Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sophia
“Don’t you dare die,” I said it over and over again as they worked on him. And louder when they carried him out to the waiting car. Sliding him into the backseat, I paused.
“Lily.”
A man, his face nothing but shadow, pointed to the car behind. “She’s safe. They will follow us, but you need to choose who you are riding with. We need to get to the hospital.”
I hesitated, torn between being with my daughter and the man I loved who could die.
“We don’t have time…” His angry voice made the decision for me. I slipped into the seat next to Matteo, lifting his head into my lap.
“Please don’t…”
The man climbed in the other side and shut the door. His hands moved across Matteo’s chest, pressing on it and desperately trying to stem the bleeding.
“My daughter?” I whispered. I didn’t know if I had made the right decision, but it was too late to change my mind now. We were already barreling down the road
“Right behind us.” His eyes flickered up to meet mine for a second. “Lily is safe, I swear it, Sophia. She’s with Grant. He has a kid her age. He won’t let anything happen to her.”
I let out a shaky breath. “Okay.”
“Good. Now, talk to him. We need to…”
Talk to him? My eyes slammed down to Matteo. He was unconscious. I wasn’t sure talking to him would help,
“Just do it. Let him hear your voice. Give him something to live for.”
Through my tears, I brushed back Matteo's hair, running my fingers through it, and my tears fell on his face.
“You can’t leave me now, Matteo,” I whispered as more tears fell. “You can’t leave us. You need to meet Lily. You need to meet your daughter. She’s ours. Proof that we…” My voice broke. “Proof that we were always meant to be together.”
“You look nervous.”
Matteo’s voice was soft as he lounged back on the bed. His arms were crossed behind his head as he watched me walk back and forth across the hotel room before finally coming to a stop at the window.
I twitched the curtains back enough to look out at the city I loved so much. And I did love it, but not as much as I loved the man on the bed.
Matteo had my whole heart.
“I’m not nervous.” My voice shook with the lie.
“Yeah, you are.” Sighing heavily, he swung his long legs over the bed and came to me, catching me by the shoulders. “You haven’t stopped pacing since you arrived.” His fingers slid down my arms to entwine with mine. He leaned his chin against my shoulder. “Nothing is going to happen, Sophia. Not unless you want it to.”
I sighed, leaning into him and closing my eyes. That was the reason I was nervous, because I did want something to happen. That’s why I had the pretty white lace underwear on under my jeans, because I wanted to please him.
“You don’t want to,” I whispered
He chuckled. “I always want to,” he murmured, and the feeling of his breath against my throat made me shiver with longing.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to force you or…”
I let the curtain fall shut and turned in his arms. My hands clasped at the back of his neck. “You got this hotel room and…”
Matteo brushed his lips against mine. “That doesn’t mean we have to go further than we have already. I can wait, Sophia. For you, I’ll wait a thousand years.” His hands reached down to cup my ass and draw me up to my tiptoes. “We can wait until you’re my wife, make it official.”
I blinked up at him in shock. His wife? “What do you mean?”
