, Odette.”
