I lean closer, my heart racing in my chest. “And?”
“Do this.” A hand slides up my nape, and he pulls me down. I gasp when his lips touch mine and hold my breath for a long moment. My eyes flutter closed, and I whimper as his mouth moves tentatively over mine, slow and gentle…arousing. “I’ve been wanting to do this for weeks, Emilia. Since you came back to New York,” he mumbles against my lips, his fingers playing with the hair at the back of my head.
“Really?”
“I haven’t been able to think of anyone else but you,” he rasps, fingers tightening on my nape as he dips in for the kiss, and my heart soars as I surrender it back to the man who’s owned it for years. I kiss him back, shyly at first, but I give my first kiss to him and then…something changes.
His fingers drop from my nape, and his lips go still against mine. I lift my head and bite back disappointment when I realize that he's fallen asleep. Still, a part of me can't forget his words.
He likes me. He’s wanted me for weeks?
I’m smiling as I push away from the man and walk back to the recliner. I drop down into it and touch my lips, biting down the urge to giggle like a little girl. I’m a grown woman, forChrist’s sake, but knowing my feelings might be returned makes me feel like a teenager again.
I haven’t been able to think of anyone else but you.
This time, when I close my eyes, I don't dream of the past. Instead, I dream of a future where Antonio and I are together. I watch myself walk down the aisle to him and listen, teary-eyed, as he promises his everlasting love to me.
I dream of forever.
***
The next morning, he doesn’t appear to remember any of it.
There is a little frustration as I yank open the curtains to let in the morning light before walking over to check Antonio’s vitals. “You’re angry with me,” he says as I check his temperature, but my lips stay firm. “Did I say or do something rude while I was on the pain meds?”
"How are you feeling today?" I ask, ignoring his question and the way my heart clenches painfully in response.
I push down the covers to check the injury for myself, ignoring his question. “I need to head to work, so I’ll change the dressing first. You need to tell me the pain level so I know whether or not to reduce the pain meds.”
“It doesn’t hurt much today, thanks to your skillful hands,” he says with a smile that I don’t return. In reality, I am more angry with myself than I am with him. He was high on pain medication last night, and as a doctor, I should have known better than to take his words seriously. But I am so hopelessly in love with the man that I allowed myself to believe him. Deluded myself into thinking Antonio would ever see me as anythingother than his best friend's little sister. The girl who followed him around as a child. Luca's twin. Someone to protect, not pursue.
It doesn't matter that our mothers were best friends, that I was raised alongside his siblings, that Leonardo has always treated me like one of his own. Antonio has never looked at me the way I want him to. And maybe he never will
I keep my lips in a straight line as I change his dressing and give him a smaller dose of the painkiller. “You need to stay in bed,” I tell him firmly. “No getting up unless you absolutely have to use the bathroom, and even then, you call someone to help you. No weight on that leg, so you don’t tear at the stitches. I'll have Luca bring you crutches.”
“Yes, doctor.”
I nod once and storm out of his room, intent on heading home to shower and change. But I run into Gabriella in the hall, and even her bright face isn't enough to help with my mood.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asks, but before I can respond, I find myself being dragged down the hall and to her room. “When I came home last night, I heard Antonio got shot and that you’re the one treating him.”
“He’s doing fine now. You can go see him.”
“What about you?”
“Huh?”
"Emilia, do you have any idea how you look right now? Did Antonio say something?" Her pretty eyes fire up. "I'm going to punch his stupid face if he said something to upset you after you spent all night taking care of him.”
My lips crack into a smile, then I start laughing and laughing until I can’t stop. I drop down to her bed as my bodyshakes—first with laughter, then with tears. I don’t realize I’m crying until Gabriella lowers herself down next to me.
“It’s stupid,” I chuckle, wiping the tears with the back of my hand. "Antonio didn't say anything wrong. It's what he didn't say that hurts, but…it's stupid."
"My brother is as blind as a mole to miss what's right in front of him.”
I turn around and grab Gabriella's hands, my face desperate as I stare at the girl who grew up as my sister. When Antonia died giving birth to Gabriella, Mama was already part of the family—she'd been living at the estate since before Luca and I were born, brought in by her best friend when she had nowhere else to go. Mama raised Gabriella alongside us, keeping Antonia's memory alive while giving the motherless baby all the love she had.
“How do I get over him, Gabby?”
