“It’s nothing,” I said, rising to go to the bathroom. “It’s not even worth mentioning.”
He caught my wrist, applying enough pressure to keep me in place.
Theburehad a wall of decorative solar lanterns. His eyes glistened in response to the tender light, a fathomless but rich brown, as he gazed at me. I refused to allow his eyes to snare me, so I shifted my concentration to his full lips. Wrong choice. There was no part of him that wasn’t hypnotizing.
“If it’s making you cry, it’s worth mentioning. I want to know. The truth.”
All right. He asked first, technically. I lifted my left hand so abruptly that he went cross-eyed and then moved his head back. I lifted my right. Proof that he left me bereft of the solid representations of his vows.
He grinned, but when he noticed that my tears were coming harder and faster, it melted from his face. “Give me a minute, baby,” he said, going for his bags. He came back with all three of my rings around the tip of his pinky. That was as far as they would go. He lifted the digit. “I was being proud. I was waiting for you to ask for them back.”
“You were waiting for me? I was waiting for you to give them back!” I went to hit him, but he dodged and moved further into the room. “I didn’t take them off, Brando Fausti!”
“If I come close, will you cause bodily harm?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I debated, sniffing. “No. I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so.” The grin was back, his tone lighter.
“Why are you so effing happy all of a sudden?”
“You want your rings back.”
“Of course I do! They’re mine! You gave them to me—or did you forget?” I was becoming hysterical. “Why would you make me wait? They were taken from me!”
He wrapped me in his arms before I could even protest. When I tried to shove away, he held me even tighter. “Don’t fight me.” He put his face in my neck, his nose buried and sniffing around, his lips warm and soft. His hands drifted to my behind and I went limp, my gravity melting into his. “It almost stopped my heart when they gave them to me after they had taken you away. It’s been killing me slowly ever since, not seeing them where they belong.”
“Then why—”
“I’m a proud bastard. I didn’t even think you’d noticed. You never asked, and my pride was hurt. I was wrong. I put them there. I should’ve returned them. You’re right. They were taken from you. Stolen.”
He slipped to his knees, looking up at me, his eyes guileless. “Life is not the same.” He wasn’t asking me, but the tone of his voice still held a questioning edge.
“No,” I said, breathless. “It’s not.”
“Ma noi siamo meglio, siamo più forti, e non ti ho mai amato di più.”Butwe are better, we are stronger, and I’ve never loved you more.
“I love you too,” I whispered. “Even more than before.”
He slipped the band on my right hand first, and then the simple diamond band and ballerina ring on my left, before he kissed each knuckle. Once again, I was as complete as I could be. He buried his face in my stomach. We stood that way until I shifted my feet.
“Brando?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“Are you going to stand up?”
“Not until you promise not to abuse me.”
I shoved him in the shoulder and he laughed, raspy and low. “Get up here,” I said, “and claim what’s always been yours.”
He bit me through my underwear, not hard, but hard enough that I shivered and goosebumps rose on my skin, even in the heat. The attraction between us could be described as feral, primal, but now it was—even more. And starved,deathly starved.
“I need you,” I breathed. “Please.”
“Once I start, I won’t be able to stop—”
My nails dug into his shoulders in response.Nothing about me hurts but not having you.
