The statement makes my chest ache, and his face tightens. In apology, maybe.
But I’ve had enough.
“I hate you,” I snarl. My hands are shaking with the need to run, to fight, to push him away so I don’t have to face him. But if I came for a battle, then he came for a war.
“You might hate me,” he throws right back at me. “But I havelovedyou since you stole my first kiss and punched me in the nose. So you go right ahead and keep hating me if it makes you feel better, Caterina. Fuck knows I’m used to it by now.”
I blink at him as the words sink into my skin, flaying me open. “You… what?”
“Fucking hell, woman,” he snaps irritably. “You want it in fucking writing?”
And then his lips smash into mine, his broken hands cupping my battered face.
There is no sign of the gentle Luciano who carried me to bed and cleaned my wounds. This Luciano is the man, not the boy but the heir to a bloody future, and he walks me backward until my aching back presses against the wall. His lips taste both familiar and new, his kiss possessive as his hand slides around to lightly grip my throat.
“I am no victim to be hunted,” he murmurs against my lips. “I am a fucking mafia heir, and I am more than strong enough to stand beside you, Caterina Corvo. And you can fight it as much as you want, if you want to waste the fucking energy, but I’m not going anywhere.”
He gentles his kiss, brushing my lips up and down, as though he’s tasting me, drinking in my scent. “I know what I want. And I’m done waiting, you stubborn woman. So if you insist on going back there today, then I’ll be standing at your side.”
I swallow, as I let the hope fill me. Tentative, dangerous hope. “You don’t know what I’ve done—,”
“I don’t care,” he whispers. His forehead presses against mine. “Because I know your lines, Cat. I see them, and I am yours anyway. To whatever end.”
And I close my eyes. “I…,”
I don’t have an answer for him. Not when he’s all tangled up in my head, tangled up with Dante and Domenico and the fucking politics wreaking havoc on our lives on top.
“I know. I don’t need it, not right now. But I am yours, nonetheless, and I’m so fucking tired of pretending that I am not.” He presses his lips against mine once more, and this time I let myself soften for him, pressing back against his heat, our tongues dancing together until the breathlessness is no longer from the aches in my own body but the feeling of his against mine. My hands sliding down his bare chest, hot and aching and wanting.
He pulls away slowly. Reluctantly. “I’ll take you back. But try not to die on me. I feel like we’ve finally made progress today, and it’s only taken seven years.”
Ass.But my lips still twitch up into a smile.
Chapter forty-six Caterina
“I’ll be fine.”
Luc doesn’t look at me. Arms crossed, he stares up at my apartment. “Anyone could be in there, Cat.”
Truth. But I shake my head anyway, although I at least attempt to meet him halfway. “Wait by here, then. If I let out a petrified scream, you can come dashing to my rescue.”
“Hilarious.” But he leans against the railing, waiting. There’s concern on his face as I move past him, but he doesn’t try to stop me again.
As I ascend the steps, I realize that I don’t have my keys, but it doesn’t matter. The door has been left open, resting against the lock.
And I wonder who waits for me inside.
As I walk in, he doesn’t move. Just sits in the leather chair, his head in his hands. For a moment, I think he might be asleep, but then he lifts his head.
“Domenico,” I breathe.
He stares at me for long moments. As if I’m a ghost.
He jumps to his feet, moving so swiftly towards me that I don’t have time to even lift my hands before his arms wrap around me and he drags me to him, one hand cupping the back of my head as he buries his face in my neck. “Jesus fucking Christ, Cat.”
And I melt into him, burying my face into the crook of his neck and breathing him in. “You’re here. When did you get out?”
He pulls back with a disbelieving look on his face. “When did Iget out? When I finally managed to get hold of my fucking men and they told me you were gone, Cat. People nearly died last night and you fuckingdisappeared. Everyone thinks you’re dead!”
