“Yeah,” I said, resting my head against her shoulder. “I couldn’t say them. Not even when you were sleeping. I wanted you to hear them. Or at least, read them.”
“You were struggling.”
I moved backed some to get a better look at her face. Her mouth twitched. “You’re laughing at me, Scarlett Fausti.”
“Am I allowed?” She pulled her lips in even further, trying her hardest not to laugh out loud.
“What could be so funny about this?”
“Well,” she said, taking a deep breath before continuing. “It’s just that you usually struggle with the real mushy words, the real heartbreaking words. Those…” She lifted one shoulder and then let it fall.
“Are?” If those words didn’t constitute heartbreaking, then which ones did? Did she want me to vow to die for her? I didn’t have to. I almost did. And would again.
“Those words are…are what almost every man struggles to admit to his wife!”
Her lips puffed out and she howled with laughter. I started to mutter underneath my breath, hearing herwhoop!of surprise when I lifted us both and threw her over my shoulder. I lifted the book too, taking it upstairs with us.
“Put me down!” She pounded on my back. “Brute! Absolute beast!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said, climbing the stairs. “But keep it down. You’re going to wake the house.”
“Good!” she screeched through laughter. “They’ll save me fromyou!”
“Too late,” I said. “There’s no saving you now. No one can stand against me. I’m too formidable. And you’re all mine.Tutto mio. Forever.”
She became still, hanging limp. Whatever I had said caused her to pause her antics.
“Yes,” she said, mirroring my words. “It’s way past too late. I am yours, in all different languages and in all different ways. All yours. Always.”
I used my foot to close the door to our room behind us, setting the book on the mantle over the fireplace. Then I put her down on the bed. She opened her arms and legs, bringing me home.
“Tell me, please,” she pleaded, her mouth close to my ear. “I want to hear it.”
“You want to hear it now.”
“Yes,” she breathed.
I rose up on my arms, staring down at her. She wiggled her hips, almost squirming. Her hands started to drift down to my pants, cool fingers moving like wings.
“You were right all along.” I cleared my throat. “Avevi ragione tutto il tempo.And in all other languages I don’t know.”
We stared at each other. She nodded once. I mirrored her action.
“Thank you,” she said, placing her cool palm against my cheek.
I shook my head, kissing her palm. “No, that’s all you, baby.”
She grinned. “Will I always be right?”
This time I laughed. “Don’t push it.” Then I captured her mouth, just as she had captured my heart all those years ago.
Chapter Two
Brando
Butterfly wings seemed to flutter across my face, and then their cool softness seemed to drift along my neck, a wet trail left behind, warm at first, but it didn’t take long for it to turn cold.
I blinked a few times, my eyes trying to focus.
