The penny drops like a blade. “You’re not leaving, are you?” I whisper.
He stares back. Says nothing.
“Not without me.”
He tilts his head. “Smart girl.”
Anger surges hot and sharp through my veins. “You can’t control me. This is my life!”
“And now it includes me again. So you can tend bar all you want. I’ll still be your only customer.”
I shake my head. “Why?”
His jaw clenches for a single tick. “Because I’ll probably kill the next man you smile at. I’ll most definitely pluck out the eyes of the next guy who sees you in those shorts and that tiny bikini barely covering your tits and those nipples I want to suck on more than I want my next breath.”
He ignores my hot gasp, glances around the bar thoughtfully. Then his gaze sharpens as it returns to me. “How have you existed without triple-shot espresso? Without silk sheets? Without that absurd vanilla perfume you insisted on wearing even though it made me insane?”
An unexpected pang hits me so hard I have to fight to suppress the next gasp as I fake a careless shrug. “They’re just things.”
“And your plans to become a realtor?” he asks softly. “Was that disposable too?”
The question lands harder than anything else he’s said and I feel a flicker of regret suffuse me before I can stop it.
Then I straighten.
“Discovering what you truly did for a living altered several things,” I say quietly.
“Indeed.” His voice cools. “I thought I married a hellcat who stood her ground and fought with me, for us, instead of tuckingher pretty tail between her legs and running at the first sign of trouble.”
Fury explodes.
“You lied to me,” I snap. “You let me build a life with a man who didn’t exist!”
“There she is,” he murmurs. “The island hasn’t rubbed the Queens out of you yet.”
“You’re trying to provoke me. It’s not going to work.”
He shrugs. “I don’t care, baby. The only thing I care about is that you come back.”
“Why?” I challenge. “Why me?”
Something flickers across his face then, too fast to read. “Because I’ve found you,” he says finally. “Because you’re mine. And because it’s time.”
“You expect me to just pick up where we left off?”
“We didn’t leave off anywhere,cara,” he replies coldly. “You ran. I chased. The chase is over. And I won’t look kindly on you attempting anything like it again.”
“So many threats,” I mock. “Where are the flowers and the grand gestures, Giovanni? The diamonds and champagne to coax me back?”
“You left all of that behind after weeks of telling me you didn’t want any of it.” His eyes darken. “But if you’ve suddenly developed a taste for them, I can have you sipping Krug in fifteen minutes.”
I arch a brow. “Let me guess. You bought out the boutiques too?”
“Not at all,” he replies smoothly. “But I did bring six suitcases full of your things.”
My jaw nearly drops.
Six suitcases.
